Bookshelf

(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). 

(Newbury, Mass.: Sparrow Press, 2022)

The author shares her heart-wrenching story of growing up in a family of wealth but lacking in love and support. As one reviewer noted, “Artist Helen Morse’s gripping and revealing memoir, The Difficult Girl, is an astonishing story of the improbable survival of a sensitive child exposed to generational horrors, success, privilege, and abuse, all behind the gilded walls of a story F. Scott Fitzgerald’s characters Gatsby and Daisy might relate to.”

(Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Publishing, 2022)

According to the publisher, the book explores “the proliferation of food-themed television shows, documentaries, and networks; the booming popularity of celebrity chefs; unusual, exotic, decadent, creative, and even mundane food trends; and cultural celebrations of food, such as in festivals and music.”

(New York: Ballantine Books, 2022)

A young woman returns home to care for her dying father whose brain disease has awakened strange hallucinations. As she faces her dad’s illness and other family issues, the protagonist also finds herself dealing with the mysterious disappearance of her best friend from high school. According to the publisher, “Set against the backdrop of a small town in the throes of a very real opioid crisis, Unlikely Animals is a tragicomic novel about familial expectations, imperfect friendships, and the possibility of resurrecting that which had been thought irrevocably lost.”

(Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 2022).
In 1739, Bordeaux’s Royal Academy of Sciences announced a contest for the best essay addressing the following question: “What is the physical cause of the Negro’s color, the quality of [the Negro’s] hair, and the degeneration of both [hair and skin]?” The academy’s members were interested in obtaining essays that solved the riddle of Africans’ distinctive physical traits. More broadly, they wanted to know who is Black and why, and what being Black signified.

(New York: Orchard Books/Scholastic, 2022)

Can you count to zero? The author of 16 books for kids takes readers on a wild animal safari counting one wallaby, two tuna, three thrushes, four frogs, but absolutely zero zebras. Kids will realize the infinite possibilities of counting what is and isn’t on the page. This colorful book is filled with charming illustrations by Julien Chung.