FICTION
Imposter
by Cait Levin ’21
Based on her own experiences observing supportive educators, Levin delivers a coming-of-age story of a girl determined to flourish in exclusionary STEM spaces. Computer science whiz Cam and friend Viv are the only girls on their RoboSub team — a fact that their male classmates do not allow them to forget. Cam facing down naysayers — and her own imposter syndrome — makes for an empowering read and affirms the value of educating through inclusivity. (Penguin Random House)
Craze
by Margaret Vandenburg,
senior lecturer in English
At the peak of the Roaring Twenties, the “Queer Craze” allowed New Yorkers like Henrietta “Henri” Adams to live more freely than ever before. Art critic by day and active socialite by night, Henri revels in the city’s vibrant queer nightlife, exploring identity and new relationships. Vandenburg’s prescient historical fiction about a queer person navigating newfound freedoms exposes hard choices and how the very right to make such decisions can become threatened. (Jaded Ibis Press)
NONFICTION
Bad Company
by Megan Greenwell ’06
Private equity is an industry that impacts Americans daily, but few are aware of its inner machinations. Greenwell exposes one of the biggest bad-faith actors in our country and elucidates the alarming influence it holds over our lives. Interviews with four people whose lives were upended by private equity buyouts reveal a system that serves to preserve wealth and leaves devastated communities and livelihoods in its wake. (Dey Street Books)
Raising Calm Kids in a World of Worry
by Maria Evans ’10
Parents today are faced with explaining an increasingly unstable world that leaves their children more vulnerable to anxiety than ever before. Psychotherapist Evans and fellow parent coach Ashley Graber provide a five-step, practice-informed approach to help parents recognize and navigate overwhelming emotions with their children. With their guidance, kids can learn helpful tools for facing a stressful world with confidence and resilience. (Penguin Random House)
A Measure of Intelligence: One Mother’s Reckoning With the IQ Test
by Pepper Stetler ’01
What exactly does an IQ test measure? Stetler pursues this question on behalf of her daughter who, as a child with Down syndrome, took required tests in order to receive support in school. Investigating the IQ test’s troubled history, which includes aspects of eugenics, racism, and ableism, Stetler finds how reductive these tests can be when determining a person’s potential. She argues for a much-needed reckoning with how our measures of perceived intelligence could further segregate our society. (Diversion Books)
The Evolving House Museum: Art Collectors and Their Residences, Then and Now
by Margaret Iacono Wertz (Peggy Pizza ’92)
Outside of well-known museums, a great deal of valuable curation can be found in someone’s home. A specialist in the history of collecting, Wertz co-edits a volume that answers how these 12 celebrated house museums came to be, how they have evolved, and how they might continue to change for modern audiences. From Paris to Taipei, collectors have left behind vast stores of cultural and artistic knowledge to consider. (Brill Publishers)
The Divided North: Black and White Families in the Age of Slavery
by Carol Gardner ’77
Living as a “free” American in the time of slavery was a contested idea, even in the supposedly “Free North.” Gardner illustrates this tension through the compared histories of Reuben Ruby, from a family of prominent anti-slavery activists, and Nathaniel Gordon, from a notorious and wealthy family of slave ship captains. Their work took them all over the world, but it would be their experiences at home, in 19th-century Maine, that would bring such new and uneasy notions of equality into sharp focus. (University of Massachusetts Press)
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