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Recent and Forthcoming Books
Elusive Victories: The American Presidency at War is a superb work of history and political analysis making the surprising argument that American presidents have repeatedly failed at war. Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center professor Andrew Polsky argues that true success in war is defined not by battlefield triumphs but by whether it accomplishes a nation's political objectives; even in wars we consider victories, including the Civil War and both World Wars, presidents have often failed to achieve their key political goals, especially the kind of peace they sought. Elusive Victories offers a penetrating analysis of the multiple dimensions of wartime presidential leadership and an insightful explanation for why presidents fail. Pulitzer Prize-winning historial James M. McPherson says, "In this provocative and incisive study of six presidents as wartime commanders in chief, Andrew Polsky demonstrates that it is much easier to start a war than to bring it to a successful conclusion." International relations scholar Andrew J. Bacevich says "Polsky's cautionary tale is as timely as it is important." (Oxford University Press)
 When asked to talk to students at a community college in upstate New York, designer and author of Newspaper Blackout Austin Kleon sat down and wrote a simple list of 10 things he wished he'd heard when he was in college: Steal like an artist. Don't wait until you know who you are to start making things. Write the book you want to read. Use your hands. Side projects are important. Do good work and put it where people can see it. Geography is no longer our master. Be nice. Be Boring. Creativity is subtraction. After giving the speech, he posted the text and slides to his blog, and it quickly went viral, with more than 1.5 million 1.8 million 2.0 million page views. Now Kleon has expanded his original manifesto into Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative, including new insights, drawings and exercises which offer a comprehensive guide to being creative and original in art, work and life. (Workman)
Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University. Hew new book The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It shatters myths about willpower and reveals life-changing secrets from the new science of self-control. McGonigal takes readers on a fascinating tour of research in psychology, neuroscience, medicine and economics to reveal a compelling new picture of what willpower is, why it matters, and how to develop it: Why willpower is limited and why too much self-control is actually bad for our health; the different types of willpower and how to harness "I will," "I won't," and "I want" power; and how to create environments that boost our willpower. Whether hoping to lose weight, find greater focus, get a handle on stress or make another change in the way we lead our lives, The Willpower Instinct offers new knowledge as well as practical strategies for self-control without suffering. (Penguin/Avery)
Journalist Matthew Shaer takes readers inside the hidden world of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn's Crown Heights--a close-knit but divided community. On a cold night in December, the members of a Hasidic anti-crime patrol called the Shomrim are summoned to a yeshiva dormitory in Crown Heights. There to break up a brawl, the Shomrim instead found themselves embroiled in a religious schism that has split the community and turned roommate against roommate, neighbor against neighbor. Among Righteous Men offers a peek into the deepest corners of a normally hidden world, in a book filled with car chases, tragic figures, racial strife, and tense courtroom scenes as well as insights into Hasidic life and culture. Sudhir Venkatesh, author of Gang Leader for a Day, says "The book feels novelistic, but it is all too true, and Shaer brings to life the great characters: gangs, lawyers, religious leaders, victims, and perpetrators. All come alive in this wonderful, riveting book." (John Wiley & Sons)
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