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Harvard Book Store

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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  • Bill McKibben discusses his book _Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?_ Thirty years after McKibben released his groundbreaking book _The End of Nature,_ the first book to alert us to global warming, he returns to evaluate the danger today: even as climate change shrinks the space where our civilization can exist, new technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics threaten to bleach away the variety of human experience. _Falter_ tells the story of these converging trends and of the ideological fervor that keeps us from bringing them under control. And then, drawing on his experience in building [350.org](http://https://350.org/) , the first truly global citizens movement to combat climate change, McKibben offers ways out of the trap. He warns us we're at a bleak moment in human history—and we must confront that bleakness or watch civilization falter. Image: book cover
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  • There is no easy answer to the question of how to teach children about democracy. How can teachers remain nonpartisan as they explain how the system works? "Democratic Discord in Schools" features eight cases of complex dilemmas drawn from real events designed to help educators practice the type of collaborative problem solving and civil discourse needed to meet these challenges of democratic education. Meira Levinson and Jacob Fray draw upon research methods developed in the[ Justice in Schools project](https://www.justiceinschools.org/) (https://www.justiceinschools.org/) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) to provide the tools needed by educators to practice the deliberative skills they need in order to find reasonable solutions to common ethical dilemmas in politically fraught times. Image: Book Cover
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    Harvard Book Store
  • In _This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution_, David Sloan Wilson writes a series of engaging stories—from the breeding of hens, to the timing of cataract surgeries, to the organization of an automobile plant. Through these stories he shows how an evolutionary worldview provides a practical toolkit for understanding not only genetic evolution, but also the fast-paced changes impacting our world and ourselves. What emerges is an incredibly empowering argument: if we can become wise managers of evolutionary processes, we can solve the problems of our age at all scales—from the efficacy of our groups, to our wellbeing as individuals, to our stewardship of the planet earth. Image: book cover
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    Harvard Book Store
  • Author Marlon James, winner of the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his novel _A Brief History of Seven Killings,_ meets fans at the Harvard Book Store for a discussion of his new novel, _Black Leopard, Red Wolf,_ the first book in a highly anticipated fantasy trilogy. Critic [Lori Feathers gives praise and context](https://bookmarks.reviews/marlon-james-in-context/ "In Context website") to James's latest work: "...while _Black Leopard’s_ story takes place within various imagined African kingdoms, its myths, rituals and Patios-infused speech are that of the author’s native Jamaica. Many of Jamaica’s slaves came from Ghana, and they brought stories of the old ways and traditions of their Ashanti ancestors, notably the practice of sorcery (obeah) and witchcraft (myal), and the custom of female succession of tribal leaders. James uses this heritage to tremendous effect."
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    Harvard Book Store
  • Author Kim McLarin explores identity in the modern day in her latest work _Womanish_. Born in 1964 and growing up as the first generation post the Civil Rights Movement, McLarin's collection of essays explores topics ranging from Divorce to the Obamas as she defines in rolls that make her American. McLarin's wit and power over her words brings her essays to life as she shares with the reader her life in the "Brown vs. Board" generation of Generation X. In thirteen essays, McLarin forms of a crossroad of her many identities in society as a black middle-aged woman. Image: [book cover](http://www.harvard.com/event/kim_mclarin/ "Book Cover")
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    Harvard Book Store
  • In _America, Compromised_ Lawrence Lessig captures a snapshot of contemporary America and forms an argument on how the institutions of the American government have come to be the way they are. Throughout the book, Lessig shows that the modern problems plaguing corrupt political institutions cannot simply be blamed upon the "bad people" of society. Rather, Lessig argues that it is compromise that has brought down the American system. Image: [book cover](http://www.harvard.com/event/lawrence_lessig2/ "Book Cover")
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    Harvard Book Store
  • Crafting memories into compact verse, D. M. Aderibigbe traces the history of domestic and emotional abuse against women in his family. As a son, grandson, nephew, and brother, he rejects the tradition in his native Nigeria, where men are praised in song, refusing to offer tribute to men who dishonor their wives. Image: Book Cover
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    Harvard Book Store
  • David Kaplan is the former legal affairs editor at Newsweek. His book _The Most Dangerous Branch: Inside the Supreme Court's Assault on the Constitution_ is based on exclusive interviews with the justices and dozens of their law clerks. Kaplan provides fresh details about life behind the scenes at the Court, from Clarence Thomas’s simmering rage, to Antonin Scalia’s death, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s celebrity. Kaplan shows the justices’ aggrandizement of power over the decades—from _Roe v. Wade_ to _Bush v. Gore_ to _Citizens United_, to rulings during the 2017-18 term. Conservative and liberal justices alike are shown to be guilty of overreach. Image: Book Cover
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    Harvard Book Store
  • Emergency responders on the US-Mexico border operate at the edges of two states. They rush patients to hospitals across country lines, tend to the broken bones of migrants who jump over the wall, and put out fires that know no national boundaries. Paramedics and firefighters on both sides of the border are tasked with saving lives and preventing disasters in the harsh terrain at the center of divisive national debates. Ieva Jusionyte’s firsthand experience as an emergency responder provides the background for her examination of the politics of injury and rescue in the militarized region surrounding the US-Mexico border. Operating in this area, firefighters and paramedics are torn between their mandate as frontline state actors and their responsibility as professional rescuers, between the limits of law and pull of ethics. From this vantage they witness what unfolds when territorial sovereignty, tactical infrastructure, and the natural environment collide. Image: Book Cover
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    Harvard Book Store
  • In eight wide-ranging essays, collected in _We Can't Breathe: On Black Lives, White Lies, and the Art of Survival_, Jabari Asim explores such topics as the twisted legacy of jokes and falsehoods in black life; the importance of black fathers and community; the significance of black writers and stories; and the beauty and pain of the black body. What emerges is a rich portrait of a community and culture that has resisted, survived, and flourished despite centuries of racism, violence, and trauma. These thought-provoking essays present a different side of American history, one that doesn’t depend on a narrative steeped in oppression but rather reveals black voices telling their own stories. Asim is an author, poet and playwright. For this discussion he is joined in conversation by _Boston Globe_ columnist Adrian Walker. Image: Book Cover
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    Harvard Book Store