book

In Roger Bennett's new book ‘We are the World (Cup): A Personal History of the World’s Greatest Sporting Event’ Bennett traces the power of the World Cup, how a tournament played every four years becomes a shared global story full of unlikely heroes, national identity, and unforgettable moments. The book is both a love letter to soccer and a reflection on why the world cup, which is coming up to the United States, matters so deeply.

On this week's 51%, we kick off Women's History Month and preview an exhibit about Ulster County’s first elections with women voters in 1918. Women in New York won the right to vote a few years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. The Ulster County exhibit, opening March 11 on the second floor of the county office building in Kingston, features archival voter rolls and artifacts from the county board of the elections as well as the League of Women Voters of the Mid-Hudson Region, giving a glimpse into the lives of the everyday women who jumped at the opportunity to vote.

On this week's 51%, we kick off Women's History Month and preview an exhibit about Ulster County’s first elections with women voters in 1918. Women in New York won the right to vote a few years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. The Ulster County exhibit, opening March 11 on the second floor of the county office building in Kingston, features archival voter rolls and artifacts from the county board of the elections as well as the League of Women Voters of the Mid-Hudson Region, giving a glimpse into the lives of the everyday women who jumped at the opportunity to vote.

A growing body of research shows we vastly underestimate the value of sharing more than we think we should, with our spouses, friends, colleagues, and even strangers. Drawing on over a decade of research and real-life stories, behavioral scientist Leslie John explores why we hesitate to open up, when sharing really does backfire, and how to strike a balance between too much and too little.Leslie John is the James Burke Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Her new book is: ‘Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing.’

David Guterson's latest novel ‘Evelyn in Transit’ is a spare luminous meditation on what it means to live an examined life. At its heart is Evelyn, a restless midwestern misfit, who hits the road hitchhiking across the American West in search of truth and purpose. Parallel to her journey is a story of a Tibetan boy raised as a Buddhist monk whose lives seem worlds apart but is mysteriously linked, especially when a trio of llamas arrives to proclaim Evelyn’s young son the reincarnation of a great llama.

On this week's 51%, we speak with Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law, about her new book The Pain Brokers. Burch is a scholar of mass torts, the large civil lawsuits typically filed as a result of harmful products and recalls. Mass torts are meant to be an efficient way to provide relief to a large number of victims, but for thousands of women with pelvic mesh, Burch says that was not the case. The Pain Brokers investigates a complex scheme of call centers, doctors, and lawyers who Burch says preyed on pelvic mesh patients and used them to make millions off mass torts.

On this week's 51%, we speak with Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law, about her new book The Pain Brokers. Burch is a scholar of mass torts, the large civil lawsuits typically filed as a result of harmful products and recalls. Mass torts are meant to be an efficient way to provide relief to a large number of victims, but for thousands of women with pelvic mesh, Burch says that was not the case. The Pain Brokers investigates a complex scheme of call centers, doctors, and lawyers who Burch says preyed on pelvic mesh patients and used them to make millions off mass torts.

In 'A Four-Eyed World: How Glasses Changed the Way We See,' David King Dunaway offers the first cultural history of eyewear, tracing how lenses have shaped science, society, media, and our very notions of sight. Far from a niche topic, this book mixes fascinating historical episodes, cultural analysis, and Dunaway’s own reflections on living with and without his glasses, revealing the deep ways eyewear has altered how we see ourselves and each other.

Megha Majumdar’s follow-up to her first bestseller is the new novel, 'A Guardian and a Thief.' It unfolds over one taut week in a near-future Kolkata reeling from climate disaster and food shortages. Two families—strangers to each other—are pushed into collision.

Oren Harman tells us about his latest book, "Metamorphosis: A Natural and Human History. ," where Harman traces a path from Aristotle to Darwin to cutting-edge science today, to explore this miraculous yet violent process of transformation and metaphor for identity, reinvention, and survival.