Bookshelf

(New York: Knopf/Penguin Random House, 2021).
Named a “book to read” by Fortune magazine, this book explores not only the future of where we work, but how we work. “Based on groundbreaking reporting and interviews with workers and managers around the world, Out of Office illuminates the key values and questions that should be driving this conversation: trust, fairness, flexibility, inclusive workplaces, equity, and work-life balance,” the publisher notes. “Above all, they argue that companies need to listen to their employees – and that this will promote, rather than impede, productivity and profitability.” Warzel writes the newsletter “Galaxy Brain” for The Atlantic, where he is a contributing writer.

(New York: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins, 2022).
From the author of the Case Closed series and three other books for young readers comes the first in a new middle-grade fantasy series. “Full of action, adventure, and friendship, a team of five girls must stop a powerful villain by finding their mythical familiars,” notes the publisher. Beautifully illustrated by Mirelle Ortega, this book invites readers to join these dynamic girls with mysterious powers as they fight to earn their “Mythies” and save their home, Terrafamiliar.

(Boston: Beacon Press, 2022).
Meet Sadia, a bright, spirited Somali Bantu teenager who rebels against her formidable mother; Ali, an Iraqi translator who creates a home with a divorced American woman but is still traumatized by war; and Mersiha, a hard-working Bosnian who dreams of opening a café.

(Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press/Random House: 2021).

Throw out that long grocery list. This cookbook, named one of the best of the year by The Washington Post, features 60 recipes that deliver mouth-watering results “in five, four, three … or, yep, even two ingredients,” notes the publisher.

(Villanova, Pa.: Connelly Press, 2022).

This book of two novellas offers what one reviewer describes as ”poignant portraits of aging men, their fears and strengths, and earned love. Groome is all about the narrative.” Set in the Adirondacks, “Giant of the Valley” is a tale of a family struggling with the encroaching dementia of its aging patriarch. “The Witness” is the story of Jusuf Kurtovic, who pays a horrendous price to protect his Muslim granddaughters during the Bosnian War.

(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2021).
The author, professor, and chair of the Department of Politics at Oberlin College investigates how the fear of labor protest has inhibited substantial economic transformation in Russia. The publisher notes, “Labor protests currently show little sign of threatening Putin’s hold on power, but the manner in which they are being conducted point to substantial chronic problems that will be difficult to resolve. Putin’s Labor Dilemma demonstrates that the Russian economy must either find new sources of economic growth or face stagnation. Either scenario — market reforms or economic stagnation — raises the possibility, even probability, of destabilizing social unrest.”

(New York: Abrams Books, 2022).

Described by the publisher as “the perfect gift for every parent,” this book translates the science on what babies need for optimal growth from infancy through toddlerhood into a language that is easy for parents of all ages and backgrounds to understand. “Children’s minds are molded by experience, and science tells us that the way a parent touches, holds, looks at, and responds to babies and toddlers has a lifelong impact on the way that this brand-new person will come to see the world and their place within it,” the publisher notes. The book is filled with beautiful images of babies and toddlers matched with captions “spoken” in their voices and summaries of the research on the powerful impact of nurturing interactions.

(Tubac, Ariz.: Full Court Press, 2020)

This collection of short stories is inspired by the author’s long residence in the West. “Fearnow‘s fictional world springs to life with plain, blunt prose that mirrors the hard truths his young, vulnerable characters are made to face. As a sympathetic but unsentimental chronicler of their lives, he shows a mastery of detail and a Faulknerian ability to expose the ways in which the present is haunted by the past,” notes Roy Schecter ’73 on the book jacket. Fearnow is a retired lawyer.

(Winston Salem, N.C.: Riderwood Publishing, 2020)

Strategic Management: Value Creation, Sustainability, and Performance is the fastest growing strategy textbook in the United States since 2019 and is now in use at roughly 100 colleges and universities. It is the leading strategy textbook on the world’s leading digital textbook hosting and distribution platform. Used by business schools to teach the capstone strategy course, the book “combines theory and practice in a novel integrative approach to the study of strategic management,” according to the publisher. “Emphasizing the value chain and resource-based sustainability as central integrating concepts, it also draws on the twin ‘strategic imperatives’ of value creation and opportunity recognition as recurrent themes that help to synch ideas from cover to cover. Examples from strategy development in highly competitive environments illustrate how traditional theoretical principles and analytical frameworks apply to today's dynamic business climate.”

(Mendota Heights, Minn.: North Star Editions, 2021) 

This middle-grade novel is a thoughtful exploration of allyship, family, and love that resonates with readers of all ages. It tells the story of Maisie, a young artist who must decide not only if saving her family’s struggling art shop is worth it, but if she can forgive her parents for past mistakes. The author studied creative writing at Hamilton and began drafting the book as part of her senior thesis. The novel won an Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY).