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New Books at Marx Science and Social Science Library: Home

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Selected New Books at Marx Library (November 2023)

A Short History of Queer Women

No, they weren't 'just friends'! Queer women have been written out of history since, well, forever. 'But historians famously care about women!', said no one. From Anne Bonny and Mary Read who sailed the seas together disguised as pirates, to US football captain Megan Rapinoe declaring 'You can't win a championship without gays on your team', via countless literary salons and tuxedos, A Short History of Queer Women sets the record straight on women who have loved other women through the ages. Who says lesbians can't be funny?

Analytic Number Theory for Beginners

This new edition of Analytic Number Theory for Beginners presents a friendly introduction to analytic number theory for both advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, and offers a comfortable transition between the two levels. The text starts with a review of elementary number theory and continues on to present less commonly covered topics such as multiplicative functions, the floor function, the use of big $O$, little $o$, and Vinogradov notation, as well as summation formulas. Standard advanced topics follow, such as the Dirichlet $L$-function, Dirichlet's Theorem for primes in arithmetic progressions, the Riemann Zeta function, the Prime Number Theorem, and, new in this second edition, sieve methods and additive number theory. The book is self-contained and easy to follow. Each chapter provides examples and exercises of varying difficulty and ends with a section of notes which include a chapter summary, open questions, historical background, and resources for further study. Since many topics in this book are not typically covered at such an accessible level, Analytic Number Theory for Beginners is likely to fill an important niche in today's selection of titles in this field.

Numbers and Figures

One of the great charms of mathematics is uncovering unexpected connections. In Numbers and Figures, Giancarlo Travaglini provides six conversations that do exactly that by talking about several topics in elementary number theory and some of their connections to geometry, calculus, and real-life problems such as COVID-19 vaccines or fiscal frauds. Each conversation is in two parts--an introductory essay which provides a gentle introduction to the topic and a second section that delves deeper and requires study by the reader. The topics themselves are extremely appealing and include, for example, Pick's theorem, Simpson's paradox, Farey sequences, the Frobenius problem, and Benford's Law. Numbers and Figures will be a useful resource for college faculty teaching Elementary Number Theory or Calculus. The chapters are largely independent and could make for nice course-ending projects or even lead-ins to high school or undergraduate research projects. The whole book would make for an enjoyable semester-long independent reading course. Faculty will find it entertaining bedtime reading and, last but not least, readers more generally will be interested in this book if they miss the accuracy and imagination found in their high school and college math courses.

A Course in Cosmology

This new graduate textbook adopts a pedagogical approach to contemporary cosmology that enables readers to build an intuitive understanding of theory and data, and of how they interact, which is where the greatest advances in the field are currently being made. Using analogies, intuitive explanations of complex topics, worked examples and computational problems, the book begins with the physics of the early universe, and goes on to cover key concepts such as inflation, dark matter and dark energy, large‑scale structure, and cosmic microwave background. Computational and data analysis techniques, and statistics, are integrated throughout the text, particularly in the chapters on late-universe cosmology, while another chapter is entirely devoted to the basics of statistical methods. A solutions manual for end-of-chapter problems is available to instructors, and suggested syllabi, based on different course lengths and emphasis, can be found in the Preface. Online computer code and datasets enhance the student learning experience.student learning experience.student learning experience.student learning experience.

In Vitro

A meditation on in vitro fertilization that expands and complicates the stories we tell about pregnancy.  Medical interventions become an exercise in patience, desire, and delirium in this intimate account of bodily transformation and disruption. In candid, graceful prose, Isabel Zapata gives voice to the strangeness and complexities of conception and motherhood that are rarely discussed publicly. Zapata frankly addresses the misogyny she experienced during fertility treatments, explores the force of grief in imagining possible futures, and confronts the societal expectations around maternity. In the tradition of Rivka Galchen's Little Labors and Sarah Manguso's Ongoingness, In Vitro draws from diary and essay forms to create a new kind of literary companion and open up space for nuanced conversations about pregnancy.

Selected New Books at Marx Library (October 2023)

The Evolution of Settlement Systems in the Region of Vohémar, Northeast Madagascar

On the northeast coast of Madagascar, near the town of Vohémar, is a large cemetery dating to the fourteenth century. During World War II, French troops excavated the site but left no comprehensive report. University of Michigan archaeologist Henry T. Wright led an intensive archaeological survey in the region, hoping to find evidence of earlier settlements. In four seasons, the researchers found evidence of several settlements dating to different periods: a large port site dating to the same era as the cemetery; early estuarine villages of the 7th and 8th centuries; and a rock shelter with microlithic tools. In this study, Wright presents the survey results in detail, including the evidence for settlements as well as illustrations of the ceramics and stone tools.

Innovation, Complexity and Economic Evolution

If evolutionary economics is to compete with neoclassical economics as a general-purpose economic theory, it needs to incorporate new aspects of socioeconomic reality, such as institutions of all types, including technical, scientific, and political. Furthermore, evolutionary economics needs to be able to provide policy implications at least as interesting as those of neoclassical economics. Thus, as this book argues, evolutionary economics must become evolutionary political economy. Innovation plays a central role in the book, but not in the sense of providing a technologically determinist interpretation. Rather, the book argues that innovations do not emerge in isolation from other components of socioeconomic systems but coevolve with institutions, infrastructures and organizational forms. This concept of coevolution is absolutely central in the book and provides a link with theories of complexity. In addition to providing an epistemological basis for evolutionary economics, the link with complexity and coevolution offers the connection with evolutionary political economy. Innovations and technologies do not emerge and develop in an institutional vacuum, but interact with existing institutions and reshape them, in addition to inducing the formation of new institutions. In this process, technologies and institutions reinforce each other providing a potential mechanism to transform socioeconomic systems. The book also explores the policy implications of these innovative societies, where wealth is created but unequally distributed. The book is addressed to open-minded economists, social scientists who are dissatisfied with the approach of neoclassical economics, technologists and policy makers.

Consent Is _____

In his second book, James J. Wilkerson explores the question, "What is consent?" With his background as an attorney and Title IX coordinator, Wilkerson brings an expert's knowledge through the lens of a former fraternity brother. With an open and frank style, Consent Is _____ encourages the conversations that are often left out of healthy sex education. "When I stepped back and looked at the totality of the situation, it was clear to me that there was a lack of education with this population (not just fraternity members, but with young males in general). A university might do a quick, student-led sexual assault skit during orientation, but for the most part, the only time men discussed healthy social sexual responsibility was when an incident had already happened. By then it was too late. The trauma had already been inflicted and the repercussions were already ringing out. But what if someone could work with 18-21-year-old men to teach sexual assault prevention early in their collegiate journey? What if someone could help fraternities and sports teams weave consent, bystander intervention, and respect into the fabric of their organizations? What if someone could excite and empower young men to change their very culture?" James Wilkerson holds his Masters degree in communication from Bellarmine University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Louisville. He is the founder of Greek Law: a sexual assault prevention and consent program for fraternity and sorority chapters. He has gone on to write extensively about sexual assault through a legal lens.

Iwasawa Theory and Its Perspective

Iwasawa theory began in the late 1950s with a series of papers by Kenkichi Iwasawa on ideal class groups in the cyclotomic tower of number fields and their relation to $p$-adic $L$-functions. The theory was later generalized by putting it in the context of elliptic curves and modular forms. The main motivation for writing this book was the need for a total perspective of Iwasawa theory that includes the new trends of generalized Iwasawa theory. Another motivation of this book is an update of the classical theory for class groups taking into account the changed point of view on Iwasawa theory. The goal of this first part of the two-part publication is to explain the theory of ideal class groups, including its algebraic aspect (the Iwasawa class number formula), its analytic aspect (Leopoldt-Kubota $L$-functions), and the Iwasawa main conjecture, which is a bridge between the algebraic and the analytic aspects. The second part of the book will be published as a separate volume in the same series, Mathematical Surveys and Monographs of the American Mathematical Society.

Knots, Links and Their Invariants

This book is an elementary introduction to knot theory. Unlike many other books on knot theory, this book has practically no prerequisites; it requires only basic plane and spatial Euclidean geometry but no knowledge of topology or group theory. It contains the first elementary proof of the existence of the Alexander polynomial of a knot or a link based on the Conway axioms, particularly the Conway skein relation. The book also contains an elementary exposition of the Jones polynomial, HOMFLY polynomial and Vassiliev knot invariants constructed using the Kontsevich integral. Additionally, there is a lecture introducing the braid group and shows its connection with knots and links. Other important features of the book are the large number of original illustrations, numerous exercises and the absence of any references in the first eleven lectures. The last two lectures differ from the first eleven: they comprise a sketch of non-elementary topics and a brief history of the subject, including many references.

Selected New Books at Marx Library (September 2023)

Killarney Bay

The archaeological site at Killarney Bay, on the northeast side of Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada, has attracted and mystified archaeologists for decades. The quantities of copper artifacts, exotic cherts, and long-distance trade goods all highlight the importance of the site during its time of occupation. Yet researchers have struggled to date the site or assign it to a particular cultural tradition, since the artifacts and mortuary components do not precisely match those of other sites and assemblages in the Upper Great Lakes. The history of archaeological investigation at Killarney Bay stretches across parts of three centuries and involves field schools from universities in two countries (Laurentian University in Canada and the University of Michigan in the United States). This volume pulls together the results from all prior research at the site and represents the first comprehensive report ever published on the excavations and finds at Killarney Bay. Heavily illustrated.  

The Evolution of Settlement Systems in the Region of Vohémar, Northeast Madagascar

On the northeast coast of Madagascar, near the town of Vohémar, is a large cemetery dating to the fourteenth century. During World War II, French troops excavated the site but left no comprehensive report. University of Michigan archaeologist Henry T. Wright led an intensive archaeological survey in the region, hoping to find evidence of earlier settlements. In four seasons, the researchers found evidence of several settlements dating to different periods: a large port site dating to the same era as the cemetery; early estuarine villages of the 7th and 8th centuries; and a rock shelter with microlithic tools. In this study, Wright presents the survey results in detail, including the evidence for settlements as well as illustrations of the ceramics and stone tools.

Innovation, Complexity and Economic Evolution

If evolutionary economics is to compete with neoclassical economics as a general-purpose economic theory, it needs to incorporate new aspects of socioeconomic reality, such as institutions of all types, including technical, scientific, and political. Furthermore, evolutionary economics needs to be able to provide policy implications at least as interesting as those of neoclassical economics. Thus, as this book argues, evolutionary economics must become evolutionary political economy. Innovation plays a central role in the book, but not in the sense of providing a technologically determinist interpretation. Rather, the book argues that innovations do not emerge in isolation from other components of socioeconomic systems but coevolve with institutions, infrastructures and organizational forms. This concept of coevolution is absolutely central in the book and provides a link with theories of complexity. In addition to providing an epistemological basis for evolutionary economics, the link with complexity and coevolution offers the connection with evolutionary political economy. Innovations and technologies do not emerge and develop in an institutional vacuum, but interact with existing institutions and reshape them, in addition to inducing the formation of new institutions. In this process, technologies and institutions reinforce each other providing a potential mechanism to transform socioeconomic systems. The book also explores the policy implications of these innovative societies, where wealth is created but unequally distributed. The book is addressed to open-minded economists, social scientists who are dissatisfied with the approach of neoclassical economics, technologists and policy makers.

Consent Is _____

In his second book, James J. Wilkerson explores the question, "What is consent?" With his background as an attorney and Title IX coordinator, Wilkerson brings an expert's knowledge through the lens of a former fraternity brother. With an open and frank style, Consent Is _____ encourages the conversations that are often left out of healthy sex education. "When I stepped back and looked at the totality of the situation, it was clear to me that there was a lack of education with this population (not just fraternity members, but with young males in general). A university might do a quick, student-led sexual assault skit during orientation, but for the most part, the only time men discussed healthy social sexual responsibility was when an incident had already happened. By then it was too late. The trauma had already been inflicted and the repercussions were already ringing out. But what if someone could work with 18-21-year-old men to teach sexual assault prevention early in their collegiate journey? What if someone could help fraternities and sports teams weave consent, bystander intervention, and respect into the fabric of their organizations? What if someone could excite and empower young men to change their very culture?" James Wilkerson holds his Masters degree in communication from Bellarmine University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Louisville. He is the founder of Greek Law: a sexual assault prevention and consent program for fraternity and sorority chapters. He has gone on to write extensively about sexual assault through a legal lens.

A Short History of Queer Women

No, they weren't 'just friends'! Queer women have been written out of history since, well, forever. 'But historians famously care about women!', said no one. From Anne Bonny and Mary Read who sailed the seas together disguised as pirates, to US football captain Megan Rapinoe declaring 'You can't win a championship without gays on your team', via countless literary salons and tuxedos, A Short History of Queer Women sets the record straight on women who have loved other women through the ages. Who says lesbians can't be funny?

Analytic Number Theory for Beginners

This new edition of Analytic Number Theory for Beginners presents a friendly introduction to analytic number theory for both advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, and offers a comfortable transition between the two levels. The text starts with a review of elementary number theory and continues on to present less commonly covered topics such as multiplicative functions, the floor function, the use of big $O$, little $o$, and Vinogradov notation, as well as summation formulas. Standard advanced topics follow, such as the Dirichlet $L$-function, Dirichlet's Theorem for primes in arithmetic progressions, the Riemann Zeta function, the Prime Number Theorem, and, new in this second edition, sieve methods and additive number theory. The book is self-contained and easy to follow. Each chapter provides examples and exercises of varying difficulty and ends with a section of notes which include a chapter summary, open questions, historical background, and resources for further study. Since many topics in this book are not typically covered at such an accessible level, Analytic Number Theory for Beginners is likely to fill an important niche in today's selection of titles in this field.

Selected New Books at Marx Library (August 2023)

The Evolution of Settlement Systems in the Region of Vohémar, Northeast Madagascar

On the northeast coast of Madagascar, near the town of Vohémar, is a large cemetery dating to the fourteenth century. During World War II, French troops excavated the site but left no comprehensive report. University of Michigan archaeologist Henry T. Wright led an intensive archaeological survey in the region, hoping to find evidence of earlier settlements. In four seasons, the researchers found evidence of several settlements dating to different periods: a large port site dating to the same era as the cemetery; early estuarine villages of the 7th and 8th centuries; and a rock shelter with microlithic tools. In this study, Wright presents the survey results in detail, including the evidence for settlements as well as illustrations of the ceramics and stone tools.

Innovation, Complexity and Economic Evolution

If evolutionary economics is to compete with neoclassical economics as a general-purpose economic theory, it needs to incorporate new aspects of socioeconomic reality, such as institutions of all types, including technical, scientific, and political. Furthermore, evolutionary economics needs to be able to provide policy implications at least as interesting as those of neoclassical economics. Thus, as this book argues, evolutionary economics must become evolutionary political economy. Innovation plays a central role in the book, but not in the sense of providing a technologically determinist interpretation. Rather, the book argues that innovations do not emerge in isolation from other components of socioeconomic systems but coevolve with institutions, infrastructures and organizational forms. This concept of coevolution is absolutely central in the book and provides a link with theories of complexity. In addition to providing an epistemological basis for evolutionary economics, the link with complexity and coevolution offers the connection with evolutionary political economy. Innovations and technologies do not emerge and develop in an institutional vacuum, but interact with existing institutions and reshape them, in addition to inducing the formation of new institutions. In this process, technologies and institutions reinforce each other providing a potential mechanism to transform socioeconomic systems. The book also explores the policy implications of these innovative societies, where wealth is created but unequally distributed. The book is addressed to open-minded economists, social scientists who are dissatisfied with the approach of neoclassical economics, technologists and policy makers.

Analytic Number Theory for Beginners

This new edition of Analytic Number Theory for Beginners presents a friendly introduction to analytic number theory for both advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, and offers a comfortable transition between the two levels. The text starts with a review of elementary number theory and continues on to present less commonly covered topics such as multiplicative functions, the floor function, the use of big $O$, little $o$, and Vinogradov notation, as well as summation formulas. Standard advanced topics follow, such as the Dirichlet $L$-function, Dirichlet's Theorem for primes in arithmetic progressions, the Riemann Zeta function, the Prime Number Theorem, and, new in this second edition, sieve methods and additive number theory. The book is self-contained and easy to follow. Each chapter provides examples and exercises of varying difficulty and ends with a section of notes which include a chapter summary, open questions, historical background, and resources for further study. Since many topics in this book are not typically covered at such an accessible level, Analytic Number Theory for Beginners is likely to fill an important niche in today's selection of titles in this field.

Selected New Books at Marx Library (July 2023)

Economic Growth and Inequality

In an era of increasing inequalities, and also of deep anxieties about the consequences of two major economic crises, economists are faced with a major question: can economic growth be achieved without inequalities? Economic Growth and Inequality critically evaluates the economic literature on this question from a pragmatic perspective, seeking to reconcile those who regard economic liberties as a paramount value, and critics who object that prioritizing these liberties leads to inequitable outcomes. The book presents an overview of the models used by economists to define and measure inequalities and the ongoing dialogues between political philosophers and economists in an effort to find solutions to the problems. It explores Rawlsian justice, Sen's capability theory, and the theory of rent and compares and contrasts the most often discussed institutions and policies designed for remedying poverty and reducing inequalities. This book marks a significant contribution to the literature on some of the most pressing problems of our time and will be of great interest to readers of political economy, public policy, moral philosophy, and history of economic and political thought.

Without Children

A historian explores the complicated relationship between womanhood and motherhood in this "timely, refreshingly open-hearted study of the choices women make and the cards they're dealt" (Ada Calhoun, author of Why We Can't Sleep). In an era of falling births, it's often said that millennials invented the idea of not having kids. But history is full of women without children: some who chose childless lives, others who wanted children but never had them, and still others--the vast majority, then and now--who fell somewhere in between. Modern women considering how and if children fit into their lives are products of their political, ecological, and cultural moment. But history also tells them that they are not alone.     Drawing on deep research and her own experience as a woman without children, historian Peggy O'Donnell Heffington shows that many of the reasons women are not having children today are ones they share with women in the past: a lack of support, their jobs or finances, environmental concerns, infertility, and the desire to live different kinds of lives. Understanding this history--how normal it has always been to not have children, and how hard society has worked to make it seem abnormal--is key, she writes, to rebuilding kinship between mothers and non-mothers, and to building a better world for us all. 

Monetary Economics, Banking and Policy

This edited collection seeks to advance thinking on money and the monetary nature of the economy, macroeconomic analysis and economic policy, setting it within the context of current scholarship and global socioeconomic concerns, and the crisis in the economics discipline. A key aim is to highlight the central contribution that Sheila Dow has made to these fields. Bringing together an impressive panel of contributors, this volume explores topics including central bank independence, liquidity preferences, money supply endogeneity, financial regulation, regional finance and public debt. The essays in this collection will be thought-provoking reading for advanced students and scholars of macroeconomics, monetary economics, central banking and heterodox economics. Contributors have a broad range of professional experience at universities, central banks, business, development institutions and policy advisories.

Supervision

A wide-ranging, first-of-its-kind anthology of art and writing exploring how surveillance impacts contemporary motherhood. The tracking of our personal information, activities, and medical data through our digital devices is an increasingly recognizable field in which the lines between caretaking and control have blurred. In this age of surveillance, mothers' behaviors and bodies are observed, made public, exposed, scrutinized, and policed like never before. Supervision- On Motherhood and Surveillance gathers together the work of fifty contributors from diverse disciplines that include the visual arts, legal scholarship, ethnic studies, sociology, gender studies, poetry, and activism to ask what the relationship is between how we watch and how we are watched, and how the attention that mothers pay to their children might foster a kind of counterattention to the many ways in which mothers are scrutinized. A groundbreaking collection, Supervision is a project about vision (and supervision), and all the ways in which vision intersects with surveillance and politics, through motherhood and personal history as well as through the histories and relations of the societies in which we live. Contributors- Melina Abdullah, Jeny Amaya, Gemma, Anderson, Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, Sarah Blackwood, Lisa Cartwright, Cary Beth Cryor, Moyra Davey, Duae Collective, Sabba Elahi, Laura Fong Prosper, Regina Jose Galindo, Michele Goodwin, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Lily Gurton-Wachter, Sophie Hamacher, Jessica Hankey, Keeonna Harris, Laetitia Badaut Haussmann, Jennifer Hayashida, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, Lisbeth Kaiser, Magdalena Kallenberger, Caitlin Keliiaa, Anjuli Fatima Raza Kolb, Stephanie Lumsden, Irene Lusztig, Tala Madani, Jade Phoenix Martinez, M nica Mayer, Iman Mersal, Jennifer C. Nash, Hương Ng , Erika Niwa, Priscilla Ocen, Litia Perta, Claudia Rankine, Viva Ruiz, Ming Smith, Sable Elyse Smith, Sheida Soleimani, Stephanie Syjuco, H_x1ED3_ng- n Trương, Carrie Mae Weems, Lauren Whaley, Kandis Williams, Mai'a Williams, Carmen Winant, Kate Wolf, and Hannah Zeavin

Selected New Books at Marx Library (June 2023)

Senses of Upheaval

Spanning a decade of Michael Marder's contributions as a public intellectual, Senses of Upheavals documents a period of exceptional global turmoil. Thrown into mayhem by right-wing populisms and a pandemic, combined with skyrocketing economic inequalities and worsening environmental crises, the world is on the verge of collapse. Could revolutionary practical-intellectual proposals to learn how to coexist from plants or to rethink the very meaning of energy chart the way to a better, more livable, and, perhaps, calmer world? Nonetheless, such proposals themselves constitute nothing short of an upheaval in philosophy, plant sciences, and environmental studies. We are doomed to upheavals, it seems; the point is not to deflect, but to choose judiciously among them.

The Burden of Heritage

The Burden of Heritage: Hauntings of Generational Traumaon Black Lives is a timely addition to the literature on inter- andtransgenerational trauma. The book addresses black ancestral trauma passed downthe generations, highlighting the ongoing impact on black lives.  Aileen Alleyne explores the unheeded dimensions ofindividual and collective identity trauma, paying particular attention to thethemes and concepts of identity shame, black identity wounding and culturalenmeshment.  The author expands on her striking concept, the 'internaloppressor', that inhibits self-belief, full agency and potential. She reworksthe psychoanalytic concept of 'hauntings', separating it from Freud'sinterpretation as unconscious repression, and presents it as a living andconscious element of the black trauma burden. To break the cycle ofgenerational trauma, Alleyne suggests an active process of separation fromarchaic attachments, and engagement in intentional modes of transformation.  Alleyne makes use of her own experiences throughout,alongside therapeutic suggestions, approaches and theoretical handles forsteadying the practitioner in the consulting room. The book weaves thepersonal, historical, socio-political and theoretical, and includes countlessobservational examples, clinical vignettes and case material.  The Burden of Heritage offers effective tools topractitioners who work therapeutically with black and minority ethnic clients,and highlights ways to strengthen critical enquiry for deeper conceptual andtheoretical understanding of generational trauma.

Qualitative Data Analysis

With numerous approaches to choose from, knowing where to start when doing qualitative data analysis (QDA) can be a challenge. This book gives you direction with an accessible and thorough introduction to nine different approaches to QDA, written by a multi-disciplinary team with years of experience teaching and analysing data using these methods.  With a clear focus on the 'how to' of QDA, each chapter includes:   *Step-by-step descriptions of how to apply each approach in your research *Online and in-text activities to help you practice your skills *Annotated reading lists so you can dig deeper into key topics *Case studies from a range of disciplines so you can see how each approach works in practice. The perfect companion on your journey through QDA, the book also offers a comprehensive introduction to the use of NVivo QDA software, helping both new and experienced researchers get to grips with the essentials.  

Modern Japanese Economic Thought

Since the mid-19th century, Japan has made remarkable strides in industrialization. Beginning with the economic vision of Miura Baien in the 18th century, and employing a detailed comparison with the West, this book delves into the economic thought of the scholars who have played a pivotal role in Japans modernization process.

How Capitalism Ends

While the past 300 years have witnessed immense growth in productive capacity, the 'logic' of capitalist production is now pushing progress in all the wrong directions. We've passed the point where our biggest enemy is material scarcity. Our problems no longer revolve around insufficient production, but iniquitous distribution - and the fact that we're fast running out of planet - and these are problems that capitalism cannot solve. Taking in a diverse range of contemporary and historical evidence - from the Putney Debates of 1647 to Modern Monetary Theory, from John Locke to Thomas Piketty, from the Rights of Man to the rise of identity politics How Capitalism Ends navigates a path through current affairs, history, economics and philosophy and sets the scene for the conversation we, as a civilization, urgently need to begin...

Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Deliberative democracy is a diverse and rapidly growing field of research. But how can deliberative democracy be studied? Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy provides a unique collection of over 30 methods to study deliberative democracy. Written in an accessible style, it provides guidance for scholars and students on how to conduct rigorous and creative research on the public sphere, structured forums, and political institutions. Each chapter introduces a particular method, elaborates its utility in deliberative democracy research, and provides guidance on its application, as well as illustrations from previous studies. This book celebrates the methodological pluralism in the field, and hopes to inspire scholars to undertake methodologically robust, intellectually creative, and politically relevant empirical research.

Reclaiming Human Rights in a Changing World Order

Human rights protections must be reinforced against growing challenges from new global forces Human rights - and the international institutions that strive to protect them - are under increasing attack from powerful actors on the global stage, from recent political trends even within established democracies and from new technologies. Together, these threats have undermined what had been a fragile international consensus as recently as two decades ago about the importance of concerted international action to protect human rights and punish those who abuse them. China, Russia, and other nondemocratic regimes have become increasingly bold in acting as if agreed-upon international human rights standards no longer exist, or at least do not apply to them. More broadly, domestic political movements based on nationalism, religion, and populism are challenging human rights norms on nearly every continent. And new technologies - including autonomous weapons systems and relentless digital surveillance - have given national leaders new ways to control or even abuse their citizens with impunity.   This book examines these new challenges to international and regional human rights in Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. It is the result of a year of workshops with human rights activists and young leaders from around the world, with chapters written by a diverse group of leading scholars. Beyond describing the challenges to human rights, the book offers targeted, practical recommendations for national and multilateral policymakers, activists, and scholars for concrete actions to protect human rights as well as improve public understanding of why doing so is essential. Reclaiming Human Rights in a Changing World Order will interest scholars of international relations and human rights law, domestic and international activists involved in human rights - indeed, anyone wanting to understand the implications for the liberal international order of the new geopolitical competition, modern technology, and political and social movements.

I Want to Break Free

Are you fed up with the divided and unequal society or suffocating laws and regulations of the country where you live? Ever dreamed of starting your own country or just want to understand how that happens? In this refreshing new book, Matt Qvortrup provides a step-by-step guide to forming an independent country, from organising a referendum and winning it, to receiving official international recognition, establishing a currency and even entering the Eurovision song contest. The book delves into the legal, economic and political problems of creating new states, using historical examples and anecdotes from all over the world to illustrate the obstacles to these campaigns. Qvortrup recounts his globetrotting experiences as an expert consultant on referendums to give a no-nonsense explanation of the many hurdles and barriers, as well as the opportunities for those who want to break free.

Selected New Books at Marx Library (May 2023)

Ways of Being

Artist, technologist, and philosopher James Bridle's Ways of Being is a brilliant, searching exploration of different kinds of intelligence--plant, animal, human, artificial--and how they transform our understanding of humans' place in the cosmos. What does it mean to be intelligent? Is it something unique to humans or shared with other beings-- beings of flesh, wood, stone, and silicon? The last few years have seen rapid advances in "artificial" intelligence. But rather than a friend or companion, AI increasingly appears to be something stranger than we ever imagined, an alien invention that threatens to decenter and supplant us. At the same time, we're only just becoming aware of the other intelligences that have been with us all along, even if we've failed to recognize or acknowledge them. These others--the animals, plants, and natural systems that surround us--are slowly revealing their complexity, agency, and knowledge, just as the technologies we've built to sustain ourselves are threatening to cause their extinction and ours. What can we learn from them, and how can we change ourselves, our technologies, our societies, and our politics to live better and more equitably with one another and the nonhuman world? The artist and maverick thinker James Bridle draws on biology and physics, computation, literature, art, and philosophy to answer these unsettling questions. Startling and bold, Ways of Being explores the fascinating, strange, and multitudinous forms of knowing, doing, and being that make up the world, and that are essential for our survival. Includes illustrations

Five Bay Landscapes

Threatened by issues of environmental health, climate change, population growth, and industrial demands, the coastal zone of the Great Lakes reflects an increasingly dysfunctional relationship between the people of the basin and the resources that support them. Perhaps no place is the physical manifestation of this struggle more evident than in the basin's shallow bays. While many regional and local responses to these issues focus on methods of control, Five Bay Landscapes argues that responses should begin with critical, experiential, and pluralistic understandings of place. Through a series of five narratives, each located on a bay within the Great Lakes, the authors share their practice of curious site explorations. These explorations, both written and visual, consider the nuances and systems of these shorelines along with the lessons these findings might offer for future design and planning interventions. Using the Great Lakes as a context, Five Bay Landscapes illuminates a dynamic and robust landscape system and establishes a series of methods for understanding, analyzing, and intervening within the changing landscape.

Temporary Economic Crises

In traditional theory of economic crisis, and in all its manifestations, there is no fundamental difference between economic disorder and economic crisis: the two types of economic turmoil are both considered temporary states. This book is a methodical study of deep-seated causes of economic crises. The aim of the book is to explain the key difference between economic disorder and economic crisis. Its key argument is that economic disorder is a permanent condition, whereas economic crises are a series of transitory periods. Economic crises, unlike economic disorders, are acute and frenzied volatilities that are unpredictable and short-lived. Humans cannot survive in a condition of perpetual economic crises but can only accommodate life under unremitting economic disorders. The book also explores the root cause of economic crisis. Unlike the received wisdom in economics, this book looks at the root cause of such hysterical economic turbulences as a result of an innate propensity of human fallibility. The final section of this book looks at the ramifications of this alternative perspective on macroeconomic policy formation and implementation. This book is a major contribution to the literature on economic disorder and crises and will be of great interest to readers of economic theory, philosophy of economics, and the history of economic thought.

Scaling People

A leader at both Google and Stripe from their early days, Claire Hughes Johnson has worked with founders and company builders to try to replicate their success. The most common questions she's asked are not about business strategy-they're about how to scale the operating structures and people systems of a rapidly growing startup. Scaling People is a practical and empathetic guide to being an effective leader and manager in a high-growth environment. The tactical information it puts forward-including guidance on crafting foundational documents, strategic and financial planning, hiring and team development, and feedback and performance mechanisms-can be applied to companies of any size, in any industry. Scaling People includes over 100 pages of worksheets, templates, exercises, and example documents to help founders, leaders, and company builders create scalable operating systems and lightweight processes that really work.Implementing effective leadership and management practices takes effort and discipline, but the reward is a sustainable, scalable company that's set up for long-term success. Scaling People is a detailed roadmap for company builders to put the right operating systems and structures in place to scale the most important resource a company has: its people.

What Is Cultural Sociology?

Culture, cultural difference, and cultural conflict always surround us. Cultural sociologists aim to understand their role across all aspects of social life by examining processes of meaning-making. In this crisp and accessible book, Lyn Spillman demonstrates many of the conceptual tools cultural sociologists use to explore how people make meaning. Drawing on vivid examples, she offers a compelling analytical framework within which to view the entire field of cultural sociology. In each chapter, she introduces a different angle of vision, with distinct but compatible approaches for explaining culture and its role in social life: analyzing symbolic forms, meaning-making in interaction, and organized production. This book both offers a concise answer to the question of what cultural sociology is and provides an overview of the fundamental approaches in the field.

Beyond White Mindfulness

Beyond White Mindfulness: Critical Perspectives on Racism, Well-being, and Liberation brings together interdisciplinary perspectives on mind-body interventions, group-based identities, and social justice. Marshalling both empirical data and theoretical approaches, the book examines a broad range of questions related to mindfulness, meditation, and diverse communities. While there is growing public interest in mind-body health, holistic wellness, and contemplative practice, critical research examining on these topics featuring minority perspectives and experiences is relatively rare. This book draws on cutting edge insights from psychology, sociology, gender, and, critical race theory to fill this void. Major themes include culture, identity, and awareness; intersectional approaches to the study of mindfulness and minority stress; cultural competence in developing and teaching mindfulness-based health interventions, and the complex relationships between mindfulness, inequality, and social justice. The first book of its kind to bring together scholarly and personal reflections on mindfulness for diverse populations, Beyond White Mindfulness offers social science students and practitioners in this area a new perspective on mindfulness and suggestions for future scholarship.

The Rebel and the Kingdom

How did an Ivy League activist become a global fugitive? The New York Times bestselling co-author of Billion Dollar Whale and Blood and Oil chronicles the heart-pounding tale of a self-taught operative his high-stakes attempt subvert the North Korean regime. "Propulsive . . . Hope's account is both deeply reported and novelistic."--Ed Caesar, contributing staff writer for The New Yorker, author of The Moth and the Mountain In the early 2000s, Adrian Hong was a soft-spoken Yale undergraduate looking for his place in the world. After reading a harrowing account of life inside North Korea, he realized he had found a cause so pressing that he was ready to devote his life to it.   What began as a trip down the safe and well-worn path of organizing soon morphed into something more dangerous. Hong journeyed to China, outwitting Chinese security services as he helped asylum-seeking North Koreans escape across the border. Meanwhile, Hong's secret organization, Cheollima Civil Defense (later renamed Free Joseon), began tracking the North Korean government's activities, and its volatile third-generation ruler, Kim Jong-un. Free Joseon targeted North Korean diplomats who might be persuaded to defect, while drawing up plans for a government-in-exile. After the shocking broad-daylight assassination in 2017 of Kim Jong-nam, the dictator's older brother, Hong, along with U.S. Marine veteran Christopher Ahn, helped ferry Kim Jong-nam's family to safety. Then Hong took the group a step further. He initiated a series of high-stakes direct actions, culminating in an armed raid at the North Korean embassy in Madrid--an act that would put Ahn behind bars and turn Hong into one of the world's most unlikely fugitives.   In the tradition of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, The Rebel and the Kingdom is an exhilarating account of a man who turns his back on the status quo--to instead live boldly by his principles. Acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Bradley Hope--who broke numerous details of Hong's operations in The Wall Street Journal--now reveals the full contours of this remarkable story of idealism and insanity, hubris and heroism, all set within the secret battle for the future of the world's most mysterious and unsettling nation.

New Books at Marx (June 2023)

New Books at Marx (June 2023)

- Click this link to see books and other materials added to Marx Library in the past 4 weeks. 

New Books at Marx (May 2023)

New Books at Marx (April 2023)

New Books at Marx Library (April 2023)

- Click this link to see books received at Marx Library in the past 4 weeks. 

Temporary Featured Books at Marx Library

In Marx Library, next to the New Books Shelf not far from the entrance (a right turn after the glass doors) is a special display featuring either part of the New Books display or special interest featured books. This display changes monthly and is also available online

Director for Research Support & Outreach Programs

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Jeremy Garritano
Contact:
Marx Science and Social Science Library
Office C33
219 Prospect Street
Concourse Level
Kline Biology Tower
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Subjects: Global Affairs