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New & Notable

More Than Good Intentions: How a New Economics Is Helping to Solve Global Poverty
Dean Karlan (Col ‘91) and Jacob Appel
Dutton Adult

A behavioral economist and an aid worker document the collision of economic theory and real life in case studies from around the world. Where do development dollars produce the greatest payoffs? What are sinkholes for charity money? Karlan and Appel explore ideas such as chlorine dispensers next to wells and paying parents to take children to get medical checkups in an optimistic examination of how human psychology and economic incentives can be harnessed to battle poverty.


Madison and Jefferson
Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg
Random House

Was Madison simply Jefferson’s protégé? Or was he a tough legislator in his own right who often opposed Jefferson? The two Founding Fathers had a nuanced 50-year political partnership that shaped the early Republic. In this new history, both are portrayed as hard-boiled political operatives, revolutionaries and nation builders, and expansionists with plans to purchase Cuba and conquer Canada.


Falling Star
Philip Chen (Engr ‘68)
Amazon.com (print and digital)

Strange objects are discovered deep in the ocean that begin to send messages into outer space. Former secret agents are called back into service to unravel the mystery of these deep-sea transmitters before a possible alien invasion. This thriller draws on Chen’s experience as an ocean research engineer, attorney and banker.


Conflicts of Interest and the Future of Medicine: The United States, France, and Japan
Marc A. Rodwin (Law ‘82)
Oxford University Press

Should doctors practice medicine as entrepreneurs? Should pharmaceutical and insurance companies influence doctors’ medical choices? Evidence shows that it’s bad for patients when they do: quality of care goes down and costs go up. Rodwin examines the strategies used in the U.S., France and Japan to mitigate conflicts of interest and points a way forward for health care policy.


End of Story
John M. Bowers (Grad ‘73, ‘78)
Sunstone Press

This love story could be considered a sequel to E.M. Forster’s Maurice, which was published posthumously due to Forster’s concern about the reception of its homosexual content. End of Story begins in 1914 and culminates with the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001 as it traces, through the experiences of two couples, a century of social change. The protagonist Morgan Cabell studies law at UVA before his career in New York during the sexual revolution of the ‘70s and the AIDS crisis of the ‘80s.


The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Hogarth
Lillian Nayder (Grad ‘82, ‘88)
Cornell University Press

After 22 years of marriage and 10 children, author Charles Dickens forced his wife, Catherine, from their home, claiming she was mentally disordered. In statements published by Dickens following the separation, he portrayed their marriage as unhappy and Mrs. Dickens as an incompetent mother and household manager. Nayder’s biography debunks these depictions and reveals Catherine as a loved mother, sister and friend, while exploring the roles of women in the Victorian age.