Blog

On this week’s Front Table, witness the struggles of surviving on a remote Scottish isle and providing affordable housing in the U.S.; take a dive into modern river science and the life of one of modern Europe's most important thinkers; reflect on poetry from Rumi's master; and explore the lasting effects of colonialism and the West's failed experiments to "fix" African economies. Find these titles and more at semcoop.com.

The Projects: A New History of Public Housing
(New York University Press)
Howard A. Husock

As the US struggles to provide affordable housing...

On this week’s Front Table, walk the winding relational threads of one of the greatest thinkers of last century; witness the cycles of agency and violence turn with new critical theory and an oral history of the atom bomb; unravel your choice of two tales of a sudden odyssey (the options are unsettling or comic); and go back to the root of humanity with a vast history of Mesopotamia and to our hopes of a cure-all for what ails us.

Baldwin: A Love Story
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Nicholas Boggs

Baldwin: A Love Story tells the overlapping stories of Baldwin's most sustaining intimate and artistic relationships....

On this week’s Front Table, challenge everyday decisions and systemic pressures on both individual and institutional levels to expose the hidden forces of injustice, moral debate, and ideological suppression in the modern age. Then, follow voyages of remembrance that retrace the fading footsteps of both historical and fictional figures as they uncover new worlds–both around and within. Finally, witness the fallout of war, art, and memory as it haunts the fractured families and fading ideals they leave behind. Find these titles and more at semcoop.com....

On this week’s Front Table, reconsider fields in a new light: a multidisciplinary approach to shade reveals its critical part in protecting health and an esteemed Black classicist argues against immortalizing ancient Greek and Roman authors as “classical,” tracing new methods for countering dominant practices. Next, uncover exhaustive accounts of injustice: a new narrative detailing the Houston Incident and an exploration of residential schools. Finally, absorb a romance entangled in radical politics, delve into a riveting portrait of five youths in Rocinha, and witness a wholly original depiction of an undergraduate’s attempt to finish her essay. Find these titles and more at semcoop.com.