Sociology

How can an art expert differentiate between a fake and an original piece of art within seconds? How can a marriage analyst know within minutes whether the couple will stay together or not? Some ideas like this and much more gain a true resolution in Blink....

These are dangerous times for democracy....

In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding....

In a comic case of mistaken identity, wildlife photographers Krupakar and Senani were kidnapped one night from their home at the edge of the Bandipur National Park....

Jared Diamond explores how the extraordinary human animal, in a remarkably short time, developed the capacity to rule the world...and the means to irrevocably destroy it....

There's no one better qualified than Jared Diamond to explain the evolutionary forces that operated on our ancestors to make us sexually different. With wit and examples, he explains how our sexuality has been as crucial as our large brains and upright posture in our rise to human status....

Humans are hard-wired for collaboration, and new technologies of communication act as a super-amplifier of our natural collaborative mindset. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series examines the emergence of a new kind of social collaboration....

The books that make up the life and times of Maya Angelou are some of the best, most beautiful and haunting pieces of autobiography written.... 

The epic successor to one of the most important books of the century: at once a retelling of global history, a scathing critique of contemporary politics, and a bold proposal for a new and fairer economic system....

Campbell outlines the Hero's Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world's mythic traditions....

Americans are taught to believe that upward mobility is possible for anyone who is willing to work hard, regardless of their social status. Yet it is often those from affluent backgrounds who land the best jobs....

In this stirring and insightful analysis, activist and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor surveys the historical and contemporary ravages of racism and the persistence of structural inequality....

One of the first studies of the organization, life, and meaning of the Nation of Islam and, by extension, all Black Nationalist movements, this classic work dispels the still-common conception that the movement functioned primarily for political purposes. By observing the daily life of its members, Essien-Udom demonstrates that the Nation of Islam served primarily as a means for poor urban Blacks to attain a national identity, a sense of ethnic consciousness, and empowerment in a society that denied them these privileges.

Compiled from his original lecture notes, Julian Bond’s Time to Teach brings his teachings to a new generation of listeners and provides a necessary toolkit for today’s activists in the era of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. Julian Bond sought to dismantle the perception of the civil rights movement as a peaceful and respectable protest that quickly garnered widespread support. Through his lectures, Bond detailed the ground-shaking disruption the movement caused, its immense unpopularity at the time, and the bravery of activists who chose to disturb order to pursue justice.

This is an audio summary of Being Mortal, a book that explores the inevitable process of aging and ultimately death, and takes a critical look at how the medical profession does not yet have a firm grip on how to handle these processes well.  

This is an audio summary of Factfulness, an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you.

Black Picket Fences is a stark, moving, and candid look at a section of America that is too often ignored by both scholars and the media: the Black middle class. The result of living for three years in "Groveland", a Black middle-class neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, sociologist Mary Pattillo-McCoy has written a book that explores both the advantages and the boundaries that exist for members of the Black middle class.

In Making the Second Ghetto, Arnold Hirsch argues that in the post-depression years Chicago was a "pioneer in developing concepts and devices" for housing segregation. Hirsch shows that the legal framework for the national urban renewal effort was forged in the heat generated by the racial struggles waged on Chicago's South Side.