Whether you’re planning a big vacation or spending time at home, the Brookings Institution Press has a great selection of books we’d like to recommend for your leisure time this summer. These recent publications include research on everything from artificial intelligence to America’s new “diversity explosion.” Click on any of the covers or links for more information on each title.
The Future of Work, Darrell M. West
In The Future of Work, Governance Studies Vice President Darrell West analyzes how the emergence of innovative technologies are transforming not only the way we work, but politics, the economy, and society at large. West presents several proposals to help people deal with the transition from an industrial to a digital economy, including an assertion that we should broaden the concept of employment to include volunteerism and parenting. Read The Future of Work to learn more about robots, automation, and artificial intelligence, and why the policies we adapt to address these technologies will either lead to a utopian or dystopian future.
You can also check out a review of The Future of Work in The Wall Street Journal or listen to West discuss his research on a recent podcast.
Dream Hoarders, Richard V. Reeves
An Economist Best Book of the Year.
When it first published in 2017, Dream Hoarders sparked a national conversation on the dangerous separation between the upper middle class and everyone else; a separation clearly seen in family structure, education, neighborhoods, and lifestyle. Now in paperback form and with updated data and analysis that considers Donald Trump’s victory, Brookings Senior Fellow Richard Reeves expands on how Americans whose incomes are in the top 20 percent use their positions to hoard opportunities for their children and contribute to a growing class-based society.
Diversity Explosion, William H. Frey
Race is once again a contentious topic in America, as shown by the divisive rise of Donald Trump and the activism of groups like Black Lives Matter. Yet, in Diversity Explosion, prominent demographer William Frey argues the current period of profound racial change will lead to a less-divided nation than today’s older whites and younger minorities fear. Learn why America’s emerging diversity boom is good news for a country that would otherwise face declining growth and rapid aging, and how it will affect our political landscape for years to come.
You can also listen to Frey explain his related research on the millennial generation on a recent Brookings podcast.
Rise of the Alt-Right, Thomas J. Main
The election of Donald Trump and the elevation of his former campaign manager, Steve Bannon, helped launch a fringe political ideology from relative obscurity to the forefront of political conversations across the country. In his new book, Baruch College professor Thomas Main traces the so-called Alt-Right from its ideological roots to how it may impact the United States for years to come. Main interviews Alt-Right thought leaders on their objectives and uses web traffic data to analyze the size of the ideology’s following. A great read for anyone who wants to learn more about right-wing extremists’ role in today’s political discourse and the threat they pose to liberal democracy.
Journey into Europe, Akbar Ahmed
In his latest book, Akbar Ahmed, a renowned scholar of Islam, reviews what he learned on a four-year tour across Europe interviewing Muslims and non-Muslims from all walks of life about how their communities are engaging each other. Journey into Europe details how tensions over Islam have increased since 9/11 and why the rise of right-wing, nationalist political parties across the continent is shaking the foundation of the European Union to its core. It also explores several opportunities for Europe and its Muslim communities to promote integration and pluralism in the 21st century.
Read the New York Times review of Journey into Europe.
Re-Claiming the American Dream, Ben Hecht
At a time when the American Dream has drifted far out of reach for many, divisions in Washington seem only to be growing further apart. But there is no requirement that policies to reorient our economic future and solutions to create more opportunities for the American people need to come from D.C. In Re-Claiming the American Dream, Living Cities President and CEO Ben Hecht introduces a number of reforms for communities to pursue that serve as a blueprint to leveling the playing field for struggling Americans everywhere.
The Future of ISIS, edited by Feisal al-Istrabadi and Sumit Ganguly
There are countless books analyzing the rise of the Islamic State and its presence in the Middle East, but The Future of ISIS is the first major study to chart the groups’ path ahead; considering both prospects for growth and what the global community, including the United States, could do to stop it. Edited by Feisal al-Istrabadi and Sumit Ganguly of Indiana University, the book examines how ISIS will continue to disrupt not only the Middle East but the global order. Specific chapters delve into whether ISIS benefitted from intelligence failures, how to confront the alarmingly broad appeal of Islamic State ideology, and the role of local and regional actors in confronting ISIS.
The Transformation of Title IX, R. Shep Melnick
Few laws have had such far-reaching impact as Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. In this comprehensive review its implementation, Boston College political science professor R. Shep Melnick analyzes how interpretations of “equal educational opportunity” have changed over the years and Title IX’s role in campaigns to correct gender stereotypes.
Listen to Melnick discuss The Transformation of Title IX on a recent Brookings podcast.
Want to keep a few options in mind for the months to come? Check out some of our books publishing late this summer or in the early Fall.
Bucharest Diaries, Alfred Moses
Man Out, Andrew Yarrow
The Dance of the Trillions, David Lubin
Commentary
Your summer reading list from the Brookings Institution Press
July 3, 2018