#forthcoming books

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"Something is deeply rotten at the Supreme Court. How did we get here and what can we do about it? Crooked Media podcast host Leah Litman shines a light on the unabashed lawlessness embraced by conservative Supreme Court justices and shows us how to fight back.

With the gravitas of Joan Biskupic and the irreverence of Elie Mystal, Leah Litman brings her signature wit to the question of what’s gone wrong at One First Street. In Lawless, she argues that the Supreme Court is no longer practicing law; it’s running on vibes. By “vibes,” Litman means legal-ish claims that repackage the politics of conservative grievance and dress them up in robes. Major decisions adopt the language and posture of the law, while in fact displaying a commitment to protecting a single minority: the religious conservatives and Republican officials whose views are no longer shared by a majority of the country. Dahlia Lithwick’s Lady Justice meets Rebecca Traister’s Good and Mad as Litman employs pop culture references and the latest decisions to deliver a funny, zeitgeisty, pulls-no-punches cri de coeur undergirded by impeccable scholarship. She gives us the tools we need to understand the law, the dynamics of courts, and the stakes of this current moment—even as she makes us chuckle on every page and emerge empowered to fight for a better future."

Endorsements

“A refreshingly accessible and outrageously funny indictment of robed partisans drunk on power. Leah Litman is the ideal guide for this tour of the Supreme Court's assault on democracy and civil rights: She's wise, witty, and totally fearless in reading the justices for filth. Lawless is an essential book for anyone seeking to understand how our judiciary became the most dangerous branch—and how we can fight back.” —Mark Stern, senior writer and Supreme Court correspondent, Slate

"This impressive book tells the story of the ethical and intellectual collapse of the Supreme Court. But just as right-wing politics has wrecked the possibility of real justice on the Court, democratic politics can give us a chance to remake the Court and restore what has been lost." —U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin, Democratic leader on the House Judiciary Committee and bestselling author of Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy

“This is the book you have to read if you’re bummed about our country and worried that the Supreme Court is wrecking it with legalistic pseudo-reasoning that masks its right-wing agenda. With brilliant wit and impeccable analysis, Litman rips off the mask, lays bare the illogic, and arms you with the tools you’ll need to replace confusion and despair with clarity and determination.” —Laurence Tribe, author of Uncertain Justice

“A scathing takedown of the Roberts court. . . . Litman ingeniously mines the past half century of conservative politics for comedy gold as she builds her case that the movement’s bugbears are now driving the court….. A clear-eyed and alarming view of a court captured by far-right conspiracy theories.” –Publishers Weekly

"Leah Litman has long been the voice willing to say aloud what every other lawyer is thinking; the person prepared to fearlessly name some stunt or trick behind which the courts tend to hide bad behavior. With Lawless, Litman uses her sharp wit and sharper mind to build a bridge between a mystified supreme court and an American public that absolutely knows something is horribly awry at the high court, but can't put a name to it. This book is for everyone who wants to understand how the Roberts Court betrayed its mission and our values, and -- perhaps more urgently -- why they did so. (spoiler: it was the vibes)." —Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor at Slate, host of the Amicus Podcast, and author of Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America

[juniperandmoonlight]

Book Review: “Aru Shah and the End of Time” by Roshani Chokshi

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2296468226

I don't generally read much middle grade fiction these days. I requested this book because I have enjoyed Roshani Chokshi's YA novels, and because I'm really excited by what Disney and Rick Riordan are doing with this new imprint. For those who haven't read about the "Rick Riordan Presents" line yet, Riordan is using his considerable influence in the world of middle grade fantasy to promote authors from other cultures who are writing stories based in those mythologies. Aru Shah is the first of these books, and takes its setting from Hindu myths and legends. Aru Shah is a twelve year old girl who lives with her mother in a museum of Indian antiquities. One day in a bid to impress some snobby classmates, Aru lights an ancient lamp, one that she has been warned by her mother could unleash a demon bent on world destruction. It is up to Aru and some new friends to venture all the way into the lands of the dead to stop the demon. Along the way they encounter Gods, demons, a very strange Costco, and en emotionally needy house. This book was really fun to read. It has a self contained story that also leaves plenty of room for future volumes. Aru is a realistically flawed adolescent character, practical and self-sufficient while also feeling like she's suddenly in way over her head. The style is quite different from Chokshi's YA books, but fitting for this character and setting. Aru Shah is a fun read for fans of middle grade fantasy and mythology.

[juniperandmoonlight]

Book review: “Tempests and Slaughter” by Tamora Pierce

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1245916148

Electronic ARC provided by NetGalley.

I have loved Tamora Pierce since I first discovered the Alanna books as a kid (shortly after the series was finished I believe).  I still think she's one of the best young adult writers for female fantasy characters; I really can't overstate how big an impression it made on me to see Alanna dealing with things like safe sex and getting her period while also dealing with becoming a warrior.  I also loved Daine and the Immortals books, and Numair was a big part of that.  I've been waiting to read "Tempests and Slaughter" ever since it was first announced, and I'm happy to say that my only real disappointment after having read it is the knowledge that now I have to wait for book two.  

"Tempests and Slaughter" deals with Arram's (Numair's) first years at the Imperial Academy in Carthak.  This is not a book that relies on action and huge plot developments, but rather on character and relationship building.  Personally I found it fascinating to see how Numair's friendships with Ozorne and Varice developed.  You don't have to have read the Immortals Quartet to read this book, but I do suggest it as the relationships here take on an entirely different tone when you know where all of the characters eventually end up.  I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers, but this book made me like Ozorne and Varice more then I expected that I would.  You can see why Arram cares so much for them.  You can also see hints, especially in Ozorne's speech and behavior, of who he will become later in life.  

This is Tamora Pierce's first book from a solely male viewpoint, and you can tell that she tried very hard to make it as genuine an experience in being an adolescent boy as she always did with girls.  There are some awkward sections dealing with puberty; I can't say exactly how well Pierce has down because obviously I've never been a teen boy, but it feels accurate, and I can only hope that young boys reading this will be as drawn in by Arram as young girls were by Alanna.  

"Tempests and Slaughter" is another great book in Tamora Pierce's Tortall canon, and I can't wait to read the next installment.  

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Don’t Call It Entertainment | Prudence Peiffer

In Everthing Is Now, J. Hoberman chronicles a radical avant-garde's attempts to jostle New York City out of its postwar complacency and mora

versobooks.com/products/2974-everything-is-now

In J. Hoberman’s telling, there’s nothing easy about New York’s avant-garde. Much of the art described in Everything Is Now was difficult to be around, sometimes aggressively so. The Museum of Modern Art’s guards asked to wear sunglasses in the optically jarring 1965 exhibition “The Responsive Eye.” During a Village Vanguard performance that same year, LeRoi Jones and Archie Shepp told their “predominantly—predictably—white, liberal, middle-class” audience, according to Vivian Gornick’s write-up, that “the only thing you can do for me is die.” Openings involved midnight screenings, spectators vomiting, confusion. A flyer released by Yoko Ono and La Monte Young warned their audience to “come prepared to sit on the floor” of Ono’s unheated Chambers Street loft for a six-month series of concerts; it also emphasized in all caps that “THE PURPOSE OF THIS SERIES IS NOT ENTERTAINMENT.”

...

More at the link. (Likely behind a paywall.)

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Description

Two of the world’s most respected scientists reveal the forces behind the dangerous anti-science movement—and show us how to fight back

From pandemics to the climate crisis, humanity faces tougher challenges than ever. Whether it’s the health of our people or the health of our planet, we know we are on an unsustainable path. But our efforts to effectively tackle these existential crises are now hampered by a common threat: politically and ideologically motivated opposition to science.

Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Hotez are two of the most respected and well-known scientists in the world and have spent the last twenty years on the front lines of the battle to convey accurate, reliable, and trustworthy information about science in the face of determined and nihilistic opposition.

In this powerful manifesto, they reveal the five main forces threatening science: plutocrats, pros, petrostates, phonies, and the press. It is a call to arms and a road map for dismantling the forces of anti-science. Armed with the information in this book, we can be empowered to promote scientific truths, shine light on channels of dark money, dismantle the corporations poisoning the planet, and ultimately avert disaster.

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A damning indictment of the private equity industry told through the stories of four American workers whose lives and communities were upended by the ruinous effects of private equity takeovers.

"Private equity runs our country, yet few Americans have any idea how ingrained it is in their lives. Private equity controls hospitals, daycare centers, supermarket chains, voting machine manufacturers, local newspapers, nursing home operators, fertility clinics, and prison service providers. The industry manages highways, municipal water systems, fire departments, emergency medical services, and owns a growing swath of commercial and residential real estate.

Private equity executives, meanwhile, are not only among the wealthiest people in American society, but also modern-day barons with outsized influence on our politics and legislation. Yet their firms have to disclose almost nothing about how they operate, leaving workers and communities on the hook when a company begins to flounder without warning. Twenty percent of companies acquired through private equity buyouts go bankrupt within ten years, accounting for forty percent of all U.S. bankruptcies and putting millions of workers’ jobs at risk. How did private equity firms become so good at making money for themselves and so damaging for the rest of society?

Acclaimed journalist Megan Greenwell’s Bad Company tells the hidden story of private equity through the experiences of four American workers who watched as private equity upended their employers and communities: a Toys R Us floor supervisor, a rural doctor, a local newspaper journalist, and an affordable housing organizer. 

In the tradition of deeply human reportage like Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, Megan Greenwell pulls back the curtain on shadowy multibillion dollar companies like Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital, and KKR, telling a larger story about how private equity is reshaping the economy, disrupting communities, and hollowing out the very idea of the American dream itself. Timely and masterfully told, Bad Company is a forceful rebuke of America’s most consequential, yet least understood economic forces."

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otherpress.com/product/the-tale-of-a-wall-9781635423877/

This passionate autobiography—at once history lesson, prison memoir, metaphysical inquiry, love story, and cry for justice—provides insights into the Israeli occupation and the struggle of the Palestinian people. One of more than 5,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons before October 7, 2023, Nasser Abu Srour serves a life sentence with no possibility of parole. From the Nakba to the disastrous consequences of the Oslo Accords, he explains with great acumen how the Intifada of the Stones (1987–1993) ultimately provided the only option for young Palestinians in refugee camps to infuse meaning into their lives, especially as they faced a constant threat of humiliation and manipulation by Israeli intelligence. This uprising leads to Abu Srour’s incarceration, after he was forced to confess, under torture, to involvement in the killing of a Shin Bet officer who recruited his cousin as an informant. Within his cell, Abu Srour turns the Wall that has deprived him of freedom into his interlocutor and the source of stability that allows him to endure a chaotic, hopeless existence. The limitations of this survival strategy—and singular literary device—become painfully evident when falling in love causes Abu Srour to lose his grip on the Wall. Only by writing the story of his imprisonment and the story of his love does Abu Srour find his way back. In doing so, he has created a work of art that transcends his pain while shining a glaring light on the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian situation.

[ladzwriting]

If you're interested in reading The Fealty of Monsters Volume 1 early, I'm collecting ARC requests and the first batch is going out tomorrow

Submit here: https://forms.gle/xVo8rrzmuchcaj1v5