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NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST 2022Publishers Weekly Top 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2022“Gayl Jones’s work represents a watershed in American literature."—Imani PerryLegendary writer Gayl Jones returns with a stunning new novel about Black American artists in exileGayl Jones, the novelist Toni Morrison discovered decades ago and Tayari Jones recently called her favorite writer, has been described as one of the great literary writers of the 20th century. Now, for the first time in over 20 years, Jones is publishing again. In the wake of her long-awaited fifth novel, Palmares, The Birdcatcher is another singular achievement, a return to the circles of her National Book Award finalist, The Healing.Set primarily on the island of Ibiza, the story is narrated by the writer Amanda Wordlaw, whose closest friend, a gifted sculptor named Catherine Shuger, is repeatedly institutionalized for trying to kill a husband who never leaves her. The three form a quirky triangle on the white-washe

An inclusive and landmark history, emphasizing how essential Asian American experiences are to any understanding of US historyOriginal and expansive, Asian American Histories of the United States is a nearly 200-year history of Asian migration, labor, and community formation in the US. Reckoning with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in anti-Asian hate and violence, award-winning historian Catherine Ceniza Choy presents an urgent social history of the fastest growing group of Americans. The book features the lived experiences and diverse voices of immigrants, refugees, US-born Asian Americans, multiracial Americans, and workers from industries spanning agriculture to healthcare.Despite significant Asian American breakthroughs in American politics, arts, and popular culture in the 21st century, a profound lack of understanding of Asian American history permeates American culture. Choy traces how anti-Asian violence and its intersection with misogyny and other forms of hat

Sheds light on the US government’s response to epidemics through history―with larger conclusions about COVID-19 and reforms needed before the next plague.In this narrative history of the US through major outbreaks of contagious disease, from yellow fever to the Spanish flu, from HIV/AIDS to Ebola, Polly J. Price examines how law and government affected the outcome of epidemics―and how those outbreaks in turn shaped our government. Price presents a fascinating history that has never been fully explored and draws larger conclusions about the gaps in our governmental and legal response. Plagues in the Nation examines how our country learned―and failed to learn―how to address the panic, conflict, and chaos that are the companions of contagion, what policies failed America again and again, and what we must do better next time.

Writing to his brother, G’Ra Asim reflects on building his own identity while navigating Blackness, masculinity, and young adulthood—all through wry social commentary and music/pop culture critiqueHow does one approach Blackness, masculinity, otherness, and the perils of young adulthood? For G’Ra Asim, punk music offers an outlet to express himself freely. As his younger brother, Gysai, grapples with finding his footing in the world, G’Ra gifts him with a survival guide for tackling the sometimes treacherous cultural terrain particular to being young, Black, brainy, and weird in the form of a mixtape.Boyz n the Void: a mixtape to my brother blends music and cultural criticism and personal essay to explore race, gender, class, and sexuality as they pertain to punk rock and straight edge culture. Using totemic punk rock songs on a mixtape to anchor each chapter, the book documents an intergenerational conversation between a Millennial in his 30s and his Generation Z teenage brother. Auth

A historical and cultural exploration of the devastating consequences of undervaluing those who conduct the “women’s work” of childcare and housekeepingMothercoin tells stories of immigrant nannies, mainly from Mexico and Central America, living and working in private homes in the US, while also telling a larger story about global immigration, working motherhood, and the private experience of the public world we have created. In taking up the mothercoin – the work of mothering, divorced from family and exchanged in a global market – immigrant nannies embody a grave contradiction: While “women’s work” of childcare and housekeeping is relegated to the private sphere and remains largely invisible to the public world, the love and labor required to mother are fundamental to the functioning of that world. Listening to the stories of these workers reveals the devastating consequences of undervaluing this work. As cleaners and caregivers are exported from poorer regions into richer ones, they

A harrowing chronicle by two leading historians, capturing in real time the events of a year marked by multiple devastations. Professors Margaret Peacock and Erik Peterson set out to chronicle, preserve, and explore the medical, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, technological, and even personal impacts of the 12 astonishing months of the year 2020. Written in the present tense as a journal, with critical primary sources included throughout the narrative, Journal of a Pandemic Year is about more than the virus. Through real-time expert interviews and historical analysis, the authors reveal the other illnesses--such as racism, class inequity, rampant drug addiction, and environmental abuses, among others--that have been revealed and amplified in these times of Pandemic.