Ethnic stereotypes can be rooted in empirical reality, but that reality can be war, peace, and immigration policy. The stereotype of Asian Americans as high academic achievers is directly traceable to US immigration policy, say Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou in "The Asian American Achievement Paradox." Chinese immigrants were banned from coming to the US through 1943; only after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act was there a rise in Chinese immigrants and only those who were

While research on Politics + [Movies / Literature / Music] is common, where is the work on Politics + [Sports]? James Dorsey’s “The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer” begins filling this huge gap. He argues soccer stadiums train sports fans to become activists, especially young people, often leading to violence. In 1997 Iran, celebrations to support the national team in a World Cup match against Australia turned into “Death to the Mullahs” protest. Libya’s historic A

Flâneuse-ing is the feminine art of traveling to see, not to be seen; to tell, and not be hold, as we learn from Lauren Elkin’s Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, Tokyo, Venice and London. Each chapter centers on a different woman’s voice. Paris is where Elkin grew into herself and she loves it. Tokyo is where she went when her boyfriend changed jobs and hates it. Until she detaches from him, then she can see the country’s beauty for what it is. She shows us Venice th

Ebook sales don’t affect the hardcover sales of most books and, further, delaying ebook release reduces ebook sales as much as 40%, Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang show us in their new book Streaming, Sharing, and Stealing. Ebooks aren’t substitutes for physical books. Those who want to buy one won’t accept the other instead. Their conclusions come from investigating the impact of Amazon removing the “buy” button on Hachette’s ebooks for Kindle during a dispute with the