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Harvard Book Store is an independently run bookstore serving the greater Cambridge area. The bookstore is located in Harvard Square and has been family-owned since 1932. We are known for our extraordinary selection of new, used and remaindered books and for a history of innovation. In 2009, we introduced same-day "green delivery" and a book-making robot capable of printing and binding any of millions of titles in minutes. Find out more about us at www.harvard.com.

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Justice Stephen Breyer: The Court and the World

Fri, Nov 6, 2015

It is a world of instant communications, lightning-fast commerce, and shared problems (like public health threats and environmental degradation), and it is one in which the lives of Americans are routinely linked ever more pervasively to those of people in foreign lands. Indeed, at a moment when anyone may engage in direct transactions internationally for services previously bought and sold only locally (lodging, for instance, through online sites), it has become clear that, even in ordinary matters, judicial awareness can no longer stop at the water’s edge. To trace how foreign considerations have come to inform the thinking of the Court, **Justice Stephen Breyer** begins with that area of the law in which they have always figured prominently: national security in its constitutional dimension—how should the Court balance this imperative with others, chiefly the protection of basic liberties, in its review of presidential and congressional actions? He goes on to show that as the world has grown steadily “smaller,” the Court’s horizons have inevitably expanded: it has been obliged to consider a great many more matters that now cross borders. What is the geographical reach of an American statute concerning, say, securities fraud, antitrust violations, or copyright protections? And in deciding such matters, can the Court interpret American laws so that they might work more efficiently with similar laws in other nations? While Americans must necessarily determine their own laws through democratic process, increasingly, the smooth operation of American law—and, by extension, the advancement of American interests and values—depends on its working in harmony with that of other jurisdictions. Justice Breyer describes how the aim of cultivating such harmony, as well as the expansion of the rule of law overall, with its attendant benefits, has drawn American jurists into the relatively new role of “constitutional diplomats,” a little remarked but increasingly important job for them in this fast-changing world. Image: [Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/The-Court-World-American-Realities/dp/1101946199 "The Court and the World")

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The Defeat of DOMA

Thu, Oct 8, 2015

Roberta Kaplan knew from the beginning that it was the perfect case to bring down the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer had been together as a couple, in sickness and in health, for more than forty years—enduring society’s homophobia as well as Spyer’s near total paralysis from multiple sclerosis. Although the couple was finally able to marry, when Spyer died the federal government refused to recognize their marriage, forcing Windsor to pay a huge estate tax bill. In this gripping, definitive account of one of our nation’s most significant civil rights victories, Kaplan describes meeting Windsor and their journey together to defeat DOMA. She shares the behind-the-scenes highs and lows, the excitement and the worries, and provides intriguing insights into her historic argument before the Supreme Court. A critical and previously untold part of the narrative is Kaplan’s own personal story, including her struggle for self-acceptance in order to create a loving family of her own. “United States v. Windsor was a landmark ruling, and the case’s architect, Roberta Kaplan, emerged as a true American hero. Then Comes Marriage is a riveting account of a watershed moment in our history, and the strategy, ingenuity, and humanity that made it happen.” — President Bill Clinton

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Patrick Kennedy: The Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction

Thu, Oct 22, 2015

**Patrick J. Kennedy**, the former congressman and youngest child of Senator Ted Kennedy, details his personal and political battle with mental illness and addiction, exploring mental health care's history in the country alongside his and every family's private struggles. On May 5, 2006, the New York Times ran two stories, “Patrick Kennedy Crashes Car into Capitol Barrier” and then, several hours later, “Patrick Kennedy Says He'll Seek Help for Addiction.” It was the first time that the popular Rhode Island congressman had publicly disclosed his addiction to prescription painkillers, the true extent of his struggle with bipolar disorder and his plan to immediately seek treatment. That could have been the end of his career, but instead it was the beginning. Since then, Kennedy has become the nation’s leading advocate for mental health and substance abuse care, research and policy both in and out of Congress. And ever since passing the landmark Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act—and after the death of his father, leaving Congress—he has been changing the dialogue that surrounds all brain diseases. Image: [IrishCentral.com](http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/Patrick-Kennedys-cheap-shots-at-his-father-Ted-Kennedy-Senior.html "Ted and Patrick Kennedy")

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Mental Health Month

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Searching for Today's Civil Rights Movement

Fri, Sep 18, 2015

Rev. Eugene Rivers moderates a discussion between two authors, Daniel Geary and Benjamin Hedin, who have documented their own examinations of the American Civil Rights Movement and the Moynihan Report. The three men discuss the impact and legacy of the movement, the report, and how to learn from what happened fifty years ago that can inform the new unrest today, as protests continue over police shootings and the new Black Lives Matter movement matures. Study Geary's [annotated version of the Moynihan Report](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/the-moynihan-report-an-annotated-edition/404632/ "") in _The Atlantic_. (Photo: [Dan La Botz](http://www.anticapitalistes.net/spip.php?article5020 ""))

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Civil Rights Movement Series

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Salman Rushdie reads from Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights

Mon, Sep 21, 2015

From Salman Rushdie, one of the great writers of our time, comes a spellbinding work of fiction that blends history, mythology, and a timeless love story. Inspired by the traditional “wonder tales” of the East, Salman Rushdie’s novel is a masterpiece about the age-old conflicts that remain in today’s world. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights is satirical and bawdy, full of cunning and folly, rivalries and betrayals, kismet and karma, rapture and redemption.

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The Graduate School Mess: What Caused It and How We Can Fix It

Fri, Sep 11, 2015

It is no secret that American graduate education is in disarray. Graduate students take too long to complete their studies and face a dismal academic job market if they succeed. Chronicle of Higher Education columnist **Leonard Cassuto** argues that the heavy emphasis universities place on research comes at the expense of teaching, and that graduate education must recover its mission of preparation and public service.

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Lee Child in conversation with Stephen King

Wed, Sep 9, 2015

“Why is this town called Mother’s Rest?” That’s all Reacher wants to know. But no one will tell him. It’s a tiny place hidden in a thousand square miles of wheat fields, with a railroad stop, and sullen and watchful people, and a worried woman named Michelle Chang, who mistakes him for someone else: her missing partner in a private investigation she thinks must have started small and then turned lethal. Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, and there’s something about Chang . . . so he teams up with her and starts to ask around. He thinks: How bad can this thing be? But before long he’s plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and through the hidden parts of the internet, up against thugs and assassins every step of the way—right back to where he started, in Mother’s Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine. Walking away would have been easier. But as always, Reacher’s rule is: If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to make me

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Jane McGonigal Turns Recovery into a Game

Thu, Sep 17, 2015

In 2009 **Jane McGonigal** suffered a severe concussion. Unable to think clearly or work or even get out of bed, she became anxious and depressed, even suicidal. But rather than let herself sink further, she decided to get better by doing what she does best: she turned her recovery process into a resilience-building game. What started as a simple motivational exercise quickly became a set of rules for “post-traumatic growth” that she shared on her blog. These rules led to a digital game and a major research study with the National Institutes of Health. Today nearly half a million people have played SuperBetter to get stronger, happier, and healthier. But the life-changing ideas behind SuperBetter are much bigger than just one game. In this book, McGonigal reveals a decade’s worth of scientific research into the ways all games—including videogames, sports, and puzzles—change how we respond to stress, challenge, and pain. She explains how we can cultivate new powers of recovery and resilience in everyday life simply by adopting a more “gameful” mind-set. Being gameful means bringing the same psychological strengths we naturally display when we play games—such as optimism, creativity, courage, and determination—to real-world goals.

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A New South End, Again

Tue, Sep 1, 2015

Does gentrification destroy diversity? Or does it thrive on it? Boston’s South End, a legendary working-class neighborhood with the largest Victorian brick row house district in the United States and a celebrated reputation for diversity, has become in recent years a flashpoint for the problems of gentrification. It has born witness to the kind of rapid transformation leading to pitched battles over the class and race politics throughout the country. Sociologist and feminist activist Sylvie Tissot's study reveals the way that upper-middle-class newcomers have positioned themselves as champions of diversity, and looks at how their mobilization around this key concept has reordered class divisions rather than abolished them. She explores these ideas with Boston historian Jim Vrabel. Image: "South End, sign protesting urban renewal" [City of Boston Archives](https://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofbostonarchives/ "")

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Voting Rights Since 1965

Wed, Sep 2, 2015

The adoption of the landmark Voting Rights Act in 1965 enfranchised millions of Americans and is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. And yet fifty years later we are still fighting heated battles over race, representation, and political power--over the right to vote, the central pillar of our democracy. Berman's latest book, _Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America_, gives a groundbreaking narrative history of voting rights since 1965. From new strategies to keep minorities out of the voting booth, to cynical efforts to limit political representation by gerrymandering electoral districts, to the Supreme Court's recent stunning decision that declared a key part of the Voting Rights Act itself unconstitutional, to the efforts by the Justice Department and grassroots activists to counter these attacks, Berman tells the dramatic story of the pitched contest over the very heart of our democracy. (Image: [Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t](https://www.flickr.com/photos/truthout/6211660601/ ""))

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Civil Rights Movement Series

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