"An eminent sociologist--and coauthor, with Aziz Ansari, of the #1 New York Times bestseller Modern Romance--makes the provocative case that the future of democratic societies rests not only on shared values but also on shared "social infrastructure": the libraries, childcare centers, bookstores, coffee shops, pools, and parks that promote crucial, sometimes life-saving connections between people who might otherwise fail to find common cause"-- Provided...

"After a dysfunctional childhood as one of four kids born to teenage parents and raised "white trash" in poor Rhode Island, Stephanie Kiser finds herself a 22-year-old first-generation college grad drowning in student loan debt. To stay afloat, she surrenders her career-track PR job for a position as nanny to New York City's toddler elite. The span of seven years takes Stephanie on a journey from working alongside a stay-at-home mom in her ten-million...

From one of the most prominent voices on the American Left, a galvanizing argument for why we need socialism in the United States today With the stunning popularity of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Americans are embracing the class politics of socialism. But what, exactly, is socialism? And what would a socialist system in America look like? In The Socialist Manifesto , Bhaskar Sunkara explores socialism's history since the mid-1800s...

"The progressive economics writer redefines the national conversation about American freedom"-- Provided by publisher. Health insurance, student loan debt, retirement savings, child care, work-life balance, access to home ownership-- these are the issues driving America's current political debates. Konczal believes they are all linked by a single question: should we allow the free market to determine our lives? His answer is a resounding "no". With...

"The story of how economic reasoning came to dominate Washington between the 1960s and 1980s-and why it continues to constrain progressive ambitions todayFor decades, Democratic politicians have frustrated progressives by tinkering around the margins of policy while shying away from truly ambitious change. What happened to bold political vision on the left, and what shrunk the very horizons of possibility? In Thinking Like an Economist, Elizabeth...

"Labor and race have shared a complex, interconnected history in America. For decades, key aspects of work-from getting a job to workplace norms to advancement and mobility-ignored and failed Black people. While explicit discrimination no longer occurs, and organizations make internal and public pledges to honor and achieve "diversity," inequities persist through what Adia Harvey Wingfield calls the "gray areas:" the relationships, networks, and cultural...

"Cities generate close to 85 percent of US GDP and are hubs of innovation and growth. However, structural factors--such as the prioritization of businesses and the wealthy, a long-standing federal bias against cities, state government hostilities toward municipal governments, and structural racism interwoven throughout nearly every pillar of society--have been left to generate and reproduce poverty and inequality in metropolitan areas across the country....

We all have the sense that the American economy-and its government-tilts toward big business, but as Joseph E. Stiglitz explains in his new book, People, Power, and Profits, the situation is dire. A few corporations have come to dominate entire sectors of the economy, contributing to skyrocketing inequality and slow growth. This is how the financial industry has managed to write its own regulations, tech companies have accumulated reams of personal...

"More than 3,000 sheriffs across the United States occupy a unique position in American politics, in offices with exceptional authority, enormous autonomy, and low visibility as elected law enforcement officials. Drawing on two surveys of sheriffs nearly a decade apart, election data, case studies, and law enforcement administrative data, we suggest that the design of the office - and the individuals who serve in it - challenge central tenets of democracy...