Shelf Help

A portrait of the stressed and shrinking American middle class.

• By Peter C. Baker

Ken Auletta's latest book explores the chaotic world of contemporary advertising.

• By Peter C. Baker

Behind the nationwide program that empowered health authorities to surveil women, quarantine them in miserable conditions, and force them to undergo painful and ineffective treatments.

• By Peter C. Baker

With help from readers who wrote to him about their workplace experiences, anthropologist David Graeber develops a taxonomy of bullshit jobs.

• By Peter C. Baker

Historian Annelise Orleck traveled to Mexico, Cambodia, and Bangladesh, plus all across America, to interview low-wage workers fighting for better conditions and pay.

• By Peter C. Baker

Sociologist Cynthia Miller-Idriss argues how brands sneak past German laws against Nazi symbols while building a community among customers.

• By Peter C. Baker

Professor John Hoberman turns his attention to cops.

• By Peter C. Baker

Journalist Noam Cohen's new book argues that Silicon Valley is a social wrecking ball, but is that perspective enough to create change?

• By Peter C. Baker

In her new book, lawyer Tanya Osensky argues that constantly monitoring height is a symptom and driver of a pervasive "heightism" that unjustly frames tallness as powerful and shortness as weak.

• By Peter C. Baker

Journalist Lauren Markham's new book tells the story of twin teenage brothers who migrate from gang-ridden El Salvador to Oakland, California.

• By Peter C. Baker

In her new book, martial artist Wendy Rouse digs into the history of women fighting back.

• By Peter C. Baker

A new book by a German historian looks at the conflicting history of segregation in commercial air travel.

• By Peter C. Baker

Love's new book is invaluable for its detailed chronicle of Muslim-American activism.

• By Peter C. Baker

Jennifer Latson's debut illustrates a boy's coming-of-age, complicated by a genetic disorder that strips peoples' social inhibitions.

• By Peter C. Baker

What you need to know about Bad Feminist, XL Love, and The Birth of Korean Cool.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

What you need to know about Addiction by Design, The Big Fix, and The Dylanologists.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

What you need to know about Words Will Break Cement, The Tyranny of Experts, and You Are Here: From the Compass to GPS, the History and Future of How We Find Ourselves.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

What you need to know about The Proteus Paradox, For the Benefit of Those Who See, and Promise Land.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

What you need to know about The Naked Society, Thank You for Your Service, and Do Muslim Women Need Saving?

• By Pacific Standard Staff

What you need to know about Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure, Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, and War Play: Video Games and the Future of Armed Conflict.

• By Pacific Standard Staff