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Each year millions of birds swarm to the Illinois River Flyway. Some pass through on their way to breeding or wintering grounds, while others stay for a season, or even year round. With over 360 species reported, 150 breeding species, and many accessible properties and habitats, the Illinois River Flyway is one of the premier […]

When traditionally white public schools in the South became sites of massive resistance in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, numerous white students exited the public system altogether, with parents choosing homeschooling or private segregationist academies. But some historically white elite private schools opted to desegregate. The black students that attended these […]

What happens to a community when the majority of young people leave their homes to pursue an education? From a Trickle to a Torrent documents the demographic and social consequences of educational migration from Nubri, a Tibetan enclave in the highlands of Nepal. Co-authored by Geoff Childs, professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences and […]

“Between Hope and Fear” tells the remarkable story of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases and their social and political implications. While detailing the history of vaccine invention, Kinch reveals the ominous reality that our victories against vaccine-preventable diseases are not permanent—and could easily be undone. In the tradition of John Barry’s “The Great Influenza” and Siddhartha Mukherjee’s […]

Evidence for the negative effects of segregation and concentrated poverty in America’s cities now exists in abundance; poor and underrepresented communities in segregated urban housing markets suffer diminished outcomes in education, economic mobility, political participation, and physical and psychological health. Though many of the aggravating factors underlying this inequity have persisted or even grown worse […]

Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party is gaining strength and becoming more menacing every day. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor upset by the complacency of the German church toward the suffering around it, forms a breakaway church to speak out against the established political and religious authorities. When the Nazis outlaw the church, he escapes as a fugitive. […]

A captivating book that argues that the dramatic rise of income inequality since 1970 has been caused by advances in marketing. Marketers have become better at causing and exploiting market distortions in legal ways. The legal system tries to prevent the deliberate creation of market failures, but it has not evolved at the same speed. […]

This book is devoted to articulating the connections between the nature and value of faith and humility. The goal is to understand faith and humility in a way that does not discriminate between religious and mundane contexts, between sacred and secular. It arises from a conviction that these two character traits are important to a […]

From an accomplished practitioner, curator and theorist comes “Stick Figures: Drawing as a Human Practice” to reset the terms for an ancient activity. D. B. Dowd embraces drawing as a process for everyone, not just artists. This beautifully designed book uses a wonderful range of visual samples to explore an elemental human capacity. The artifacts […]

There is a growing sense of crisis and confusion about the purpose and sustainability of higher education in the United States. In the midst of this turmoil, students are frequently referred to as customers and faculty as employees, educational outcomes are increasingly measured in terms of hiring and salary metrics for graduates, and programs are […]