For decades, stand-up comedy has been central to the imbrication of popular culture and political discourse, reshaping the margins of political critique, and often within the contexts of urban nightlife entertainment. In Working to Laugh: Assembling Difference in American Stand-Up Comedy Venues, James M. Thomas (JT) provides an ethnographic analysis of urban nightlife sites where this popular form of entertainment occurs. Examining the relationship between the performance, the venue, and t...

2021 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleAs a major, public flagship university in the American South, so-called “Diversity University” has struggled to define its commitments to diversity and inclusion, and to put those commitments into practice. In Diversity Regimes, sociologist James M. Thomas draws on more than two years of ethnographic fieldwork at DU to illustrate the conflicts and contingencies between a core set of actors at DU over what dive...

The Souls of Jewish Folk argues that late nineteenth-century Germany’s struggle with its “Jewish question”—what to do with Germany’s Jews—served as an important and to-date underexamined influence on W.E.B. Du Bois’s considerations of America’s anti-Black racism at the turn of the twentieth century. Du Bois is well known for his characterization of the twentieth century’s greatest challenge, “the problem of the color line.” This proposition gained prominence in the conception of D...

Explore the world of sociology through a defining feature of all societies: power.The Power of Sociology: Grasping Our Unequal World introduces students to sociology through the discipline’s primary concern: the causes and consequences of social inequality, and at its core, power. The central organizing principle of social life, power is relevant to every reader and fundamental to all major sub-areas of sociology. Authors Gudmundur Oddsson, Jenny M. Stuber...

Affective Labour explores four distinct landscapes in order to demonstrate how collective feelings are organized by social actors in order to both reproduce and contest hegemony. Utilizing a variety of methods, including participant observation, in-depth interviews across field sites, and content analysis of mass media, Correa and Thomas demonstrate the centrality of affective labor in enabling and constraining prevailing norms and practices of race, citizenship, class, gender, and sexuali...

A step-by-step guide to transforming student learning with value-added analysisValue-added analysis is the most robust, statistically significant method available for helping educators quantify student progress over time. This powerful tool also reveals tangible strategies for improving instruction. Built around the work of Battelle for Kids, this bookprovides a field-tested continuous improvement model for using value-added information to increase student...

As globalization expands, more than goods and information are traded between the countries of the world. Hattery, Embrick, and Smith present a collection of essays that explore the ways in which issues of human rights and social inequality are shared globally. The editors focus on the United States' role in contributing to human rights violations both inside and outside its borders. Essays on contemporary issues such as immigration, colonialism, and reparations are used to illustrate how t...

Why Postliberalism Failed offers an indictment of one of the most consequential ideological movements reshaping American and European conservatism today. With leading politicians among its adherents and major conservative institutions captured by its agenda, postliberalism demands serious scrutiny and this book delivers it.Drawing on deep historical research, the book traces postliberalism's intellectual roots to two traditions: an extreme papalism that subordinates all po...

70 Civil War Memoirs of Union Soldiers is a compelling anthology that captures the diverse experiences and voices of those who served in the Union Army. The collection encapsulates a wide range of literary styles, from the stark and harrowing narratives of battlefield confrontations to deeply reflective accounts of the personal and collective struggles of war. Intimately tied to the historical context of the Civil War, the anthology provides a panoramic view of the conflict, underscoring t...

A classic collection of short stories written to be listened to.

Whether chronicling an athlete's rise, fall, and redemption or following a team's improbable triumph on the field, sports have been a favorite theme of filmmakers almost since movies were first produced. And whether focusing on soccer (Bend It Like Beckham), boxing (Rocky and its sequels), hockey (Slap Shot), baseball (Bull Durham), football (The Longest Yard), basketball (Hoosiers), cycling (Breaking Away), or tennis (Wimbledon), such films capture the competition and thrill of sport. All...

DEEP, DARK & UNSETTLING: 100+ Gothic Classics in One Edition is a masterful curation of the most evocative and haunting tales from the annals of Gothic literature. This anthology offers a rich tapestry of themes, exploring the dark recesses of human nature, supernatural events, and the eerie atmospheres that define the genre. Through diverse styles ranging from the poetic melancholy of Robert Browning to the chilling narratives of Edgar Allan Poe, each piece unveils a different facet of th...