
Every work on Rorotoko since 2008, newest first.

Thomas Borstelmann
Books /
Thomas Borstelmann
On balance, America has included and assimilated foreigners, enough to make it the most diverse great power in history.
Foreignness: how have Americans thought about it? Who are we, who are they, and how are we related to each other? These questions have underpinned all of American history, as...
Just Like Us
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Foreignness: how have Americans thought about it? Who are we, who are they, and how are we related to each other? These questions have underpinned all of American history, as...
April 29, 2020
April 29, 2020
April 29, 2020

Thomas Borstelmann
Books /
Thomas Borstelmann
On balance, America has included and assimilated foreigners, enough to make it the most diverse great power in history.
I have been writing and teaching U.S. and world history for more than three decades, for 12 years at Cornell and then 17 years at Nebraska. I have been primarily...
Just Like Us
Read the thread →
The wide angle

I have been writing and teaching U.S. and world history for more than three decades, for 12 years at Cornell and then 17 years at Nebraska. I have been primarily...
April 29, 2020
April 29, 2020
April 29, 2020

Thomas Borstelmann
Books /
Thomas Borstelmann
The American record on foreigners is a story of inclusion, not exclusion.
I would—of course, I did—start with the Preface. It aims to draw the reader directly into the problem of Americans and foreigners, and how I see the development of this...
Just Like Us
Read the thread →
A close-up

I would—of course, I did—start with the Preface. It aims to draw the reader directly into the problem of Americans and foreigners, and how I see the development of this...
April 29, 2020
April 29, 2020
April 29, 2020
Race & Inequality, Migration & Borders

Lydia G. Fash
Books /
Lydia G. Fash
Between 1812 and 1845 who counted as American was worked out in sketches and tales, which defined Americanness as whiteness.
I risk undercutting my argument that short fiction needs more attention by saying this, but for most readers, the easiest chapter to dive into will be the final chapter about...
The Sketch, the Tale, and the Beginnings of American Literature
Read the thread →
A close-up

I risk undercutting my argument that short fiction needs more attention by saying this, but for most readers, the easiest chapter to dive into will be the final chapter about...
April 22, 2020
April 22, 2020
April 22, 2020

Lydia G. Fash
Books /
Lydia G. Fash
In early America, sketches and tales, not novels, decided who counted as American.
The long and short of short fiction is that it’s been mostly ignored in literary history. We literary critics have a distinct bias towards novels. The genre is supposedly narratively...
The Sketch, the Tale, and the Beginnings of American Literature
Read the thread →
The wide angle

The long and short of short fiction is that it’s been mostly ignored in literary history. We literary critics have a distinct bias towards novels. The genre is supposedly narratively...
April 22, 2020
April 22, 2020
April 22, 2020
Literature & Writers

Lydia G. Fash
Books /
Lydia G. Fash
Between 1812 and 1845 who counted as American was worked out in sketches and tales, which defined Americanness as whiteness.
Between the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), US folks celebrated US beginnings in all sorts of ways. They formed Forefather Societies. They held Forth of July parades...
The Sketch, the Tale, and the Beginnings of American Literature
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Between the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), US folks celebrated US beginnings in all sorts of ways. They formed Forefather Societies. They held Forth of July parades...
April 22, 2020
April 22, 2020
April 22, 2020

Jennifer Delton
Books /
Jennifer Delton
Judged by its work for manufacturing, NAM's record is progressive as often as reactionary, and Reagan was its low point.
Historians and political scientists have long used NAM to represent “big business” or “industry.” In part, this was because NAM claimed to be the voice of organized industry and also...
The Industrialists
Read the thread →
The wide angle

Historians and political scientists have long used NAM to represent “big business” or “industry.” In part, this was because NAM claimed to be the voice of organized industry and also...
April 15, 2020
April 15, 2020
April 15, 2020

Jennifer Delton
Books /
Jennifer Delton
Judged by its work for manufacturing, NAM's record is progressive as often as reactionary, and Reagan was its low point.
Manufacturing once drove the U.S. economy. Its factories and innovations defined American capitalism in the twentieth century. At its height in the 1950s, American-based manufacturing represented 25.8% of GDP and...
The Industrialists
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Manufacturing once drove the U.S. economy. Its factories and innovations defined American capitalism in the twentieth century. At its height in the 1950s, American-based manufacturing represented 25.8% of GDP and...
April 15, 2020
April 15, 2020
April 15, 2020

Jennifer Delton
Books /
Jennifer Delton
The National Association of Manufacturers was progressive as often as reactionary.
I would urge the reader to look at the Reagan chapter first. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I suggest the Reagan era was a low point for NAM. During the 1980s,...
The Industrialists
Read the thread →
A close-up

I would urge the reader to look at the Reagan chapter first. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I suggest the Reagan era was a low point for NAM. During the 1980s,...
April 15, 2020
April 15, 2020
April 15, 2020
Economics & Business, Politics & Democracy

Marilyn Strathern
Books /
Marilyn Strathern
Anthropology's concept of the relation privileges similarity, so it blocks expression of cosmologies that relate through difference.
It might come as a bit of a surprise that there is so much in the book about friendship. Perhaps because I know so little, I find some of the...
Relations
Read the thread →
A close-up

It might come as a bit of a surprise that there is so much in the book about friendship. Perhaps because I know so little, I find some of the...
April 4, 2020
April 4, 2020
April 4, 2020

Marilyn Strathern
Books /
Marilyn Strathern
Anthropology's idea of the relation favors similarity and hides worlds built on difference.
How do anthropologists describe their own practices? Their working concepts would have to be part of it. Nothing could be more diffuse or ubiquitous than the English-language use of relation,...
Relations
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

How do anthropologists describe their own practices? Their working concepts would have to be part of it. Nothing could be more diffuse or ubiquitous than the English-language use of relation,...
April 4, 2020
April 4, 2020
April 4, 2020
Everyday Life & Anthropology, Language & Linguistics

Marilyn Strathern
Books /
Marilyn Strathern
Anthropology's concept of the relation privileges similarity, so it blocks expression of cosmologies that relate through difference.
I turn a question about concepts into an enquiry concerning English language usage of, and thus terms for, relations. Anyone considering how English speakers deploy ‘relation’ and...
Relations
Read the thread →
The wide angle

I turn a question about concepts into an enquiry concerning English language usage of, and thus terms for, relations. Anyone considering how English speakers deploy ‘relation’ and...
April 4, 2020
April 4, 2020
April 4, 2020

Michael D. Gordin
Books /
Michael D. Gordin
Einstein's sixteen months in Prague were no way station, and they durably marked his philosophy of science, Zionism and politics.
The point of departure for Einstein in Bohemia is a simple observation: for about sixteen months, from April 1911 to August 1912, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was professor of theoretical physics...
Einstein in Bohemia
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

The point of departure for Einstein in Bohemia is a simple observation: for about sixteen months, from April 1911 to August 1912, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was professor of theoretical physics...
April 1, 2020
April 1, 2020
April 1, 2020

Michael D. Gordin
Books /
Michael D. Gordin
Einstein's sixteen months in Prague were no way station, and they durably marked his philosophy of science, Zionism and politics.
There are two fundamental conceptions that animate this book, one drawn from the history of science, and the other from the history of Central Europe. The first is the principle of...
Einstein in Bohemia
Read the thread →
The wide angle

There are two fundamental conceptions that animate this book, one drawn from the history of science, and the other from the history of Central Europe. The first is the principle of...
April 1, 2020
April 1, 2020
April 1, 2020

Michael D. Gordin
Books /
Michael D. Gordin
Einstein's sixteen months in Prague were not a way station but left a lasting mark.
If you were to flip through the book in a bookstore, you might land somewhere around pages 85-90, or if not there somewhere else in chapter 3: “Anti-Prague.” The chapter...
Einstein in Bohemia
Read the thread →
A close-up

If you were to flip through the book in a bookstore, you might land somewhere around pages 85-90, or if not there somewhere else in chapter 3: “Anti-Prague.” The chapter...
April 1, 2020
April 1, 2020
April 1, 2020
Science & Nature

Benjamin R. Cohen
Books /
Benjamin R. Cohen
No natural line divides pure from adulterated food, and between the 1860s and 1906 the line moved into the laboratory.
I said there are two ways that “” the book is about how people understood, resisted, and accommodated the origins of manufactured food. But here we are at the next...
Pure Adulteration
Read the thread →
The wide angle

I said there are two ways that “” the book is about how people understood, resisted, and accommodated the origins of manufactured food. But here we are at the next...
March 25, 2020
March 25, 2020
March 25, 2020

Benjamin R. Cohen
Books /
Benjamin R. Cohen
No natural line divides pure from adulterated food, and between the 1860s and 1906 the line moved into the laboratory.
Most of the chapters begin with a story about a con man or a point of confusion and mistrust in the world of nineteenth century foods. The first chapter introduces...
Pure Adulteration
Read the thread →
A close-up

Most of the chapters begin with a story about a con man or a point of confusion and mistrust in the world of nineteenth century foods. The first chapter introduces...
March 25, 2020
March 25, 2020
March 25, 2020

Benjamin R. Cohen
Books /
Benjamin R. Cohen
There is no natural line between pure and adulterated food.
Pure Adulteration is about the origins of manufactured food. More centrally, it is about the struggles people had with the introduction of new foods in the later 1800s. The book...
Pure Adulteration
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Pure Adulteration is about the origins of manufactured food. More centrally, it is about the struggles people had with the introduction of new foods in the later 1800s. The book...
March 25, 2020
March 25, 2020
March 25, 2020
Food & Drink, Science & Nature

Jason Pine
Books /
Jason Pine
The American Dream is the gateway drug, and meth cooking is a hyperbolic version of coming undone while pursuing it.
If a potential reader were to simply browse the book, I hope they would quickly find a page from one of the meth cooks’ stories. They are sensitive, wounded people...
The Alchemy of Meth
Read the thread →
A close-up

If a potential reader were to simply browse the book, I hope they would quickly find a page from one of the meth cooks’ stories. They are sensitive, wounded people...
March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020

Jason Pine
Books /
Jason Pine
The American Dream is the gateway drug, and meth cooking is a hyperbolic version of coming undone while pursuing it.
I’m an anthropologist but I’ve struggled with the discipline since I began studying it in the 1980s. That was a time when some anthropologists were focusing on the taken-for-granted medium...
The Alchemy of Meth
Read the thread →
The wide angle

I’m an anthropologist but I’ve struggled with the discipline since I began studying it in the 1980s. That was a time when some anthropologists were focusing on the taken-for-granted medium...
March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020

Jason Pine
Books /
Jason Pine
Meth cooking is an extreme version of coming undone while chasing the American Dream.
The Alchemy of Meth, to me, is really about the second part of the title, A Decomposition. It is steeped in the materials of meth making, but it is also...
The Alchemy of Meth
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

The Alchemy of Meth, to me, is really about the second part of the title, A Decomposition. It is steeped in the materials of meth making, but it is also...
March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020
Everyday Life & Anthropology, Health & Medicine

Mona L. Siegel
Books /
Mona L. Siegel
In 1919 women's rights became a global rallying cry.
It is difficult to crack open this book to a particular page and get a strong sense of the whole. Individual chapters highlight the activism of varying groups of women...
Peace on Our Terms
Read the thread →
A close-up

It is difficult to crack open this book to a particular page and get a strong sense of the whole. Individual chapters highlight the activism of varying groups of women...
March 11, 2020
March 11, 2020
March 11, 2020
Gender & Sexuality, Politics & Democracy

Mona L. Siegel
Books /
Mona L. Siegel
The women's intervention at the 1919 peace was a simultaneous worldwide one, in Paris, Zurich, Washington, Cairo and Beijing.
Nobody truly trains to be a global historian. The field is too vast; the subject matter is impossible to master. I came to this project as a historian of European...
Peace on Our Terms
Read the thread →
The wide angle

Nobody truly trains to be a global historian. The field is too vast; the subject matter is impossible to master. I came to this project as a historian of European...
March 11, 2020
March 11, 2020
March 11, 2020

Mona L. Siegel
Books /
Mona L. Siegel
The women's intervention at the 1919 peace was a simultaneous worldwide one, in Paris, Zurich, Washington, Cairo and Beijing.
Peace on Our Terms recounts the dramatic story of female activism around the world during a single, remarkable year in history, 1919, when the bloodshed of World War I finally...
Peace on Our Terms
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Peace on Our Terms recounts the dramatic story of female activism around the world during a single, remarkable year in history, 1919, when the bloodshed of World War I finally...
March 11, 2020
March 11, 2020
March 11, 2020

Walter Scheidel
Books /
Walter Scheidel
Every cause of the Great Divergence is downstream of one condition, that no empire like Rome ever returned to Europe.
If historians don’t try to explain why the world has turned out the way it has, they are falling down on the job. Yet academic historians often have trouble seeing...
Escape from Rome
Read the thread →
The wide angle

If historians don’t try to explain why the world has turned out the way it has, they are falling down on the job. Yet academic historians often have trouble seeing...
March 4, 2020
March 4, 2020
March 4, 2020

Walter Scheidel
Books /
Walter Scheidel
Europe pulled ahead because no empire like Rome ever returned to it.
It is always a good idea to start at the end. The epilogue of my book takes its cue from the famous question in the Monty Python movie The Life...
Escape from Rome
Read the thread →
A close-up

It is always a good idea to start at the end. The epilogue of my book takes its cue from the famous question in the Monty Python movie The Life...
March 4, 2020
March 4, 2020
March 4, 2020
Empire & Colonialism, Economics & Business

Walter Scheidel
Books /
Walter Scheidel
Every cause of the Great Divergence is downstream of one condition, that no empire like Rome ever returned to Europe.
Escape from Rome offers an answer to a very big question: Why has the world become modern instead of remaining stuck in the agrarian age, when hunger, disease, illiteracy, and...
Escape from Rome
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Escape from Rome offers an answer to a very big question: Why has the world become modern instead of remaining stuck in the agrarian age, when hunger, disease, illiteracy, and...
March 4, 2020
March 4, 2020
March 4, 2020

Sarah Cole
Books /
Sarah Cole
Beginning the twentieth century with Wells rather than modernism yields a larger literary period, and Wells's supposed failings are strategies.
One of the biggest questions that has animated modernist studies in the last two decades has been, what were others (not just Woolf, Joyce, Eliot, Yeats, Conrad…) saying: who, where,...
Inventing Tomorrow
Read the thread →
The wide angle

One of the biggest questions that has animated modernist studies in the last two decades has been, what were others (not just Woolf, Joyce, Eliot, Yeats, Conrad…) saying: who, where,...
February 26, 2020
February 26, 2020
February 26, 2020

Sarah Cole
Books /
Sarah Cole
Beginning the twentieth century with Wells rather than modernism yields a larger literary period, and Wells's supposed failings are strategies.
If one were to open Inventing Tomorrow somewhere, where should that be? If you are drawn to the big story and to the argument with modernism, read the Introduction. The...
Inventing Tomorrow
Read the thread →
A close-up

If one were to open Inventing Tomorrow somewhere, where should that be? If you are drawn to the big story and to the argument with modernism, read the Introduction. The...
February 26, 2020
February 26, 2020
February 26, 2020

Sarah Cole
Books /
Sarah Cole
The literary twentieth century begins with Wells, not with modernism.
Inventing Tomorrow sets out to tell a story of 20th century literary culture that follows an entirely different path from the one that has dominated academia for the last fifty...
Inventing Tomorrow
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Inventing Tomorrow sets out to tell a story of 20th century literary culture that follows an entirely different path from the one that has dominated academia for the last fifty...
February 26, 2020
February 26, 2020
February 26, 2020
Literature & Writers

Micheline R. Ishay
Books /
Micheline R. Ishay
The Arab uprisings follow a recognizable pattern of revolution and counterrevolution, and women will most likely restart the advance.
First, the book title, The Levant Express, is a metaphor representing the demands for human rights that raced across the Arab world like a high-speed train during the Arab uprisings...
The Levant Express
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

First, the book title, The Levant Express, is a metaphor representing the demands for human rights that raced across the Arab world like a high-speed train during the Arab uprisings...
February 19, 2020
February 19, 2020
February 19, 2020

Micheline R. Ishay
Books /
Micheline R. Ishay
The Arab uprisings follow a familiar pattern of revolution and counterrevolution, not a regional exception.
An accomplished artist, Brooke VanDevelder, worked with me to create customized illustrations that serve as frontispieces for each of the book’s three sections. If a potential reader is just browsing,...
The Levant Express
Read the thread →
A close-up

An accomplished artist, Brooke VanDevelder, worked with me to create customized illustrations that serve as frontispieces for each of the book’s three sections. If a potential reader is just browsing,...
February 19, 2020
February 19, 2020
February 19, 2020
Politics & Democracy, Law & Justice

Micheline R. Ishay
Books /
Micheline R. Ishay
The Arab uprisings follow a recognizable pattern of revolution and counterrevolution, and women will most likely restart the advance.
When the Arab Spring began, I had an unusual vantage point. Living in the United Arab Emirates as a visiting professor, I was teaching one of the first human rights...
The Levant Express
Read the thread →
The wide angle

When the Arab Spring began, I had an unusual vantage point. Living in the United Arab Emirates as a visiting professor, I was teaching one of the first human rights...
February 19, 2020
February 19, 2020
February 19, 2020

Lucas Richert
Books /
Lucas Richert
The consequential radicalism in American psychiatry came from a caucus inside the APA, in the 1970s rather than the 1960s.
As we reflect on the #MeToo era, Weinstein, Epstein, and other deeply unseemly characters, it’s important to note that women’s issues and mental health were embedded in radical mental medicine...
Break On Through
Read the thread →
A close-up

As we reflect on the #MeToo era, Weinstein, Epstein, and other deeply unseemly characters, it’s important to note that women’s issues and mental health were embedded in radical mental medicine...
February 12, 2020
February 12, 2020
February 12, 2020

Lucas Richert
Books /
Lucas Richert
The consequential radicalism in American psychiatry came from a caucus inside the APA, in the 1970s rather than the 1960s.
Break on Through examines the US-based mental health profession, activism, and the American mind in the 1970s. It’s quite a large canvas. I wanted readers to get a handle on...
Break On Through
Read the thread →
The wide angle

Break on Through examines the US-based mental health profession, activism, and the American mind in the 1970s. It’s quite a large canvas. I wanted readers to get a handle on...
February 12, 2020
February 12, 2020
February 12, 2020

Lucas Richert
Books /
Lucas Richert
The real radicalism in American psychiatry came from inside the profession, not from outside critics.
A half century ago a “radical caucus” formed in the American Psychiatric Association. The group, while somewhat small, felt that mental medicine needed to change in the US. The caucus...
Break On Through
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

A half century ago a “radical caucus” formed in the American Psychiatric Association. The group, while somewhat small, felt that mental medicine needed to change in the US. The caucus...
February 12, 2020
February 12, 2020
February 12, 2020
Health & Medicine, Mind & Brain

Françoise Baylis
Books /
Françoise Baylis
The human genome is the common heritage of humanity, so heritable editing is too important to leave to scientists.
Champions of heritable human genome editing often speak of the right to have children. From their perspective, access to heritable human genome editing is a reproductive right, and couples who...
Altered Inheritance
Read the thread →
The wide angle

Champions of heritable human genome editing often speak of the right to have children. From their perspective, access to heritable human genome editing is a reproductive right, and couples who...
February 5, 2020
February 5, 2020
February 5, 2020

Françoise Baylis
Books /
Françoise Baylis
The human genome is the common heritage of humanity, so heritable editing is too important to leave to scientists.
On December 30, 2019, the Chinese scientist Jiankui He was sentenced to three years in jail and fined three million yuan. His crime? Creating the world’s first CRISPR-edited babies. My...
Altered Inheritance
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

On December 30, 2019, the Chinese scientist Jiankui He was sentenced to three years in jail and fined three million yuan. His crime? Creating the world’s first CRISPR-edited babies. My...
February 5, 2020
February 5, 2020
February 5, 2020

Françoise Baylis
Books /
Françoise Baylis
The human genome belongs to all of humanity, not to scientists.
If someone were fanning through the pages of this book at a local bookstore or library, I would encourage them to peruse the first chapter “Targeting a Single Gene: Huntington’s...
Altered Inheritance
Read the thread →
A close-up

If someone were fanning through the pages of this book at a local bookstore or library, I would encourage them to peruse the first chapter “Targeting a Single Gene: Huntington’s...
February 5, 2020
February 5, 2020
February 5, 2020
Science & Nature, Health & Medicine

Alex Krieger
Books /
Alex Krieger
What looks like American flight from the city is an unbroken idealism about cities of the imagination.
The book is an interpretative look at the characteristic patterns of settlement and attitudes towards cities and urban life that are identified with American urbanization. It seeks to foster an...
City on a Hill
Read the thread →
The wide angle

The book is an interpretative look at the characteristic patterns of settlement and attitudes towards cities and urban life that are identified with American urbanization. It seeks to foster an...
January 29, 2020
January 29, 2020
January 29, 2020

Alex Krieger
Books /
Alex Krieger
What looks like American flight from the city is an unbroken idealism about cities of the imagination.
The most propitious enticement for a browser may be the 32-page color insert of photographs, maps and drawings of American environments. A picture may not always be worth a thousand...
City on a Hill
Read the thread →
A close-up

The most propitious enticement for a browser may be the 32-page color insert of photographs, maps and drawings of American environments. A picture may not always be worth a thousand...
January 29, 2020
January 29, 2020
January 29, 2020

Alex Krieger
Books /
Alex Krieger
Americans are not anti-urban but idealists about cities of the imagination.
The book’s primary intent is to portray the American inclination to experiment with forms of settlement, evident in both utopian and pragmatic efforts at reconceiving how and in what shape...
City on a Hill
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

The book’s primary intent is to portray the American inclination to experiment with forms of settlement, evident in both utopian and pragmatic efforts at reconceiving how and in what shape...
January 29, 2020
January 29, 2020
January 29, 2020
Cities & Urban Life, Architecture & Built Environment

David M. Struthers
Books /
David M. Struthers
The broadest interracial solidarities in America formed where organization was weakest.
The near-continuous movements of people and of ideas are two themes that flow through the work. Migration from within the United States and across international boundaries increased the population of...
The World in a City
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

The near-continuous movements of people and of ideas are two themes that flow through the work. Migration from within the United States and across international boundaries increased the population of...
December 11, 2019
December 11, 2019
December 11, 2019
Work & Labor, Race & Inequality

David M. Struthers
Books /
David M. Struthers
The broadest interracial solidarities in American history formed where organization was weakest, among migratory workers outside unions and parties.
I’d suggest opening the book to Chapter 6 on the Baja Raids. In winter and spring 1910/1911 the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) organized a military incursion across the U.S.–Mexico border...
The World in a City
Read the thread →
A close-up

I’d suggest opening the book to Chapter 6 on the Baja Raids. In winter and spring 1910/1911 the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) organized a military incursion across the U.S.–Mexico border...
December 11, 2019
December 11, 2019
December 11, 2019

David M. Struthers
Books /
David M. Struthers
The broadest interracial solidarities in American history formed where organization was weakest, among migratory workers outside unions and parties.
The book opens its aperture to capture forms of interracial organizing and interaction that might otherwise be dismissed as fleeting and insignificant; the mobility of workers often made solidarities and...
The World in a City
Read the thread →
The wide angle

The book opens its aperture to capture forms of interracial organizing and interaction that might otherwise be dismissed as fleeting and insignificant; the mobility of workers often made solidarities and...
December 11, 2019
December 11, 2019
December 11, 2019


David T. Courtwright
Books /
David T. Courtwright
Addiction spread because business built a global system, limbic capitalism, that undermines self-control.
Vice and addiction have always been with us. The Age of Addiction shows how entrepreneurs melded vices and addictions into a global economic system of limbic capitalism, outmaneuvering reformers determined...
The Age of Addiction
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Vice and addiction have always been with us. The Age of Addiction shows how entrepreneurs melded vices and addictions into a global economic system of limbic capitalism, outmaneuvering reformers determined...
December 4, 2019
December 4, 2019
December 4, 2019
Health & Medicine, Economics & Business


David T. Courtwright
Books /
David T. Courtwright
Addiction proliferated because entrepreneurs welded vices into limbic capitalism, a global system that systematically undermines appetite control.
Not everyone is happy with all the talk of expanding addiction. It bothers clinicians who fear stigmatization, libertarians who smell an excuse for indiscipline, social scientists who fear neuroscientific reductionism...
The Age of Addiction
Read the thread →
A close-up

Not everyone is happy with all the talk of expanding addiction. It bothers clinicians who fear stigmatization, libertarians who smell an excuse for indiscipline, social scientists who fear neuroscientific reductionism...
December 4, 2019
December 4, 2019
December 4, 2019


David T. Courtwright
Books /
David T. Courtwright
Addiction proliferated because entrepreneurs welded vices into limbic capitalism, a global system that systematically undermines appetite control.
I wrote the Age of Addition to explain why addiction has become so widespread, conspicuous, and varied. When I entered the field in the 1970s, as a doctoral student studying...
The Age of Addiction
Read the thread →
The wide angle

I wrote the Age of Addition to explain why addiction has become so widespread, conspicuous, and varied. When I entered the field in the 1970s, as a doctoral student studying...
December 4, 2019
December 4, 2019
December 4, 2019

Todd McGowan
Books /
Todd McGowan
There is no Hegelian synthesis, and absolute knowing is the recognition that contradiction is intractable.
Emancipation After Hegel provides an introduction to Hegel that reimagines Hegel’s project and at the same time engages in contemporary political debates. When I started thinking about the book, I...
Emancipation After Hegel
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Emancipation After Hegel provides an introduction to Hegel that reimagines Hegel’s project and at the same time engages in contemporary political debates. When I started thinking about the book, I...
November 27, 2019
November 27, 2019
November 27, 2019

Todd McGowan
Books /
Todd McGowan
Hegel is about sustaining contradiction, not overcoming it.
The first chapter of Emancipation After Hegel lays out the argument of the entire book in detail, so this is a good starting point. Starting at the beginning would give...
Emancipation After Hegel
Read the thread →
A close-up

The first chapter of Emancipation After Hegel lays out the argument of the entire book in detail, so this is a good starting point. Starting at the beginning would give...
November 27, 2019
November 27, 2019
November 27, 2019
Philosophy & Ideas

Todd McGowan
Books /
Todd McGowan
There is no Hegelian synthesis, and absolute knowing is the recognition that contradiction is intractable.
From the first time I tried to read Hegel, I remember how intimidating I found his language and yet how enticing his ideas were to me. As a result, I...
Emancipation After Hegel
Read the thread →
The wide angle

From the first time I tried to read Hegel, I remember how intimidating I found his language and yet how enticing his ideas were to me. As a result, I...
November 27, 2019
November 27, 2019
November 27, 2019

Tobias Boes
Books /
Tobias Boes
Mann's American celebrity was manufactured, and it worked because he was sold as representing a German tradition Nazism had perverted.
Although Thomas Mann’s War is primarily a book about the 1930s and 1940s, I embarked on the project because of my interest in contemporary literature. This connection came full circle...
Thomas Mann's War
Read the thread →
The wide angle

Although Thomas Mann’s War is primarily a book about the 1930s and 1940s, I embarked on the project because of my interest in contemporary literature. This connection came full circle...
November 20, 2019
November 20, 2019
November 20, 2019

Tobias Boes
Books /
Tobias Boes
Mann's American celebrity was manufactured, and it worked because he was sold as representing a German tradition Nazism had perverted.
My book tells the story of the German novelist Thomas Mann’s anti-fascist activities during the period of his American exile, which began in 1938. Mann had won the Nobel Prize...
Thomas Mann's War
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

My book tells the story of the German novelist Thomas Mann’s anti-fascist activities during the period of his American exile, which began in 1938. Mann had won the Nobel Prize...
November 20, 2019
November 20, 2019
November 20, 2019

Tobias Boes
Books /
Tobias Boes
Thomas Mann's American celebrity was manufactured, not earned by literary merit alone.
Most readers browsing through the book in a bookstore will probably end up lingering over the fourth chapter, which has not only a catchy title (“Hitler’s Most Intimate Enemy”), but...
Thomas Mann's War
Read the thread →
A close-up

Most readers browsing through the book in a bookstore will probably end up lingering over the fourth chapter, which has not only a catchy title (“Hitler’s Most Intimate Enemy”), but...
November 20, 2019
November 20, 2019
November 20, 2019
Literature & Writers, War & Conflict

Amanda Boetzkes
Books /
Amanda Boetzkes
Waste belongs to the global economy of energy, not to disposal, and art constitutes ecological consciousness rather than illustrating it.
If you were to approach this book at a bookstore, you would immediately be struck by the cover image. It’s a photograph of a couple sealed in plastic together with...
Plastic Capitalism
Read the thread →
A close-up

If you were to approach this book at a bookstore, you would immediately be struck by the cover image. It’s a photograph of a couple sealed in plastic together with...
November 13, 2019
November 13, 2019
November 13, 2019

Amanda Boetzkes
Books /
Amanda Boetzkes
Waste is defined by the global energy economy, not by what we throw away.
Waste occupies a paradoxical position today: it is made to be disposable, and we want to get rid of it, but we cannot. Where at other times in history, we’ve...
Plastic Capitalism
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Waste occupies a paradoxical position today: it is made to be disposable, and we want to get rid of it, but we cannot. Where at other times in history, we’ve...
November 13, 2019
November 13, 2019
November 13, 2019
Art & Design, Environment & Climate

Amanda Boetzkes
Books /
Amanda Boetzkes
Waste belongs to the global economy of energy, not to disposal, and art constitutes ecological consciousness rather than illustrating it.
The book’s primary tenet, that waste is defined in relation to the global economy of energy, derives from the French poet and surrealist Georges Bataille’s book, The Accursed Share, published...
Plastic Capitalism
Read the thread →
The wide angle

The book’s primary tenet, that waste is defined in relation to the global economy of energy, derives from the French poet and surrealist Georges Bataille’s book, The Accursed Share, published...
November 13, 2019
November 13, 2019
November 13, 2019

David Farber
Books /
David Farber
In a de-industrializing America with no dignified inner-city jobs, crack dealers were the Horatio Alger boys of their time.
Crack tells the story of the young men who bet their lives on the rewards of selling “rock” cocaine, the people who gave themselves over to the crack pipe, and...
Crack
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Crack tells the story of the young men who bet their lives on the rewards of selling “rock” cocaine, the people who gave themselves over to the crack pipe, and...
November 6, 2019
November 6, 2019
November 6, 2019

David Farber
Books /
David Farber
Crack dealers were the Horatio Alger boys of a de-industrializing America.
While Crack is, as books go, on the slim side, it covers a lot of ground. While I hope the chapters on the history of cocaine, the lure of crack,...
Crack
Read the thread →
A close-up

While Crack is, as books go, on the slim side, it covers a lot of ground. While I hope the chapters on the history of cocaine, the lure of crack,...
November 6, 2019
November 6, 2019
November 6, 2019
Crime & Policing, Economics & Business

David Farber
Books /
David Farber
In a de-industrializing America with no dignified inner-city jobs, crack dealers were the Horatio Alger boys of their time.
I never smoked crack. I did live in New York City in the 1980s and 1990s at the height of the crack era. Until my wife and I discovered it,...
Crack
Read the thread →
The wide angle

I never smoked crack. I did live in New York City in the 1980s and 1990s at the height of the crack era. Until my wife and I discovered it,...
November 6, 2019
November 6, 2019
November 6, 2019

Mary Anne Franks
Books /
Mary Anne Franks
American constitutional reverence is a cult, and outsized attention to the First and Second Amendments allocates rights to white men.
I would hope that the reader would encounter the first pages of the preface first. They do not outline an argument or a political position but tell a personal story...
The Cult of the Constitution
Read the thread →
A close-up

I would hope that the reader would encounter the first pages of the preface first. They do not outline an argument or a political position but tell a personal story...
October 30, 2019
October 30, 2019
October 30, 2019

Mary Anne Franks
Books /
Mary Anne Franks
American constitutional reverence is a cult, and outsized attention to the First and Second Amendments allocates rights to white men.
The reverence Americans profess for the Constitution is all too often a selective and self-serving devotion. Constitutional fundamentalists, as I call them, treat the Constitution the way that religious fundamentalists...
The Cult of the Constitution
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

The reverence Americans profess for the Constitution is all too often a selective and self-serving devotion. Constitutional fundamentalists, as I call them, treat the Constitution the way that religious fundamentalists...
October 30, 2019
October 30, 2019
October 30, 2019

Mary Anne Franks
Books /
Mary Anne Franks
American reverence for the Constitution is a cult that mostly serves white men.
The book opens with the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, because it so dramatically illustrates the consequences of constitutional fundamentalism. In Charlottesville, we saw the collision of...
The Cult of the Constitution
Read the thread →
The wide angle

The book opens with the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, because it so dramatically illustrates the consequences of constitutional fundamentalism. In Charlottesville, we saw the collision of...
October 30, 2019
October 30, 2019
October 30, 2019
Law & Justice, Politics & Democracy

Andrew Ross
Books /
Andrew Ross
Palestinians who built Israel have earned political rights within it.
Why did I wrote the book? I was surprised to find that there is no published study of this stone industry, which is the largest private sector employer in the...
Stone Men
Read the thread →
The wide angle

Why did I wrote the book? I was surprised to find that there is no published study of this stone industry, which is the largest private sector employer in the...
October 23, 2019
October 23, 2019
October 23, 2019
Work & Labor, Empire & Colonialism

Andrew Ross
Books /
Andrew Ross
Palestinians built Israel, and building a country should translate into political rights within it.
Ostensibly, Stone Men is about the lives and labors of Palestinian stonemasons. These are men who work in the West Bank stone industry—in quarries, workshops, and factories—and have a rich...
Stone Men
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Ostensibly, Stone Men is about the lives and labors of Palestinian stonemasons. These are men who work in the West Bank stone industry—in quarries, workshops, and factories—and have a rich...
October 23, 2019
October 23, 2019
October 23, 2019

Andrew Ross
Books /
Andrew Ross
Palestinians built Israel, and building a country should translate into political rights within it.
Who Built Israel? The given wisdom is that Jewish settlers did. Unused to manual labor, they learned on the job and made “new Jews” of themselves according to the doctrine...
Stone Men
Read the thread →
A close-up

Who Built Israel? The given wisdom is that Jewish settlers did. Unused to manual labor, they learned on the job and made “new Jews” of themselves according to the doctrine...
October 23, 2019
October 23, 2019
October 23, 2019

James Simpson
Books /
James Simpson
Liberty of conscience and toleration emerge from Protestant polities by repudiating Luther and Calvin, not by fulfilling them.
I hope browsing readers will feel the palpable connections between the revolutionary period of the Reformation and our own times. The Introduction and Conclusion would be the places to get...
Permanent Revolution
Read the thread →
A close-up

I hope browsing readers will feel the palpable connections between the revolutionary period of the Reformation and our own times. The Introduction and Conclusion would be the places to get...
October 18, 2019
October 18, 2019
October 18, 2019

James Simpson
Books /
James Simpson
Liberty of conscience and toleration emerge from Protestant polities by repudiating Luther and Calvin, not by fulfilling them.
In my reading, the Reformation is less a religious movement than a movement of illiberal revolutionary modernity. Every aspect of Reformation practice is taken up and recycled by later, political...
Permanent Revolution
Read the thread →
The wide angle

In my reading, the Reformation is less a religious movement than a movement of illiberal revolutionary modernity. Every aspect of Reformation practice is taken up and recycled by later, political...
October 18, 2019
October 18, 2019
October 18, 2019

James Simpson
Books /
James Simpson
Early Protestantism was not the seedbed of liberalism but its opposite.
Protestants won in Northern Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The narrative produced by the winners was and largely remains triumphalist: Protestantism won because it foreshadowed the liberal order....
Permanent Revolution
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Protestants won in Northern Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The narrative produced by the winners was and largely remains triumphalist: Protestantism won because it foreshadowed the liberal order....
October 18, 2019
October 18, 2019
October 18, 2019
Religion & Belief, Philosophy & Ideas

Herbert S. Terrace
Books /
Herbert S. Terrace
Apes never learned to use symbols as names, so teaching them sentences was futile from the start.
I recommend a new reader turn to the chapter on the first year of infancy. Most people who spend time with infants (including their parents) think they are just playing...
Why Chimpanzees Can't Learn Language and Only Humans Can
Read the thread →
A close-up

I recommend a new reader turn to the chapter on the first year of infancy. Most people who spend time with infants (including their parents) think they are just playing...
October 2, 2019
October 2, 2019
October 2, 2019

Herbert S. Terrace
Books /
Herbert S. Terrace
Chimpanzees never learned to use symbols as names, so language was never within reach.
As a graduate student at Harvard University, I worked with B. F. Skinner, the preeminent behaviorist of the 20th century. Although my dissertation was about discrimination learning by pigeons, Skinner's...
Why Chimpanzees Can't Learn Language and Only Humans Can
Read the thread →
The wide angle

As a graduate student at Harvard University, I worked with B. F. Skinner, the preeminent behaviorist of the 20th century. Although my dissertation was about discrimination learning by pigeons, Skinner's...
October 2, 2019
October 2, 2019
October 2, 2019
Language & Linguistics, Mind & Brain

Herbert S. Terrace
Books /
Herbert S. Terrace
Apes never learned to use symbols as names, so teaching them sentences was futile from the start.
This book is about the origin of language, why it is special, and how it got that way. One reason language is special is that it allows human beings to...
Why Chimpanzees Can't Learn Language and Only Humans Can
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

This book is about the origin of language, why it is special, and how it got that way. One reason language is special is that it allows human beings to...
October 2, 2019
October 2, 2019
October 2, 2019

Ian Hodder
Books /
Ian Hodder
Humans head toward ever more stuff because when things fail the fix is more things, and that cannot be reversed.
I have tried in this book to engage with a range of disparate theoretical perspectives. On the one had there is a clear influence from Bruno Latour and other writers...
Where Are We Heading? The Evolution of Humans and Things
Read the thread →
The wide angle

I have tried in this book to engage with a range of disparate theoretical perspectives. On the one had there is a clear influence from Bruno Latour and other writers...
September 25, 2019
September 25, 2019
September 25, 2019

Ian Hodder
Books /
Ian Hodder
Humans keep heading toward more stuff because the fix for failing things is more things.
In this book I grapple with a problem: Is human development directional? Does human evolution move in a particular direction? In recent decades the dominant view in the various sciences...
Where Are We Heading? The Evolution of Humans and Things
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

In this book I grapple with a problem: Is human development directional? Does human evolution move in a particular direction? In recent decades the dominant view in the various sciences...
September 25, 2019
September 25, 2019
September 25, 2019
Everyday Life & Anthropology, Fashion & Material Culture

Ian Hodder
Books /
Ian Hodder
Humans head toward ever more stuff because when things fail the fix is more things, and that cannot be reversed.
I think that Chapter 4 on ‘humans and things’ would be the best starting place. This is because it is here that I explore the ways in which it is...
Where Are We Heading? The Evolution of Humans and Things
Read the thread →
A close-up

I think that Chapter 4 on ‘humans and things’ would be the best starting place. This is because it is here that I explore the ways in which it is...
September 25, 2019
September 25, 2019
September 25, 2019

Frank O. Bowman III
Books /
Frank O. Bowman III
Impeachment preserves constitutional balance, and reaches beyond crime to moments when president and Congress cannot be reconciled.
One big question inevitably raised by Anglo-American history is why, given the Framers’ expansive views of impeachment, it has so seldom been employed against American presidents, and why it seems...
High Crimes and Misdemeanors
Read the thread →
The wide angle

One big question inevitably raised by Anglo-American history is why, given the Framers’ expansive views of impeachment, it has so seldom been employed against American presidents, and why it seems...
September 18, 2019
September 18, 2019
September 18, 2019

Frank O. Bowman III
Books /
Frank O. Bowman III
Impeachment preserves constitutional balance, and reaches beyond crime to moments when president and Congress cannot be reconciled.
If the random reader encountered the book in a bookstore, I suppose I’d most want them to glance through one (or all) of three chapters: Chapter Four describes the Framers’ deliberations...
High Crimes and Misdemeanors
Read the thread →
A close-up

If the random reader encountered the book in a bookstore, I suppose I’d most want them to glance through one (or all) of three chapters: Chapter Four describes the Framers’ deliberations...
September 18, 2019
September 18, 2019
September 18, 2019

Frank O. Bowman III
Books /
Frank O. Bowman III
Impeachment is a political tool for preserving constitutional balance, not a criminal trial.
Some book titles are mysterious or allegorical, providing no obvious clue of what the darn things are about. No danger of that here. I’ve written a book about the long...
High Crimes and Misdemeanors
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Some book titles are mysterious or allegorical, providing no obvious clue of what the darn things are about. No danger of that here. I’ve written a book about the long...
September 18, 2019
September 18, 2019
September 18, 2019
Law & Justice, Politics & Democracy

Carla Yanni
Books /
Carla Yanni
The American dormitory is an artifact of three centuries of educational ideology that placed outsized value on socialization.
The black-and-white photograph shows a group of professional women posing in front of a brand-new dormitory. The year is 1928. It is a cold day. The women are bundled in fashionable cloth coats with fur collars. An African American woman, fourth from the left
Living on Campus
Read the thread →
A close-up

The black-and-white photograph shows a group of professional women posing in front of a brand-new dormitory. The year is 1928. It is a cold day. The women are bundled in fashionable cloth coats with fur collars. An African American woman, fourth from the left
September 11, 2019
September 11, 2019
September 11, 2019

Carla Yanni
Books /
Carla Yanni
The American dormitory is a product of three centuries of faith in socialization.
As an architectural historian, I use buildings to interpret the past. Through nuanced architectural analysis and detailed social history, I offer glimpses into the past, such as double-loaded corridors (which made surveillance easy but echoed with noise), staircase plans
Living on Campus
Read the thread →
The wide angle

As an architectural historian, I use buildings to interpret the past. Through nuanced architectural analysis and detailed social history, I offer glimpses into the past, such as double-loaded corridors (which made surveillance easy but echoed with noise), staircase plans
September 11, 2019
September 11, 2019
September 11, 2019
Architecture & Built Environment, Education & Universities

Carla Yanni
Books /
Carla Yanni
The American dormitory is an artifact of three centuries of educational ideology that placed outsized value on socialization.
Did you live in a dormitory? Do you have fond memories of it, or were you plotting your escape from the moment you moved in? Many people live in residence halls during a transformational moment in their lives. And lots of people pay for their children to live in dormitories, too. But few stop to think about the way these everyday structures shape young lives.
Living on Campus
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Did you live in a dormitory? Do you have fond memories of it, or were you plotting your escape from the moment you moved in? Many people live in residence halls during a transformational moment in their lives. And lots of people pay for their children to live in dormitories, too. But few stop to think about the way these everyday structures shape young lives.
September 11, 2019
September 11, 2019
September 11, 2019
.webp)
Adrienne Mayor
Books /
Adrienne Mayor
The idea of robots is ancient, and Hesiod's Talos, with inner workings and a power source, qualifies as one.
I picture someone in a bookstore becoming intrigued by the 75 illustrations, especially the 14 color plates showing the stunning skills of fifth-century BC artists. Ancient coins depict the bronze...
Gods and Robots
Read the thread →
A close-up
.webp)
I picture someone in a bookstore becoming intrigued by the 75 illustrations, especially the 14 color plates showing the stunning skills of fifth-century BC artists. Ancient coins depict the bronze...
September 4, 2019
September 4, 2019
September 4, 2019
.webp)
Adrienne Mayor
Books /
Adrienne Mayor
Greek myths imagined robots centuries before the technology existed to build them.
As a folklorist and historian of ancient science, I investigate the crossroads of classical antiquity, literature and art, archaeology, and history. My goal is uncovering historical and scientific realities embedded...
Gods and Robots
Read the thread →
The wide angle
.webp)
As a folklorist and historian of ancient science, I investigate the crossroads of classical antiquity, literature and art, archaeology, and history. My goal is uncovering historical and scientific realities embedded...
September 4, 2019
September 4, 2019
September 4, 2019
Technology & AI, Literature & Writers
.webp)
Adrienne Mayor
Books /
Adrienne Mayor
The idea of robots is ancient, and Hesiod's Talos, with inner workings and a power source, qualifies as one.
Who first imagined robots? Most historians believe that automatons were first developed in the Middle Ages. Some philosophers of science claim that it was impossible for anyone in ancient times to...
Gods and Robots
Read the thread →
In a nutshell
.webp)
Who first imagined robots? Most historians believe that automatons were first developed in the Middle Ages. Some philosophers of science claim that it was impossible for anyone in ancient times to...
September 4, 2019
September 4, 2019
September 4, 2019

Allan J. Lichtman
Books /
Allan J. Lichtman
America guarantees the vote to no one, not even citizens, so the franchise contracts as well as expands.
The Embattled Vote shows how the right to vote grounds participation in the decision-making of America’s democratic republic. Extreme disparities in income and wealth are embedded in today’s America. But...
The Embattled Vote in America
Read the thread →
The wide angle

The Embattled Vote shows how the right to vote grounds participation in the decision-making of America’s democratic republic. Extreme disparities in income and wealth are embedded in today’s America. But...
August 21, 2019
August 21, 2019
August 21, 2019

Allan J. Lichtman
Books /
Allan J. Lichtman
America guarantees the vote to no one, not even citizens, so the franchise contracts as well as expands.
I would turn your attention to pages x and xi of The Embattled Vote, which illuminate my work as an expert witness in voting rights litigation. In the 1980s I...
The Embattled Vote in America
Read the thread →
A close-up

I would turn your attention to pages x and xi of The Embattled Vote, which illuminate my work as an expert witness in voting rights litigation. In the 1980s I...
August 21, 2019
August 21, 2019
August 21, 2019

Allan J. Lichtman
Books /
Allan J. Lichtman
America guarantees the vote to no one, not even citizens.
The Embattled Vote explains why Americans have fought and died for the right to vote. The book is more relevant than ever after the Supreme Court sanctioned partisan gerrymandering in...
The Embattled Vote in America
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

The Embattled Vote explains why Americans have fought and died for the right to vote. The book is more relevant than ever after the Supreme Court sanctioned partisan gerrymandering in...
August 21, 2019
August 21, 2019
August 21, 2019
Politics & Democracy, Law & Justice

George C. Galster
Books /
George C. Galster
Neighborhood under-investment and segregation are market failures, and the remedy is spatially concentrated public intervention that leverages private money.
Urban theorists have tried for generations to define exactly what a neighborhood is. But behind that daunting existential question lies a much murkier problem: how do you make neighborhoods productive...
Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves
Read the thread →
The wide angle

Urban theorists have tried for generations to define exactly what a neighborhood is. But behind that daunting existential question lies a much murkier problem: how do you make neighborhoods productive...
August 7, 2019
August 7, 2019
August 7, 2019

George C. Galster
Books /
George C. Galster
Neighborhood segregation and under-investment are market failures, not accidents.
Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves presents a holistic analysis of the origins, nature, and consequences of neighborhood change and offers strategies for making a more socially desirable palette of...
Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves presents a holistic analysis of the origins, nature, and consequences of neighborhood change and offers strategies for making a more socially desirable palette of...
August 7, 2019
August 7, 2019
August 7, 2019
Cities & Urban Life, Economics & Business

George C. Galster
Books /
George C. Galster
Neighborhood under-investment and segregation are market failures, and the remedy is spatially concentrated public intervention that leverages private money.
The first few pages of the first chapter explain why Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves provides an important, new way of looking at neighborhoods that transcends the narrow perspectives...
Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves
Read the thread →
A close-up

The first few pages of the first chapter explain why Making Our Neighborhoods, Making Our Selves provides an important, new way of looking at neighborhoods that transcends the narrow perspectives...
August 7, 2019
August 7, 2019
August 7, 2019

André Millard
Books /
André Millard
The gadgets explain Bond's sixty-year survival, since every film shows a resourceful individual beating dangerous technology in criminal hands.
For the average movie goer who thinks of James Bond as the secret agent with the gadgets, I would suggest Chapter 11 “Gadgets” This chapter works through Bond’s equipment film...
Equipping James Bond
Read the thread →
A close-up

For the average movie goer who thinks of James Bond as the secret agent with the gadgets, I would suggest Chapter 11 “Gadgets” This chapter works through Bond’s equipment film...
July 24, 2019
July 24, 2019
July 24, 2019

André Millard
Books /
André Millard
The gadgets explain Bond's sixty-year survival, since every film shows a resourceful individual beating dangerous technology in criminal hands.
The Bond franchise is the longest, and most profitable, film franchise in the history of motion pictures. Audiences accept the financial success of Bond’s films in much the same way...
Equipping James Bond
Read the thread →
The wide angle

The Bond franchise is the longest, and most profitable, film franchise in the history of motion pictures. Audiences accept the financial success of Bond’s films in much the same way...
July 24, 2019
July 24, 2019
July 24, 2019

André Millard
Books /
André Millard
Gadgets are not padding on the Bond formula but the reason it has lasted sixty years.
This is a book about the equipment that James Bond uses: its origins, function, and the essential role it plays in Bond’s missions. The book also describes the role these...
Equipping James Bond
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

This is a book about the equipment that James Bond uses: its origins, function, and the essential role it plays in Bond’s missions. The book also describes the role these...
July 24, 2019
July 24, 2019
July 24, 2019
Film & TV, Technology & AI

Charlie Hailey
Books /
Charlie Hailey
Freedom at Slab City is built rather than found, since residents' structures hold their sites while they are away.
When you pick up Slab City, you might open it to Donovan’s photograph of an A-frame shelter made of pallets and cardboard. Late one afternoon in June, its builder gave...
Slab City
Read the thread →
A close-up

When you pick up Slab City, you might open it to Donovan’s photograph of an A-frame shelter made of pallets and cardboard. Late one afternoon in June, its builder gave...
July 10, 2019
July 11, 2019
July 12, 2019

Charlie Hailey
Books /
Charlie Hailey
Freedom at Slab City is built, not found.
A starting premise for our work was that camps, like Slab City, accommodate conditions that might otherwise remain without space. Camps are also bellwethers—early indicators of change and registers of...
Slab City
Read the thread →
The wide angle

A starting premise for our work was that camps, like Slab City, accommodate conditions that might otherwise remain without space. Camps are also bellwethers—early indicators of change and registers of...
July 10, 2019
July 11, 2019
July 12, 2019
Architecture & Built Environment, Everyday Life & Anthropology

Charlie Hailey
Books /
Charlie Hailey
Freedom at Slab City is built rather than found, since residents' structures hold their sites while they are away.
Slab City is known as the “last free place.” This remote settlement in the southern California desert occupies a decommissioned World War II military camp. Only its slabs and tank-rutted...
Slab City
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

Slab City is known as the “last free place.” This remote settlement in the southern California desert occupies a decommissioned World War II military camp. Only its slabs and tank-rutted...
July 10, 2019
July 11, 2019
July 12, 2019


Susan Schulten
Books /
Susan Schulten
Maps are not illustrations of history but forces that drive it.
I have a longstanding interest in old maps. My last book, Mapping the Nation, traced a sea change in the way that Americans and Europeans thought about and used maps...
A History of America in 100 Maps
Read the thread →
The wide angle

I have a longstanding interest in old maps. My last book, Mapping the Nation, traced a sea change in the way that Americans and Europeans thought about and used maps...
June 26, 2019
June 26, 2019
June 26, 2019
Art & Design, Science & Nature


Susan Schulten
Books /
Susan Schulten
Maps drive history, and the 1860 census map of slavery helped turn emancipation into Lincoln's war strategy.
From the voyages of discovery to the digital age, maps have been essential to five hundred years of American history. Whether made as weapons of war or instruments of reform,...
A History of America in 100 Maps
Read the thread →
In a nutshell

From the voyages of discovery to the digital age, maps have been essential to five hundred years of American history. Whether made as weapons of war or instruments of reform,...
June 26, 2019
June 26, 2019
June 26, 2019


Susan Schulten
Books /
Susan Schulten
Maps drive history, and the 1860 census map of slavery helped turn emancipation into Lincoln's war strategy.
The opening image of the book may take some readers by surprise: it does not include America at all because it was drawn before Europeans “discovered” the western hemisphere. After...
A History of America in 100 Maps
Read the thread →
A close-up

The opening image of the book may take some readers by surprise: it does not include America at all because it was drawn before Europeans “discovered” the western hemisphere. After...
June 26, 2019
June 26, 2019
June 26, 2019

Kirsten Fermaglich
Books /
Kirsten Fermaglich
Mid-century Jewish name changing answered antisemitic application forms, and most name changers stayed in the Jewish community.
Page 55 contains some of the most interesting visual evidence that my book offers, with both methodological and historical significance. On this page, readers will find the “Distinctive Jewish Names,”...
A Rosenberg by Any Other Name
Read the thread →
A close-up

Page 55 contains some of the most interesting visual evidence that my book offers, with both methodological and historical significance. On this page, readers will find the “Distinctive Jewish Names,”...
June 12, 2019
June 12, 2019
June 12, 2019
Loading the archive…
Most threads on Rorotoko begin with our invitation. Any thread can begin with a proposal: you write it with the same prompts every thread answers, and we review it.
Propose a thread →