Editors’ Picks for March 2026

10 reviews handpicked from the latest issue of Choice

Posted on March 27, 2026 in Editors' Picks

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Lee believes that what is ‘certain is that through a longue durée and transnational lens, Hong Kong’s decolonization struggle has only just begun’ (p. 290).

—S. K. Ma, emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles

Lee, Ching Kwan. Forever Hong Kong: a global city’s decolonization structure. Harvard, 2025. 344p index ISBN 9780674290198, $45.00; ISBN 9780674300729 ebook, contact publisher for price.

This intriguing and informative volume by Lee (Univ. of California, Los Angeles) argues that the mass protest movement that erupted in Hong Kong in 2019 “was no ordinary movement” (p. 3). The author suggests that “it was the zenith of a two-decade-long agitation whose purpose went way beyond universal suffrage and electoral reforms” (p. 3). The book contains an introduction and six chapters. Chapter 1 probes what lies beneath the façade of formal British colonial rule. Chapter 2 “traces the genesis of Hong Kong’s decolonization struggle to the political economic ruptures triggered by the crisis and contradictions of neoliberal capitalism in the late 1990s” (p. 11). Chapter 3 examines the wide range of interests, identities, and emotions that motivated people to take to the streets. Chapter 4 delves into the evolution of this political community’s engagement. Chapter 5 focuses on the “international front” of the decolonization struggle (p. 231). The concluding chapter summarizes the major historical characteristics of Hong Kong’s experience. Lee believes that what is “certain is that through a longue durée and transnational lens, Hong Kong’s decolonization struggle has only just begun” (p. 290). Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty. —S. K. Ma, emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles

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This book’s clinical utility and timeliness will ensure its status as a future classic in the psychoanalytic canon.

—M. Uebel, University of Texas

Hinshelwood, R. D. Unconscious politics: alienation, social science and psychoanalysis. Karnac Books, 2024. 286p index ISBN 9781800132351 pbk, $39.72.

Hinshelwood (emer., University of Essex, England) sets in motion a powerful blend of psychoanalysis, social theory, and Marxist philosophy in order to illuminate the psychological realities that both inform and are informed by the social and political spheres. Unconscious Politics exemplifies engaged psychoanalysis, which is concerned with examining how unconscious factors underpin social relations and attitudes such as solidarity, difference, and prejudice. Among the best parts of this book are its superb discussion of the role of projective identification in interpersonal relations and the resolution of psychosocial conflict, as well as a short but incredibly rich chapter on the place of psychoanalysis in laying bare the unconscious elements that inhibit perspective-taking and thus preserve ideology. This book’s clinical utility and timeliness will ensure its status as a future classic in the psychoanalytic canon. It has broad appeal to scholars and practitioners in fields as diverse as sociology, psychology, social work, psychoanalysis, politics and government, and policymaking. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals. —M. Uebel, University of Texas

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The book concludes with lessons not just for Israel but for other countries facing democratic decline.

—M. F. Cairo, Transylvania University

Oren, Neta. Israel under Netanyahu: Populism and democratic decline. L. Rienner, 2025. 169p bibl index ISBN 9781962551427, $95.00; ISBN 9781962551434 pbk, $95.00.

Oren (George Mason Univ.) provides an exceptional addition to the literature on democratic backsliding with the inclusion of Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu as a Populist leader governing in an increasingly autocratic manner. The book begins by convincingly explaining Netanyahu’s use of Populist rhetoric and style, branding him as an ethnonational Populist. Oren also provides extensive evidence of democratic backsliding in Israel, emphasizing the period since 2009, including Netanyahu’s undermining of the judiciary and media, harassment of civil society groups and academic freedom, targeting of minority groups and immigrants, and moves to erode public restraints by manipulating electoral laws. Oren also examines the causes of democratic decline, focusing primarily on Netanyahu’s role while also considering other explanations, such as political polarization and the public’s desire for strong leadership. Additionally, Oren discusses various constraints on democratic backsliding in Israel, most notably public resistance and protests, international pressure, and their power and potential to restrain further erosion of Israel’s democracy. The book concludes with lessons not just for Israel but for other countries facing democratic decline. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. —M. F. Cairo, Transylvania University

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His volume is well-suited to undergraduate courses in history, environmental studies, and public policy, with opportunities for further research and discussion.

—E. J. Delaney, formerly, National Park Service

Kemp, Steve. An exaltation of parks: John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s crusade to save America’s wonderlands. Utah, 2025. 384p bibl index ISBN 9781647692230, $70.00; ISBN 9781647692247 pbk, $29.95; ISBN 9781647692254 ebook, $22.95.

This book is destined to become a classic in the literature on North American environmental history and particularly in the field of National Park Service (NPS) studies. It offers a brilliant biography of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., as well as a history of the compromises in the early NPS, an agency that was shaped by competing mandates to protect resources while encouraging their public use. This is a remarkably timely book. Many challenges at the NPS’s founding, including strained budgets, internal and external land use conflicts, and ever-increasing visitation, remain relevant today. Kemp’s background as an NPS ranger informs his crisp and occasionally wry prose, often referring to his subject as “Junior.” The book is rigorously referenced and well-illustrated with period photographs. It traces how Rockefeller used his inheritance (the largest of his time) and philanthropy to create several national parks and expand others. Junior’s legacies reflect the personalities, values, political pressures, and economics that shaped the evolving NPS—he himself influenced NPS architecture, transportation systems, and operations through hands-on actions in Acadia National Park. Kemp synthesizes and builds on essential scholarship in a compelling style. His volume is well-suited to undergraduate courses in history, environmental studies, and public policy, with opportunities for further research and discussion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. —E. J. Delaney, formerly, National Park Service

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Those seeking to know more about turn-of-the-century government-Native American affairs, Progressivism, and the development of the Native American Church will find this incredibly well-researched work both interesting and useful.

—T. K. Byron, Dalton State College

Barnett, Lisa D. Peyote politics: the making of the Native American Church, 1880–1937. Oklahoma, 2025. 246p bibl index (New directions in Native American studies, 24) ISBN 9780806195384, $45.00; ISBN 9780806195667 ebook, $36.95.

In Peyote Politics, Barnett (Phillips Theological Seminary) describes the emergence and spread of Peyotism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the US, as well as the Peyotists’ struggle for religious freedom. Barnett explains that the increased adherence to Peyotism in the US resulted in practitioners facing severe opposition from government officials, Christian missionaries, and members of the Progressive movement, whose definition of “American” did not include Native traditions. In an effort to quash Peyotism, these groups secularized, racialized, and thereby vilified peyote as “Native,” while at the same time categorizing peyote as a dangerous narcotic that needed to be outlawed. Peyotists, however, resisted this threat to their religious freedom in the courts, ultimately establishing the Native American Church, which recognizes peyote as a sacrament. Arguing that the 20th-century campaign against peyote was similar to earlier colonization efforts, Barnett skillfully describes Native Americans’ continued struggle for autonomy and, in the case of Peyotism, their success against religious oppression. Those seeking to know more about turn-of-the-century government-Native American affairs, Progressivism, and the development of the Native American Church will find this incredibly well-researched work both interesting and useful. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. —T. K. Byron, Dalton State College

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He celebrates the Yiddish writers and their dedication to their art in a manner that is profoundly inspiring and, at the same time, horrific.

—S. Gittleman, emeritus, Tufts University

Rose, Sven-Erik. Making and unmaking literature in the Warsaw, Lodz, and Vilna ghettos. Brandeis, 2025. 344p bibl index ISBN 9781684582730, $120.00; ISBN 9781684582747 ebook, contact publisher for price.

This is a one-of-a-kind literary analysis. Rose (Univ. of California) has completed a decades-long study of Yiddish texts written by Jewish authors while interned and awaiting extermination in Nazi ghettos in three cities that had belonged to interwar Poland: Warsaw, Lodz, and Vilna. Six of the chapters deal with Yiddish writers in the Warsaw ghetto, and the last three in Lodz and Vilna. Rose does not focus on the voices of the perpetrators, who—it may be argued—have been predominantly the subjects of the scholarly narratives of the Holocaust. Now comes the time for the victims to be heard. Until now, “the literary language of the dead has been silence.” This study examines the extent to which doomed Yiddish writers went in order to leave a literary legacy of poems, novels, and short stories that spoke to the unspeakable. Rose has organized this material within an elegant scholarly apparatus. He celebrates the Yiddish writers and their dedication to their art in a manner that is profoundly inspiring and, at the same time, horrific. This reviewer was deeply moved. A knowledge of Yiddish would be most useful. Summing Up: Essential. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. —S. Gittleman, emeritus, Tufts University

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In addition, the technologies required to create raised print led to advances in printing, changing the relationship between the body and the book.

—M. Anderson, Southern Oregon University

Warne, Vanessa K. By touch alone: blindness and reading in nineteenth-century culture. Michigan, 2025. 218p bibl index ISBN 9780472077519, $85.00; ISBN 9780472057511 pbk, $29.95; ISBN 9780472905089 ebook, open access.

In this fascinating new addition to the history of reading and disability studies, Warne (Univ. of Manitoba, Canada) explores the invention of reading by touch in the 19th century and how both blind and sighted reading publics experienced this development. With visual acuity removed as a necessity for the acquisition of literacy, the representation and experience of blindness, as well as the meaning of reading itself, were changed by the advent of raised print. By contextualizing analysis of 19th-century fiction, poetry, essays, and other lesser-known texts within disability studies, book history, and the history of literacy, Warne is able to reveal how raised print books changed not only the lived experience of blind people in the Victorian period and afterward, but also how they were perceived by the sighted public. In addition, the technologies required to create raised print led to advances in printing, changing the relationship between the body and the book. With thorough documentation and 22 images, the volume is well organized and provides numerous insights for those interested in the many intersecting topics and ideas this study presents. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. —M. Anderson, Southern Oregon University

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Moreover, it is also notable for its masterful demonstration of the creative elasticity of contemporary theory.

—R. D. Morrison, emeritus, Morehead State University

Hovanec, Caroline. Notes on vermin. Michigan, 2025. 204p bibl index ISBN 9780472077205, $70.00; ISBN 9780472057207 pbk, $24.95; ISBN 9780472904822 ebook, open access.

Hovanec (Univ. of Tampa) analyzes a subject typically ignored by contemporary animal studies and ecocriticism: those creatures labeled “vermin.” Hovanec primarily focuses on modernist and postmodern culture; thus, her literary examples often come from the 20th century, although she takes occasional forays into several other periods and literatures. While the label of “vermin” has been applied metaphorically to disparage social, racial, or ethnic Others, Hovanec also explores literary depictions of the actual organisms described as vermin. Hovanec organizes her book around four primary tropes: vermin as figures of repressed thought, uncommitted fugitives, freeloading parasites, and surplus life. The book is theoretically sophisticated, drawing on a wide range of contemporary theories, and will prove challenging to many undergraduate students, despite the clarity and vigor of Hovanec’s prose. Given the highly creative nature of her approach, Notes on Vermin will become a standard study on the subject and will undoubtedly inspire additional work on what the term means in Western culture. Moreover, it is also notable for its masterful demonstration of the creative elasticity of contemporary theory. Summing Up: Essential. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. —R. D. Morrison, emeritus, Morehead State University

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A noteworthy and important addition to the scholarship on 20th-century Cuba.

—E. Douglas, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill

Anreus, Alejandro. Modern art in 1940s Cuba: Havana’s artists, critics, and exhibitions. University Press of Florida, 2025. 325p bibl index ISBN 9781683405153, $125.00; ISBN 9781683405306 pbk, $35.00.

Anyone with an interest in Cuban art, Cuban history, or the cultural construction of a Cuban national identity will welcome Alejandro Anreus’s Modern Art in 1940s Cuba. Meticulously researched and documented, including direct testimony from artists and critics, this magisterial, reader-friendly account integrates a history of art—the advent of a fully modern, fully Cuban art—into a political history of Cuba from 1940 to 1952, a brief period of true if imperfect democracy. Modern Art in 1940s Cuba details the rise of the first generation of modern artists in the 1920s and that of the second in the 1930s, whose work sparked the development of professional art criticism, public exhibitions, and the island’s first commercial art gallery in the 1940s. Anreus (emer., William Paterson Univ.) isolates two distinct narratives of the modern and the Cuban in art, articulated, respectively, by the critics José Gómez Sicre and Guy Pérez Cisneros and made manifest in two key exhibitions, one in 1940 organized by Pérez Cisneros and the other by Gómez Sicre in 1944. A noteworthy and important addition to the scholarship on 20th-century Cuba. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. —E. Douglas, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill

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This is an outstanding addition to the scholarship and should be included in academic libraries.

—G. D. Oberle III, George Mason University

Archives and emotions: international dialogues across past, present, and future, ed. by Ilaria Scaglia and Valeria Vanesio. Bloomsbury Academic, 2024 (c2025). 289p bibl index ISBN 9781350415188, $115.00; ISBN 9781350415201 ebook, $103.50.

This timely collection of essays began as a series of conversations between a historian and an archivist who lamented the lack of dialogue between experts in their respective disciplines. Drawing on emerging scholarship on emotions, the editors bring together important scholars to illuminate the impact of feeling on both the production of historical works and the creation of archival collections. The work is divided into two parts: “Emotions and the Shaping of the Archives” and “Emotions, Archives and Their People.” Each part has seven chapters, offering significant contributions to this emerging set of literature. Most important among the themes are the refusal of the notion of archives as neutral spaces and the significance of feeling as an epistemological framework for understanding the gathering, organization, and production of history and archival collections. The international scope of the content allows readers to use the ideas presented by the different authors and apply the relevant theory to their own geographical and temporal contexts. This is an outstanding addition to the scholarship and should be included in academic libraries. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals. —G. D. Oberle III, George Mason University

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