CALILA: The Later Novels of Carmen Martín Gaite by Joan Lipman Brown Gr’76 (Bucknell University Press, 2021, $34.95.) Exploring the last six novels by Spain’s most honored contemporary woman writer, Brown, a professor and chair of Spanish at the University of Delaware—and a dear friend of the author, whom she calls Calila—opens a window into Martín Gaite’s inner life by incorporating their letters and conversations over the course of 25 years. Buy this book
THE MYTH OF PRIVATE EQUITY: An Inside Look at Wall Street’s Transformative Investments by Jeff Hooke W’76 WG’77 (Columbia Business School Publishing, 2021, $35.) Hooke, a former private equity executive and investment banker turned finance professor, examines the negative effects of private equity and the ways in which it has avoided scrutiny in this exposé from an insider’s viewpoint. Buy this book
NERMINA’S CHANCE by Dina Greenberg CGS’00 GGS’04 (Atmosphere Press, 2021, $22.99.) After her family is murdered and her body ravaged by Serbian soldiers, Nermina Beganivić’s only chance of survival is to flee her Bosnian homeland amid the wars of the 1990s, in this novel that reimagines the essence of family and plumbs the depths of a mother’s connection to her daughter. Buy this book
WHAT WE MEAN BY THE AMERICAN DREAM: Stories We Tell About Meritocracy by Doron Taussig Gr’17 (Cornell University Press, 2021, $26.95.) Did you earn it? Do you deserve it? Interviewing people from various walks of life—dairy farmers, police officers, teachers, computer technicians, homemakers, even drug dealers—Taussig explores the way Americans think about meritocracy. Buy this book
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF FUZZY WUZZY by Craig Sidell C’82 (Histria Kids, 2020, $24.99) This illustrated children’s book tells the timeless story of a hairless bear. The book teaches children the importance of being kind and loving, and that it’s not what you look like that is most important. Buy this book
CHASING THE WIDOWMAKER: The History of the Heart Attack Pandemic by Arnold Meshkov C’71 M’75 GM’79 (Koehler Books, 2021, $22.95.) Heart attacks have claimed the lives of millions over the millennia yet, over the last six decades, atherosclerosis (the precursor to a heart attack) has become a problem that can be diagnosed, treated, and prevented. Meshkov, a cardiologist, explains the fundamental scientific foundations for treating the leading cause of death worldwide. Buy this book
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE EMPOWERED JOB SEARCH: Build a New Mindset and Get a Great Job in an Unpredictable World by Lauren Weinstein C’06 and Cathy Wasserman (Admo Press, 2021, $14.78.) Unlike the typical job-search handbook, this one helps readers develop psychological tools to manage their emotions and have true agency in their job search. The authors’ approach draws on positive psychology, Buddhist principles, and Nonviolent Communication, as well as their leadership and career coaching work with thousands of clients. Buy this book
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE WITHOUT ME? by Peter Bonventre C’67 (Keylight Books, 2021, $29.99.) In this novel, a columnist for a New York tabloid stumbles upon the biggest story of his career when a statue is stolen from a church. Not just any statue, but one that had seemed to weep real tears only the day before. Buy this book
MAKE YOUR MOVE: The New Science of Dating and Why Women Are in Charge by Jon Birger G’95 (BenBella Books, 2021, $16.95.) Birger offers women bold new strategies for finding “the one.” Step one: Make the first move—because “it’s better to choose than to be chosen.” Buy this book
CUBAN MODERNISM: Mid-Century Architecture 1940–1970 by Victor Deupi Gr’99 and Jean-Francois Lejeune (Birkhäuser, 2021, $60.) For several decades, 20th-century architecture thrived in Cuba, and a wealth of buildings were erected prior to the revolution and in its wake. Architects of this time defined a way to be modern and Cuban at the same time. This richly illustrated hardcover book presents a biographical survey of 40 of the most important Cuban architects of that era. Buy this book
LABOR IN THE AGE OF FINANCE: Pensions, Politics, and Corporations from Deindustrialization to Dodd-Frank by Sanford M. Jacoby C’74 (Princeton University Press, 2021, $35.) A compelling blend of history, economics, and politics, this book by an award-winning economic historian at UCLA explores the paradox of capital bestowing power to labor in the tumultuous era of Enron, Lehman Brothers, and Dodd-Frank. Buy this book
SLAVE REVOLT ON SCREEN: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games by Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall C’91 (University Press of Mississippi, 2021, $30.) The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) has been called the first successful revolution by enslaved people in modern history, and yet is less well known—and appears less often on screen—than most other revolutions. Sepinwall, a professor of history at California State University San Marcos, calls attention to the ways that economic legacies of slavery and colonialism warp pop-culture portrayals of the past and leave audiences with distorted understandings. Buy this book