Society – Page 5 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

The People’s Plaza: 62 Days of Nonviolent Resistance

By Scott J. Pearson | April 18, 2022October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Full disclosure: I am professionally employed Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The Medical Center, though a separate fiscal and legal entity, shares the Vanderbilt name with Vanderbilt University, whose press publishes this book. Nashville, Tennessee, is a historic town in the move for civil rights. In fact, locals just call it “the movement.” That movement is very much alive, in Nashville and in America, as the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 have recently shown. This…

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

By Scott J. Pearson | April 13, 2022April 16, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

This book took me all over the place. As a southerner, I felt a little defensive of the area where I’ve lived for most of my life. Though from Alabama, Perry’s point of view is clearly northeastern (especially when describing border states), and there’s a long history of northeasterners (i.e., Yankees) stereotyping southerners. As a software developer, I found that she overlooked the “New South” almost entirely. The research triangle in North Carolina was only…

Environment Science Society

From Knowledge to Power: The Comprehensive Handbook for Climate Science & Advocacy

By Scott J. Pearson | March 23, 2022March 23, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Climate science is a hot topic these days, and many books (like Bill Gates’ How to Avoid a Climate Disaster) provide introductions to the topic for a popular audience. Those books are written to be digested by the masses, but detailed academic work is often lacking in them. Enter Perona’s textbook. (He calls it a “handbook,” but it more resembles an interdisciplinary textbook.) He explains the nitty-gritty of the science and extends the reasoning from…

Fiction-Stories Society

Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison

By Scott J. Pearson | February 12, 2022February 12, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Juneteenth, of course, is the day that word of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation reached the depths of Texas and marks the day when freedom was finally brought to all American slaves. Ralph Ellison, an African-American author of the outstanding and renowned Invisible Man, spent forty years compiling notes for this book. Eventually, death overtook him before a final version could be reached. Nonetheless, scholar John F. Callahan compiled this edition a few years after Ellison’s…

Society Software-Technology

The Hidden History of Big Brother in America

By Scott J. Pearson | January 30, 2022January 30, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

As a professional software developer and researcher, I have mixed reactions towards this book. On the one hand, it points out very valid concerns and complaints about how Internet technologies intersect with contemporary society, particularly with the political classes. On the other, I found myself repeating over and over to myself, “But that’s just how technology works!” As such, this book is a good conversation starter for an issue that needs broad discussion in America.…

Leadership Management-Business Society

All Are Welcome: How to Build a Real Workplace Culture of Inclusion that Delivers Results

By Scott J. Pearson | January 29, 2022September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Historically, diverse workplaces – for various reasons – have out-competed workplaces with less complex cultures. Especially after the social movements surrounding the untimely death of George Floyd in 2020, American employees have increasingly demanded their employers to take diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) into its management practices. As the American workforce becomes more diverse, it’s hard not to believe that these trends represent the future. However, many business attempts to address these issues only…

Healthcare Society

Unmasked: COVID, Community, & the Case of Okoboji

By Scott J. Pearson | December 28, 2021December 28, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

In anthropology, an ethnography is an account of the culture as told by the people in that culture. As such, it’s basically a fancy word for a series of interviews within a group of people linked together. In this work, Mendenhall, a medical anthropologist working at Georgetown University, offers us an ethnography of the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in rural America. She does so in a personal account while she visits her hometown…

Healthcare History Society

No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States Since 1880

By Scott J. Pearson | October 28, 2021October 28, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

The human response to venereal disease has always had a strongly social component. Not only is there biology involved; other factors also include prostitution, gender dynamics, sexuality, fear, and moralisms. In this work, Brandt identifies all of these impacts and constructs a narrative of how Americans have reacted to this disease since the underlying biology had begun to be unearthed in the late 19th century. He does so meticulously and comprehensively so that no important…

Biography-Memoir Society

Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness

By Scott J. Pearson | October 22, 2021October 22, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

For four years, Coates served as a federal prosecutor for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in the District of Columbia. This gave her an up-front view on social ills plaguing America. As the title reveals, she, herself black, wrestles at length in this book with the dynamics of race and justice in the legal system. Her analysis does not provide easy answers. Someone surely is not guilty just because he/she is black, but neither…

Society

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

By Scott J. Pearson | September 25, 2021September 25, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Recent events have caused many thoughtful Americans to reflect on our social cohesion and structures. In this book, Wilkerson performs this task through the educated lens of social theory and builds a compelling case for what needs to change in American culture. She does so by constructing a comprehensive, historical account of injustices done by “the dominant caste” to “the lower caste.” In so doing, she identifies how American society can still have enduring social…