Jennifer Gabrys, author of Digital Rubbish: A Natural History of Electronics

In Digital Rubbish: A Natural History of Electronics describes the materiality of electronics from a unique perspective, examining the multiple forms of waste that electronics create as evidence of the resources, labor, and imaginaries that are bundled into these machines. By drawing on the material analysis developed by Walter Benjamin, this natural history method allows for an inquiry into electronics that focuses neither on technological progression nor on great inventors but rather considers the ways in which electronic technologies fail and decay. Ranging across studies of media and technology, as well as environments, geography, and design, Jennifer Gabrys pulls together the far-reaching material and cultural processes that enable the making and breaking of these technologies.

Posted: July 1, 2011

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10.3 MB | 11:21 minutes | Read the Q&A

Theo Cateforis, author of Are We Not New Wave? Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s

In Are We Not New Wave? Theo Cateforis provides the first musical and cultural history of the new wave movement, charting its rise out of mid-1970s punk to its ubiquitous early 1980s MTV presence and downfall in the mid-1980s. The book also explores the meanings behind the music's distinctive traits—its characteristic whiteness and nervousness; its playful irony, electronic melodies, and crossover experimentations.

Posted: May 1, 2011

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4.36 MB | 10:53 minutes | Read the Q&A

Greg Nelson, author of Michigan Ice Hockey: Celebrating the All-Time Greats and Most Memorable Moments

Michigan Ice Hockey is a fan's ultimate guide, telling the story of the program from its first, humble days of skating outdoors on the frozen Huron River, to today's competitions on the best rinks in the nation. It covers everything from leading scorers to tournament results to NHL player alumni. It's a love story for those conquering heroes on skates, the traditions and trivia that surround them, and the fans that drive them. And it's the story of a university, an alumni base, and an entire community with a passion for pucks.

Posted: December 1, 2010

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9.76 MB | 10:40 minutes | Read the Q&A

Diane Torr, co-author of Sex, Drag, and Male Roles: Investigating Gender as Performance with Stephen Bottoms

Sex, Drag, and Male Roles documents the evolution of Torr's work by blending first-person memoir and commentary from Torr with critical reflections and contextualization from leading performance critic Stephen J. Bottoms. The book includes a consideration of the long cultural history of female-to-male cross-dressing and concludes with Torr's "Do-It-Yourself" guide to becoming a "Man for a Day."

Posted: October 14, 2010

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23.8 MB | 26:05 minutes | Read the Q&A

Kazim Ali, author of Orange Alert: essays on poetry, art, and the architecture of silence

Ali discusses contemporary poetry in relation to other art forms and to contemporary television; film; and electronic media, including the Internet, YouTube, and Facebook.

He shines a light on the intersections between cultures in these essays on the craft of poetry, offering a hand to poets either geographically or metaphorically outside the mainstream of Western culture.

Posted: October 11, 2010

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14.6 MB | 16:00 minutes | Read the Q&A

Albin Zak, author of I Don't Sound Like Nobody: Remaking Music in 1950s America

Written in engaging, accessible prose, Albin Zak's I Don't Sound Like Nobody approaches musical and historical issues of the 1950s through the lens of recordings and fashions a compelling story of the birth of a new musical language. The book belongs on the shelf of every modern music aficionado and every scholar of rock 'n' roll.

Posted: October 7, 2010

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18 MB | 19:45 minutes | Read the Q&A

David Schoem, author of College Knowledge for the Jewish Student: 101 Tips

College Knowledge for the Jewish Student: 101 Tips is the perfect guide for students heading off to college with high expectations for learning, academic success, personal growth, and independence. Through lively tips and compelling student stories about life at college, it offers thoughtful, practical information for every Jewish student who wants to make a successful transition.

Posted: September 1, 2010

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12.6 MB | 13:50 minutes | Read the Q&A

Edward J. Keyes, son of Edward Keyes, author of The Michigan Murders

Southeastern Michigan was rocked in the late 1960s by the terrifying serial murders of young women, whose bodies were dumped in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. In each case, few clues were left at the scene, and six separate police agencies were unable to end the horror. Then, almost by accident, a break came. The suspect: John Norman Collins, a young, quiet, all-American boy.

Edward Keyes' harrowing The Michigan Murders covers every step of the case. It fell out of print for more than a decade before being revived for this special edition.

For this interview, we spoke with Edward Keyes' son, Edward J. Keyes.

Posted: September 1, 2010

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6.14 MB | 15:20 minutes | Read the Q&A

Bonnie Nardi, author of My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft

In My Life as a Night Elf Priest, Bonnie Nardi, a well-known ethnographer who has published extensively on how theories of what we do intersect with how we adopt and use technology, compiles more than three years of participatory research in Warcraft play and culture in the United States and China into this field study of player behavior and activity.

Posted: August 1, 2010

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3.27 MB | 8:10 minutes | Read the Q&A

Eugene Dwyer, author of Pompeii's Living Statues: Ancient Roman Lives Stolen from Death

In AD 79, Mt. Vesuvius erupted in two stages. While the first stage was incredibly destructive, it was the second stage, a so-called pyroclastic flow, that inundated Pompeii with a combination of superheated gases, pumice, and rocks, killing tens of thousands of people and animals and burying them in ash and mud.

Pompeii's Living Statues is a narrative account, supported by contemporary documents, of the remarkable discovery of those ancient victims preserved in the volcanic mud of Vesuvius.

Posted: July 1, 2010

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17.7 MB | 19:20 minutes | Read the Q&A

Paul Gross, author of Extreme Michigan Weather: The Wild World of the Great Lakes State

Paul Gross delves into the mysteries of extreme weather, explaining how the state's harshest extremes and biggest storms come to be, helping readers to understand and truly appreciate what greets them when they step outside each day. Weather in Michigan is memorable—nearly everyone can remember when an ice storm knocked out power for a week, when lightning hit a tree nearby, a snowstorm interrupted big plans, or record high temperatures allowed people to play golf in January. This is an opportunity to understand how those things are possible.

Posted: June 1, 2010

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13 MB | 14:14 minutes | Read the Q&A

Tamarack Song, co-author of Whispers of the Ancients: Native Tales for Teaching and Healing in Our Time

It's easy to imagine yourself transported back to a time when an Elder might have told stories like those in Whispers of the Ancients around a glowing hearth. Thanks to Tamarack Song's storytelling skills, monsters, heroes, and shapeshifters come alive and open a doorway to the mysteries of life. Easily accessible to all ages, this is a book that speaks to each person at his or her own level of comprehension and need. It is as beautiful to read as it is to look at.

Posted: May 1, 2010

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13.3 MB | 14:32 minutes | Read the Q&A

Irene Taviss Thomson, author of Culture Wars and Enduring American Dilemmas

The idea of a culture war, or wars, has existed in America since the 1960s—an underlying ideological schism in our country that is responsible for the polarizing debates on everything from the separation of church and state, to abortion, to gay marriage, to affirmative action. Irene Taviss Thomson explores this notion by analyzing hundreds of articles addressing hot-button issues over two decades from four magazines: National Review, Time, The New Republic, and The Nation, as well as a wide array of other writings and statements from a substantial number of public intellectuals.

Posted: March 18, 2010

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23.4 MB | 34:09 minutes | Read the Q&A

Godfrey Hodgson, author of Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King traces the iconic civil rights leader's career from this birth in Atlanta in 1929, through the campaigns that made possible the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to his assassination in Memphis in 1968. Hodgson sheds light on every aspect of an extraordinary life: the Black Baptist culture in which King grew up, his theology and political philosophy, his physical and moral courage, his insistence on the injustice of inequality, his campaigning energy, his repeated sexual infidelities.

Posted: December 17, 2009

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11.4 MB | 16:37 minutes | Read the Q&A

Lorraine M. López, author of An Angle of Vision: Women Writers on Their Poor and Working-Class Roots

An Angle of Vision is a compelling anthology that collects personal essays and memoir by a diverse group of gifted authors united by their poor or working-class roots in America.

Throughout this collection, the authors describe delicate balances of work and family, men and money, motherhood and sexuality.

Posted: December 14, 2009

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2.91 MB | 4:14 minutes | Read the Q&A

Ilan Stavans, author of A Critic's Journey

Ilan Stavans has been a lightning rod for cultural discussion and criticism his entire career. In A Critic's Journey, he takes on his own Jewish and Hispanic upbringing with an autobiographical focus and his typical flair with words, exploring the relationship between the two cultures from his own and also from others' experiences.

Posted: December 8, 2009

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10 MB | 14:41 minutes | Read the Q&A

Orville Gilbert Brim, author of Look at Me! The Fame Motive from Childhood to Death

Four million adults in the United States say that becoming famous is the most important goal in their lives. What motivates those who set fame as their priority, where did the desire come from, how does the pursuit of fame influence their lives, and how is it expressed?

Interest in fame, as evidenced by Balloon Boy and the White House party crashers, persists. Look at Me! discusses what it means for people who will do anything to get public notice.

Posted: December 1, 2009

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7.74 MB | 11:16 minutes | Read the Q&A

Annie Lehmann, author of The Accidental Teacher: Life Lessons from My Silent Son

Having severe autism does not stop Annie Lehmann's son Jonah from teaching her some of life's most valuable lessons. The Accidental Teacher, a heartfelt memoir about self-discovery rather than illness, uses insight and humor to weave a tale rich with kitchen-table wisdom. It explains the realities of life with a largely nonverbal son and explores the frustrations and triumphs of the Lehmann family as Jonah grew into a young adult.

Posted: November 1, 2009

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6.38 MB | 9:18 minutes | Read the Q&A

Mardi Link, author of Isadore's Secret: Sin, Murder, and Confession in a Northern Michigan Town

Isadore's Secret: Sin, Murder, and Confession in a Northern Michigan Town is a gripping account of the mysterious disappearance of a young nun in a northern Michigan town and the national controversy that followed when she turned up dead and buried in the basement of the church.

Posted: October 1, 2009

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8.3 MB | 12:04 minutes | Read the Q&A

John Kenneth White, author of Barack Obama's America: How New Conceptions of Race, Family, and Religion Ended the Reagan Era

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency marks a conclusive end to the Reagan era, writes John Kenneth White in Barack Obama's America. Reagan symbolized a 1950s and 1960s America, largely white and suburban, with married couples and kids at home, who attended church more often than not. The demographics, however, have shifted: Marriage is at an all-time low. Cohabitation has increased from a half-million couples in 1960 to more than 5 million in 2000 to even more this year. Gay marriages and civil unions are redefining what it means to be a family. And organized religions are suffering, even as Americans continue to think of themselves as a religious people.

Posted: September 1, 2009

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15.6 MB | 22:43 minutes | Read the Q&A

Susan Messer, author of Grand River and Joy

Grand River and Joy, named after a landmark intersection in Detroit, follows Harry Levine through the intersections of his life and the history of his city. It's a work of fiction set in a world that is anything but fictional, a novel about the intersections between races, classes and religions exploding in the long, hot summers of Detroit in the 1960s. Grand River and Joy is a powerful and moving exploration of one of the most difficult chapters of Michigan history.

Posted: August 1, 2009

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9.34 MB | 13:36 minutes | Read the Q&A

Greg Nelson, author of M Is for Michigan Football: Celebrating the Tradition of Michigan Football

M Is for Michigan Football explores 26 of the many traditions and highlights of the University of Michigan football program, the winningest in all of college football. The book features eye-popping photos and text about myriad traditions in alphabetical order—from beloved Coach Bo Schembechler (B), the 1969 win over Ohio State (the Game) (G), 1997 national championship (N), to zero—the number of losses suffered by the 1901 Wolverines in their undefeated, untied, and unscored-upon season (Z).

Posted: July 1, 2009

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6.73 MB | 9:48 minutes | Read the Q&A

Tom Diaz, author of No Boundaries: Transnational Latino Gangs and American Law Enforcement

No Boundaries is a former journalist's disturbing account of what many consider the "next Mafia"—Latino crime gangs. Like the Mafia, these gangs operate an international network; consider violence a routine matter of business; and defy U.S. law enforcement at every level, from city police departments to federal agencies.

Posted: June 1, 2009

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29.1 MB | 31:53 minutes | Read the Q&A

Arnie Bernstein, author of Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing

On the morning of May 18th, 1927, in Bath Michigan, Andrew P. Kehoe's farm caught fire. At roughly the same time, the north wing of the Bath Consolidated School exploded. Chaos ensued as those uninjured or killed by the blast worked to clear the rubble and get to the trapped children.

Kehoe pulled up to the devastated scene, and, shortly thereafter, his vehicle, packed with rusty farm equipment and dynamite, exploded, killing him, along with Superintendent Emory Huyck and several others.

At the end of it all, 38 children and six adults, including Kehoe and his wife, were dead.

Posted: May 1, 2009

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18.9 MB | 20:39 minutes | Read the Q&A

John Howland, author of Ellington Uptown: Duke Ellington, James P. Johnson, and the Birth of Concert Jazz

Ellington Uptown explores a little-discussed yet truly hybrid American musical tradition lost between the canons of authentic jazz and classical music.

John Howland is Assistant Professor of Music at Rutgers University and the cofounder and current editor-in-chief of the journal Jazz Perspectives.

Posted: April 1, 2009

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18.2 MB | 19:53 minutes | Read the Q&A

Betty Jean Lifton, author of Lost and Found: The Adoption Experience, Third Edition

The first edition of Betty Jean Lifton's Lost and Found: The Adoption Experience advanced the adoption rights movement in the United States in 1979, challenging many states' policies of maintaining closed birth records. For nearly three decades the book has topped recommended reading lists for those who seek to understand the effects of adoption—including adoptees, adoptive parents, birth parents, and their friends and families.

Posted: March 10, 2009

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8.49 MB | 9:16 minutes | Read the Q&A

Liza Wieland, author of A Watch of Nightingales

A sharply written piece of fiction, A Watch of Nightingales, the 2008 Michigan Literary Fiction Award winner, combines memories we all have of attending school with hot-button issues ranging from culture clash to school politics to homosexuality.

Posted: January 20, 2009

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5.82 MB | 6:22 minutes | Read the Q&A

Karen Chilton, author of Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC

In a career spanning over four decades, Hazel Scott became known not only for her accomplishments on stage and screen, but for her outspoken advocacy of civil rights. Her relentless crusade on behalf of African Americans, women, and artists made her the target of the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy Era, eventually forcing her to join the black expatriate community in Paris. By age twenty-five, Hazel Scott was an international star but, before reaching thirty-five, she considered herself a failure and, plagued by insecurity and depression, twice tried to take her own life. Here, Karen Chilton traces the fascinating arc of this talented and audacious American artist.

Posted: November 13, 2008

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10.4 MB | 11:25 minutes | Read the Q&A

Mildred MacGregor, author of World War II Front Line Nurse

Along with so many others who signed up to support the war effort, thirty-year-old Mildred Radawiec left a comfortable job at the University of Michigan Hospital to volunteer as a surgical nurse in the major battle theaters of the war.

This stirring personal account will fascinate anyone interested in World War II history and women's too-often-overlooked role in it.

Posted: October 9, 2008

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16.1 MB | 17:36 minutes

Cynthia Baron, co-author of Reframing Screen Performance

Are screen actors just playing themselves? Can film acting be considered "true" acting? Are there ways to describe the acting choices we see in films? These are some of the questions Cynthia Baron and Sharon Carnicke address in their new book, Reframing Screen Performance.

Posted: September 9, 2008

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19.4 MB | 21:14 minutes | Read the Q&A

Herbert Gans, author of Imagining America in 2033: How the Country Put Itself Together after Bush

Herbert Gans is one of the most influential and prolific sociologists and social commentators of our time. He is the author of Imagining America in 2033: How the Country Put Itself Together after Bush.

Part utopia, part realism, Imagining America is set mostly in the second and third decades of the century. It offers a set of progressive yet practical guidelines for restoring sanity and intelligence to nearly every aspect of life post-Bush.

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14 MB | 15:07 minutes | Read the Q&A

Posted: August 8, 2008

Mardi Link, author of When Evil Came to Good Hart

In the summer of 1968, in a sleepy northern Michigan resort town, a suburban-Detroit family was found shot dead in their cabin. Forty years later, the murders remain unsolved and the case has grown cold.

Link's page-turning tale collects 40 years of evidence into a riveting true-crime story. She crafts her book around police and court documents as well as statements and interviews, and explores the impact of the case on the community of Good Hart.

Posted: July 9, 2008

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11 MB | 11:43 minutes | Read the Q&A

Jim Rossignol, author of This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities

Part personal history, part travel narrative, part philosophical reflection on the meaning of games, This Gaming Life describes Rossignol's encounters with gamers in three unique gaming cities: London, Seoul, and Reykjavik. From his days as a Quake genius in London's increasingly corporate gaming culture, to his encounters with Korea's high stakes, televised professional gaming milieu to his adventures in Iceland, the national home of his ultimate obsession, the idiosyncratic and beguiling Eve Online, Rossignol introduces us to a still-emerging and largely undocumented world of gaming lives.

Posted: June 9, 2008

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13 MB | 22:19 minutes | Read the Q&A

Dave Dempsey, author of Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps

This is a book for anyone interested in saving the Great Lakes, a huge fresh-water system that contains about 25 percent of the world's fresh surface water. The book asks—and answers—important questions about the export and diversion of Great Lakes water. Not only does Great Lakes for Sale examine past and present water-diversion practices; it also shows readers what they can do to save this natural resource.

Posted: May 6, 2008

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6 MB | 15:34 minutes | Read the Q&A

Michael S. Lewis-Beck, co-author of The American Voter Revisited

Recreates the outstanding 1960 classic The American Voter—which was based on the presidential elections of 1952 and 1956—following the same format, theory, and mode of analysis as the original. In this new volume, the authors test the ideas and methods of the original against presidential election surveys from 2000 and 2004. Surprisingly, the contemporary American voter is found to behave politically much like voters of the 1950s.

Posted: April 17, 2008

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7 MB | 18:10 minutes | Read the Q&A

Michael Musheno and Susan M. Ross, authors of Deployed: How Reservists Bear the Burden of Iraq

The stories of the citizen soldiers of an Army Reserve unit who were among the first wave of reservists mobilized after September 11.

Posted: March 18, 2008

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36 MB | 38:58 minutes | Read the Q&A

Nancy Goldstein, author of Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist

A richly illustrated biography of a pioneering woman artist and the characters she created.

Posted: February 18, 2008

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36 MB | 38:49 minutes | Read the Q&A