Books
Americans must find a way to respect one another, commit to engaging in civil disagreement, and become more astute consumers of news in order to get beyond our current divisions, according to Richard Lowry, editor of National Review and a conservative pundit.
Appearing at the virtual Athenaeum on Feb. 23 to discuss “The GOP After Trump: What's Next for American Politics,” Lowry addressed the cross-currents within the Republican Party and how he views the post-election political landscape.
Three different books by CMC professors showcase their expertise, while offering three distinct ways of looking at the upcoming presidential election in November.
Jack Pitney serves up a provocative point-of-view; while Jon Shields and co-author Stephanie Muravchik share what they learned traveling to working-class communities in three states, and Ken Miller analyzes national politics by examining the rivalry between “Red-Republican Texas” and “Blue-Democratic California.”
Inspired by conversations she was having in May about police brutality and killings of Black Americans, Sobechukwu (Sobé) Uwajeh ’22 knew she had to take action. On the lookout for literature to educate others about racism, she posted to her Instagram account a “starter kit” of recommended books about how to be an anti-racist.
Hailey Wilson ’22 saw Uwajeh’s post and immediately and enthusiastically texted her with another idea - they should start an anti-racist book club at CMC.
Ibram X. Kendi would like to banish the term “not racist” from our vocabulary. The historian, scholar, and writer said it is important for people challenging inequities to actively become antiracist and not merely “not racist.” The reason, he said, is that progenitors of racist ideas have always self-identified their ideas as “not racist.”
Heather Ferguson, associate professor of History at Claremont McKenna College, has been awarded the prestigious Köprülü Book Prize by the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association for The Proper Order of Things: Language, Power and Law in Ottoman Administrative Discourses (Stanford University Press).
The prize is given to “the most outstanding book” in the field of Ottoman and Turkish studies published in the previous year.
After a source recounted a “jaw-dropping” conversation in the White House about immigration, Michael D. Shear ’90 knew it was time expand his coverage of President Trump’s immigration policy into a book.
The veteran political reporter and White House correspondent for The New York Times, and his colleague, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, wrote Border Wars: Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration to explore the President’s highly contentious views on immigration and the mechanics of an administration attempting to turn them into policy.
How much does the average American actually know about Mexico, our neighbor to the south? Beyond geography, how entwined are Mexico and the U.S., policy-wise? To answer, do you first need to understand Mexico’s political environment? The questions might sound daunting, but a new book by Roderic Camp, Philip M. McKenna Professor of the Pacific Rim at CMC, answers them fully.
UPDATE 12/16: Read the Foreign Affairs review of Russia's Path Toward Enlightenment.
The Marc Raeff Book Prize has been awarded to Gary M. Hamburg, Otho M. Behr Professor of the History of Ideas at CMC, for his book Russia’s Path toward Enlightenment: Faith, Politics, and Reason, 1500-1801.