Temple University Press

Michael Smerconish, will speak and sign copies of his book Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right 7 p.m. on May 31st at the Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue Fort Washington, PA 19034

Risking Life and Lens author, Helen M. Stummer's artwork is on exhibit through June 29,2018 at Mana Contemporary Art Center, 888 Newark Avenue, Jersey City.

The 2018 American Sociological Association's Sociology of Emotions Section awards Timothy Recuber's Consuming Catastrophe this year's Recent Contribution Award.

Charles E. Hires and the Drink that Wowed a Nation
The Life and Times of a Philadelphia Entrepreneur
Bill Double

"Charles Hires, the creator of Hires Root Beer and a pioneer in the soft drink industry, has never received his due as an innovator. Bill Double has filled that void in a fascinating book that places Hires firmly in his times, using new advertising techniques during the Gilded Age and then adapting them with modern methods into the Roaring Twenties. Charles E. Hires and the Drink that Wowed a Nation is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of soft drinks and the era that spawned them."
—Mark Pendergrast, author of For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It

Architectures of Revolt
The Cinematic City circa 1968
Edited by Mark Shiel

"Mark Shiel has produced the first volume of its kind and, indeed, Architectures of Revolt is a must-read book on film and architecture that maps a fascinating journey into the intertwining paths between political revolution and revolutionary cinematic practices."
—Richard Koeck, University of Liverpool, Director of the Centre for Architecture and Visual Arts

Comic China
Representing Common Ground, 1890–1945
Wendy Gan

"A well-balanced and exceptionally readable study of how humor functions in the realm of Anglo-Chinese encounters, Comic China challenges notions of Orientalism, the exotic, and constructions of 'face.' This refreshing account of how humor can subvert or recast hierarchies in the different contact zones features a lively and engaging tone that provides a good hinge for the book's linkage of comedy and geopolitics. Comic China is a valuable addition to the vibrant field of studies that 'China and the West' is now becoming."
—Ross Forman, University of Warwick and author of China and the Victorian Imagination: Empires Entwined

Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right
American Life in Columns
Michael A. Smerconish With a Foreword by David Axelrod

"Michael Smerconish is the rare political observer who can get pumped up over important, weighty subjects like gerrymandering and closed primaries. He's a post-partisan problem solver who is trying to restore sanity to the political process. If only more of the country could be as passionate as Smerconish about the need for change, we could end partisan gridlock and get our politicians working for the people again…. [A]n entertaining collection of 100 of [Smerconish’s] engaging newspaper columns written in a post-9/11 world, each followed by a new Afterword. Fire up a stogie and enjoy this book."
—Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
In Defense of Public Lands
The Case against Privatization and Transfer
Steven Davis

"In Defense of Public Lands delivers exactly what it promises: a forceful defense of public lands at a crucial moment in American history. After presenting the views of critics of public lands, Davis carefully dismantles their arguments and counters with a compelling set of arguments that draw on history, politics, ecology, and economics to show why our public lands are an irreplaceable national treasure."
—James Morton Turner, Associate Professor, Wellesley College, and author of The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics since 1964

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This week in North Philly Notes, Steven Davis author of In Defense of Public Lands, provides his arguments for why privatization, transfer, and deregulation of our public land are disastrously bad policies.