The acclaimed cultural critic challenges the way we think about our visual environment by taking us on a tour of Western art’s defining moments, from Egyptian Queen Nefertari’s tomb to George Lucas’ volcano planet duel in Revenge of the Sith. She examines more than two dozen images of art — some famous, some not — within their historical contexts, before concluding that avant-garde is dead and that digital pioneer Lucas is the world’s greatest living artist.

The novel centers on a family of first-generation immigrants in upstate New York, trying to fit in while longing for their homeland. As they encounter obstacles to success in school and work, the members of this family must find a way to come closer together. Publishers Weekly describes Chadha’s work as “a delightful intrigue, with strong characters who develop and grow throughout the book as they face frightening turns.”

These days, it seems that everyone is a creator of some sort of media. With so much content available at any point in time, how can young people differentiate what’s good and what should be ignored? Rogow, a founding president of the National Association for Media Literacy, and her co-author provide a resource for teachers wanting to impart critical-thinking skills to students.

Regardless of where or when young adults attend college, all share a common experience: a coming of age, when they learn to work through the challenges of growing up. The folkloric material students create, stemming from their intense need to belong, eventually lives on through campus traditions. Bronner looks at how campus life is shaped by students and, at the same time, shapes them.

To answer some fundamental questions about what makes a woman a woman, Barnes-Svarney offers a fun, fact-filled tour of women’s bodies, sex, brains and emotions. She has been a science, science-fiction and humor writer for more than two decades, with hundreds of magazine articles, book and encyclopedia entries, and close to three dozen books published.

Protagonist Barbara Phillips is a medical resident who is content to hide out in a small Virginia town. Life changes for Barbara when she enters Nicky’s Diner and — against her better judgment — falls in love.

Pearlstein, founder and president of the Center of the American Experiment, writes that high rates of family fragmentation in the United States hinder learning in large numbers of students. This damages the country economically by making Americans less competitive in the worldwide marketplace. Harvard University’s Paul Peterson says that not since the 1965 Moynihan Report has anyone written about the “devastating social consequences of single-parent families” so “frankly, so soberly, so reasonably or so persuasively.”

Kaufman’s first novel centers on Rick Salter, the mind behind an outrageous reality TV show about torture. On a Saturday morning, he wakes up trapped underneath his larger-than-life home entertainment system, clueless as to how he got there. It will be a long and painful 48 hours until his housekeeper can come to the rescue.
Kaufman has been a reporter for Page Six of the New York Post and editorial director of TVGuide.com.

Morris, who teaches women’s studies at George Washington University and Georgetown University, opens the book examining why women’s history is largely absent from the educational system. Her book serves as a reminder that there are many different versions of women’s history, each worthy of being brought to light.

By 2025, almost 30 cities will have populations greater than 10 million, while more than 600 cities will have populations exceeding 1 million. These megacities are posing — and will continue to pose — serious challenges to international stability, human safety and the quality of the environment. Miskel is a consultant who has served two presidents as director of defense policy and arms control on the National Security Council.

As Koenig would tell it, she passed on writing the next great American novel and, instead, wrote a cookbook. She spent 15 years in the book publishing industry, marketing the works of other authors before deciding she wanted to try something else. Ten years later, life came full circle and she was back in publishing — only this time her own work is in print.

Friedman is a leading statistician and health economist for the United Nations and a professor of professional practice at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. His work provides an assessment of how the United States compares to other affluent democracies in terms of health, safety, education and democracy.