Rebecca Reich, “State of Madness: Psychiatry, Literature and Dissent After Stalin” (Northern Illinois UP, 2018)

Rebecca Reich, “State of Madness: Psychiatry,...

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Jennifer Vail, "Friction: A Biography" (Harvard UP, 2026)

Friction, the force that resists motion, is synonymous with difficulty and complication. If you’ve ever replaced tires worn smooth by the road or reached for a can of WD-40 to fix a creaking door hinge, then you know the headache this force can cause. In Friction: a Biography (Ha ...  Show more

Andreas Killen, "Nervous Systems: Brain Science in the Early Cold War" (Harper, 2023)

In this eye-opening chronicle of scientific research on the brain in the early Cold War era, the acclaimed historian Andreas Killen traces the complex circumstances surrounding the genesis of our present-day fascination with this organ. The 1950s were a transformative, even revol ...  Show more

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