Social Analysis

Social anthropologist Edward Evans-Pritchard wrote Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande after 20 months' fieldwork with the Azande people of the South Sudan. It became the founding text in the anthropology of witchcraft, and has been hailed as a classic. Although Witchcraft had little impact when it first appeared in 1937, its popularity grew after World War II. Alongside his subsequent work on the Nuer people, Witchcraft established Evans-Pritchard's reputation as an important anthropologist.

In 1927, as a twenty-three-year-old postgraduate scholar in Paris, Joseph Campbell first encountered James Joyce’s Ulysses. Known for being praised and for kicking up controversy (including an obscenity trial in the United States in 1920), the novel left Campbell both intrigued and confused, as it had many others. Because he was in Paris, he was able to visit the Shakespeare & Company bookstore - the outpost of the original publisher of Ulysses, Sylvia Beach. She gave him “clues” for reading Ulysses, and that, Campbell attested, changed his career.

Published in 1961, the year of Frantz Fanon's death, The Wretched of the Earth is both a powerful analysis of the psychological effects of colonization and a rallying cry for violent uprising and independence. The book rejects colonial assumptions that the people of colonized countries need to be guided by their European colonizers because they are somehow less evolved or civilized. Fanon argues that violence is justified to purge colonialism not just from the countries themselves, but from the very souls of their inhabitants.

Do you want to ask smart questions like Socrates or be an out-of-the-box thinker like John Stuart Mill, and rational like Descartes? These people have at least one thing in common: They were great critical thinkers of their time, and their shared wisdom lived through the centuries. Lessons from Critical Thinkers provides intellectual power to engage with and participate in effective critical thoughts, arguments, debates, reading, and reflection drawn from methods in the history of philosophical cognitive development.

From ballistics and blood splatter patterns to DNA analysis and voice printing, RJ Parker explores the highly complex world of investigative forensic sciences. Intended as an introductory guide and reference to forensic techniques for frontline police officers, criminal attorneys, journalists, crime authors, and just interested listeners, this encyclopedic audiobook is a must-listen for any true-crime aficionado.

When this book was published in 1921, Elsie Lincoln Benedict's How to Analyze People on Sight was received as a serious scientific work of analytic sociology, but fast forward 90 years and the same words ring hilariously. Apparently well intended at the time, the book appears to invent the very notion of stereotyping.

What, exactly, is post-truth? Is it wishful thinking, political spin, mass delusion, bold-faced lying? McIntyre analyzes recent examples - claims about inauguration crowd size, crime statistics, and the popular vote - and finds that post-truth is an assertion of ideological supremacy by which its practitioners try to compel someone to believe something regardless of the evidence. Yet post-truth didn't begin with the 2016 election; the denial of scientific facts about smoking, evolution, vaccines, and climate change offers a road map for more widespread fact denial.

The Economics of Poverty reviews critically past and present debates on poverty, spanning both rich and poor countries. The book provides an accessible new synthesis of current economic thinking on key questions: How is poverty measured? How much poverty is there? Why does poverty exist, and is it inevitable? What can be done to reduce poverty? Can it even be eliminated? The book does not assume that listeners know economics already.

Published in 1925, The Gift is one of French sociologist Marcel Mauss's few non-collaborative works. In it, he elevates what might appear to be a simple gift from the status of innocent object to something that has the capacity to motivate people and define social relationships. The Gift analyzes cultures across the world and across time, with the way gifts are given and received working as a guide to understanding the rules and traditions of many different societies.

Think smarter, better, and faster. Clear thinking is the key to truth, wisdom, and knowledge. Whether it’s from ourselves or others, we rarely see the world as it really is. We aren’t able to think clearly. We build our beliefs on lies, assumptions, and deceptions. This ends now. Practical methods to never be fooled, stop making mistakes, and avoid traps. The Art of Clear Thinking takes an in-depth look at the everyday illusions we come across, and how to defeat them once and for all.

The Psychology of Human Behavior is written in a way that answers all such queries, along with multiple others. The best part is that the writing style of the book is so practical that the listeners will be able to learn a lot of things instantly.

Published in 1974 in the journal Science, the article Judgment Under Uncertainty had a profound impact across the social sciences. Two relatively young Israeli psychologists were challenging the leading ideas about human thought. For decades, social scientists had used a mythical figure to describe how humans make decisions: homo economicus. Homo economicus was logical and conscientious.

As a young man, Vince Ellison began his career in the belly of the beast—as a prison guard working in the worst cellblock imaginable. And it was to his dismay and sadness that he has seen that same evil later in life. This time, not in the faces of incarcerated criminals, but rather in the eyes of the leaders of the Democratic party. In this persuasive work, Vince marshals his own experience and couples it with a learned and original analysis to conclude that the leaders of America's "progressive" party aren't just wrong on their policy stances—they are deliberately destructive.

Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks offers a radical analysis of the psychological effects of colonization on the colonized. Born in 1925 on the island of Martinique - at the time a French colony - Fanon witnessed firsthand the abuses of white colonizers and the system's effects on his country. His revulsion was only confirmed later in life when he worked as a psychiatrist in Algeria, another French colony. Fanon's work played a pivotal role in the civil rights movements of the 1960s and was later taken up by scholars of postcolonialist studies.

The Cold War dominated international life from the end of World War II to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But how did the conflict begin? Why did it move from its initial origins in Postwar Europe to encompass virtually every corner of the globe? And why, after lasting so long, did the war end so suddenly and unexpectedly? Robert McMahon considers these questions and more, as well as looking at the legacy of the Cold War and its impact on international relations today.

"Big Data" is on the covers of Science, Nature, The Economist, and Wired magazines, on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. But despite the media hyperbole, as Christine Borgman points out in this examination of data and scholarly research, having the right data is usually better than having more data; little data can be just as valuable as big data. Borgman, an often-cited authority on scholarly communication, argues that data have no value or meaning in isolation; they exist within a knowledge infrastructure.

Modern life throws endless choices and challenges your way. Without strong critical thinking skills, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, make poor decisions, or miss opportunities. That’s why this book gives you a simple, step-by-step system to boost your mental clarity, starting with just 10 minutes a day. Whether you’re a professional, student, entrepreneur, or someone seeking better outcomes, this audiobook equips you with a practical skillset you can use for life.

Globalization, long considered the best route to economic prosperity, is not inevitable. An approach built on the principles of free trade and, since the 1980s, open capital markets is beginning to fracture. With disappointing growth rates across the Western world, nations are no longer willing to sacrifice national interests for global growth, nor are their leaders able - or willing - to sell the idea of pursuing a global agenda of prosperity to their citizens.

What does the future hold for America under Project 2025? Go into the heart of one of the most talked-about initiatives shaping the nation’s direction today. This in-depth, nonpartisan analysis reveals the Heritage Foundation’s ambitious blueprint and deciphers how these policy proposals could reshape the lives of everyday Americans. From economic reforms to healthcare, education, and international relations, this book leaves no stone unturned.

Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare's more brilliantly populated plays and remains among the most widely read. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom investigates Macbeth's interiority and unthinkable actions with razor-sharp insight, agility, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character. The book also becomes an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our humanity.