Eve Gerber

America’s master griller chooses books on the world’s oldest cooking method. He discusses why brown tastes better, and how our primal urge to play with fire helped us evolve.

Animals have played a significant role in human history, and the manner by which we interpret their behaviour says a lot about our own culture and social mores. Harriet Ritvo, professor of history at MIT, selects five of the best books from the field of animal history.

If you’ve stepped inside a school recently, you’ve probably heard teachers talking about the importance of  a ‘growth mindset.’ Here psychologist Carol Dweck, who pioneered research into this key concept, explains what it’s all about and recommends books—other than her own—that shed light on it.

How did the concept of United States immigration being a ‘melting pot’ of diverse nationalities come to be? In this interview, Stanford historian Ana Raquel Minian explores America’s complex, highly racialized history of immigration and recommends five of the books on the subject that have most influenced her.

The tumultuous history of Ukraine and its continuing upheavals are not well understood beyond its borders. Yale historian Marci Shore recommends the best books on the land of many identities and languages that is modern Ukraine.

Traditionally, the study of international relations has been about institutions, not individuals and the psychology that motivates them. But that is changing. Rose McDermott, professor of international relations at Brown University, introduces the work of Robert Jarvis and others pioneering the field of ‘political psychology.’

Inequality is coming not just from the economy; it is coming from politics and policy, says Jamila Michener, assistant professor of government at Cornell University. Here she chooses five books that showcase some of the best, most thought-provoking writing on the politics and consequences of policy.

Globalization benefits mankind and we are learning how better to deal with the disruption it causes. But one thing is for sure, the laws of economics are no more escapable than the laws of physics. Harvard professor and former US Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, recommends the best books on globalization.

Many features and failures of contemporary journalism are the result of supply and demand rather than conspiracy theories, says the director of Stanford’s journalism program and author of All the News That’s Fit to Sell. He chooses five great books on the ‘economics of news.’

Utopia is out of fashion because efforts to set one up normally end disastrously, says author Ellen Wayland-Smith, whose forefathers set up a utopian religious community in the 1840s in Oneida, New York. And yet, they offer a critique of society that, even today, can’t be ignored. She recommends four books on literary utopias and one on real-life attempts to set up idealized communities in the United States.