Books for Understanding: Scholarship Beyond the Headlines

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Books for Understanding is a free, easy-to-use resource to help you find books on current events. New bibliographies are compiled when a major news story breaks or public debate heats up. For more information, click here.

The Financial Crisis

The extent of the 2008 financial crisis is still not entirely known, but a greater understanding of how and what happened is available today. Scholarship on the history of financial markets and previous panics, economic analyses of financial products and regulatory regimes, and political studies of the intertwining of government and capital offer insight and knowledge in these days of uncertainty.

Go to: • Book List • Press Release

Sample Contents:

In Wall Street & Financial Markets:
Wall Street: A History From Its Beginnings to the Fall of Enron, by Charles R. Geisst

In Financial Panics and Market Crises:
The Great Credit Squeeze by Martin Neil Baily, Douglas W. Elmendorf, and Robert E. Litan

In Market Regulation:
Vicious Cycle: Presidential Decision Making in the American Political Economy, by Constantine J. Spiliotes

China

With its large role in the world's balance of trade and power, China is rarely out of the news. Now, with the Beijing Olympics, troubled provinces, and the remaining after-effects of the tragic earthquake, this scholarly bibliography offers a deeper understanding of the headlines.

Go to: • Book List • Press Release

Sample Contents:

In History (General):
The Chinese State at the Borders by Diana Lary

In Regional and International Relations:
Beyond the Final Score: The Politics of Sports in Asia by Victor Cha

In Economy and Development:
Wealth into Power: The Communist Party's Embrace of China's Private Sector by Bruce Dickson

In Religion and Philosophy:
China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society by Daniel A. Bell

Tibet

The upcoming Beijing Olympics and the recent riots in Lhasa have reignited international interest in the tensions between China and Tibet. The background of this unrest is explored in the works of scholarship cataloged here.

Go to: • Book List • Press Release

Sample Contents:

In Tibetan History (General):
A History of Modern Tibet, Volumes 1 and 2, by Melvyn C. Goldstein.

In Tibetan History (Under Chinese Rule):
Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule, by
Tubten Khétsun, translated by Matthew Akester.

In Tibetan Religion & Society :
The Violence of Liberation: Gender and Tibetan Buddhist Revival in Post-Mao China, by
Charlene E. Makley.

The Former Yugoslavia

In a region where internal struggle has often had global repercussions, Kosovo's declaration of independence has focused the worlds attention on the Balkan states of the former Yugoslavia.

Go to: • Book List • Press Release

Sample Contents:

In History: 1991-Present:
Serbia Since 1989: Politics and Society under Milosevic and After, edited by Sabrina P. Ramet and Vjeran Pavlakovic.

In People and Society:
Understanding Evil: Lessons from Bosnia, by Keith Doubt.

In History: Yugoslavia:
Yugoslavia: The State that Withered Away, by Dejan Jovic

In Arts, Languages, Literatures:
Liberated Cinema Expanded Edition: The Yugoslav Experience, 1945-2001, by Daniel J. Goulding

New Updates:
Kashmir updated 12/10/08
Iraq updated 10/24/08
China updated 10/23/08
Financial Crisis updated 10/22/08

Gaza

The Israeli ai, sea, and ground assault against Hamas in heavily-populated Gaze continues. Scholarship and analysis of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, from its historical roots to recent events, can be found in the following bibliography.

Go to: Israel/Palestine Book List

Mumbai Attacks

Four days of terror started on Wednesday, November 26, in Mumbai, India. Gunmen attacked a train station, hospital, hotels, a Jewish community center, and other locations around the city. A group calling itself "Deccan Mujahedeen" claimed responsibility, but its purpose is unclear.

Go to: Kashmir Book List • Terrorism Book List

Proposition 8

The passage of Proposition 8 in California, making gay marriage unconstitutional, may see the removal of rights already awarded citizens. What will happen to the thousands of same-sex marriages that took place in the state while legal is still to be determined, and many in California and across the country are protesting the results. Shortly after the election, same-sex marriage became legal in a second state, Connecticut.

Go to: Marriage Book List

2008 U.S. Presidential Election

Barack Obama is the President-Elect. Now the work of building an administration and planning for the first 100 days is well underway. Look to the lists below for insight into both the historic contexts of Obama's election, and a thorough understanding of the challenges facing the new executive team.

Contexts
Voting and Elections • U.S. Race Relations

International Affairs
Iraq • Climate Change • Israel & Palestine • Korea • Terrorism • China

Domestic & Social Policy
Taxes • Social Security • Marriage • Reproductive Rights • Civil Liberties • Financial Crisis

Is Milton Better Than Shakespeare?

Nigel Smith
Harvard University Press, 2008

A provocative question to pose, even on John Milton's 400th birthday. Smith makes the case, however, illustrating how Milton engaged with the questions of science, religion, and politics of his own time and remained relevant for the American founders a century later, and can speak powerfully to Americans still today. Learn more
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Repealing National Prohibition

David E. Kyvig
Kent State UP, 2000

December 5, 2008, marks the 75th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition. On this day in 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment which had outlawed alcohol. Kyvig's comprehensive study of the 14-year reaction against prohibition examines constitutional development and illuminates continuing public policy issues of alcohol and drug control. Learn More
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The Auto Industry in Crisis

While the U.S. government debates whether to bail-out the big three automakers, you won't have any trouble finding detailed analysis of the costs of executive travel from Detroit to D.C. But what about deeper insight? These four books offer a more substantial picture of the wide-ranging issues underlying the auto industry.

Time for a Model Change:
Re-engineering the Global Automotive Industry
Graeme Maxton & John Wormald
Cambridge UP, 2004
available as an e-book
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Mass Motorization and Mass Transit: An American History and Policy Analysis
David W. Jones
Indiana UP, 2008
A framework for understanding some of the the challenges of decreasing American demand on world oil
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Auto Mania: Cars, Consumers, and the Environment
Tom McCarthy
Yale UP, 2007
The first environmental history of the automobile
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Detroit Tales
Jim Ray Daniels
Michigan State UP, 2003
Award-winning short stories of working-class lives in America's auto capital.
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More Books of Note...

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