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Upon learning of his mother’s apparent suicide, ex-lawyer Jack Girard finds himself at the center of a tale about mystery, grief, and trauma. Haunted by memories of his past, as well as his tyrannical father, Jack must uncover the truth behind his mother’s death — or risk becoming the next Girard family victim. In his debut novel, alumnus James Polkinghorn (Political Science ’80) delivers “a ride on the lethal waves of corruption and murder,” according to New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly. Polkinghorn makes excellent use of his experience as a trial lawyer in South Florida, breathing life and realism into the novel’s world.

What is love, and how can we love others ethically and morally? The latest in a long line of “Moral Psychology” collections, The Moral Psychology of Love offers insights into these questions, as well as related topics that are less frequently discussed in other media. Arina Pismenny, a lecturer at the University of Florida, joins Berit Brogaard, a philosophy professor at the University of Miami, in carefully curating a collection of thirteen essays to “explore the moral dimensions of love through the lenses of political philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience,” according to the publisher.

Award-winning author and professor of Cuban and Caribbean history LILLIAN GUERRA (see page 28 Connecting Cuba) looks back at the rise of a Soviet-advised Cuba in the 1960s-80s. At the time, there was a social binary where Cuban citizens were considered either patriots or traitors — Guerra aims to explore the gray space in between. She dives deep into the lives of citizens caught at the center of this existence, telling a story of complacency, exploitation, and division. Guerra also analyzes the roots of this mentality and how the state ingrained divisive consciousness into everyday activities on the island.

Vincent Adejumo, a lecturer in the African American Studies program, contributes to this collection of stories joined together by themes of feminism and Black women empowerment. The collection offers first-hand insights into the experience of Black women in academia, with contributors sharing their personal stories both as students and as teachers, shining a light on their successes and struggles.

In her third published book, Brenda Chalfin, a director for the Center for African Studies and professor of anthropology, examines Ghana’s planned city of Tema. She uses it as a jumping-off point to discuss our relationship with waste infrastructure and how it affects urban life. Delve into the surprisingly political world of how we dispose of our bodily waste, and how this planned city deals with some unique challenges in its pursuit of tightly orchestrated domestic infrastructure. Reviewers have called the book “a timely addition to postcolonial scholarship on community planning and development and excreta infrastructure politics in Africa.”

Professor of Arabic Language and Linguistics Youssef Haddad’s textbook is the outcome of over a decade of experience teaching at the University of Florida. The book provides a thorough and systematic treatment of core areas of Arabic linguistics. It demonstrates the internal logic of Arabic as a language and linguistic system, inviting the reader along the way to engage with the material as an active participant rather than a passive observer. Instructors who wish to adopt the book for their course have access to a companion website that contains PowerPoint presentations, extra exercises, sample exams, and extra readings with questions for more advanced students.

Kathleen Deagan’s (Anthropology ’74) third book takes an in-depth look at Caribbean life in one of the most turbulent periods in its history. It explores a Taíno town near Christopher Columbus’ point of arrival and the effects of European settlement and conquest on the town’s culture and people. Notably, this book is the only archaeological account of the consequences of contact from the perspective of the Taíno peoples’ lived experience. It challenges preconceived notions that Caribbean society collapsed as soon as Europeans arrived. Instead, Deagan hypothesizes that while it was changed with the introduction of European norms like gendered behavior, society did not immediately see a devastating disruption.

Author Maya Stanfield-Mazzi is a professor of art history at UF and an affiliate faculty in the American Indian and Indigenous Studies program. Margarita Vargas-Betancourt is UF’s Latin American and Caribbean Special Collections Librarian. Their newest collaborative publication explores the role of art and artists in colonial Latin American society, specifically in Mexico, Peru, and Cuba. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, artists may have played a huge role in everyday Latin American life. Stanfield-Mazzi and Vargas Betancourt describe a society where artists served as political figures, revolutionaries, and activists in addition to creating art.

The newest release from Sharon D. Wright Austin, professor of political science, explores one of the ways Black people worldwide have banded together to fight systemic exclusion: through the formation of co-operatives. These co-operatives create smaller economic systems of shared resources, which financially benefit everyone in the co-operative but also help develop a sense of unity and social freedom. The book uses dozens of case analyses from across the globe, all of which highlight how members of the titular Black Diaspora take back control in the face of oppression.

In their new book, Stephen G. Perz, a professor of sociology at UF, and Jorge Luis Castillo Hurtado from the University of Nebraska collaborate to delve into the history of the Interoceanic Highway in Peru. This historic highway was vital to connecting the isolated region of southern Peru to the rest of the world. Its 500-year history spins tales of political corruption, ecological and cultural devastation, economic rises and falls, and boons in criminal activity. The book’s focus might be this one highway, but it also speaks to the importance of infrastructure worldwide and how it can impact societies and cultures for the better and the worse.

Double-Gator Fitz Koehler (Political Science ’95, Exercise and Sport Sciences MS ’98) helps readers conquer cancer and emerge stronger than ever. This guidebook provides a powerful tool for cancer patients and survivors, teaching strategies spanning exercise, nutrition, rest, mental strategies, weight management, and supplemental services. A companion journal brims with thoughtful prompts to document progress and capture memories of the journey to recovery. Koehler, a world-renowned fitness innovator, combines athletic expertise with her own intimate experiences battling cancer to create a blueprint for others to achieve a healthy cancer comeback.