23 Best Popular Culture, Social Science Books
Popular Culture, Social Science is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top Popular Culture, Social Science audiobooks everyone must read.
See the top 23 Popular Culture, Social Science audiobooks below.
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Rage Becomes Her
- By: Soraya Chemaly
- Narrator: Soraya Chemaly
- Length: 11 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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4.36(5403 ratings)
4.36(5403 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0023.99 USD***A BEST BOOK OF 2018 SELECTION*** NPR * The Washington Post * Book Riot * Autostraddle * Psychology Today ***A BEST FEMINIST BOOK SELECTION*** Refinery 29, Book Riot, Autostraddle, BITCH Rage Becomes Her is an “utterly eye opening”***A BEST BOOK OF 2018 SELECTION***
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NPR * The Washington Post * Book Riot * Autostraddle * Psychology Today
***A BEST FEMINIST BOOK SELECTION***
Refinery 29, Book Riot, Autostraddle, BITCH
Rage Becomes Her is an “utterly eye opening” (Bustle) book that gives voice to the causes, expressions, and possibilities of female rage.
As women, we’ve been urged for so long to bottle up our anger, letting it corrode our bodies and minds in ways we don’t even realize. Yet there are so, so many legitimate reasons for us to feel angry, ranging from blatant, horrifying acts of misogyny to the subtle drip, drip drip of daily sexism that reinforces the absurdly damaging gender norms of our society.
In Rage Becomes Her, Soraya Chemaly argues that our anger is not only justified, it is also an active part of the solution. We are so often encouraged to resist our rage or punished for justifiably expressing it, yet how many remarkable achievements would never have gotten off the ground without the kernel of anger that fueled them? Approached with conscious intention, anger is a vital instrument, a radar for injustice and a catalyst for change. On the flip side, the societal and cultural belittlement of our anger is a cunning way of limiting and controlling our power–one we can no longer abide.
“A work of great spirit and verve” (Time), Rage Becomes Her is a validating, energizing read that will change the way you interact with the world around you. -
Carefree Black Girls
- By: Zeba Blay
- Narrator: Zeba Blay
- Length: 6 hours 16 minutes
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Publish date: October 19, 2021
- Language: English
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4.36(632 ratings)
4.36(632 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDOne of Kirkus Review’s Best Books About Being Black in America“Powerful… Calling for Black women (in and out of the public eye) to be treated with empathy, Blay’s pivotal work will engage all readers, especially fans of MikkiOne of Kirkus Review’s Best Books About Being Black in America
“Powerful… Calling for Black women (in and out of the public eye) to be treated with empathy, Blay’s pivotal work will engage all readers, especially fans of Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism.” —Kirkus (Starred)
This program is read by the author.An empowering and celebratory portrait of Black women – from Josephine Baker to Aunt Viv to Cardi B.
In 2013, film and culture critic Zeba Blay was one of the first people to coin the viral term #carefreeblackgirls on Twitter. As she says, it was “a way to carve out a space of celebration and freedom for Black women online.”
In this collection of essays, Carefree Black Girls, Blay expands on this initial idea by delving into the work and lasting achievements of influential Black women in American culture – writers, artists, actresses, dancers, hip-hop stars – whose contributions often come in the face of bigotry, misogyny, and stereotypes. Blay celebrates the strength and fortitude of these Black women, while also examining the many stereotypes and rigid identities that have clung to them. In writing that is both luminous and sharp, expansive and intimate, Blay seeks a path forward to a culture and society in which Black women and their art are appreciated and celebrated.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Griffin
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Content
- By: Cory Doctorow
- Narrator: Richard Powers
- Length: 7 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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4.35(221 ratings)
4.35(221 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDHailed by Bruce Sterling as a “political activist, gizmo freak, junk collector, programmer, entrepreneur, and all-around Renaissance geek,” Cory Doctorow is the web’s most celebrated high-tech pop-culture maven. Content is theHailed by Bruce Sterling as a “political activist, gizmo freak, junk collector, programmer, entrepreneur, and all-around Renaissance geek,” Cory Doctorow is the web’s most celebrated high-tech pop-culture maven. Content is the first collection of Doctorow’s infamous articles, essays, and polemics.
Here’s why Microsoft should stop treating its customers as criminals (through relentless digital-rights management); how America chose copyright and Happy Meal toys over jobs; why Facebook is taking a faceplant; how Wikipedia is a poor cousin of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; and, of course, why free e-books kick ass.
Accessible to geeks and noobs (if you’re not sure what that means, it’s you) alike, Content is a must-have compilation from Cory Doctorow, who will be glad to take you along for the ride as he effortlessly surfs the zeitgeist.
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Boys
- By: Rachel Giese
- Narrator: Ellen Archer
- Length: 7 hours 15 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: December 11, 2018
- Language: English
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3.88(195 ratings)
3.88(195 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.98 USDA vital and sweeping examination of today’s “boy crisis,” demonstrating the ways in which we raise boys into a culture of toxic masculinity and offering solutions that can liberate us all Whether they’re being urged toA vital and sweeping examination of today’s “boy crisis,” demonstrating the ways in which we raise boys into a culture of toxic masculinity and offering solutions that can liberate us all
Whether they’re being urged to “man up” or warned that “boys don’t cry,” young men are subjected to damaging messages about manliness: they must muzzle their emotions and never show weakness, dominate girls and compete with one another.
Boys: What It Means to Become a Man examines how these toxic rules can hinder boys’ emotional and social development. If girls can expand the borders of femaleness, could boys also be set free of limiting, damaging expectations about manhood and masculinity? Could what’s been labelled “the boy crisis” be the beginning of a revolution in how we raise young men?
Drawing on extensive research and interviews with educators, activists, parents, psychologists, sociologists, and young men, Giese — mother to a son herself — examines the myths of masculinity and the challenges facing boys today. She reports from boys-only sex education classes and recreational sports leagues; talks to parents of transgender children and plays video games with her son. She tells stories of boys navigating the transition into manhood and how the upheaval in cultural norms about sex, sexuality and the myths of masculinity have changed the coming of age process for today’s boys.
With lively reportage and clear-eyed analysis, Giese reveals that the movement for gender equality has the potential to liberate us all.
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The Partly Cloudy Patriot
- By: Sarah Vowell
- Narrator: Conan O'Brien
- Length: 5 hours 15 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2003
- Language: English
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3.87(27061 ratings)
3.87(27061 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0015.95 USDFrom public radio This American Life contributor and self-described “history nerd” Sarah Vowell comes a collection of humorous and personal essays investigating American history, pop culture and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.In thisFrom public radio This American Life contributor and self-described “history nerd” Sarah Vowell comes a collection of humorous and personal essays investigating American history, pop culture and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
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In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell travels through the American past and in doing so ponders a number of curious questions: Why is she happiest when visiting the sites of bloody struggles like Salem or Gettysburg? Why do people always inappropriately compare themselves to Rosa Parks? Why is a bad life in sunny California so much worse than a bad life anywhere else? What is it about the Zen of foul shots? And, in the title piece, why must doubt and internal arguments haunt the sleepless nights of the true patriot?
Her essays confront a wide range of subjects, themes, icons, and historical moments: Ike, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton; Canadian Mounties and German filmmakers; Tom Cruise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush’s inauguration.
The result is a teeming and engrossing book, capturing Vowell’s memorable wit and her keen social commentary. -
Difficult Men
- By: Brett Martin
- Narrator: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 10 hours 18 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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3.84(2617 ratings)
3.84(2617 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDA riveting and revealing look at the shows that helped cable television drama emerge as the signature art form of the twenty-first century In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. WhileA riveting and revealing look at the shows that helped cable television drama emerge as the signature art form of the twenty-first century
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows, first on premium cable channels like HBO and then basic cable networks like FX and AMC, dramatically stretched television’s narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and artistic ambition. No longer necessarily concerned with creating always-likable characters, plots that wrapped up neatly every episode, or subjects that were deemed safe and appropriate, shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Deadwood, The Shield, and more tackled issues of life and death, love and sexuality, addiction, race, violence, and existential boredom. Just as the big novel had in the 1960s and the subversive films of New Hollywood had in 1970s, television shows became the place to go to see stories of the triumph and betrayals of the American Dream at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
This revolution happened at the hands of a new breed of auteur: the all-powerful writer-showrunner. These were men nearly as complicated, idiosyncratic, and “difficult” as the conflicted protagonists that defined the genre. Given the chance to make art in a maligned medium, they fell upon the opportunity with unchecked ambition.
Combining deep reportage with cultural analysis and historical context, Brett Martin recounts the rise and inner workings of a genre that represents not only a new golden age for television but also a cultural watershed. Difficult Men features extensive interviews with all the major players, including David Chase (The Sopranos), David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire), Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm (Mad Men), David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood), and Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), in addition to dozens of other writers, directors, studio executives, actors, production assistants, makeup artists, script supervisors, and so on. Martin takes us behind the scenes of our favorite shows, delivering never-before-heard story after story and revealing how cable television has distinguished itself dramatically from the networks, emerging from the shadow of film to become a truly significant and influential part of our culture.
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How You Get Famous
- By: Nicole Pasulka
- Narrator: Nicky Endres
- Length: 10 hours 25 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
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3.83(104 ratings)
3.83(104 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0023.99 USDA madcap adventure through a tight-knit world of drag performers making art and mayhem in the greatest city on earth.Ten years ago, an aimless coat check girl better known today as Merrie Cherry sweet-talked her boss into giving her $100 to host aA madcap adventure through a tight-knit world of drag performers making art and mayhem in the greatest city on earth.
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Ten years ago, an aimless coat check girl better known today as Merrie Cherry sweet-talked her boss into giving her $100 to host a drag show at a Brooklyn dive bar. Soon, kids like Aja were kicking their way into the scene, sneaking into clubs, pocketing their tips to help mom pay the mortgage, and sharing the stage with electric performers like Thorgy Thor and Sasha Velour. Because suddenly, in the biggest, brightest city in America, drag was offering young, broke, creative queer people a chance at real money–and for thousands or even millions of people to learn their names.
In How You Get Famous, journalist Nicole Pasulka joyfully documents the rebirth of the New York drag scene, following a group of iconoclastic performers with undeniable charisma, talent, and a hell of a lot to prove. The result is a sweeping portrait of the 21st-century search for celebrity and community, as well as a chronicle of all the struggles, fights, and disappointments along the way. A rollicking account of the quest to make a living through an art form on the cusp of becoming a cultural phenomenon, How You Get Famous offers an unmissable romp through the gritty and glamorous world of Brooklyn drag. -
Escaping the Rabbit Hole
- By: Mick West
- Narrator: Ralph Lister
- Length: 11 hours 17 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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3.8(544 ratings)
3.8(544 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThe Earth is flat, planes are spraying poison to control the weather, actors faked the Sandy Hook massacre, and Elvis is alive and living on an island. All these claims are bunk: falsehoods, mistakes, and in some cases, outright lies. But manyThe Earth is flat, planes are spraying poison to control the weather, actors faked the Sandy Hook massacre, and Elvis is alive and living on an island.
All these claims are bunk: falsehoods, mistakes, and in some cases, outright lies. But many people passionately believe one or more of these conspiracy theories. They consume countless books and videos, join like-minded online communities, try to convert those around them, and even, on occasion, alienate their own friends and family. Why is this, and how can you help people, especially those closest to you, break free from the downward spiral of conspiracy thinking?
In Escaping the Rabbit Hole, author Mick West shares over a decade’s worth of knowledge and experience investigating and debunking false conspiracy theories through his forum, MetaBunk.org, and sets forth a practical guide to helping friends and loved ones recognize these theories for what they really are.
Perhaps counterintuitively, the most successful approaches to helping individuals escape a rabbit hole aren’t comprised of simply explaining why they are wrong. Rather, West’s tried-and-tested approach emphasizes clear communication based on mutual respect, honesty, openness, and patience.
West puts his debunking techniques and best practices to the test with four of the most popular false conspiracy theories today, providing road maps to help you to understand your friend and help them escape the rabbit hole. These are accompanied by real-life case studies of individuals who, with help, were able to break free from conspiracism.
Included are sections on:
The wide spectrum of conspiracy theories,
Avoiding the “shill” label,
Psychological factors and other complications, and
A look at the future of debunking.
Mick West has put forth a conclusive, well-researched, practical reference on why people fall down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole and how you can help them escape.
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Look Alive Out There
- By: Sloane Crosley
- Narrator: Sloane Crosley
- Length: 6 hours 13 minutes
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Publish date: April 03, 2018
- Language: English
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3.79(5525 ratings)
3.79(5525 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.99 USDThis program is read by the author Sloane Crosley returns to the form that made her a household name in really quite a lot of households: Essays! These small doses of wit and sass make for an exuberant, unforgettable audiobook. From the New YorkThis program is read by the author
Sloane Crosley returns to the form that made her a household name in really quite a lot of households: Essays! These small doses of wit and sass make for an exuberant, unforgettable audiobook.
From the New York Times-bestselling author Sloane Crosley comes Look Alive Out There–a brand-new collection of essays filled with her trademark hilarity, wit, and charm. The characteristic heart and punch-packing observations are back, but with a newfound coat of maturity. A thin coat. More of a blazer, really.
Fans of I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number know Sloane Crosley’s life as a series of relatable but madcap misadventures. In Look Alive Out There, whether it’s scaling active volcanoes, crashing shivas, playing herself on Gossip Girl, befriending swingers, or staring down the barrel of the fertility gun, Crosley continues to rise to the occasion with unmatchable nerve and electric one-liners. And as her subjects become more serious, her essays deliver not just laughs but lasting emotional heft and insight. Crosley has taken up the gauntlets thrown by her predecessors–Dorothy Parker, Nora Ephron, David Sedaris–and crafted something rare, affecting, and true.
Look Alive Out There arrives a decade after I Was Told There’d be Cake, and Crosley’s essays have managed to grow simultaneously more sophisticated and even funnier. And yet she’s still very much herself, and it’s great to have her back–and not a moment too soon (or late, for that matter).
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Eating the Dinosaur
- By: Chuck Klosterman
- Narrator: Chuck Klosterman
- Length: 6 hours 39 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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3.76(14462 ratings)
3.76(14462 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0023.95 USDAfter a bestselling and acclaimed diversion into fiction, Chuck Klosterman, author of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, returns to the form in which he’s been spectacularly successful with a collection of essays about our consumption of pop cultureAfter a bestselling and acclaimed diversion into fiction, Chuck Klosterman, author of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, returns to the form in which he’s been spectacularly successful with a collection of essays about our consumption of pop culture and sports.
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Q: What is this book about?
A: Well, that’s difficult to say. I haven’t read it yet—I’ve just picked it up and casually glanced at the back cover. There clearly isn’t a plot. I’ve heard there’s a lot of stuff about time travel in this book, and quite a bit about violence and Garth Brooks and why Germans don’t laugh when they’re inside grocery stores. Ralph Nader and Ralph Sampson play significant roles. I think there are several pages about Rear Window and college football and Mad Men and why Rivers Cuomo prefers having sex with Asian women. Supposedly there’s a chapter outlining all the things the Unabomber was right about, but perhaps I’m misinformed.
Q: Is there a larger theme?
A: Oh, something about reality. “What is reality,” maybe? No, that’s not it. Not exactly. I get the sense that most of the core questions dwell on the way media perception constructs a fake reality that ends up becoming more meaningful than whatever actually happened. Also, Lady Gaga.
Q: Should I read this book?
A: Probably. Do you see a clear relationship between the Branch Davidian disaster and the recording of Nirvana’s In Utero? Does Barack Obama make you want to drink Pepsi? Does ABBA remind you of AC/DC? If so, you probably don’t need to read this book. You probably wrote this book. But I suspect everybody else will totally love it, except for the ones who totally hate it. -
Better Boys, Better Men
- By: Andrew Reiner
- Narrator: Adam Verner
- Length: 8 hours 16 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: December 01, 2020
- Language: English
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3.72(149 ratings)
3.72(149 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDA thought-provoking and much-needed look at how modern masculinity is harming and holding back men–and all of society–and what we can do to promote a new masculinity that allows men of all ages to thrive. In Better Boys, Better Men,A thought-provoking and much-needed look at how modern masculinity is harming and holding back men–and all of society–and what we can do to promote a new masculinity that allows men of all ages to thrive.
In Better Boys, Better Men, cultural critic and New York Times contributor Andrew Reiner argues that men today are working on an outdated model of masculinity, which prevents them in moments of distress and vulnerability from marshalling the courage, strength, and resiliency–the very characteristics we regularly champion in men–they need to thrive in a world vastly different from the ones their fathers and grandfathers grew up in. According to Reiner, this outdated model of manhood can have devastating effects on the entire culture and, especially boys and men, from falling behind in the classroom and rising male unemployment rates to increased levels of depression and disturbing upticks in violence on a mass scale.
Reiner interviews boys and men of all ages, educators, counselors, therapists, and physicians throughout the United States to better understand what factors are preventing the country’s boys and men from developing the emotional resiliency they need. He also introduces readers to the boys and men at the vanguard of a new masculinity that empowers them to find and express the full range of their humanity.
Urgent and necessary, Better Boys, Better Men will change the way we talk about boys and men in America today.
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Everything I Need I Get from You
- By: Kaitlyn Tiffany
- Narrator: Eileen Stevens
- Length: 6 hours 47 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
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3.69(1247 ratings)
3.69(1247 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDA thrilling and riotous dive into the world of superfandom and the fangirls who shaped the social Internet. In 2014, on the side of a Los Angeles freeway, a One Direction fan erected a shrine in the spot where, a few hours earlier, Harry Styles hadA thrilling and riotous dive into the world of superfandom and the fangirls who shaped the social Internet.
In 2014, on the side of a Los Angeles freeway, a One Direction fan erected a shrine in the spot where, a few hours earlier, Harry Styles had vomited. “It’s interesting for sure,” Styles said later, adding, “a little niche, maybe.” But what seemed niche to Styles was actually an irreverent signpost to an unfathomably large, interconnected, and influential multiverse: stan culture.
In this book, Kaitlyn Tiffany, a staff writer at The Atlantic and proud superfan herself, guides us through the nebulous online world of fans, stans, and boybands. Along the way we meet girls who damage their lungs from screaming too loud, fans rallying together to manipulate streaming numbers using complex digital subversion, and an underworld of inside jokes and shared memories surrounding band members’ allergies, Internet typos, and hairstyles.
In the process, Tiffany makes a convincing and often moving argument that fangirls, in their ingenuity and collaboration, created the social Internet we know today, effectively making One Direction the first Internet boyband. “Before most people were using the Internet for anything,” Tiffany writes, “fans were using it for everything.”
With humor, empathy, and an insider’s eye, Everything I Need I Get from You reclaims Internet history for young women, establishing fandom not as the territory of hysterical girls but as an incubator for digital innovation, art, and community.
From dangerous, fandom-splitting conspiracy theories about secret love and fake children to the interplays between high and low culture and capitalism, Tiffany’s book is a riotous chronicle of the movement that changed the Internet forever.
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Tomboy
- By: Lisa Selin Davis
- Narrator: Therese Plummer
- Length: 7 hours 32 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: August 11, 2020
- Language: English
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3.68(344 ratings)
3.68(344 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USDBased on the author’s viral New York Times op-ed, this heartfelt book is a celebration and exploration of the tomboy phenomenon and the future of girlhood. We are in the middle of a cultural revolution, where the spectrum of gender and sexualBased on the author’s viral New York Times op-ed, this heartfelt book is a celebration and exploration of the tomboy phenomenon and the future of girlhood.
We are in the middle of a cultural revolution, where the spectrum of gender and sexual identities is seemingly unlimited. So when author and journalist Lisa Selin Davis’s six-year-old daughter first called herself a “tomboy,” Davis was hesitant. Her child favored sweatpants and T-shirts over anything pink or princess-themed, just like the sporty, skinned-kneed girls Davis had played with as a kid. But “tomboy” seemed like an outdated word–why use a word with “boy” in it for such girls at all?
So was it outdated? In an era where some are throwing elaborate gender reveal parties and others are embracing they/them pronouns, Davis set out to answer that question, and to find out where tomboys fit into our changing understandings of gender.
In Tomboy, Davis explores the evolution of tomboyism from a Victorian ideal to a twentyfirst century fashion statement, honoring the girls and women–and those who identify otherwise–who stomp all over archaic gender norms. She highlights the forces that have shifted what we think of as masculine and feminine, delving into everything from clothing to psychology, history to neuroscience, and the connection between tomboyism, gender identity, and sexuality. Above all else, Davis’s comprehensive deep-dive inspires us to better appreciate those who defy traditional gender boundaries, and the incredible people they become.
Whether you’re a grown-up tomboy or raising a gender-rebel of your own, Tomboy is the perfect companion for navigating our cultural shift. It is a celebration of both diversity and those who dare to be different, ultimately revealing how gender nonconformity is a gift. ... Read more -
Down the Up Escalator
- By: Barbara Garson
- Narrator: Jeanine Kane
- Length: 8 hours 8 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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3.63(122 ratings)
3.63(122 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.95 USDOne of our most incisive and committed journalists–author of the classic All the Livelong Day–shows us the real human cost of our economic follies. The Great Recession has thrown huge economic chal+!lenges at almost all Americans saveOne of our most incisive and committed journalists–author of the classic All the Livelong Day–shows us the real human cost of our economic follies.
The Great Recession has thrown huge economic chal+!lenges at almost all Americans save the superaffluent few, and we are only now beginning to reckon up the human toll it is taking. Down the Up Escalator is an urgent dispatch from the front lines of our vast collective struggle to keep our heads above water and maybe even–someday–get ahead. Garson has interviewed an economically and geographically wide variety of Americans to show the pain+!ful waste in all this loss and insecurity, and describe how individuals are coping. Her broader historical focus, though, is on the causes and consequences of the long stag+!nation of wages and how it has resulted in an increasingly desperate reliance on credit and a series of ever-larger bubbles–stocks, technology, real estate. This is no way to run an economy, or a democracy.
From the members of the Pink Slip Club in New York, to a California home health-care aide on the eve of eviction, to a subprime mortgage broker who still thinks it could have worked, Down the Up Escalator presents a sobering picture of what happens to a society when it becomes economically organized to benefit only the very rich and the quick-buck speculators. But it also demonstrates the wit and resilience of ordinary Americans–and why they deserve so much bet+!ter than the hand they’ve been dealt.
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Assassination Generation
- By: Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman
- Narrator: Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman
- Length: 7 hours 34 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: November 15, 2016
- Language: English
Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USDThe author of the 400,000-copy bestseller On Killing reveals how violent video games have ushered in a new era of mass homicide — and what we must do about it. Paducah, Kentucky, 1997: a 14-year-old boy shoots eight students in a prayerThe author of the 400,000-copy bestseller On Killing reveals how violent video games have ushered in a new era of mass homicide — and what we must do about it.... Read morePaducah, Kentucky, 1997: a 14-year-old boy shoots eight students in a prayer circle at his school.
Littleton, Colorado, 1999: two high school seniors kill a teacher, twelve other students, and then themselves.
Utoya, Norway, 2011: a political extremist shoots and kills sixty-nine participants in a youth summer camp.
Newtown, Connecticut, 2012: a troubled 20-year-old man kills 20 children and six adults at the elementary school he once attended.
What links these and other horrific acts of mass murder? A young person’s obsession with video games that teach to kill.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who in his perennial bestseller On Killing revealed that most of us are not “natural born killers” – and who has spent decades training soldiers, police, and others who keep us secure to overcome the intrinsic human resistance to harming others and to use firearms responsibly when necessary – turns a laser focus on the threat posed to our society by violent video games.
Drawing on crime statistics, cutting-edge social research, and scientific studies of the teenage brain, Col. Grossman shows how video games that depict antisocial, misanthropic, casually savage behavior can warp the mind – with potentially deadly results. His book will become the focus of a new national conversation about video games and the epidemic of mass murders that they have unleashed.
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Uneasy Street
- By: Rachel Sherman
- Narrator: Rachel Sherman
- Length: 9 hours 30 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: September 05, 2017
- Language: English
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3.58(714 ratings)
3.58(714 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDA surprising and revealing look at how today’s elite view their own wealth and place in society From TV’s “real housewives” to The Wolf of Wall Street, our popular culture portrays the wealthy as materialistic and entitled.A surprising and revealing look at how today’s elite view their own wealth and place in society From TV’s “real housewives” to The Wolf of Wall Street, our popular culture portrays the wealthy as materialistic and entitled. But what do we really know about those who live on “easy street”? In this penetrating book, Rachel Sherman draws on rare in-depth interviews that she conducted with fifty affluent New Yorkers–including hedge fund financiers and corporate lawyers, professors and artists, and stay-at-home mothers–to examine their lifestyle choices and their understanding of privilege. Sherman upends images of wealthy people as invested only in accruing and displaying social advantages for themselves and their children. Instead, these liberal elites, who believe in diversity and meritocracy, feel conflicted about their position in a highly unequal society. They wish to be “normal,” describing their consumption as reasonable and basic and comparing themselves to those who have more than they do rather than those with less. These New Yorkers also want to see themselves as hard workers who give back and raise children with good values, and they avoid talking about money. Although their experiences differ depending on a range of factors, including whether their wealth was earned or inherited, these elites generally depict themselves as productive and prudent, and therefore morally worthy, while the undeserving rich are lazy, ostentatious, and snobbish. Sherman argues that this ethical distinction between “good” and “bad” wealthy people characterizes American culture more broadly, and that it perpetuates rather than challenges economic inequality. As the distance between rich and poor widens, Uneasy Street not only explores the real lives of those at the top but also sheds light on how extreme inequality comes to seem ordinary and acceptable to the rest of us. Author bio: Rachel Sherman is associate professor of sociology at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College. She is the author of Class Acts: Service and Inequality in Luxury Hotels. Sherman lives in New York.
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The Day It Finally Happens
- By: Mike Pearl
- Narrator: Mike Pearl
- Length: 8 hours 26 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2019
- Language: English
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3.54(395 ratings)
3.54(395 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDFrom a VICE magazine columnist, “a deeply entertaining–if occasionally horrifying” (Joshua Piven, coauthor of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook) look at how humanity is likely to weather such happenings as nuclear war, aFrom a VICE magazine columnist, “a deeply entertaining–if occasionally horrifying” (Joshua Piven, coauthor of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook) look at how humanity is likely to weather such happenings as nuclear war, a global internet collapse, antibiotics shortages, and even immortality.
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If you live on planet Earth you’re probably scared of the future. How could you not be? Some of the world’s most stable democracies are looking pretty shaky. Technology is invading personal relationships and taking over jobs. Relations among the three superpowers–the US, China, and Russia–are growing more complicated and dangerous. A person watching the news has to wonder: is it safe to go out there or not?
Taking inspiration from his virally popular VICE column “How Scared Should I Be?,” Mike Pearl games out many of the “could it really happen?” scenarios we’ve all speculated about, assigning a probability rating, and taking us through how it would unfold. He explores what would likely occur in dozens of possible scenarios–among them the final failure of antibiotics, the loss of the world’s marine life, a complete ban on guns in the US, and even contact with extraterrestrial life–and reports back from the future, providing a clear picture of how the world would look, feel, and even smell in each of these instances.
For fans of such bestsellers as What If? and The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook, The Day It Finally Happens is about taking future events that we don’t really understand and getting to know them in close detail. Pearl’s “well-researched speculations induce daydreams and nightmares and mark [him] as one of his generation’s most interesting writers” (Alec Ross, New York Times bestselling author). -
Superman on the Couch
- By: Danny Fingeroth
- Narrator: Danny Fingeroth
- Length: 5 hours 51 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
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3.5(211 ratings)
3.5(211 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDWhy are so many of the superhero myths tied up with loss, often violent, of parents or parental figures? What is the significance of the dual identity? What makes some superhuman figures “good” and others “evil”? Why are soWhy are so many of the superhero myths tied up with loss, often violent, of parents or parental figures? What is the significance of the dual identity? What makes some superhuman figures “good” and others “evil”? Why are so many of the prime superheroes white and male? How has the superhero evolved over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries? And how might the myths be changing?
Why is it that the key superhero archetypes–Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, the X-Men–touch primal needs and experiences in everyone? Why has the superhero moved beyond the pages of comics into other media?
All these topics, and more, are covered in this lively and original exploration of the reasons why the superhero–in comic books, films, and TV–is such a potent myth for our times and culture.
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Shame Nation
- By: Sue Scheff
- Narrator: Erin Bennett
- Length: 7 hours 48 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2017
- Language: English
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3.46(236 ratings)
3.46(236 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDIn today’s digitally driven world, disaster is only a click away. A rogue tweet can bring down a business; an army of trolls can run a celebrity off-line; and virtual harassment might cause real psychological damage. Shame Nation is the firstIn today’s digitally driven world, disaster is only a click away.
A rogue tweet can bring down a business; an army of trolls can run a celebrity off-line; and virtual harassment might cause real psychological damage.
Shame Nation is the first book to both explore the fascinating phenomenon of online shaming and offer practical guidance and inspiring advice on how to prevent and protect against cyber blunders and faceless bullies. Author and acclaimed Internet safety expert Sue Scheff unveils all sides of an issue that is only becoming more relevant day by day while drawing from the expertise of other top professionals spanning fields including law, psychology, and reputation management.
From damning screenshots to revenge porn, Shame Nation shines a light on the rising trend of online shame culture and empowers readers to take charge of their digital lives.
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Squandering Aimlessly
- By: David Brancaccio
- Narrator: David Brancaccio
- Length: 3 hours 6 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2000
- Language: English
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3.26(28 ratings)
3.26(28 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0010.95 USDWhat would you do if you received a sudden financial windfall? David Brancaccio, whose ability to clarify economic matters has made public radio’s Marketplace a hit, set out to discover where, why, and how people are spending their richesWhat would you do if you received a sudden financial windfall? David Brancaccio, whose ability to clarify economic matters has made public radio’s Marketplace a hit, set out to discover where, why, and how people are spending their riches — whether it’s proceeds from stock options, profits from the sale of a house, or an unexpected inheritance or bonus.
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His journey takes readers from Minnesota’s Mall of America to the
financial caverns of Wall Street, to a college set among the oil wells of West Texas. He gathers wisdom on money and its uses from California entrepreneurs, a drifter in the desert, a U.S. treasury secretary, and many others from all walks of life. The result is at once a delightful adventure and an eye-opening report on America’s attitudes about spending, saving, and investing. -
The Lie About the Truck
- By: Sallie Tisdale
- Narrator: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 7 hours 27 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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3.18(253 ratings)
3.18(253 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDThe author of the acclaimed Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them) brings “her singular sensibility, her genius for language, her love of our deeply imperfect world” (Karen Karbo, author of In Praise of Difficult Women) toThe author of the acclaimed Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them) brings “her singular sensibility, her genius for language, her love of our deeply imperfect world” (Karen Karbo, author of In Praise of Difficult Women) to this insightful exploration of reality TV and the shifting definitions of truth in America.
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What is the truth?
In a world of fake news and rampant conspiracy theories, the nature of truth has increasingly blurry borders. In this clever and timely cultural commentary, award-winning author Sallie Tisdale tackles this issue by framing it in a familiar way–reality TV, particularly the long-running CBS show Survivor.
With humor and in-depth superfan analysis, Tisdale explores the distinction between suspended disbelief and true authenticity both in how we watch shows like Survivor, and in how we perceive the world around us. With her “bold and wise, galvanizing and grounding” (Chloe Caldwell, author of I’ll Tell You in Person) writing, Tisdale has created an unputdownable, thoroughly entertaining, and groundbreaking book that we will be talking about for years to come. -
Is There Still Sex in the City?
- By: Candace Bushnell
- Narrator: Julia Whelan
- Length: 6 hours 11 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: August 06, 2019
- Language: English
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3.16(2026 ratings)
3.16(2026 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDSet between the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a country enclave known as The Village, Is There Still Sex in the City? gathers Bushnell’s signature short, sharp, satirical commentaries on the love and dating habits of middle-aged men andSet between the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a country enclave known as The Village, Is There Still Sex in the City? gathers Bushnell’s signature short, sharp, satirical commentaries on the love and dating habits of middle-aged men and women as they continue to navigate the ever-modernizing world of relationships. Throughout, Bushnell documents 21st century dating phenomenon, such as the “Unintended Cub Situation” in which a sensible older woman suddenly becomes the love interest of a much younger man, the “Mona Lisa” Treatment–a vaginal restorative surgery often recommended to middle-aged women, and what it’s really like to go on Tinder dates as a fifty-something divorcee. Bushnell also updates one of her most celebrated stories from Sex and the City, “The Bicycle Boys,” which is about a breed of New York men who are always trying to bring their bikes up to women’s apartments. Once an anomaly, Bushnell charts their new ubiquity, in addition to where and how to do your own man stalking via bicycle (and whether or not it’s worth it). In Is There Still Sex in The City?, Bushnell looks at love and life from all angles–marriage and children, divorce and bereavement, and the very real pressures women face to maintain their youth and have it all. This is a pull-no-punches social commentary and an indispensable companion to one of the most revolutionary dating books of the twentieth century.
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El pensamiento conspiranoico (Conspiracy Thinking)
- By: Noel Ceballos
- Length: 8 hours 22 minutes
- Publisher: BookaVivo
- Publish date: February 15, 2022
- Language: Spanish
Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USD?De do’nde surge el pensamiento conspiranoico? ?Por que’ tanta gente esta’ convencida de que un pequen~o y poderoso grupo de personas maneja el mundo en secreto y en contra de los intereses de la gente de a pie? ?Que’ razones?De do’nde surge el pensamiento conspiranoico? ?Por que’ tanta gente esta’ convencida de que un pequen~o y poderoso grupo de personas maneja el mundo en secreto y en contra de los intereses de la gente de a pie? ?Que’ razones tenemos para creer que la civilizacio’n tal y como la conocemos esta’ al borde del colapso y que se aproxima un nuevo orden mundial? ?Es Bill Gates el culpable de todo lo que ocurre en nuestro planeta?
Para Noel Ceballos, la conspiranoia es un marco paranoico con el que enfrentarse a un mundo cada vez ma’s complejo y cao’tico. Una fo’rmula ma’gica con la que reordenar la cacofoni’a informativa cotidiana hasta dar con una narracio’n satisfactoria. Pero las teori’as conspirativas actuales no son nuevas, sino meras actualizaciones de elaboradi’simas falsedades o burdas mentiras –con apariencia de verdad– que llevan siglos circulando por las sociedades occidentales.
Desde la Revolucio’n francesa hasta el coronavirus, pasando por los Illuminati, los ovnis, el asesinato de JFK, el terraplanismo, el MK-Ultra, el cambio clima’tico, Facebook, el 5G o la oscura sombra del antisemitismo, este libro viaja del pasado al presente para crear una suerte de Teori’a Unificada de la Conspiranoia, siempre bajo la premisa de que podemos descubrir mucho acerca de una sociedad si echamos un vistazo a sus peores pesadillas.
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Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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