Ebook of the Week - The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future

Watkins, S. Craig. The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future.  Boston: Beacon Press, 2009.

 In The Young and the Digital, S. Craig Watkins offers an interesting portrait, both celebratory and wary, about the coming of age of the first fully wired generation.  The book draws from more than 500 surveys and 350 in-depth interviews with young people, parents, and educators to understand how a digital lifestyle is affecting the ways youth learn, play, bond, and communicate. Published in 2009, Watkin’s analysis may not cover the very most recent developments in social networking, but it still has relevance vis-à-vis the current state of online social networking and its (mostly) young user base.  In its 208 pages, Watkins debunks popular myths surrounding cyberpredators, Internet addiction, and social isolation, and covers the influence of MySpace and Facebook, the growing appetite for “anytime, anywhere” media and “fast entertainment,” how online “digital gates” reinforce race and class divisions, and how technology is transforming America’s classrooms.

Previewed by John Breitmeyer.  Click here to read the book.

Ebook of the Week - The Thinking Student’s Guide to College

Roberts, Andrew Lawrence. The Thinking Student's Guide to College : 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education.  University of Chicago Press, 2010.

Andrew Roberts, a professor at Northwestern University, wrote The Thinking Student’s Guide to College to help students take charge of their university experience by providing concrete tips they can follow to achieve their educational goals—whether at public or private schools, large research universities or small liberal arts colleges.  This book offers advice on choosing a college, selecting classes, deciding on a major, interacting with faculty, and applying to graduate school. Roberts discusses what motivates professors, where to find “loopholes” in university bureaucracy, and how to get a personalized education, all in a straightforward style accessible to undergraduates or even high school seniors looking forward to college. Based on the author’s personal experience, interviews with faculty, and educational research, The Thinking Student’s Guide to College is a useful handbook for college students striving to excel academically, creatively, and personally.
 
Previewed by John Breitmeyer.  Click here to read the book.

Ebook of the Week - Disaster and the Politics of Intervention.

Andrew Lakoff, ed. Disaster and the Politics of Intervention. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. 

In Disaster and the Politics of Intervention, Andrew Lakoff edits and introduces a collection of five essays that make the collective point that government plays a critical role in mitigating individual and collective vulnerability to disaster, and the essay authors also explore the details of how this role has been and can be implemented.  The recent drive to replace public institutions with market mechanisms has challenged governmental efforts to manage collective risk. The contributors to this volume analyze the roles of the public and private sectors in the management of catastrophic risk, addressing questions such as: How should homeland security officials evaluate the risk posed by terrorist attacks and natural disasters? Are market-based interventions likely to mitigate our vulnerability to the effects of climate change? What is the appropriate relationship between non-governmental organizations and private security firms in responding to humanitarian emergencies? And how can philanthropic efforts to combat the AIDS crisis ensure ongoing access to life-saving drugs in the developing world? More generally, these essays explore the way thoughtful policy intervention can improve our capacity to withstand catastrophic events.

Previewed by John Breitmeyer.  Click here to read the book.

Ebook of the Week - Islam and Political Violence: Muslim Diaspora and Radicalism in the West

 Akbarzadeh, Shahram and Fethi Mansouri, eds.  Islam and Political Violence: Muslim Diaspora and Radicalism in the West.  I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2010.

In 'Islam and Political Violence', Akbarzadeh and Mansouri contribute to and edit together current debates on the uneasy and potentially mutually destructive relationship between the Muslim world and the West.  Arguments are advanced that we are on a dangerous trajectory, strengthening dichotomous notions of the divide between the West and the Muslim world. Basic questions are asked and answered regarding relations between Islam and relevant aspects of “the West:” How do we engage with the pressing challenges of xenophobia, radicalism and security in the current political climate? How do we ameliorate a widely felt sense of insecurity about the West that is shared by Muslims both within and outside Western societies? Growing Islamic militancy and subsequent increased security measures by Western powers have contributed to a pervasive sense among Muslims of being under attack both physically and culturally. Contributions such as this volume are valuable in understanding the problem and suggesting a way forward.

Previewed by John Breitmeyer. Click here to read the book.

Ebook of the Week - The Feminist Promise: 1792 to the Present.

Stansell, Christine. Feminist Promise: 1792 to the Present. New York: Modern Library, 2010.


Stansell's comprehensive history of Western feminism surveys all the ‘promises’ of feminism as an identifiable political identity and movement – the promises that were realized as well as those that were (or remain) unmet. Beginning with the release of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and concluding with the connection of modern American feminism to global human rights, Stansell’s sweeping narrative puts the accomplishments of important figures such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Maria Stewart and many others into a larger historical context, and also chronicles organizations and acts of protest that defined feminism in the 20th century. At 528 pages, this volume has sufficient content to be a useful all-purpose general resource for a student of modern European and American feminism.

Previewed by John Breitmeyer.  Click here to read the book.

Ebook of the Week - Do Deficits Matter?

Shaviro, Daniel.  Do Deficits Matter? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997

Shaviro’s answer to this starkly posed question is that yes, the federal deficit does matter, even though it is often misunderstood by the general public and politicians alike. In this economic analysis, Shaviro discusses concepts such as “tax lag” and “generational accounting” in concluding that while deficits are not in themselves an evil, the present (and this was written fourteen years ago) degree of national deficit formation is unsustainable for much longer. Indeed, he likens American fiscal policy in the last fifty years to a Ponzi scheme that can only be remedied by making choices among tax increases, benefit reductions, debt issuance at higher interest rates, and printing money. Ultimately, Shaviro concludes that Americans will have to adjust to “realistic expectations about what government-provided benefits, at what cost in lifetime taxes” can be had “in a world where resources are finite.” The recent crisis involving the raising of the debt ceiling has brought these issues sharply into focus, but will obviously not be the end of this highly charged debate.

Preview by Jack Ray.  Click here to read the book.

Ebook of the Week - Fast Forward: Ethics and Politics in the Age of Global Warming

Antholis, William and Strobe Talbott.  Fast Forward : Ethics and Politics in the Age of Global Warming. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2010.

“We have no excuse,” write the authors of the Brookings Institute publication “Fast Forward : Ethics and Politics in the Age of Global Warming.”   This bracing statement begins a brief (156 pages) but urgent discussion of global warming that is a combination of science primer, history lesson in the last 20 years of global climate change politics, policy prescription, and ethical treatise. The book recaps what we know and don t know about global warming and why it requires immediate action.  The way forward, the authors argue, is to begin the historically difficult but necessary transition to a global low-carbon economy, and this will require a revolution in our sense of civic responsibility and in standards for international cooperation regarding this issue.
Previewed by John Breitmeyer.  Click here to read the book.