In this section you can read reviews of academic books covering the USA, and its continental neighbours, Canada and Mexico. Each weekend we publish two reviews, aiming to cover a wide range of books on all aspects of public policy and politics.
GalleryBook Review: Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century by Kyung Hyun Kim
In Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-First Century, Kyung Hyun Kim explores the global rise of Korean popular culture, using the concept of ‘hegemonic mimicry’ to examine how it has adapted American sensibilities and genres. This is a valuable and significant contribution to studies of Korean popular culture with an interdisciplinary approach that will appeal to scholars across different […]
GalleryBook Review: The War in Ukraine’s Donbas: Origins, Contexts, and the Future edited by David R. Marples
In The War in Ukraine’s Donbas: Origins, Contexts, and the Future – available open access– David R. Marples brings together contributors to explore the causes and consequences of the conflict in the Donbas region since 2014. This accessible book offers many observations that will help to deepen understanding of the current war in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in February 2022, writes Gary […]
GalleryBook Review: Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav M. Zubok
In Collapse, Vladislav M. Zubok examines the fall of the Soviet Union, showing how the collapse was not sudden but rather the result of a long decline with economic strains at the centre. This is a compelling and detailed study that will prove to be the new standard work on a critical period in world history that still has ramifications […]
GalleryBook Review: Cut/Copy/Paste: Fragments from the History of Bookwork by Whitney Trettien
In Cut/Copy/Paste: Fragments from the History of Bookwork, Whitney Trettien explores how seventeenth-century English publishers cut up and reassembled paper media into radical, bespoke publications, arguing that this ‘bookwork’ contributes to understanding digital scholarship and publishing today. Through its magnetic prose that narrates weird and joyous entanglements with the printed word, Trettien reveals that the lives of books are longer and stranger […]
GalleryBook Review: COVID-19 and Psychology: People and Society in Times of Pandemic by John G. Haas
In COVID-19 and Psychology: People and Society in Times of Pandemic, John G. Haas explores the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at all levels of society. This book will be useful for those in the social sciences, policymakers and the general public looking to understand how to build resilience through social support and combat the fear of the […]
GalleryBook Review: Unexpected Voices in Imperial Parliaments edited by Josep M. Fradera, José María Portillo and Teresa Segura-Garcia
In Unexpected Voices in Imperial Parliaments, editors Josep M. Fradera, José María Portillo and Teresa Segura-Garcia bring together contributors to examine the careers of nine colonial subjects who became legislators in imperial parliamentary institutions from the time of the French Revolution to the Second World War. In exploring the norm-shattering voices of these figures as well as the challenges they faced, this book […]
GalleryBook Review: Transnational Black Feminism and Qualitative Research: Black Women, Racialization and Migration by Tanja J. Burkhard
In Transnational Black Feminism and Qualitative Research: Black Women, Racialization and Migration, Tanja J. Burkhard explores Transnational Black Feminism as a qualitative research framework that centres the narratives of Black women. This book is a valuable resource for those committed to conducting more equitable research that disrupts extractive modes of knowledge production, writes Lydia Ayame Hiraide, and will particularly enhance the […]
GalleryBook Review: Capital and Ideology by Thomas Piketty
In Capital and Ideology, Thomas Piketty proposes a vision for a fairer economic system grounded in ‘participatory’ socialism. This encyclopaedic, rewarding work merits thoughtful engagement and is essential reading, writes Ewan McGaughey.
Capital and Ideology. Thomas Piketty (translated by Arthur Goldhammer). Harvard University Press. 2020.
Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology is an encyclopaedic, rewarding work that merits thoughtful engagement. ‘I think this is a […]
GalleryBook Review: Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics by Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese
In Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics, Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese set out a vision of how we can avoid a dystopian future by stabilising the environment and simultaneously working towards a just society. The book reorients the dominant values, priorities and politics of current environmental approaches that have been fuelled by […]
GalleryBook Review: Complaint! by Sara Ahmed
In Complaint!, Sara Ahmed follows the institutional life of complaints within the university, exploring how they begin, how they are processed and how they are ultimately stopped, thereby reproducing systems of whiteness, violence and silencing. Proposing complaint as a feminist pedagogy and a form of collective and social action, Ahmed’s work should provoke change to a resistant institution and culture, writes […]
