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: Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone? by David G. Blanchflower
In Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone?, David G. Blanchflower argues that the unemployment rate is no longer the most accurate signal of labour market slack; instead, it is underemployment related to the rise of temporary, low-paid and precarious labour that is the significant new predictor of wage and inflation growth. While more convinced by the author’s rich […]
GalleryBook Review: The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power by Megan Black
In the award-winning book The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power, Megan Black traces the activities of the US Department of the Interior from its founding in 1849 to the 1980s, showing how a government organ best known for managing domestic natural resources became a key site of soft power that supported and projected American power globally, particularly enabling the […]
GalleryBook Review: Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State by Samuel Stein
In Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State, Samuel Stein approaches the issue of gentrification through the lens of urban planning, arguing for better understanding of the rising political influence of real estate interests within local and national governments. The book shines a light on the underlining political dynamic that lies at the heart of our cities and is essential reading […]
GalleryBook Review: Democracy and Prosperity: Reinventing Capitalism through a Turbulent Century by Torben Iversen and David Soskice
In Democracy and Prosperity: Reinventing Capitalism through a Turbulent Century,Torben Iversen and David Soskice add to current debates concerning the relationship between democracy and capitalism by arguing that they mutually support each other and enable resilience through turbulence and crisis. This is a welcome contribution to scholarship exploring the ‘crisis of democratic capitalism’, writes M Kerem Coban, and offers a unique […]
GalleryBook Review: Measuring Poverty Around the World by Anthony B. Atkinson, edited by John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini
The meticulous and passionate editorial work of John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini has enabled the publication of Measuring Poverty Around the World, a posthumous opus from Anthony B. Atkinson, a leading and inspirational authority in the field of poverty and inequality. This book demonstrates the strength of Atkinson’s legacy for future generations of poverty scholars and underscores how the centrality of poverty to […]
GalleryBook Review: The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
In The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality, Katharina Pistor offers an expansive analysis of the construction of capital, showing legal coding to be at the heart of this process. This is a welcome interdisciplinary contribution which attaches fresh dimensions to debates on the political economy of wealth and inequality and will be a valuable resource for anyone […]
GalleryBook Review: Eric Drummond and his Legacies: The League of Nations and the Beginnings of Global Governance by David Macfadyen et al
In Eric Drummond and his Legacies: The League of Nations and the Beginnings of Global Governance, David Macfadyen et al show how the emergence of an international bureaucracy of civil servants and their role in the development of the League of Nations rested on Eric Drummond and the early internationalists around him. This book provides a much-needed historical and biographical perspective on […]
GalleryBook Review: What Works Now? Evidence-informed Policy and Practice edited by Annette Boaz, Huw Davies, Alec Fraser and Sandra Nutley
In What Works Now? Evidence-informed Policy and Practice, Annette Boaz, Huw Davies, Alec Fraser and Sandra Nutley offer both a synthesis and critique of the rapidly evolving field of evidence-informed policy and practice. William Solesbury praises the timeliness, breadth and clarity of the collection.
What Works Now? Evidence-informed Policy and Practice. Annette Boaz, Huw Davies, Alec Fraser and Sandra Nutley (eds). Policy Press. 2019. […]
GalleryBook Review: Re-Engineering Humanity by Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger
In Re-Engineering Humanity, Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger explore how the rise of new technologies and datafication grounded in machinic rationality risk conditioning humans to become more machinic-like in turn. As the book seeks to consider how the value of the human can be protected from the consequences of data creep, it will prompt readers to look at otherwise taken-for-granted technology […]
GalleryBook Review: Bodies of Information: Intersectional Feminism and Digital Humanities edited by Elizabeth Losh and Jacqueline Wernimont
In Bodies of Information: Intersectional Feminism and Digital Humanities, editors Elizabeth Losh and Jacqueline Wernimont assemble a collection of key contributions to critical conversations and research regarding online activity, activism, archiving, academia, systemic discrimination and interlocking inequalities, writes Francesca Sobande.
Bodies of Information: Intersectional Feminism and Digital Humanities. Elizabeth Losh and Jacqueline Wernimont (eds). University of Minnesota Press. 2018.
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