Eve Gerber

Food is an affirmation of who we are. Paul Rozin, food psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, deconstructs the cheeseburger and busts myths about food consumption: not only is our food budget controlling what we eat, but also the expensive organic foods we’re pressured to buy may not even be healthier—let alone better-tasting—than their alternatives.

The fight for women’s liberation and equality under patriarchy spans centuries of history, and is still being waged today—but what lessons can feminist movements like #MeToo learn from suffragettes and black feminist activists? Fordham historian Kirsten Swinth explores the best books on feminism, and makes a powerful case for modern feminists listening to early foremothers.

“If we come to understand the human value and dignity of people from different backgrounds, we can do a bit to deflect inequality in our everyday interactions,” says Harvard Professor and winner of the 2017 Erasmus Prize Michèle Lamont. Here, she recommends five books that illuminate the sociology of inequality.

Comics are taking over the world, says Northeastern Professor and comics expert Hillary Chute. Here, she introduces the best comics published in 2018, from a Booker-nominated narrative about paranoia and living in the age of fake news to feminist comics published by underground, auteur-driven independent publishers

The idea of Boston as “a place of revolutionary fervour because liberty is somehow baked into its bones” is loaded with a “very heavy dose of self-mythologizing,” says American historian Jane Kamensky. Here, the Harvard professor lifts the veil on this quintessential New England city and recommends five books for understanding its history

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.