July 2023 MBR Reviewer's Choice

Reviewer's Choice

Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice: Science, Practice, and Policy
Medicine National Academies of Sciences, Engineering
c/o National Academies Press
500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001
www.nap.edu
9780309693370, $50.00, PB, 438pp

https://www.amazon.com/Reducing-Racial-Inequality-Crime-Justice/dp/0309693373

Synopsis: The history of the U.S. criminal justice system is scarred by racial inequality and sustained by present day policy. Large racial and ethnic disparities exist across the several stages of criminal legal processing, including in arrests, pre-trial detention, and sentencing and incarceration, among others, with Black, Latino, and Native Americans experiencing worse outcomes. The historical legacy of racial exclusion and structural inequalities form the social context for racial inequalities in crime and criminal justice. Racial inequality can drive disparities in crime, victimization, and system involvement.

A landmark study, "Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice: Science, Practice, and Policy" synthesizes the evidence on community-based solutions, noncriminal policy interventions, and criminal justice reforms, charting a path toward the reduction of racial inequalities by minimizing harm in ways that also improve community safety. Reversing the effects of structural racism and severing the close connections between racial inequality, criminal harms such as violence, and criminal justice involvement will involve fostering local innovation and evaluation, and coordinating local initiatives with state and federal leadership.

This comprehensive report also highlights the challenge of creating an accurate, national picture of racial inequality in crime and justice: there is a lack of consistent, reliable data, as well as data transparency and accountability. While the available data points toward trends that Black, Latino, and Native American individuals are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and given more severe punishments compared to White individuals, opportunities for improving research should be explored to better inform decision-making.

Critique: A seminal and timely study, "Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice: Science, Practice, and Policy" is unreservedly recommended for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and political activists, as well as professional, governmental, college, and university library Social Justice, Social Sciences, Ethnic Studies, and Racial Law Reform collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Bridgebuilders
William D. Eggers, author
Bondal F. Kettl, author
Harvard Business Review Press
60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163
http://hbr.org/books
9781647825119, $35.00, HC, 304pp

https://www.amazon.com/Bridgebuilders-Government-Transcend-Boundaries-Problems/dp/1647825113

Synopsis: Pandemics. Climate change. Refugee resettlement. Global supply chains. Corporate executives and entrepreneurs face a new generation of complex problems that stretch across the public and private sectors and flow over organizational boundaries. To meet the moment, we need a fresh, new approach that strengthens institutions and government agencies by breaking free from organizational boxes and rigid, top-down leadership.

With the publication of "Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems", co-authors William D. Eggers (Executive director of Deloitte's Center for Government Insights), and Donald F. Kettl (public management scholar), show that we need a government of bridgebuilders who collaborate with partners (both inside and outside of government) to get the job done. These leaders manage horizontally instead of vertically; they see their role as connectors; and they identify which players have the assets needed to solve the unprecedented problems at hand.

Each chapter examines one of the ten core principles of bridgebuilding and features practical tips and dynamic cases of how effective leaders have put each bridgebuilding principle to work. "Bridgebuilders" also includes a special section that helps government leaders create a hundred-day bridgebuilding plan.

Throughout, Eggers and Kettl tell fascinating and instructive stories about some of today's bridgebuilders -- federal, state, and local government leaders who transcend boundaries, partner across sectors, and get stuff done.

Trusted and effective government has never been more important than today. "Bridgebuilders" provides a new model that current government decision makers (as well as young leaders who aspire to public service) can learn from and apply right now to transform government and restore public trust.

Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of two Appendices (A 100-Day Plan to Bridgebuildng in Your New Government Job & How to Teach This), thirty pages of Notes, and a fourteen page Index, "Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems" is an impressive and useful study that will prove to be a welcome addition to personal, professional, corporate, community, and academic collections as well as supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for MBA students, academia, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, governmental policy makers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subjects of business leadership, motivation, decision making, and problem solving that "Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99).

Editorial Note #1: William D. Eggers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_D._Eggers) is executive director of the Deloitte Center for Government Insights and a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including The Solution Revolution and If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, both from Harvard Business Review Press.

Editorial Note #2: Donald F. Kettl (https://lbj.utexas.edu/kettl-donald-f) is a professor emeritus, former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He was previously the Sid Richardson Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. His books include, most recently, The Divided States of America and Can Governments Earn Our Trust?

The Defiant Optimist
Durreen Shahnaz
Broadleaf Books
510 Marquette Avenue N, Minneapolis, MN 55402
www.broadleafbooks.com
9781506480763, $27.99, HC, 247pp

https://www.amazon.com/Defiant-Optimist-Inequality-Reinvent-Finance/dp/1506480764

Synopsis: When she launched the world's first stock exchange for social enterprises, Durreen Shahnaz started more than a new financial system; she sparked a movement. Defiant optimism (the stubborn belief that systems that enrich the few can be transformed for the good of the many) requires an indomitable spirit. With the publication of "The Defiant Optimist: Daring to Fight Global Inequality, Reinvent Finance, and Invest in Women", Shahnaz illuminates what investing in those excluded from networks of power and opportunity requires.

From growing up with constrained life chances, to working as the first Bangladeshi woman on Wall Street, to becoming a global leader in impact investing, Shahnaz takes us on a mesmerizing trek of innovation, compassion, and enterprise. In the pages of this definitive biography we accompany her to villages in Bangladesh where she helps women entrepreneurs learn to proudly sign their names, and on visits to venture capitalists who walk past her to shake her male employees' hands. We go to a garment factory where women labor for low wages, and to a town in India where microfinance offers women enough capital to run grocery stores and tailor shops. Along the way, the birth of her two daughters only fuels her relentless pursuit of a world where girls are valued. Finally, armed with financial backers and a plan, Shahnaz crafts the world's first tradeable financial product geared toward investing in underserved women's livelihoods.

Changing how systems work (and who they work for) isn't for the faint of heart. But "The Defiant Optimist" offers 'real world practical' strategies for placing women, the underserved, and the planet at the heart of systems. Together we can locate the levers of power and pull them defiantly in a new direction.

Critique: A fascinating combination of memoir and economic policy reforms, "The Defiant Optimist: Daring to Fight Global Inequality, Reinvent Finance, and Invest in Women" is an extraordinary, thought-provoking, and inspiring read throughout. Of special particular value to readers with an interest in personal, professional, community, and academic library Contemporary Business Women's Biography/Memoir collections, it should be noted for that "The Defiant Optimist" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $19.49).

Editorial Note: Durreen Shahnaz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durreen_Shahnaz) has worked both in high finance on Wall Street and in microfinance in the back streets of rural Bangladesh. Following stints as an investment banker, development worker, educator, media executive, and social entrepreneur, Shahnaz founded a pioneering impact investment firm that brings together investors, development agencies, and entrepreneurs to advance sustainable development and empower millions of women. Shahnaz is on the Forbes "50 over 50" list and received the 2017 Oslo Business for Peace Award, often referred to as the Nobel Prize for Business. Shahnaz holds degrees from Smith College, the University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins University.

Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies
Gaia Bernstein
Cambridge University Press
One Liberty Plaza, Fl. 20, New York, NY 10006
www.cambridge.org
9781009257930, $24.95, HC, 248pp

https://www.amazon.com/Unwired-Gaining-Control-Addictive-Technologies/dp/1009257935

Synopsis: Smartphones, screens, and social media -- our society has a technology problem. One that often leads to a form of addiction and mental health issues.

Many of us want to disconnect from screens but can't help themselves. These days we spend more time online than ever. Some turn to self-help-measures to limit their usage, yet repeatedly fail, while parents feel particularly powerless to help their children.

With the publication of "Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies", Professor Gaia Bernstein shows us a way out. Rather than blaming users, "Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies" shatters the illusion that we autonomously choose how to spend our time online. It shifts the moral responsibility and accountability for solutions to corporations.

Drawing lessons from the tobacco and food industries, "Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies" demonstrates why government regulation is necessary to curb technology addiction. It describes a grassroots movement already in action across courts and legislative halls. Groundbreaking and urgent, "Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies" provides a blueprint to develop this movement for change, to one that will allow us to finally gain control.

Critique: Simply stated, every parent concerned with the adverse impact that social media and the other new technologies (such as Artificial Intelligence) that are coming on-line will have on their children, as well as adults who are becoming aware of the addictive seductions of algorithms are having upon their lives and emotional well being, "Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies" must be considered essential reading. Timely and an important, informative contribution to today's on-going national conversation regarding the deleterious impact that addictive technologies are having and how to deal with them, "Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies" is an unreservedly and exceedingly important addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Computer History/Culture collections and supplemental Networking/Cloud Computer Social Issues curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, governmental policy makers, political activists, technology developers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in this subject that "Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99).

Editorial Note: Gaia Bernstein (https://gaiabernstein.com) is the Technology, Privacy and Policy Professor of Law, Co-Director of the Institute for Privacy Protection, and Co-Director of the Gibbons Institute of Law Science and Technology at Seton Hall University School of Law. She writes, teaches, and lectures on subjects at the intersections of law, technology, health, and privacy. Professor Bernstein developed a nationally recognized outreach program on technology overuse for school-aged children and their parents.

The SideRoad Columnist: Observations from an Upper Michigan Author
Sharon M. Kennedy
Modern History Press
5145 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
https://www.modernhistorypress.com
9781615997374, $32.95, HC, 168pp

https://www.amazon.com/SideRoad-Columnist-Observations-Michigan-Author/dp/1615997377

Synopsis: Penned by author and local newspaper columnist Sharon M. Kennedy in recent years, "The SideRoad Columnist: Observations from an Upper Michigan Author" presents a very special collection of her newspaper columns.

To delight the reader, each installment tells a complete story in miniature. "The SideRoad Columnist" showcases Sharon own particular mixture of nostalgia, humor, shared experiences and sundry observations. The featured stories are short (under two pages) making "The SideRoad Columnist" an ideal choice for readers who have limited time or are passengers on a journey.

Readers will smile as they recall a time when boys slathered hair cream on their locks, women sported a bouffant hairdo and barnyards were a common sight.

Whether recovering from her many domestic and kitchen disasters, navigating the U.P.'s notoriously bad roads or trying to properly celebrate a lifetime of holidays, Kennedy's adventures will bring groans of recognition.

Critique: A combination of nostalgia, humor, insights, and representations of the human condition and experience, "The SideRoad Columnist" is certain to delight and amuse -- especially mature readers as they remember the old days. Younger readers will laugh as the Sharon Kennedy describes the way things were, her struggle to understand technology and the green dot following everyone on Facebook. Kennedy's ability to entertain, while simultaneously writing terse columns, is undeniable. She's a writer for our times -- both past and present. While highly recommended and a guaranteed popular addition to community library rural life humor and American Midwest biography collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The SideRoad Columnist" is also available in a paperback edition (9781615997367, $18.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.95).

Editorial Note: Sharon M. Kennedy (https://www.authorsharonkennedy.com) lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on the land of her youth. As an opinion writer for Gannett Media, her newspaper columns reflect a keen observation of people and their experiences. Whether humorous, serious, or poignant, she records events and situations relatable to individuals of various ages. Kennedy has the remarkable ability to communicate with readers as if they were sitting at her kitchen table, sharing a cup of coffee and a laugh with her.

Time Served
T.L. Cromwell
KP Publishing
https://kp-pub.com
9781960001207, $24.95 hardcover, $19.95 paperback, $9.99 ebook

https://kp-pub.com/books/time-served

Time Served is a memoir written by a retired Correctional Captain who worked in the California prison system for over twenty years, and is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in the daily activities and nuts and bolts of the modern American prison system.

The memoir is particularly notable in two ways: T.L. Cromwell is a Black female in a system dominated by male correctional officers, and she covers the process of overseeing inmates in contrast to the many prison stories written by those who have done time behind bars. Having an exploration from the other side of the bars provides many eye-opening insights that will prove especially valuable to students of law, justice, and those aiming for jobs in the correctional system.

Another important note is that Cromwell worked in some of the toughest prison systems in the nation. This background lends further interest to her story, which navigates the social and political issues of maintaining a prison and dealing with inmates as a female in a decidedly male-dominated environment.

The story opens with Cromwell's childhood and the candid note that she never saw herself being in the position she wound up in as an adult: "Nobody says they want to work in prison when they grow up. Who would want to be a prison guard? I certainly didn't. I wanted to be what all kids say they want to be when they grow up: a doctor, a lawyer, a social worker, or maybe even a teacher." Growing up in the 'concrete jungles' of Los Angeles, however, Cromwell knew many who were incarcerated, including her own father.

When, as an adult, she divorced and was faced with raising a daughter alone, Cromwell was determined to obtain a job that paid well, keeping them out of poverty and the cycles she'd seen too many fellow women fall into as single mothers. Her search for a stable career kept leading her back to corrections work. It was a job she would excel in, grow and learn from, and ultimately would share with the world in this memoir of her experiences, which dovetails the routines and requirements of the prison system with insights on inmate/correctional officer relationships and the dangerous psychological undercurrents that often affect and direct them.

Through Cromwell's eyes, readers learn of these threats and the reactions that saved her career and life. The psychological insights are not only impeccably described, but offer rare insights into the dangers of the prison system that go well beyond physical violence and into the territory of psychological danger: "Inmates had 365 days to focus on us; to find any little thing they think they can use to manipulate us. It is insidious and before you know it you have fallen into their trap. When they target you, they usually start small by being friendly, jovial, and very complimentary. If they work for you, they make sure they do the best job they can while putting you at ease in their presence. They want you to think they are different from any other inmate you have ever met. Lulling you into a false sense of security and pushing you to lower your guard. They attempt to get you to do something small, something seemingly innocuous that you know you're not supposed to do, just this one time, just for him. Nobody will ever know. It will be just between you and him."

More so than almost any other prison system title, Cromwell provides an invaluable and rare look at inmate relationships and how they are affected by imprisonment. Students of prison system and justice issues, as well as anyone thinking of entering this milieu who wonders what these daily encounters translate to in terms of motivation and experiences, will find that Time Served pulls no punches in revealing all the underlying emotional challenges of the job. It humanizes the correctional officer's job and relationships in many different ways.

Time Served should ideally be included in general-interest collections, inner city libraries, and any library strong in books about social issues. It should also be used as debate material in classes and book clubs examining prison system operations and experiences.

Bluebirds to Tikal: Stories of Fun, Fear & Folly
David Hann
Anamcara Press
https://anamcara-press.com
9781960462015, $21.99, PB, 222pp

https://www.amazon.com/Bluebirds-Tikal-Stories-Fear-Folly/dp/1960462016

Synopsis: The readers of "Bluebirds to Tikal: Stories of Fun, Fear & Folly" will discover why deer don't like to be lassoed, what it's like to drive down a mountain pass without power steering or power brakes after the engine quits, and learn what can happen when cultures clash in this anthology of stories celebrating fun, fear, and folly.

Author David Hann's "Bluebirds To Tikal" is a kind of literary travel journal, of sorts. filled with a miscellany of entertaining tales of adventures and misadventures from central U.S.A. to central Asia.

A family traveling to Guatemala to see the Mayan ruins at Tikal encounter "los hombres militarious" and uniformed soldiers. A sightseeing trip in Turkey meets with obstacles, courtesy, and aid from an unexpected source. A visit to the Eiffel Tower ends with eviction by security guards. An idyllic kayaking vacation in Florida turns into an expedition of courage.

In addition to tales of modern travels and travails, Hann's stories include the experiences of two young men searching for jobs as they make their way through the Northwest riding the rails before World War I; a coal miner's dark journey in Osage County, Kansas; and the competition between two German noblewomen for the affections of a dashing cavalry officer.

Critique: A fun and fascinating read from cover to cover, "Bluebirds to Tikal: Stories of Fun, Fear & Folly" is an extraordinary collection of deftly crafted and humor laced stories that will linger in the mind and memory of the reader long after the book is finished and set back upon the shelf. Simply stated, "Bluebirds to Tikal: Stories of Fun, Fear & Folly" is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library travelogue and short story/essay collections.

Editorial Note: David Hann (https://hannsksbooks.wixsite.com/writer/about) has written many stories, articles and books. Bluebirds to Tikal, 2023, The Jayhawker Cleveland, 2021, River Memoir and other stories, 2011, and Kansas Past: Pieces of the 34th Star, 1999.Hann established himself as an aficionado of the strange wonders of Kansas in Sampling Kansas: A Guide to the Curious, 1990. David lives in Lawrence, Kansas, where he retired from the University of Kansas in 2009.

How to Create a Contemporary Circus Show
Eric Bates
Modern Vaudeville Press
https://modernvaudevillepress.com
9781958604038, $25.00

Students and professional performers interested in the basics of assembling a modern circus show will find no better guide than the new book How to Create a Contemporary Circus Show. It's written by an award-winning contemporary circus artist named Eric Bates who started as a Vermont circus juggler with early roots in Circus Smirkus before going on to study at Montreal's prestigious National Circus School.

Throughout each chapter Bates explores the linear process from conception to creation, and presents his company Cirque Barcode's methods for making a circus production. From budgeting to overseeing team efforts, Bates covers all aspects of organizing a circus, using the experiences of his team and their successes and pitfalls to identify common areas of challenge involved in crafting a successful show. His book gathers all the advice he wished he'd had earlier in the effort, featuring 20 plus interviews that were conducted by Bates of industry professionals sharing their advice, and will save aspiring circus producers a lot of headaches by streamlining the hard work of creating a multifaceted production from scratch.

From using exercises to identify core concepts in a circus show and making the leap between acting and circus performances to honing a perspective and vision that allows the circus ideal to translate easily into promotional efforts, Bates provides industry examples that are compelling and hard-earned lessons from experience: "What you do serves as the proof of what you believe. Rather than telling everyone how great your show or company is, it might even be a better strategy not to, but instead to talk about why you decided to make that show in the first place. What were you trying to accomplish? What is so important to you that drove you to put all this effort in? Then tell them why your show or your company reflects that."

Circus performers and producers receive an extensive nuts and bolts list of what works, what doesn't, and how best to tailor a tour-proof contemporary show for maximum success and ease. Bates takes the whole experience and breaks it down into accessible, manageable chapters in a way that allows a performer/creator, regardless of what stage of their studies or career, access to new information every creator needs to see their project through to fruition.

How to Create a Contemporary Circus Show may focus on the circus's unique environment and requirements, but its wide-ranging production experiences, illustrations, exercises, and formulas for success makes it a top recommendation not just for circus reference libraries, but any performing arts collection, and for those who would put together a winning production.

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