Excerpts
Works by Harvard-affiliated authors
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Health
Seem like peanut allergies were once rare and now everyone has them?
Surgeon, professor Marty Makary examines damage wrought when medicine closes ranks around inaccurate dogma
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Arts & Culture
This is how you dated before there were apps
Writer Simon Rich sketches life in satiric, post-climate-change dystopia through a great-grandfather’s reminiscences
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Arts & Culture
French officer rushes wife, young children out of Salonica as Nazis near
In novel rooted in family lore, Claire Messud trails three generations of family with Algerian roots, lives shaped by displacement, war, social and political upheaval
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Arts & Culture
American Dream turned deadly
He just needs to pass the bar now. But blue-collar Conor’s life spirals after a tangled affair at old-money seaside enclave in Teddy Wayne’s literary thriller
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Health
Women rarely die from heart problems, right? Ask Paula.
New book traces how medical establishment’s sexism, focus on men over centuries continues to endanger women’s health, lives
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Nation & World
Election theft 101: Foster skepticism
Two legal scholars, stunned by Jan. 6 insurrection, game out half-dozen possible schemes that exploit, spotlight flaws in system
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Seem like peanut allergies were once rare and now everyone has them?
Surgeon, professor Marty Makary examines damage wrought when medicine closes ranks around inaccurate dogma
-
This is how you dated before there were apps
Writer Simon Rich sketches life in satiric, post-climate-change dystopia through a great-grandfather’s reminiscences
-
French officer rushes wife, young children out of Salonica as Nazis near
In novel rooted in family lore, Claire Messud trails three generations of family with Algerian roots, lives shaped by displacement, war, social and political upheaval
-
American Dream turned deadly
He just needs to pass the bar now. But blue-collar Conor’s life spirals after a tangled affair at old-money seaside enclave in Teddy Wayne’s literary thriller
-
Women rarely die from heart problems, right? Ask Paula.
New book traces how medical establishment’s sexism, focus on men over centuries continues to endanger women’s health, lives
-
Election theft 101: Foster skepticism
Two legal scholars, stunned by Jan. 6 insurrection, game out half-dozen possible schemes that exploit, spotlight flaws in system
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Was racism a factor in mother’s leukemia?
Dale Blackstock grew up low-income, became a physician. Her death left daughter Uché, also a doctor, with a lesson on color, class, healthcare
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Why are we unhappy?
Zen Buddhist teacher says it’s because we’re always struggling either to possess or avoid people, things, or situations
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You did it of your own free will? No such thing.
Neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky says every decision, action you make is result of chain of genes, biology, experience that preceded it
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Well-meaning tyranny of identity politics
Yascha Mounk chronicles how ideology took over, where it went wrong
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Gender pay gap? Culprit is ‘greedy work’
In “Career and Family” Claudia Goldin tracks evolution through 20th-century gains to era of earning inequality that forces harsh life choices.
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Deadly biography of AR-15
Viewed as example of American ingenuity, prized military weapon exploded in popularity, best known now as tool to kill innocent people.
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When ‘The Boss’ is your therapist
New book by psychologist, sociologist surveys depth, complexity of Bruce Springsteen’s connection to his female fans.
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‘Living one’s life during and after the violation of one’s humanity’
Ruth Simmons’ memoir traces everyday natural beauty, mortal peril of growing up Black in 1940s rural Texas
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‘What you can do for your country’
Future Harvard president leaves Virginia for Concord Academy, set on path by JFK inauguration speech, visit by MLK.
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Who was responsible for Jan. 6 attack? Try Timothy McVeigh
Toobin examines how Oklahoma City bomber’s beliefs have been embraced by right-wing extremists.
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How did E-ZPass help expectant mothers who live near toll booths?
Anupam Jena and Christopher Worsham sift data to find hidden forces at work in healthcare in new book.
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Feeling anxious? Stuck? Problem is psychological avoidance
In her new book, professor of psychiatry Luana Marques says that too many mistake symptoms for underlying problem
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How did Americans come to trust markets more than government?
Book by Naomi Oreskes, Erik Conway traces history of how Americans came to trust markets more than government.
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Doing medical rounds on streets, alleys of Boston
Tracy Kidder’s “Rough Sleepers” follows Jim O’Connell, who provides Boston’s homeless with health care.
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Cars blaring? Boss nagging? Take a deep breath. Now another.
Daniel Goleman, Tsoknyi Rinpoche walk us through science, practice of why we should meditate
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You believe in climate change but drive a gas-guzzler, don’t recycle. Why?
You believe in climate change but drive a gas-guzzler, don’t recycle. Why? Neuroscientist explores in new book.
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‘What kind of husband could stand by idly for four years while his wife’s breast cancer grew?’
Barrett Rollins, wife Jane Weeks were Dana-Farber stars who kept her cancer secret nearly to end
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Heading South in search of the real heart of America
Imani Perry returns to Alabama to interview Angela Davis, another daughter of Birmingham, in excerpt from new book
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When our cells turn against us
Cells are the building blocks of life, Siddhartha Mukherjee says in his new book, but their vulnerabilities are also our vulnerabilities.
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Donald Trump, meme leader in chief
New book traces insurgent use of text, photos, media on internet to take down crucial U.S. establishments, institutions.
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The lesson of an ashtray
Former Bioethics Fellow Jay Baruch ’02 recalls impatient patient who pulled her own breathing tube (and lived to tell about it) in new memoir
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How America’s ageism hurts, shortens lives of elderly
Becca Levy ‘92, Ph.D. ’95 examines hidden stereotypes of aging, their insidious effects in excerpt from her new book
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New breed of American leader
Book excerpt from “Hearts Touched with Fire: How Great Leaders Are Made” by David Gergen.
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When disaster strikes, what you don’t know might kill you
In excerpt from new book on our age of disasters, Kennedy School lecturer Juliette Kayyem ’91, J.D. ’95, examines how we take wrong lessons from history.