by FAIR Advisor Monica Harris (HLS 91)

Published in late 2022, this important book by HLS alum and FAIR Advisor Monica Harris asks whether America is really as divided as it seems, or whether or our collective reality has been distorted— What if we’re not as different as we think? What if what we’re seeing is just the illusion of division? Harris asks us to “unplug” from the narratives and find the courage to see through the illusion of division. Only then will we solve the most pressing problems we share and create the country we deserve.

“When Race Trumps Merit provides an alternative explanation for…racial disparities…[and] breaks powerful taboos… As long as alleged racism remains the only allowable explanation for racial differences, we will continue tearing down excellence and putting lives, as well as civilizational achievement, at risk.”

From FAIR Advisor Michael Shellenberger: “…Brendan O’Neill’s stirring new book, A Heretic’s Manifesto: Essays On The Unsayable…I urge you to buy and read. I finished it in one sitting. It’s the best book I’ve read all year.” From Amazon: “The new orthodoxies of our age are risible, and yet the space for dissent is shrinking… We need more heretics.”

Book by Harvard alum Winkfield Twyman, Jr. (JD 86) and Jennifer Richmond; Foreward by FAIR Advisor Erec Smith.. “Two Americans—Winkfield Twyman, Jr. and Jennifer Richmond, a black man and a white woman—rediscovered the art of letter writing and maintained a years-long correspondence about race in the United States…[here] they share…their exchange in full, charting their journey from wary strangers to trusted confidants…Ultimately, they offer an inspirational message of hope and optimism for all—one that does not allow the past to define our present or predetermine our future.”

NYT

A guide to the “New Black Canon”— “A guide to some of the undervalued 20th-century works that testify to the richness of the Black American literary archive…  All were published last century…[and] together, they help to tell a story of Black American literature that reflects the infinite number of ways of being Black in America — and of being in the world.”

By FAIR Advisor and Harvard Alum Tim Urban.

“The book introduces a new framework for thinking about our complex political environment. With dozens of new terms and concepts and 303 drawings, it’s a toolbox for understanding our societies, our group dynamics, and our own minds.”

by Yeonmi Park

“The North Korean defector, human rights advocate, and bestselling author of In Order to Live sounds the alarm on the culture wars, identity politics, and authoritarian tendencies tearing America apart…the bestselling author and human rights activist reminds us of the fragility of freedom, and what we must do to preserve it.”

Books of interest released in Fall /Winter 2022-23. We will add to the list as we run across titles.

A list of new books — Summer 2022.

New York Times

FAIR Advisor John McWhorter recommends “three books about the Black experience… Each enriches (or will) an understanding of our moment and our ongoing discussions about race in America.” Two of the three books have Harvard affiliations—The Oxford Dictionary of African American English, edited by Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Agency by FAIR Advisor and Harvard alum (MBA ‘93) Ian Rowe. The third is American Skin: Pop Culture, Big Business and the End of White America by journalist Leon Wynter.

LA Review of Books

In this long-form piece, Stephen Rohde reviews The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder: The First Amendment and the Censor’s Dilemma by Robert Corn-Revere, a work that covers the lives and work American advocates of censorship. “Corn-Revere ends…[by] expressing genuine concern that today one of the most serious threats of censorship is not coming from conservative bluenoses but from progressive academics, whom he sees as part of a new anti-free-speech movement.”

FAIR Advisor and Harvard Alumnus Ian Rowe (MBA 93)

“This book describes four pillars that can uplift every young person as they make the passage into adulthood: Family, Religion, Education, and Entrepreneurship. Together. These pillars embody the true meaning of freedom, wherein people are motivated to embrace the ennobling responsibilities of building healthy social structures and shaping the outcomes of their own lives.”

Francis Fukuyama

A short book about the challenges to liberalism from the right and the left by the bestselling author of The Origins of Political Order. “In this…clear account of our current political discontents, Fukuyama offers an essential defense of a revitalized liberalism for the twenty-first century.”

Douglas Murray

FAIR Advisor Douglas Murray’s Book, The War on the West: How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason, “carefully and methodically shows how political discourse has strayed in America and Europe from its stated goals: justice and equality… If the West is to survive, it must be defended. The War on the West is not only an incisive take-down of foolish anti-Western arguments, but also a rigorous new apologetic for civilization itself.”

Yascha Mounk

“From one of our sharpest and most important political thinkers, a brilliant big-picture vision of the greatest challenge of our time—how to bridge the bitter divides within diverse democracies enough for them to remain stable and functional.”