Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2019 -

Yarrow (senior fellow, Progressive Policy Institute) gives voice to the nearly 25 million men who are on what he considers "the sidelines of America," missing from much of mainstream daily life in their communities. Who these men are, how this happened, and what can be done to change it are the focal points of this timely, well-written, thoroughly researched expose. Through a variety of methods--e.g., comments posted on an interactive website; in-person/telephone/online interviews with men of all races/ethnicities, social classes, and ages and with women and parents of young men; discussions with myriad professionals, practitioners, scholars, and advocates; and content analysis of media reports and historical works--Yarrow extends analysis of this phenomenon beyond traditional "sidelined" men (i.e., incarcerated African American men and un/underemployed white working-class men) to men of all backgrounds who find themselves out of the mainstream. He explores the intersection of culture, economics, politics, and human agency in this process to paint a more nuanced and sophisticated portrait of these men and the consequences their situation poses for the future of dating, marriage, fatherhood, health, work, and civic and community life. A must for those interested in gender or masculinity studies.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

In Mobile Orientations, Mai (sociology and migration studies, Kingston Univ., UK) offers a thought-provoking analysis of the intricate relations between migration, sex work, and humanitarianism in contemporary Europe. Based on his decades-long and multi-cited ethnographic research, the book sheds light on how humanitarian neo-abolitionist policies fail to perceive the ways in which migrant sex workers address and experience sexual transactions yet pass judgment on their already disadvantaged livelihoods. By tending to the voices of hundreds of sex workers and agents all across Europe, Mai highlights the necessity to transcend the reductive categories that characterize humanitarian understandings of migrant sex work to comprehend the layers of exploitation in the European sex industry. The book is organized into nine chapters, each drawing from individual case studies. It is written in the tone of an intimate autoethnography, centering the narrative on the author's affective and scholarly engagements with sex workers. The book is conceptually rich, theoretically informed, and empirically grounded. An excellent study on the relations between migration, exploitation, and the liberal forms of governance that shape contemporary times.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

Powerful and provoking, Screw Consent demonstrates how talk surrounding sexual consent does not adequately deal with the problems of sexual violence in the US. In vivid detail, Fischel (Yale) charges that consent alone is not able to delineate moral acceptability in certain forms of sexual conduct; he argues instead that "progressive defenses of kink and laws against bestiality unjustifiably exceptionalize sex" (p. 29). In the process, Fischel raises several fundamental questions: Is sex or sexual violence special? When and why? Fischel focuses on transgressive forms of sex in order to offer a masterful critique of our views toward "ordinary" sex. Ultimately, the author reveals why sex is unique--and why sexual acts cannot be evaluated by the same principles as other activities. He calls for a transformation in moral, philosophical, legal, cultural, social, and public thinking about sexual behavior. Incorporating insights from philosophy, legal thought, sexuality, and gender studies, Screw Consent is a must-read for those vested in better understanding of sexuality, sexual violence, and sexual justice.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

This compelling book details the emergence of a new feminist ideal that is less concerned with social justice than with individual women's ability to balance home and work. This scathing critique of what Rottenberg (Univ. of London, UK) terms neoliberal feminism is presented through careful analyses of contemporary manifestos, such as Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In (CH, Dec'13, 51-2183), Ann-Marie Slaughter's Unfinished Business (Random House, 2016), Megyn Kelly's Settle for More (Harper Luxe, 2016), and Ivanka Trump's Women Who Work (Portfolio, 2017). To analyze these texts, Rottenberg draws on the theoretical work of Wendy Brown and others to frame neoliberalism as not only a set of economic practices but also a recasting of humans as "capital enhancing subjects." From this perspective, Rottenberg argues that the new feminist ideal of succeeding at both high-powered employment and intensive mothering serves the free market more than it serves women. Rather than empowering women as a group, neoliberal feminism legitimates the privatization of caring work and erases the economic inequalities that make a felicitous work-family balance impossible for most women. In this accessible, fascinating book, Rottenberg brilliantly captures the contemporary discursive politics of feminism. This text should be widely read.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.