Rafia Zakaria

Explore the fascinating world of animal cognition and its implications for human intelligence in this mind-bending and hilarious book. From language to rationality, morality to consciousness, prepare to be amazed by the remarkable smarts of our animal brethren. As scientist Justin Gregg persuasively argues, humans may not be the superior species after all. Is intelligence more of a curse than a gift? Find out in this extraordinary and thought-provoking read that will change how you look at animals, humans, and the meaning of life itself.

Explore the murky ethics of religious appropriation with this essential guide. Liz Bucar unpacks the ethical dilemmas of borrowing religious doctrines, rituals, and dress for political, economic, and therapeutic reasons. With three revealing case studies, this book delves into the hijab as a feminist signal, the pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, and the commodification of yoga. Reflecting on her own missteps, Bucar concludes that the way to avoid religious appropriation isn't to borrow less but to become deeply invested in learning the roots and diverse meanings of our enthusiasms.

This groundbreaking book delves into the role of white women in the American slave economy. Author Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers shows that slave-owning women were savvy economic actors who directly benefited from the South's slave market. White women employed the same brutal management techniques as men and often refused to relinquish ownership of their slaves. By examining the lives of enslaved people and slave-owning women, Jones-Rogers presents a narrative that challenges conventional wisdom about the economics and social conventions of slaveholding America.

Love Lockdown explores the lives of five couples who fell in love while one partner was in prison, shedding light on the experiences of millions of Americans. Investigative journalist Elizabeth Greenwood takes readers on a fascinating deep-dive into the world of prison relationships, including conjugal visits and weddings. This book offers a unique perspective on the American prison system and the desire and delusion that we all experience in our romantic pairings.

Experience an inspiring biography that follows the lives of Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, two pioneering sisters who challenged the conventions of their time to become successful medical professionals. Janice P. Nimura presents a gripping narrative that delves into the sisters’ struggles and triumphs, including their founding of the first hospital staffed completely by women. This thoroughly researched book takes you from the streets of Edinburgh to bustling cities of pre-Civil War America, celebrating the sisters’ remarkable achievements that continue to inspire to this day.

Explore the heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation, and decolonization of museums with this powerful call for the urgent return of stolen objects. The Benin Bronzes, a collection of thousands of brass plaques and carved ivory tusks depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of Benin City, Nigeria, embody the rapacious and extractive colonialism of their time. Discover the history of their pillage, passing through hands like Queen Victoria and the British Museum, and join the wider project of addressing colonialism's outstanding debt.

Explore how ideas about deviant female sexuality were used to control and organize modern Indian society during the colonial period. Author Durba Mitra showcases how British authorities and Indian intellectuals turned to concepts of prostitution to learn how Indian society worked. Archives of various disciplines reveal fascinating insights on debates around social progress and exclusion, caste domination, marriage, widowhood and inheritance, women's performance, and more. Mitra examines how the intellectual history of modern social thought is built on the control and erasure of women's sexuality, and how these ideologies continue to pervade present-day South Asia and postcolonial world. Indian Sex Life innovatively redefines long-established notions on the history of colonial India's social thought and further opens new approaches for the global history of sexuality.