Washoe County Library System

Draws on historical events to reveal how the collective identities that shape the polarized world are inherently contradictory, subject to cycles of conflict, and based on illusory misconceptions.

"In his 2020 book American Rule, Jared Yates Sexton took a hard look at our nation's history: namely, the abuses committed by those in power, and the comforting myths that provided them cover and shaped the way we view ourselves up to the present. His approach and the narrative he uncovered proved worryingly relevant, as Americans have struggled with an identity crisis in an increasingly divided public square. Now, in The Midnight Kingdom, Sexton...

When sisters Beena and Sadhana are orphaned as teenagers and sent to live with their Sikh uncle in Montreal's Hasidic community, their lives take divergent courses as they deal with their grief in different ways.

Jane Re--a half-Korean, half-American orphan--takes a position as an au pair for two Brooklyn academics and their daughter, but a brief sojourn in Seoul, where she reconnects with family, causes her to wonder if the man she loves is really the man for her as she tries to find balance between two cultures.

In the title story of this timely and innovative collection, a young woman wearing a Prada coat attempts to redeem a coupon for plastic storage bins while her in-laws are at home watching the Chinese news and taking her private phone calls. It is the lively and wise juxtaposition of cultures, generations, and emotions that characterize May-lee Chai's amazing stories. Within them, readers will find a complex blend of cultures spanning China, the Chinese...

Humans are tribal. We need to belong to groups. In many parts of the world, the group identities that matter mostthe ones that people will kill and die forare ethnic, religious, sectarian, or clan-based. But because America tends to see the world in terms of nation-states engaged in great ideological battlesCapitalism vs. Communism, Democracy vs. Authoritarianism, the “Free World” vs. the “Axis of Evil”we are often spectacularly blind to the...

Draws on history, psychology, and anthropology to discuss how the tribal connection--the instinct to belong to small groups with a clear purpose and common understanding--can satisfy the human quest for meaning and belonging. Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin lamented that English settlers were constantly fleeing over to the Indians -- but Indians almost never did the same. Tribal society has been exerting an almost gravitational...

"For fans of Bad Feminist and The Sum of Us, Black Skinhead sparks a radical conversation about Black America and political identity. In Black Skinhead, Brandi Collins-Dexter, former Senior Campaign Manager for Color Of Change, explores the fragile alliance between Black voters and the Democratic party. Through sharp, timely essays that span the political, cultural, and personal, Collins-Dexter reveals decades of simmering disaffection in Black America,...

Follows author Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's travels and offers insights into genocide's dimensions, causes, and patterns and the role it plays in politics and human affairs.