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The Passenger

A new novel from Pulitzer Prize winning author, Cormac McCarthy, whose papers are archived in the Texas State University Library in San Marcos, Texas. In this work it is 1980 in Pass Christian, Mississippi. At three in the morning, Bobby Western zips the jacket of his wet suit and plunges from the Coast Guard tender into darkness. His dive light illuminates the sunken jet, nine bodies still buckled in their seats, hair floating, eyes devoid of speculation. Missing from the crash site are the pilot's flight bag, the plane's black box, and the tenth passenger. But how? A collateral witness to machinations that can only bring him harm, Western is shadowed in body and spirit--by men with badges; by the ghost of his father, inventor of the bomb that melted glass and flesh in Hiroshima; and by his sister, the love and ruin of his soul. Traversing the American South, from the garrulous barrooms of New Orleans to an abandoned oil rig off the Florida coast, The Passenger is a breathtaking novel of morality and science, the legacy of sin, and the madness that is human consciousness.

How to Take Over the World : Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain

A tongue-in-cheek introduction to the science of comic-book supervillainy, revealing the true potential of today's most advanced technologies. Taking over the world is a lot of work. Any supervillain is bound to have questions: What's the perfect location for a floating secret base? What zany heist will fund my immoral plans? How do I control the weather, destroy the internet, and never, ever die? In How to Take Over the World, bestselling author and award-winning comics writer Ryan North details a number of outlandish villainous schemes, drawing on known science and real-world technologies. Picking up where How to Invent Everything left off, his explanations are as fun and informative as they are completely absurd. As he instructs readers on how to take over the world, North also reveals how we can save it. This sly guide to some of the greatest challenges and existential threats facing humanity accessibly explores ways to mitigate climate change, improve human life spans, prevent cyberterrorism, and finally make Jurassic Park a reality.

In Praise of Failure: Four Lessons in Humility

Squarely challenging a culture obsessed with success, an acclaimed philosopher argues that failure is vital to a life well lived, curing us of arrogance and self-deception and engendering humility instead. Our obsession with success is hard to overlook. Everywhere we compete, rank, and measure. Yet this relentless drive to be the best blinds us to something vitally important: the need to be humble in the face of life's challenges. Costica Bradatan mounts his case for failure through the stories of four historical figures who led lives of impact and meaning--and assiduously courted failure. Their struggles show that engaging with our limitations can be not just therapeutic but transformative. In Praise of Failure explores several arenas of failure, from the social and political to the spiritual and biological. Gleefully breaching the boundaries between argument and storytelling, scholarship and spiritual quest, Bradatan concludes that while success can make us shallow, our failures can lead us to humbler, more attentive, and better lived lives. We can do without success, but we are much poorer without the gifts of failure.

The Psychology of Christian Nationalism : Why People are Drawn in and How to Talk Across the Divide

How do we overcome polarization in American society? How do we advocate for justice when one side won't listen to the other and cycles of outrage escalate? These questions have been pressing for years, but the emergence of a vocal, virulent Christian nationalism have made it even more urgent that we find a way forward. In three brief, incisive chapters Pamela Cooper-White uncovers the troubling extent of Christian nationalism, explores its deep psychological roots, and discusses ways in which advocates for justice can safely and effectively attempt to talk across the deep divides in our society. Pamela Cooper-White is the Christiane Brooks Johnson Professor of Psychology and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York. She holds PhDs from Harvard University and the Institute for Clinical Social Work, Chicago.

Trafficking Data : How China is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty

Trafficking Data argues that the movement of human data across borders for political and financial gain is disenfranchising consumers, eroding national autonomy, and destabilizing sovereignty. Focusing on the United States and China, it traces how US government leadership failures, Silicon Valley's disruption fetish, and Wall Street's addiction to growth have yielded an unprecedented opportunity for Chinese firms to gather data in the United States and quietly send it back to China, and by extension, the Chinese government. Such "data trafficking," as the book names this insidious phenomenon, is enabled by the competing governance models of the world's two largest economies: mass government data aggregation in China and impenetrable corporate data management policies in the United States. China is stepping up its data trafficking efforts through national regulations, soft power persuasion, and tech investment, extending the scope of state control over domestic and international data and tech infrastructure, and thereby expanding its global influence. The United States, by contrast, is retreating from participation in foreign alliances, international organizations, and the systemic regulation of the tech industry-practices with the potential to counter data trafficking.

We Are Proud Boys : How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism

After the 2016 election, Americans witnessed a frightening trend: the sudden rise of a host of new extremist groups around the country. Empowered by a new president, they started showing up at political rallies, building fervent online presences, and expanding at an alarming rate. Amid all this, one group seemed to show up in the news constantly, creating a reputation for its bizarre behavior and regular violence: the Proud Boys. From acclaimed extremism reporter Andy Campbell, We Are Proud Boys is the definitive history of this notorious group and all the far-right movements they're connected to. Through groundbreaking new reporting, Campbell delivers the untold story of a gang of bumbling, punch-happy bigots who, under the leadership of a coke-addled media executive in New York, grew to become the centerpiece of American extremism and positioned themselves as the unofficial enforcement arm of the GOP. Beginning with their founding by Gavin McInnes, the media personality best known for co-founding Vice, Campbell takes us deep inside the Proud Boys, laying bare their origins and their rise to prominence, along the way exposing the group's noxious culture and strange rituals.

How to Be a Woman Online : Surviving Abuse and Harassment, and How to Fight Back

"An essential guide for women interested in standing up for a fairer, safer online world." (--Publisher's Weekly). When Nina Jankowicz's first book on online disinformation was profiled in The New Yorker, she expected attention but not an avalanche of abuse and harassment, predominantly from men, online. All women in politics, journalism and academia now face untold levels of harassment and abuse in online spaces. Together with the world's leading extremism researchers, Jankowicz wrote one of the definitive reports on this troubling phenomenon. Drawing on rigorous research into the treatment of Kamala Harris - the first woman vice-president - and other political and public figures, Nina also uses her own experiences to provide a step-by-step plan for dealing with harassment, abuse, doxing and disinformation in online spaces. The result is a must-read for researchers, journalists and all women with a profile in the online space.

Capitalizing a Cure: How Finance Controls the Price and Value of Medicines

Capitalizing a Cure takes readers into the struggle over a medical breakthrough to investigate the power of finance over business, biomedicine, and public health. When curative treatments for hepatitis C launched in 2013, sticker shock over their prices intensified the global debate over access to new medicines. Weaving historical research with insights from political economy and science and technology studies, Victor Roy demystifies an oft-missed dynamic in this debate: the reach of financialized capitalism into how medicines are made, priced, and valued. Roy’s account moves between public and private labs, Wall Street and corporate board rooms, and public health meetings and health centers to trace the ways in which curative medicines became financial assets dominated by strategies of speculation and extraction at the expense of access and care. Provocative and sobering, this book illuminates the harmful impact of allowing financial markets to determine who heals and who suffers and points to the necessary work of building more equitable futures.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Ask for this DVD at the Blume Library circulation desk, call number: DVD PN1997.2 .B36 2022. Rated 97% "fresh" at RottenTomatoes.com. Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, The Banshees of Inisherin follows lifelong friends Pádraic and Colm, who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship. A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhán and troubled young islander Dominic, endeavours to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer. But Pádraic's repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve and when Colm delivers a desperate ultimatum, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences. Nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.

David Crosby: Remember My Name

Stream this video online. A revealing and deeply personal documentary exploring the life and creative renaissance of music icon David Crosby, who recently passed away at the age of 81. A cultural force for over fifty years, Crosby faced uncertain future after the 2015 dissolution of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Racked with health issues and personal obstacles, Crosby forged a new path in his seventies. Seeking out younger musicians and recording a pair of critically-praised new albums, Crosby set out to make a mark in a world different from the generation he came to define in the 60’s. With unflinching honesty, self-examination, regret, fear, exuberance and an unshakable belief in family and the transformative nature of music, Crosby shares his often-challenging journey with humor and bite.