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Books
economics Titles:
The Accordion Family: How Globalization Reshapes the Private World
“Failure to Launch,” “Delayed Departure,” even “Parasite Singles.” Media reports and varying degrees of alarm expressed to friends and relatives have cast a fairly negative light on what is becoming more and more common – college graduates and twenty (and even thirty) somethings moving back home to live with their parents. A trend that has long been familiar in Europe is proliferating in the US, especially today when jobs are harder and harder to come by and the price of housing hasn’t come down nearly enough to put it within reach for young adults.
A manifesto that argues for the importance of consumption in driving the economy, forming identity, creating meaning—and saving the world.
The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future
America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gays—rather it is a war against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy.
A Different Shade of Gray: Growing Old in the Inner City
Moving and compelling . . . the first comprehensive and definitive study of the challenges facing older inner-city residents.
Exploring Stone Walls: A Field Guide to New England's Stone Walls
“Every stone wall is unique and every stone tells a story,” says Robert M. Thorson, the author of this field guide to historic New England stone walls.
The Great Delusion: A Mad Inventor, Death in the Tropics, and the Utopian Origins of Economic Growth
Endless economic growth rests on a belief in the limitless abundance of the natural world. But when did people begin to believe that societies should—even that they must—expand in wealth indefinitely? In The Great Delusion, the historian and storyteller Steven Stoll weaves past and present together through the life of a strange and brooding nineteenth-century German engineer and technological utopian named John Adolphus Etzler, who pursued universal wealth from the inexhaustible forces of nature: wind, water, and sunlight.
Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America and How We Can Get More of It
Who are the happiest Americans?
Hollowing Out the Middle: Why America's Small Towns are Dying and What Can be Done to Save Them
…A compelling and well-documented discussion of the regrettable youth exodus from our nation’s Heartland… Deftly researched and written, this book is highly recommended for sociologists, educators, policymakers, and anyone concerned about the future of this country.
The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America
Too poor to enjoy the comforts of the middle-class and too wealthy to qualify for government assistance, the Missing Class is often trapped without a safety net. This revealing exposé gives voice to this growing segment of the population.
The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy
…Essential reading for all who want to understand how the global technology economy operates in the 21st century.
No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City
Hard work isn’t always rewarded. Certainly not for the folks who populate Katherine S. Newman’s poignant and powerful No Shame in My Game.
Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination
Ginger, Sandalwood, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ambergris, Galangal, Spikenard, and Zedoary. Spices—some familiar today, others much more exotic—are well known to have been in enormous demand in medieval times. Their widespread appeal fueled an active trade; they were carried from Asia and India to the marketplaces of Europe where they were sold at exorbitant prices.
Outliers and Savages: The 200 Year Struggle for the American Land
In the 1790s, more than 90 percent of Americans lived on farms. Two hundred years later, only 2 percent did. In 1935 there were 6.5 million farms. In 1997 there were just over 2 million. Agriculture might be very much alive in the American landscape, but the farm is nearly gone. We know how the countryside became de-populated, but why did it happen? In a deeper historical sense, why has capitalism been so destructive to this form of settlement?
Queen of the Oil Club: The Intrepid Wanda Jablonski and the Power of Information
How one woman hurdled journalism’s gender barrier to help shape the future of Big Oil… Intimate but also sweeping, capturing the myopia of both business and government as America’s addiction to foreign oil set in over four decades.
— Kirkus Reviews
The idiosyncrasies of human decision-making have confounded economists and social theorists for years. If each person makes choices for personal (and often irrational) reasons, how can people’s choices be predicted by a single theory? How can any economic, social, or political theory be valid? The truth is, none of them really are.
Stone By Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls
…an open invitation to head into the country oneself and explore a stone wall.
Storming Caesar’s Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty
An up-close and personal account of nine strong-minded African-American women who became welfare-rights activists in Las Vegas . . . A worthy history of the country“s changing attitudes toward welfare and the various attempts to eradicate poverty.
Who Really Cares?: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism
We all know we should give to charity, but who really does? Approximately three quarters of Americans give their time and money to various charities, churches, and causes, the other quarter of the population does not. Why has America split into two nations: givers and non-givers?
