Yale Press Log

Stall Points is a "must-read" according to big name corporations

IBM Corporation. The Clorox Company. Charles Schwab Corporation. Reliance Industries. JPMorgan Chase.

What do all of these successful corporations all have in common? They--and many others--all have executives who read and praised Matthew S. Olson and Derek van Bever's Stall Points: Most Companies Stop Growing--Yours Doesn't Have To.

Clayton M. Christensen, professor at the Harvard Business School says, “Stall Points is grounded in competent and compelling research.  There is no fluff here.  It is a cogent, practical guide to the most pressing problem today’s managers face: How to sustain growth.” Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer for Facebook says, "This book should be required reading for leadership teams that want to stay relevant to their customers over the long run." You can see what more top execs have to say about the book here.

After the jump, read more about Stall Points, and learn how your company can sustain growth.

Yale Press Podcast, Episode 15

Episode 15 of the Yale Press Podcast is now available. Download Episode 15.

You won't want to miss this one—especially if you like White Castle.

In Episode 15, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Josh Ozersky , about the history of the American hamburger, and with (2) Richard Thaler, co-author with Cass Sunstein of Nudge, about the importance of structuring choices.

Download it for free here, on iTunes, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found.

Comments are welcome.

You won't want to miss this one—especially if you like White Castle.

In Episode 15, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Josh Ozersky , about the history of the American hamburger, and with (2) Richard Thaler, co-author with Cass Sunstein of Nudge, about the importance of structuring choices.

Download it for free here, on iTunes, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found.

Live chats with Zittrain and Speth!

Do you have any questions for Jonathan Zittrain about the future of the Internet? Well, thanks to the Internet, you can ask him today in a live chat with Network World from 2PM to 3PM. You can start posting your questions now, or just check back at 2 to hear Zittrain answer other people's questions.

Network World, in a recent feature on his book, lauded Zittrain's "thought-provoking ideas about the trade-off between convenience and innovation on the Internet." Read the entire review, or click here to read more about the book, including excerpts and the table of contents. Also, click here to watch videos of Zittrain fielding interesting questions on current events and trends at bigthink.com.

And tomorrow at 3 PM, washingtonpost.com will host a live chat with James Gustave Speth, author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World. You can begin submitting questions here.

The Bridge at the Edge of the World was reviewed in the Green section of the Washington Post. They said that Speth, who has "long been prominent in the environmental movement," gives "an extremely probing and thoughtful diagnosis of the root causes of planetary distress." Read the entire review here. Or read an excerpt from the book itself.

Thaler and Sunstein, nudging across America

Yale Press authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein have received a lot of press and praise for their newest book, Nudge. For those of you who want to hear what the authors themselves have to say, here are some opportunities:

• PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley will have Thaler on air for tonight's show (Friday 4/25). Click here to check your local listings, or here for more information on the program.
• On May 1 in Washington D.C., the CATO Institute will host a talk for Thaler, Sunstein, and a commentator at 12:00 PM.
• On May 16, Thaler and Sunstein will come to Chicago for the GSB Management Conference at the University of Chicago. They will be speaking at 1:00 PM.
• At the Google offices in San Francisco, Thaler and Sunstein will be giving a talk about their book at 1:00 PM on May 29.
• Thaler will be in Miami on June 8th to give a talk about Nudge.
• Sunstein will return to Washington D.C. on June 27th at 7 PM to discuss the book at the bookstore Politics & Prose.

If you just can't wait until Thaler and Sunstein come to town, then listen to Cass Sunstein discuss libertarian paternalism on the Glenn and Helen Show, a podcast broadcast through Politics Central via PajamasMedia.

You can also check out their website, www.nudges.org, for news, announcements and to send your own nudge suggestions to the authors.

Speth's Bridge brings together diverse thinkers

Gus Speth, author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, has been praised by a wide range of readers.

A Christian writer from Read the Spirit called Speth's ideas "a sign of hope." A philosopher of social science at ChangingSociety lauded Speth's "very powerful analysis," while comparing his ideas to those of the Dalai Lama. The writer at Kale for Sale wrote that Speth "is bursting at the seams with information and urgency." And Andrew Revkin on his DotEarth New York Times blog mentioned that The Bridge at the Edge of the World is on his reading table. And a review from the Yale Daily News noted that Speth's book makes "an argument supported from professionals from several different disciplines."

To hear what Speth himself has to say about his ideas, here's a video of Speth's April 22 appearance on OnPoint.

"During today's OnPoint, Speth, a former chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and founder of both the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Resources Institute, explains why he is unhappy with the current state of environmentalism. He also gauges the changing level of interest in environmental issues on college campuses throughout the country."

View this video here while you still can--It will only be on the site for the next six months.

Click here to listen to an interview with Gus Speth on the Yale Press Podcast.

Thaler and Sunstein on newsprint, airwaves, and blogs

Journalists across the web are giving a nudge--I mean, a nod--to Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, authors of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.

Thaler and Sunstein wrote an op-ed for the Boston Globe, discussing the importance of behavioral economics in policymaking. The Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog pointed their readers towards that article in the Globe.

Newsweek's story Dieting for Dollars began with an anecdote from Thaler and Sunstein's Nudge about two economics grads who gambled on their weight.

On Thursday, while Sunstein guest-blogged for The Volokh Conspiracy in a post titled "Give More Tomorrow and Choice Architecture," Thaler spoke on The Leonard Lopate Show about "How to Choose Wisely." You can download Thaler's segment, or listen with the audio player below.

New York Times bloggers "Freaking" out for Nudge

On the Freakonomics blog at the New York Times, Annika Mengisen admitted that she and fellow-blogger Steven Levitt can't stop reading Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. The Freakonomics team invited Thaler and Sunstein for a Q&A, which can be read here.

This interview follows Levitt's enthusiastic review for Nudge a few days ago. Levitt, one of the authors behind the book Freakonomics, was just too eager to share Nudge with his readers--even before finishing it.

"I’m halfway through it," says Levitt. "And this is a book I love."

He goes on to say, "Picking and choosing a few examples can’t convey what is most surprising about the book: it is really fun to read. Academics aren’t supposed to be able to write this well."

In the comments section, Freakonomics readers have shared Levitt's and Mengisen's excitement:

"You’ve nudged me. I’m going to go buy the book now," posted Charles D.

"I can’t wait to get this book!" JP agreed.

Read an excerpt from the book, view the table of contents, or check out the Nudges blog.

Zittrain's internet popularity cannot be stopped

Network World featured Yale Press author and "bona fide member of the digiterati" Jonathan Zittrain in a review titled "How the iPhone is killing the 'Net." This review of Zittrain's new book, The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It, has quickly made its way across the web. Macworld reprinted the article, and from there it was dugg and is being picked up by bloggers at Alejandro@Oxford, The iPhone Low Down, Steve's Unofficial Blog, and elsewhere.

Additionally, StopBadware.org blogged on an interview with Zittrain that appeared in the Management section of Computerworld.

North Korean radios that are altered to receive only the official stations. Cars that listen in on their owners’ conversations. Digital video recorders ordered to self-destruct in viewers’ homes thanks to a lawsuit against the manufacturer thousands of miles away. Zittrain’s extraordinary book pieces together the engine that has catapulted the Internet ecosystem into the prominence it has today—and explains that it is sputtering precisely because of its runaway success. With the unwitting help of consumers, the Internet is on a path to a lockdown, a closing off of opportunities and innovation.

Visit the author's website at www.jz.org. Read and comment on the entire book online at Yale Books Unbound.

NYT on professions and recessions: Sennett and Fraser

Writing for the New York Times Book Review, Lewis Hyde reviewed The Craftsman by Richard Sennett. He explains the book's ideas, saying that he enjoyed "the companionship of its inquiring intelligence." Hyde goes on to tell the readers, "There is much to learn here." Read the entire review here.

Defining craftsmanship far more broadly than "skilled manual labor," Richard Sennett maintains that the computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen engage in a craftsman's work. Craftsmanship names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, says the author, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. In this thought-provoking book, one of our most distinguished public intellectuals explores the work of craftsmen past and present, identifies deep connections between material consciousness and ethical values, and challenges received ideas about what constitutes good work in today’s world.

Click here to listen to an interview with Richard Sennett on the Yale Press Podcast. View the table of contents, or read an excerpt from The Craftsman.

In an article on Wall Street-bound graduates and their nervousness about the recession, Louise Story of the New York Times asked Yale Press author Steve Fraser. Fraser, author of Wall Street: America's Dream Palace, also teaches an undergraduate seminar on Wall Street at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the beginning of the semester, Mr. Fraser noticed that students seemed to think the housing crisis was unrelated to their goals in finance and was caused mostly by irresponsible borrowers. But after the collapse of Bear Sterns, he said, they had "a great deal more sympathy for people who have already been affected by this crisis.

"There’s a sense in the class now that things are more worrying, that this may affect them."

Read the entire New York Times article here. Click here to listen to an interview with Fraser on the Yale Press Podcast.

Thaler and Sunstein, sharing their nudge knowledge

A wealth of excitement has surrounded Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, authors of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.

• In "Getting it right on the money," an article on financial literacy in The Economist, Richard Thaler advises on how to improve Americans' financial literacy.
• The New Republic "Easy Does It" by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein consider how to make lazy people do the right thing.  (Article available for subscribers only.)
• In an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times, "Designing better choices," Thaler and Sunstein discuss their idea of liberatarian paternalism and its impact upon society.
• In his Boston Globe article "When shove comes to push," Drake Bennett assesses the flurry of ideas around libertarian paternalism.
• In "Lured Toward the Right Choice," Barbara Kiviat of Time Magazine writes about Thaler and Sunstein's "new approach to public policy that takes into account the odd realities of human behavior."

Visit Nudges.org for news, announcements and to send your own nudge suggestions to the authors. Click here for an extended question & answer discussion with the authors.

After the jump are a list of stops on their tour across the United States to discuss Nudge.

Parsi and Kurlantzick shortlisted for Arthur Ross Book Award

The Council on Foreign Relations announced the shortlist for the 2008 Arthur Ross Book Award. Among the 5 prestigious international affairs books chosen, two spots were given to Yale Press authors.

Joshua Kurlantzick was chosen for Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power is Transforming the World. The Council consider his book an "insightful assessment of Beijing’s new diplomacy that has altered the political landscape in Southeast Asia and far beyond, changing the dynamics of China’s relationships with other countries."

The Council chose Trita Parsi for Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States, calling his book "a unique and important dissection of the complicated triangular relations that continue to shape the future of the Middle East."

The Arthur Ross Book Award is a significant award for a book on international affairs. It was endowed by Arthur Ross in 2001 to honor non-fiction works, in English or translation, that merit special attention for bringing forth new information that changes our understanding of events or problems, developing analytical approaches that allow new and different insights into critical issues, or providing new ideas that help resolve foreign policy problems.

Yale Press Podcast, Episode 14

Episode 14 of the Yale Press Podcast is now available.
Download Episode 14

In Episode 14, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Steve Fraser, about how Americans have perceived Wall Street and its more well known investors throughout its history, and with (2) Jay Parini, about the importance of poetry for both individuals and for cultures.

Download it for free here, on iTunes, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found.

Comments are welcome.

In Episode 14, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Steve Fraser, about how Americans have perceived Wall Street and its more well known investors throughout its history, and with (2) Jay Parini, about the importance of poetry for both individuals and for cultures.

Download it for free here, on iTunes, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found.

Comments are welcome.

Speth appears on radio with high frequency

Radio stations across the country are interviewing James Gustave Speth about his new book The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability.

On Monday morning, Speth could be heard on Focus 580 with David Inge (WILL Illinois Public Radio). Hear that interview in RealAudio format here, or in MP3 here.

Monday evening, Speth appeared on At Issue with Ben Merens (Wisconsin Public Radio). That interview can be found here in RealAudio format.

Speth's upcoming radio appearances stretch from coast to coast. See the list after the jump.

Two Yale Press authors to talk on NPR today

Tune your dials to NPR from 11-noon EST today and you're bound to hear one of our Yale Press authors share their expertise.

James Gustave Speth, author of The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, will talk to Diane Rehm about the effect of American-style consumer capitalism upon the environment. To learn more about his appearance on The Diane Rehm Show, click here.

The author of Red Sky at Morning would be the first to agree that we are in deep environmental trouble, but he offers hope that there is still time to avert global catastrophe. Gus Speth explores a wide variety of promising and even radical ideas for transforming modern capitalism so as to protect and restore the natural world.

Or you can hear Josh Ozersky, author of The Hamburger: A History and online food editor for New York Magazine. Ozersky will discuss the juicy story of America's favorite sandwich live on WBUR's On Point. For more information, click here.

A lively and entertaining history of the hamburger and why it is no mere sandwich in America, but an icon. Josh Ozersky uncovers an array of facts and stories about the hamburger’s evolution and chronicles how the burger has reflected—and even shaped—American business and culture.

Technology's future and past: The Internet and The Railway

The Technology Liberation Front's Adam Thierer reviewed Jonathan Zittrain's The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It. Finding the book interesting, he recommended--and later, implored--his readers to pick up a copy. Zittrain's provocative ideas about "generative" and "sterile" appliances inspire Thierer's extensive response and the comments that follow. "It’s an important and enlightening book about one possible vision of the Net’s future," Thierer says. Read the entire review here.

North Korean radios that are altered to receive only the official stations. Cars that listen in on their owners’ conversations. Digital video recorders ordered to self-destruct in viewers’ homes thanks to a lawsuit against the manufacturer thousands of miles away. Jonathan Zittrain’s extraordinary book pieces together the engine that has catapulted the Internet ecosystem into the prominence it has today—and explains that it is sputtering precisely because of its runaway success. With the unwitting help of consumers, the Internet is on a path to a lockdown, a closing off of opportunities and innovation.

Meanwhile, the Kansas City infoZine News previewed the "major international exhibition" at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, "Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America and the Railway, 1830-1960." They said, "'Art in the Age of Steam' is the most wide-ranging exhibition ever assembled of American and European works of art responding to the drama of the railroad.... [It] will capture the excitement and range of emotions that steam-powered trains elicited as railroads reshaped culture around the world." Yale University Press is publishing The Railway: Art in the Age of Steam, the catalog for the exhibition; the infoZine staff said that the catalog "is directed at both art lovers and railroad enthusiasts." The catalog will be available next month.

Through vivid illustrations and engaging texts, The Railway: Art in the Age of Steam captures both the fear and excitement of early train travel as it probes the artistic response to steam locomotion within its social setting. Featuring paintings, photography, prints, and posters, the book includes numerous masterpieces by 19th- and 20th-century artists, including J. M. W. Turner, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Charles Sheeler, and Edward Hopper.

Nudging Against Global Warming

In his Findings column for the New York Times, John Tierney wonders why Americans aren't changing their lives in reaction to climate change. "We need the right nudge," Tierney says, referring to the recent release from Yale Press authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.

Taking a cue from Thaler and Sunstein, Tierney suggests a piece of jewelry that measures the wearer's carbon footprint and displays it to the world on a scale from red to green. Writing a blog post for TierneyLab, Tierney nudged his readers to help him out with this project: "Do you have a better name, or a better nudge of kind? The best suggestion will be rewarded with a copy of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago." Click here to read the entire post or enter the contest.

For more information about nudges, check out Nudge or the website for the book, www.nudges.org, with news, reviews, a blog and even a glossary.

Steil and Litan's Financial Statecraft on this month's reading list

Benn Steil and Robert Litan's Financial Statecraft: The Role of Financial Markets in American Foreign Policy, now available in paperback, was chosen by Daniel W. Drezner as one of the books of the month for "March (and February... um, January too)." Drezner's blog is "sharp but informal commentary on politics and foreign policy," according to The New Republic, and "one of the essential weblogs," says Gawker.com. Here's what Drezner had to say about Financial Statecraft:

"What a difference two years make. Steil and Litan's book came out [in hardcover] in early 2006 as an analysis of how the U.S. could deploy financial statecraft to advance its foreign policy ends. Now, with the rise of sovereign wealth funds, one wonders if people in Beijing, Moscow, and Abu Dhabi are reading this excellent primer on the subject."

Benn Steil is director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and the editor of International Finance. Robert E. Litan is vice president of research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation and senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution.

View the table of contents, or read an excerpt.

Sennett's The Craftsman in print, blogs, and air waves

In addition to the blogs Hand Made Theory, Zeigarnika, and Greenjeans Blog that feature Richard Sennett's The Craftsman, guardian.co.uk has two reviews and an article by Sennett himself.

The review that appeared in the Observer on February 17 says, "As in his previous books, Sennett ranges fluently across philosophy, literature, art, music and technology." Meanwhile, the reviewer from the Guardian says, "Richard Sennett is a prime observer of society, an American, a pragmatist who takes the nitty gritty of daily life and turns it into a disquisition on morality.... He is an enchanting writer with important things to say." For a taste of what he has to say, check out his article, "Labours of Love," which appeared last month in the Guardian.

Sennett was also invited as a guest on The Diane Rehm Show, where he talked about everyone's potential to be a craftsman. Listen to the show in Real Audio format here, or in Windows Media format here. If you want to hear more from Sennett, click here to listen to an interview with him on the Yale Press Podcast.

Defining craftsmanship far more broadly than "skilled manual labor," Richard Sennett maintains that the computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen engage in a craftsman’s work. Craftsmanship names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, says the author, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. In this thought-provoking book, one of our most distinguished public intellectuals explores the work of craftsmen past and present, identifies deep connections between material consciousness and ethical values, and challenges received ideas about what constitutes good work in today’s world.

View the table of contents, or read an excerpt from the book.

Olson and van Bever identify stall points for Harvard Business Review

Although Stall Points: Most Companies Stop Growing--Yours Doesn't Have To isn't available until May 19, an article from authors Matthew S. Olson and Derek van Bever appeared in the March edition of the Harvard Business Review.

Olson and van Bever, with Seth Verry, analyzed the growth of Fortune 100-sized companies over the past half-century. They found that 87% of those companies stalled at least once in their history. The authors also found that within a few years after the stall, odds overwhelm any hope of healthy growth. The article also identifies the most common causes of growth stalls. The entire article is available here for purchase.

For more information on growth stalls, what they are, and how to prevent them in your company, check out Olson and van Bever's website, The Stall Points Initiative. The site even includes a Red Flag Diagnostic, which can help identify the warning signs that senior management should guard against.

Matthew S. Olson is an executive director and Derek van Bever is the chief research officer of the Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ:EXBD), the premier advisory and performance improvement network for leaders of the world’s largest public and private organizations.  The authors live in the Washington, DC area. 

Yale Press Podcast, Episode 13

Episode 13 of the Yale Press Podcast is now available.
Download Episode 13

In Episode 13, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Richard Sennett, winner of the 2006 Hegel Prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences, about the art of craftsmanship; and (2) Gus Speth, dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale, about how the free market system will need to adjust in the face of serious environmental changes.

Download it for free here, on iTunes, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found.

Comments are welcome.

In Episode 13, Chris Gondek speaks with (1) Richard Sennett, winner of the 2006 Hegel Prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences, about the art of craftsmanship; and (2) Gus Speth, dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale, about how the free market system will need to adjust in the face of serious environmental changes.

Download it for free here, on iTunes, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found.

Comments are welcome.

The New Republic on Obama's economic guru and Gordin's yikhes

In the March 12th issue of The New Republic, Noam Scheiber writes of the effect of Richard Thaler's economic theories on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Scheiber writes, "Thaler is revered by the leading wonks on Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Though he has no formal role, Thaler presides as a kind of in-house intellectual guru, consulting regularly with Obama's top economic adviser." Thaler and Cass Sunstein recently wrote Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Read more about Thaler's influence on Obama here.

Elsewhere in that same issue of The New Republic, Stephen Greenblatt discusses the yikhes--"status or honor" in Yiddish--of playwright Jacob Gordin. Greenblatt positively reviews The Jewish King Lear: A Comedy in America, saying that "the late Ruth Gay's fine and lively translation of Gordin's most famous play, along with the richly informative accompanying biographical and interpretative essays by Gay and Sophie Glazer, enable readers without Yiddish to understand what stirred Gordin's original audience so deeply." Read the entire review here.

The New Republic also extensively reviewed The Origins of Reasonable Doubt: Theological Roots of the Criminal Trial by James Q. Whitman for their February 27th issue. TNR subscribers can read that review here.

Allawi and McCarthy: two experts discuss their expertise

Ali A. Allawi, author of The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace, spoke at Brown University last Wednesday as part of the Peter Green Lectures on the Modern Middle East. His talk at Brown was moved to a 675 seat lecture hall to accommodate demand. Read an article covering Allawi's lecture from the Providence Journal. The Occupation of Iraq is now available in paperback.

This is a comprehensive account of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, told for the first time by an Iraqi insider. Ali Allawi, former Iraqi Minister of Defense and Finance, writes from the perspective of both principal and observer, shedding new light on the story behind the invasion, the shambolic aftermath and attempts at stabilization, and why events have failed to unfold as planned.

Click here to listen to an interview with Ali A. Allawi on the Yale Press Podcast.

---

On February 29, 2008, Yale Press author Tom McCarthy appeared on the Leonard Lopate Show (WNYC) to discuss his new book Auto Mania: Cars, Consumers, and the Environment. You can download the segment or listen with the embedded player below. For more information on the segment, or to hear the entire program, click here.

Spanning the automobile’s entire history, this book is the first to relate consumer behavior to the wider environmental impact of cars—from raw materials and manufacturing to use and disposal. It shows that America’s disappointing response to automobile-related environmental issues stems from the interplay of politics, economics, and desire.

Solove and the future of publishing

Posting about Yale Press' foray into new media, the Freakonomics blog of the New York Times announced that the "free e-book movement has officially begun." They cite Yale Press titles like The Future of Reputation by Daniel Solove and The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler as recent developments in this new movement.

Solove wonders what this downloadable format will do to the publishing industry and books in general. On his blog, Concurring Opinions, Solove asks, "Is this trend a wise thing for publishers to do? Will it help sales? Hurt sales?" You can help answer these questions and voice your opinion about the issue by leaving a comment on the post.

The Future of Reputation explores the profound implications of personal information on the Internet, preserved forever even if it is false, biased, or humiliating. Brimming with examples of online gossip, slander, and rumor, the book discusses the tensions between privacy and free speech and proposes how to balance the two. What information about you is on the Internet?

Click here to listen to an interview with Solove on the Yale Press Podcast. Or to download The Future of Reputation as a free e-book, click here.

With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at a crucial moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in The Wealth of Networks on the new information economy and our socio-political future. He discusses the legal and policy issues that confront us and warns that the Internet’s promise of greater individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice is by no means guaranteed unless we make the right decisions now.

For a free, e-book copy of The Wealth of Networks, click here.

Who was the real Fidel Castro?

In the wake of his resignation, many are asking who Fidel Castro really was, and what really happened in Cuba during his tenure as President. The answer to these questions--and more--can be found in two Yale Press titles, both available in paperback.

The Real Fidel Castro by Leycester Coltman

Published on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, this timely book, the most intimate and dispassionate biography of Fidel Castro to date, offers a fresh assessment of the revolutionary leader. Written by the British ambassador to Cuba in the early 1990s, it chronicles the events of Castro’s extraordinary life and explores the contradiction between the private character and the public reputation.

Cuba: A New History by Richard Gott

In this acute and profoundly engaged exploration of Cuban history, British journalist Richard Gott illuminates the island’s entire revolutionary past, from pre-Columbian times to the present. He emphasizes little-known aspects of Cuba’s early centuries and provides an extraordinary account of Castro’s regime, its lonely survival in the post-Soviet years, and its expected future. View the table of contents by clicking here.

Yale Press authors explore Broadway, investigate Roswell, and report on Latin America

Especially in these winter months, it's hard to imagine a world without "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and other classic Frank Loesser tunes. Mark Steyn, reviewing Thomas L. Riis' Frank Loesser for the Wall Street Journal, realizes that "a world without Frank Loesser and 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' would be very cold indeed." Steyn calls Frank Loesser by Yale Press author Thomas L. Riis "a solid overview of an underappreciated talent." Steyn not only praises this "invaluable" book, but also Yale University Press as a whole for the "important and valuable Broadway Masters series of musicological studies." You can read the entire review here.

Frank Loesser, most famous for composing the ever-popular musical Guys and Dolls (1950), also wrote the music and lyrics for the Pulitzer prize-winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and other hits. This book is the first to bring the full story of Loesser’s life and creative achievement in Hollywood and on Broadway into the light.

Elsewhere in the Wall Street Journal, Max Holland listed the "Five Best" books on untangling the rise of conspiracy theories. Number 2 was Yale Press' Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America by Robert Alan Goldberg, which Holland called "unrivaled" for books published within the past decade. You can see Holland's entire list here.

In this enthralling book Robert Goldberg focuses on conspiracy theories in post-World War II America, examining how they became popular and why they remain so. He investigates conspiracy theories surrounding the Roswell UFO incident, the Communist threat, the rise of the Antichrist, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the Jewish plot against black America. Those who suspect conspiracies are not confined to the lunatic fringe, Goldberg shows. In fact, paranoid rhetoric and thinking are disturbingly widespread and have become an integral part of American political culture.

You can tune in tomorrow to KERA Texas public radio to hear Michael Reid, author of Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul. His hour-long interview for Think with Krys Boyd will start at noon, February 12, and can be heard online here.

Latin America, home to half-a-billion people, the world's largest reserves of arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is in the midst of a vast transformation. Michael Reid, a journalist with many years of experience in the region, explores Latin America's current shift to the political left, its struggle to compete economically, and the potential for democracy to flourish there.