New Books: May 2022

"With evocative, immersive art from Fido Nesti, this vision of George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece provides a new perspective for longtime fans but is also an accessible entry point for young readers and adults who have yet to discover the iconic story that is still so relevant today"--

Female athletes are too often perceived as interlopers in the historically male-dominated world of sports. Obstacles specific to women are of particular focus in A Locker Room of Her Own. Race, sexual orientation, and the similar qualities ancillary to gender bear special exploration in how they impact an athlete's story. Central to this volume is the contention that women in their role as inherent outsiders are placed in a unique position even more complicated than the usual experiences of inequality and discord associated with race and sports. The contributors explore and critique.

"The Meaning of Soul discusses Black resilience and innovation through soul music and soul logic. Emily Lordi analyzes soul music and musicians from the 1960s, the 1970s, and after, bridging the different valences of soul as a way of moving through the world. The book encompasses soul's racial-political meanings while being sensitive to the details of the music and small details that shaped artists' lives and their relationship to soul."

"Algorithmic recommender systems, deployed by media companies to suggest content based on users' viewing histories, have inspired hopes for personalized, curated media, but also dire warnings of filter bubbles and media homogeneity. Curiously, both proponents and detractors assume that recommender systems are novel, effective, and widely used methods to choose films and series. Scrutinizing the world's most subscribed streaming service, Netflix, this book challenges that consensus. Investigating real-life users, marketing rhetoric, technical processes, business models, and historical antecedents, Mattias Frey demonstrates that these choice aids are neither as revolutionary nor alarming, neither as trusted nor widely used, as their celebrants and critics maintain. Netflix Recommends illustrates the constellations of sources that real viewers use to choose films and series in the digital age, and argues that, although some lament AI's hostile takeover of humanistic cultures, the thirst for filters, curators, and critics is stronger than ever"--

Young adults learn the best way to interact with a loved one who has PTSD or learn whether their own symptoms warrant seeking further help.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat lays bare the blueprint leaders from Mussolini to Trump have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognise, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future. Authoritarian rulers promise law and order, then legitimise lawbreaking by financial, sexual, and other predators. They use masculinity as a symbol of strength and a political weapon, and they use propaganda, corruption, and violence to stay in power. Vladimir Putin and Mobutu Sese Seko's kleptocracies, Augusto Pinochet's torture sites, Benito Mussolini and Muammar Gaddafi's systems of sexual exploitation, and the relentless barrage of misinformation utilised by the former Trump administration: all show how authoritarian rule, far from ensuring stability, is marked by destructive chaos. Ben-Ghiat makes vividly clear that only by seeing the strongman for what he is - and by valuing one another as he is unable to do - can we stop him, now and in the future.

This book is written primarily for faculty but will be equally useful for TAs, tutors, and learning center professionals. For readers with no background in education or cognitive psychology, the book avoids jargon and esoteric theory.