Akhil Reed Amar, The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Republic (New York: Basic Books, 2015).
Anthony B. Atkinson, Inequality: What Can Be Done? (Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London, England: Harvard U. Press, 2015) (From the book jacket: "Inequality is one of our most urgent social problems. Curbed in the decades after World War II, it has recently returned with a vengeance. We all know the scale of the problem--talk about the 99% and the 1% is entrenched in public debate--but there has been little discussion of what we can do but despair. According to the distinguished economist Anthony Atkinson, however, we can do much more than skeptics imagine." "Atkinson has long been in the forefront of research on inequality, and he brings his theoretical and practical experience to bear on its diverse problems. He presents a comprehensive set of policies that could bring about a genuine shift in the distribution of income in developed countries. The problem, Atkinson show, is not simply that the rich are getting richer. We are also failing to tackle poverty, and the economy is rapidly changing to leave the majority of people behind. To reduce inequality, we have to go beyond placing new taxes on the wealthy to fund existing programs. We need fresh ideas. Atkinson thus recommends ambitious new policies in five ears: technology, employment, social security, the sharing of capital, and taxation. He defends these against the common arguments and excuses for inaction: that intervention will shrink the economy, that globalization makes action impossible, tad that new policies cannot be afforded.").
Ian Bremmer, Superpower: Three Choices for America's Role in the World (New York: Portfolio/ Penguin, 2015) ("Over the next generation, the global economy will depend more for its dynamism on the strength and resilience of emerging-market countries. That should worry us [that is, Americans], because these countries are inherently less stable than the rich-world powers that have driven growth over the past several decades. These are places where, as in India in 2012, a government's failure to address infrastructure problems can trigger a blackout across an area that's home to 670 million people. Or, as in Brazil in 2013, a nine-cent increase in bus fare in Sao Paulo can spark protests that drive a million people into the streets of major cities, and a lack of rainfall can generate an electricity shortage severe enough to push a country of 200 million people into recession. Or, as in Turkey in 2013, an aggressive police response to protests over a plan to replace a grove of sycamore trees with a shopping mall can push 2 million angry people into demonstrations across the country. It's entirely possible tat during the next U.S. president's term in office, China will become the world's largest economy. What will it mean for global economic stability when the world economy is led by a still-poor, potentially unstable, authoritarian power?" Id. at 15-16. "Let's be clear: America is not an exceptional nation. Americans the most powerful, but that doesn't mean it's always right. We are not all-knowing, and the universal benefit is never our main concern. America has done much good in the world, and it will do more. But it has done a lot of damage, particularly by trying to force our values on others without careful consideration of the consequences. Those who make American foreign policy and those who implement it must be guided by both discretion and humility. And they must remember that freedom is in the eye of the beholder." Id. at 119. "Yet those who insist that we can afford to invest at home only if we renounce out international leadership miss the essential point: Fulfilling our responsibilities abroad is crucial for our own prosperity, because in a globalized world we can't succeed unless others succeed too. We need confident commercial partners with whom to trade. We need others to help finance our success by investing in our debt. We must ensure that U.S. companies that create jobs at home by building market share abroad can operate with a safe and stable international environment. We must help ensure the free flow of trade and vital commodities like oil, gas, metals, and minerals, not just through the Strait of Hormuz but everywhere our economic interests are at stake. And not just too protect our own economic interests but those of the entire global economy on which our interests will increasingly depend." Id. at 131.).
Martin Ford, Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future (New York: Basic Books, 2015) (From the book flap: "What are the jobs of the future? How many will there be? And who will have them? We might imagine--and hope--that today's industrial revolution will unfold like the last: even as some jobs are eliminated, more will be created to deal with the new innovations of a new era. In Rise of the Robots, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Ford argues that this is absolutely not the case. As technology continues to accelerate and machine begin taking care of themselves, fewer people will be necessary. Artificial intelligence is already well on its way to making 'good jobs' obsolete: many paralegals, journalists, office workers, and even computer programmers are poised to be replaced by robots and smart software. As progress continues, blue and white collar jobs alike will evaporate, squeezing working- and middle-class families ever further. At the same time, households are under assault from exploding costs, especially from the two major industries--education and health care--that, so far, have not been transformed by information technology. The result could well be massive unemployment and inequality as well as the implosion of the consumer economy itself." "In Rise of the Robots, Ford details what machine intelligence and robotics can accomplish, and implores employers, scholars, and policy makers alike to face the implications. The past solutions to technological disruption, especially more training and education, aren't going to work, and we must decide, now, whether the future will see broad-based prosperity or catastrophic levels of inequality and economic insecurity. Rise of the Robots is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what accelerating technology means for their own economic prospects--not to mention those of their children--as well as for society as a whole." Also, see Barbara Ehrenreich, "Welcome to Your Obsolescence," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/17/2015.).
Marc Goodman, Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It (New York: Doubleday, 2015) ("By 2013, Americans were spending more than five hours a day online with their digital devices. We read the news on Web sites run by CNN, the New York Times, and ESPN. We check our bank balance at Citibank and Wells Fargo. We shop at Amazon and Macy's. We pay our ConEd and Comcast bills, make appointments with our doctors, and check our health insurance with Blue Cross. [Note: Not to mention checking our grades on WebAdvisor.] We watch House of Cards on Netflix and Downton Abbey on Hulu. And that's just the beginning. Take a moment to think about how you used your smart phone today. Eighty percent of us check our mobile phones for messages within fifteen minutes of waking up. Did you provide a quick status update today to your friends on Facebook? You'll probably get a 'Like' or two or maybe a funny comment from a friend. And what about those selfies you sent your boyfriend? The Internet has become a vast and free treasure trove of information and entertainment, and so we dutifully gorge ourselves at the trough. And at every step of the way, we are collectively leaving behind a daily digital exhaust trail big enough to fill the Library of Congress many times over. How all these data are created, stored, analyzed, and sold are details that most of us readily gloss over, but do so at our on peril." Id. at 46-47. Also, see Jenna Wortham, "You've Been Hacked," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/17/2015.).).
Chris Hedges, Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt (New York: Nation Press, 2015) ("There is nothing rational about rebellion. To rebel against insurmountable odds is an act of faith, without which the rebel is doomed. This faith is intrinsic to the rebel the way caution and prudence are intrinsic to those who seek to fit into existing power structures. The rebel, possessed by inner demons and angels, is driven by a vision. I do not know if the new revolutionary wave and the rebels produced by it will succeed. But I do know that without these rebels, we are doomed." Id. at 20.)
Jon Krakauer, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (New York: Doubleday, 2015) (From the book jacket: "Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, with a highly regarded state university, bucolic surroundings, a lively social scene, and an excellent football team--the Grizzlies--with a rabid fan base." "The Department of Justice investigated 350 sexual assaults reported to the Missoula police between January 2008 and May 2012. Few of these assaults were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical." "A DOJ report released in December 2014 estimates 110,000 women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are raped each year. Krakauer's devastating narrative of what happened in Missoula makes clear why rape is so prevalent on American campuses, and why rape victims are so reluctant to report assault." "Acquaintance rape is a crime like no other. Unlike burglary or embezzlement or any other felony, the victim often comes under more suspicion than the alleged perpetrator. This is especially true if the victim is sexually active, if she had been drinking prior to the assault--and if the man she accuses plays on a popular sports team. For a woman in this situation, the pain of being forced into sex against her will is only the beginning of her ordeal. If she decides to go to the police, undertrained officers sometimes ask if she has a boyfriend, implying that she is covering up infidelity. She is told rape is extremely difficult to prove and repeatedly asked if she really wants to press charges. If she does want to charge her assailant, district attorneys frequently refuse to prosecute. If the assailant is indicted, even though a victim's name is supposed to be kept confidential, rumors start in the community and on social media, labeling her a slut, unbalanced, an attention-seeker. The vanishing small but highly publicized incidents of false accusations are used to dismiss her claims in the press. If the case goes to trial, the woman's entire personal life often becomes fair game for the defense attorneys." "The brutal reality goes a long way toward explaining why acquaintance rape is the most underreported crime in America. In addition to physical trauma that leads to trauma, its victims often suffer devastating psychological damage that leads to feelings of shame, emotional paralysis, and stigmatization. PTSD rates for rape victims are estimated to be t0 percent higher than for soldiers returning from war." "In Missoula, Krakauer chronicles the searing experiences of several women in Missoula--the nights when they were raped; their fear and self-doubt in the aftermath; the way they were treated by the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys; the public vilification and private anguish; their bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them." "Some of them went to the police. Some declined to go to the police or to press charges but sought redress from the university, which has its own, noncriminal judicial process when a student is accused of rape. In two cases the police agreed to press charges and the district attorney agreed to prosecute. One case led to a conviction; one to an acquittal. Those women courageous enough to press charges or to speak publicly about their experiences were attacked in the media, on Grizzly football fan sites, and/or to their faces. The university expelled three of the accused rapists, but one was reinstated by state officials in a secret proceeding. One district attorney testified for an alleged rapist at his university hearing. She later left the prosecutor's office and successfully defended the Grizzlies' star quarterback in his rape trial. The horror of being raped, in each woman's case, was magnified by the mechanics of the justice system and the reaction of the community." "Krakauer's dispassionate, carefully documented account of what these women endured cuts through the abstract ideological debate about campus rape. College-age women are not raped because they are promiscuous, or drunk, or send mixed signals, or feel guilty about casual sex, or seek attention. They are the victims of a terrible crime and deserving of compassion from society and fairness from a justice system that is clearly broken." Also, see Emily Bazelon, "No, She Said," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/3/2015.).
Kevin M. Kruse, One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America (New York: Basic Books, 2015) ("At heart, this book seeks to challenge Americans' assumptions about the basic relationship between religion and politics in their nation's history. For decades now, liberals and conservatives have been locked in an intractable struggle over an ostensibly simple question: Is the United States a Christian nation? This debate, largely focused on endless parsing of the intent of the founding fathers, has ultimately generated more heat than light. Like most scholars, I believe the historical record is fairly clear about the founding generation's preference for what Thomas Jefferson memorably described as a wall of separation between church and state, a belief the founders spelled out repeatedly in public statements and private correspondence. This scholarly consensus, though, has done little to shift popular opinion. If anything, the country has more tightly embraced religion in the public sphere and in political culture in recent decades. And so this book begins with a different premise. It sets aside the question of whether the founders intended America to be a Christian notion and instead asks why so many contemporary Americans came to believe that this country has been and always should be a Christian nation." Id. at xiii. From the book jacket: "As Kruse argues, the belief that America is fundamentally and formally a Christian nation originated in the 1930s when businessmen enlisted religious activists in their fight against FDR's New Deal. Corporations from General Motors to Hilton Hotels bankrolled conservative clergymen, encouraging them to attack the New Deal as a program of 'pagan statism' that perverted the central principles of Christianity: the sanctity and salvation of the individual. Their campaign for 'freedom under God' culminated in the election of their close ally Dwight Eisenhower in 1952." "But his apparent triumph had an ironic twist. In Eisenhower's hands, a religious movement born in opposition to the government was transformed into one that fused faith and the federal government as never before. During the 1950s, Eisenhower revolutionized the role of religion American political culture, investing new traditions form inaugural prayers to the National Prayer breakfast. Meanwhile, Congress added the phrase 'under For' to the Pledge of Allegiance and made 'In God We Trust' the country's first official motto. [Note: In today's speak we would not talk of "motto," rather we would talk of "brand' and "branding." "In God We Trust" is just another, but certainly not the first, in the country's long line of official (and unofficial) brands. Others include "Uncle Sam," "Nation of Immigrants," "Land of Liberty," and that whole "American Exceptionalism" thing.] With private groups joining in, church membership soared to an all-time high of 69 present of Americans." "During this moment, virtually all Americans--across the religious and political spectrum--believed that their country was 'one nation under God.' But as Americans moved from broad generalities to details of issues such as school prayer, cracks began to appear. Religious leaders rejected this 'lowest common denomination' public religion, leaving conservative political activists to champion it alone. In Richard Nixon's hands, a politics that conflated piety and patriotism became the sole property of the right." "Provocative and authoritative, One Nation Under God reveals how the unholy alliance of money, regions, and politics created a false story that continues to define and divide American politics to this day." Also, see Also, see Michael Kazin, "Pious in Public," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/17/2015.).).
Craig Lambert, Shadow Work: The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs that Fill Your Day (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2015) ("Politicians and pundits who shake their heads a the stubbornness of high unemployment rates are either overlooking or ignoring the obvious. Our economic and political system is stacked to reward businesses for discarding employees, not hiring them." "There are three main strategies for cutting payrolls . . . Downsizing . . . automation . . . shadow work." Id. at 34-35. Also, see Barbara Ehrenreich, "Welcome to Your Obsolescence," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 5/17/2015.).).
Jill Leovy, Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015) ("This is a book about a very simple idea: where the criminal justice system fails to respond vigorously to violent injury and death, homicide becomes an endemic." "African Americans have suffered from just such a lack of effective criminal justice, and this, more than anything, is the reason for the nation's long-standing plague of black homicides. Specifically, black Americas has not benefited form what Max Weber called a state monopoly on violence--the government;s exclusive right to exercise legitimate force. A monopoly provides citizens with legal autonomy, the liberating knowledge that the government will pursue anyone who violates their personal safety. But slavery, Jim Crow, and conditions across much of black America for generations after worked against the formation of such a monopoly. Since personal violence inevitably flares where the state's monopoly is absent, this situation results in the death of thousands of Americans each year." Id. at 8. Though not stated in these terms, this is essentially a law and economic argument for investing more resources into shoring up the state's violence monopoly in black communities to significantly reduce the social costs of the alternative, the use of personal violence in black communities. Also, see Jennifer Gonnerman, "Brutal Territory," NYT Book Review, Sunday, 1/25/2015).
Sam Quinones, Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2015) (From the book jacket: "Sam Quinones weaves together two classic tales of capitalism run amok whose unintentional collision has been catastrophic. The unfettered prescribing of pain medications during the 1990s reach its peak in Purdue Pharma's campaign to market OxyContin, its new, expensive--extremely addictive--miracle painkiller. Meanwhile, a massive influx of black tar heroin--cheap, potent, and originating from one small county on Mexico's west coast, independent of any drug cartel--assaulted small towns and mid-size cities across the country, driven by a brilliant, almost unbeatable marketing and distribution system. Together these phenomena continue to lay waste to communities from Tennessee to Oregon, Indiana to New Mexico.").
Lauren A. Rivera, Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs (Princeton & Oxford: Princeton U. Press, 2015) ("I argue that at each stage of the hiring process--from the decision about where to post job advertisements and hold recruitment events to the final selections made by hiring committees--employers use an array of sorting criteria ("screens") and ways of measuring candidates' potential ("evaluative metrics") that are highly correlated with parental income and education. Taken together, those seemingly economically neutral decisions result in a hiring process that filters students based on their parents' socioeconomic status." Id. at 2.).
Richard H. Thaler, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavior Economics (New York & London: Norton, 2015) (From the book jacket: "Traditional economics assumes rational actors. Early in his research, Thaler realized these Spock-like automatons were nothing like real people. Whether buying a clock radio, selling basketball tickets, or applying for a mortgage, we all succumb to biases and make decisions that deviate from the standards of rationality assumed by economists. More importantly, our misbehavior has serious consequences. Dismissed at first by economists as an amusing sideshow, the study of human miscalculations and there effects on market now drives efforts to make better decisions in our lives, our businesses and our government.").
Nancy Woloch, A Class by Herself: Protective Laws for Women Workers, 1890s-1990s (Politics and Society in Twentieth-Century America) (Princeton & Oxford: Princeton U. Press, 2015).
"IF THE SO-CALLED OPTIMIST SEES THE GLASS AS HALF-FULL. AND IF THE SO-CALLED PESSIMIST SEES THE GLASS AS HALF-EMPTY. WHAT DO WE CALL THOSE WHO SEE THE CRACK FORMING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GLASS?" Anon.
