Electing Our Future
In any normal year, September would carry the temptation to devote column space to purring about back to school activities: first day outfits, pencil boxes clacking with writing utensils, and the delightful anticipation of all we have left to learn. But this has been no normal year. If we send new school year wishes, they’re more likely to be for cautious districts—for online courses, distance learning, and other pandemic-specific choices to keep students safe. A complicated summer is about to give way to a complicated fall.
Given that we can’t get excited about people flowing into packed classrooms and waiting at attention for new information to come their way, let’s consider what other sea changes the fall might bring—without evading the prominent, relevant, if cocktail-party-unpopular topic of fall elections. Because in time with students and businesses having to rethink everything that is traditional about the back to school season, candidates’ signs are popping up on lawns as a reminder that this, at least, must go on. A reminder that elections matter. Boy, do they.
It has escaped no one on Earth’s attention that the US’S anemic response to the pandemic led to a situation here that is unmatched abroad—one that makes us nostalgic for a time when the commander in chief could always say what he was reading at the moment, and was surrounded by advisers who prioritized expertise above political expediency.
We are not in the business of promoting political candidates, but we are in the business of championing knowledge, and nuance, and thought. That’s what books are all about. So we can’t help but hope that there’s a lot of thought going into people’s fall ballot options, with the pandemic-punctuated recognition that every choice made on election day serves to shape the future.
That’s something that Issac J. Bailey knows well; his not-shy-about-the-politics essay collection, Why Didn’t We Riot?, is all about how the topics that we tacitly evade, or loudly prioritize, speak to our values. Specifically, his book is a call to recognize the many articulations of racism in the US’S systems and culture, with emphasis on how they all became more pronounced in the last four years. It’s a text that should not be missed. Affix that endorsement to the titles in our science feature, too, not least of all Weird Earth, which focuses on debunking the bad science that locks people into even worse habits. Our University Press Special Section is, this year as always, proof of the fascinating work being done by academic presses, who never cease in their searches for deep understanding. Or, if you most want a reminder that the earth is wide, and that there’s vibrant life beyond what’s local, sink into the rich options represented in our translations feature, which traverses cultures and arrives at conclusions that are universally true.
September is always about new beginnings, even in a pandemic. It offers opportunities to learn from past mistakes. We’re excited to introduce these 119 books to you; we are looking forward to, with you, turning a new page.