From a re-examination of the nations public servants to a wonderful collection of novels, this year’s summer book recommendations by the philosophy faculty offer choices for everyone to ponder in the hammock. Check out the books our faculty members recommend or are planning to read this summer. We hope you find some great picks to add to your reading list!
Colin Marshall:
The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas
A series of portraits of people who have successfully persuaded others. especially within progressive politics. Giridharadas lets many of his subjects speak for themselves, at length, and lots of insights emerge.
Rose Novick:
Last Poems (tr. Washburn & Guillemin) by Paul Celan
Intensely interior, intractably gnomic poems selected from Celan's three posthumously published books. Wallace Stevens said that "the poem must resist the intelligence / almost successfully", which makes three demands: (1) the poem must resist the intelligence, (2) it must very nearly succeed, and (3) the intelligence must overcome the resistance at the last. Celan's late poetry accomplishes all three.
Jose Mendoza:
The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey
This is the first book of the science fiction trilogy: The Captive's War. The book takes place in the future where humans have been conquered by aliens and it explored various themes that might be relevant to our current situation, including individual acts of resistance while living in an authoritarian regime.
Blooming in the Ruin's: How Mexican Philosophy Can Guide Us Toward the Good Life by Carlos Alberto
This book is written for a public audience and it not only provides an excellent introduction to all the major themes and thinkers in Mexican philosophy, but by drawing on personal narratives, the author distills the lessons of Mexican philosophy in a relatable way and shows how these lessons can help us live a better and more authentic life.
Amelia Wirts:
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman Jr.
This Pulitzer Prize winning book from 208 is one of the go-to sources for thinking about race and criminal law in the United states for a public audience. This book tells the history of the black communities relationship to mass incarceration, specifically by looking at how black leaders in Washington D.C. tried to address drug use and crime in black communities. Forman is an excellent storyteller, and he weaves historical accounts, empirical evidence, and personal stories from his time as a public defender together. This book is extremely informative without ever being dry.
Faux Feminism by Serene Khader
This new book by feminist philosopher Serene Khader is for a general audience, but Khader retains her deep philisophical analysis. "After over 175 years, the feminist movement, now in its 4th wave, is at risk of collapsing on its eroding foundation. In Faux Feminism, political philosopher Serene Khader advocates for another feminism---one that doesn't overwhelmingly serve white, affluent #girlbosses. With empathy, passion, and wit, Khader invites the reader to join her as she excavates the movement's history and draws a blueprint for a more inclusive and resilient future."
Carina Fourie:
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, Foster by Claire Keegan, and Normal People by Sally Rooney
Foster, a poignant novella, is narrated by an unnamed child who describes time she spent as a foster child with her aunt and uncle.
Normal People, is a psychologically rich novel about the complicated relationship of two people from different class backgrounds, Marianne and Connell, starting when they were in high school.
The Bee Sting and Prophet Song are both apocalyptic-type novels but different in how emotionally charged and distrubing they are. The Bee Sting, told from the perspectives of the four members of one family, has its sad and upsetting moments but it is also funny.
Prophet Song was the most impressive and well written of all these novels, and one of the best novels i have read in the last few years, but be warned, it is dark and terrifying, and while dystopian, feels far too much like a very near reality.
Sara Goering:
Who is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service (edited by Michael Lewis)
This is a collection of essays by well-known authors (e.g., Dave Eggers, Geraldine Brooks) who tells the stories of "the essential behind-the-scenes work of exemplary federal employee's" - many of whose jobs may be gone or at risk now or who are unfairly treated as part of the "deep state."
Unfit Parent: A Disabled Mother Challenges an Inaccessible World by Deborah Slice
I haven't yet read this one, but my sense is that it's all about transformative justice, and recognizing the clever and innovative strategies of disabled parents who adeptly create ways to support their children in a less than hospitable world of ableism.
S. Marc Cohen:
(Professor Emeritus) notes: I've found myself thinking back nostalgically to happier times. So I've turned to books by and about Barack Obama. I can recommend these two:
The Bridge: The Life and Rose of Barack Obama by David Remnick
This is a splendid account of Obama's early life and amazing (and incredibly lucky) political ascent. Many of its more than 600 pages are filled with background stories about his father and the political milieu in Kenya, the civil rights movement, the Harvard Law Review, and on and on. Its deeply researched and annotated. I found myself again and again saying "Gee, I never knew that." I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
A Promised land by Barack Obama
The first volume of a projected 2-volume memoir, its 768 pages cover his early life, through the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. So there's still a lot of story left to tell (and there is yet no projected date of completion). Obama is a gifted and graceful prose stylist (there is no ghostwriter as far as i can tell) and is surprisingly candid in what he reveals about himself. It is also refreshingly devoid of the kind of self-adulation that has been so painfully
apparent in the Oval Office since he left it. He does not like footnotes, Obama tells us, and indeed there are none. His sources seem to be almost exclusively the copious journals he must have kept while he was in office, and even before. This is a must-read for admirers of our 44th President.