New from Princeton University Press: Begetting: What Does It Mean to Create a Child? by Mara van der Lugt. About the book, from the publisher: An investigation of what it means to have children—morally, philosophically and emotionally “Do you want to have children?” is a question we routinely ask each other. But what does it mean to create a child? Is this decision always justified? Does anyone really have the moral right to create another person? In Begetting, Mara van der Lugt attempts to fill in the moral background of procreation. Drawing on both philosophy and popular culture, van der L ..read more

New from Oxford University Press: Sand Rush: The Revival of the Beach in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles by Elsa Devienne. About the book, from the publisher: The first history of the formidable campaign that transformed Los Angeles into one of the world's greatest coastal metropolises, revealing how the city's man-made shores became the site for the reinvention of seaside leisure and the triumph of modern bodies. The Los Angeles shoreline is one of the most iconic natural landscapes in the United States, if not the world. The vast shores of Santa Monica, Venice, and Malibu are familiar sights ..read more

New from The University of North Carolina Press: Sexual Violence and American Slavery: The Making of a Rape Culture in the Antebellum South by Shannon Eaves. About the book, from the publisher: It is impossible to separate histories of sexual violence and the enslavement of Black women in the antebellum South. Rape permeated the lives of all who existed in that system: Black and white, male and female, adult and child, enslaved and free. Shannon C. Eaves unflinchingly investigates how both enslaved people and their enslavers experienced the systematic rape and sexual exploitation of bondswome ..read more

Coming soon from Cornell University Press: Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic, Joyful Learning by Susan D. Blum. About the book, from the publisher: In Schoolishness, Susan D. Blum continues her journey as an anthropologist and educator. The author defines "schoolishness" as educational practices that emphasize packaged "learning," unimaginative teaching, uniformity, constant evaluation by others, arbitrary forms, predetermined time, and artificial boundaries, resulting in personal and educational alienation, dependence, and dread. Drawing on critical, progressive ..read more

New from Oxford University Press: Introspection: First-Person Access in Science and Agency by Maja Spener. About the book, from the publisher: What is introspection? Does introspection deliver theoretically valuable information about the mind? There is a long history in philosophy and psychology of using introspection to gather data about the mind. Introspection is often held to constitute our best and only direct access to consciousness and hence to be essential to any investigation of the conscious mind. Equally longstanding and widespread, however, are critical concerns that introspection ..read more

New from the University of Chicago Press: The Northeast Corridor: The Trains, the People, the History, the Region by David Alff. About the book, from the publisher: All aboard for the first comprehensive history of the hard-working and wildly influential Northeast Corridor. Traversed by thousands of trains and millions of riders, the Northeast Corridor might be America’s most famous railway, but its influence goes far beyond the right-of-way. David Alff welcomes readers aboard to see how nineteenth-century train tracks did more than connect Boston to Washington, DC. They transformed hundreds ..read more

New from Princeton University Press: Long Problems: Climate Change and the Challenge of Governing across Time by Thomas Hale. About the book, from the publisher: Political strategies for tackling climate change and other “long problems” that span generations Climate change and its consequences unfold over many generations. Past emissions affect our climate today, just as our actions shape the climate of tomorrow, while the effects of global warming will last thousands of years. Yet the priorities of the present dominate our climate policy and the politics surrounding it. Even the social scie ..read more

New from Columbia University Press: Black Visions of the Holy Land: African American Christian Engagement with Israel and Palestine by Roger Baumann. About the book, from the publisher: Since at least the high point of the civil rights movement, African American Christianity has been widely recognized as a potent force for social change. Most attention to the political significance of Black churches, however, focuses on domestic protest and electoral politics. Yet some Black churches take a deep interest in the global issue of Israel and Palestine. Why would African American Christians get in ..read more

New from Oxford University Press: The Objects of Credence by Anna Mahtani. About the book, from the publisher: The credence framework is used by scientists and social scientists in almost all disciplines, including economics and political theory, and it underpins policy choice in healthcare, transport, education, and numerous other areas. It is hard to overestimate its importance. On this framework, credences (or probabilities) are assigned to certain objects--but what objects? The Objects of Credence argues that these objects are 'opaque' or 'hyperintensional': to adapt an example from Frege ..read more

New from the University of North Carolina Press: American Literary Misfits: The Alternative Democracies of Mid-Nineteenth-Century Print Cultures by D. Berton Emerson. About the book, from the publisher: The study of nineteenth-century American literature has long been tied up with the study of American democracy. Just as some regions in the United States are elevated to stand in for the whole nation—New England is a good example—D. Berton Emerson argues the same is true for American literature of the nineteenth century; a few canonical texts overrepresent the more motley history of American l ..read more