O'Bryons new book is packed with quotes, trivia, historical interest, inspiration, and wisdom. (Christian)

The Persuasive Penoffers practical assistance in both the writing process and critical thinking. It teaches students how to think critically and clearly, and how to shape ideas convincingly for readers with varying expectations and responses. This book will be of interest to anyone who teaches a Critical Thinking course, offered in both Philosophy and English departments; Informal Logic; English Composition; Persuasive Writing; and other interdisciplinary courses in which argumentation, writing, and research skills are emphasized.

Conservative Views 101 Plus is a series of essays that address contentious issues and other pertinent topics. Topics include eminent domain, stop and frisk, big-city policing, removal of confederate statues, stopping anarchy, Muslim immigrants, judge shopping, tainted police evidence, ways to escape prosecution, stopping political agitators, implementing the law, wind power, the American Civil Liberties Union, biased political interviews, deterring terrorists, Russian collusion, security lapses, slavery, economic stimulus and the infrastructure, George Soros, unemployment, health care, hacking, useful collusion, status of the press (media), the US-Iranian nuclear agreement, the phenomenon of Donald Trump with his taxes and tweets, firing the FBI director, progressive ideas including tax and spend, and the ever-popular divisiveness and racism. Can it get any better than that? Yes, it can!

The cover design says it all: at first glance you see the world turned upside-down in a threatening stormy landscape, but on viewing the whole picture you see blue skies and, underlying the chaos, a new, exciting digital world. But how do we get from here to there? How do we achieve this transformation? That’s where the idea of ‘retooling’ comes in. The focus of The Age of Abnormal is very much on the practical – skills, training, action plans. It’s divided into three parts: how the virus has impacted us; the fundamentals of change; and the specific steps we need to take to thrive in the new world. A key message of the book is that the virus hasn’t changed absolutely everything but rather forced us to confront things that were already happening. The ‘job for life’, for example, was already long gone, but many of us still clung to the idea that we could achieve the holy grail of a safe, linear career in one organisation. It’s time to let go of that, says Wells: we update our mobile phones and our PCs and we need to keep updating our lives in the same way – our skills, our attitudes and our very selves. This is where the book really takes off: it goes far beyond the usual advice to get a new chair for your home office and otherwise try and pretend everything is normal. There certainly is detailed advice on homeworking and needed IT skills, along with much else, but these are seen as steps on the way to a far bigger goal: using this crisis as an opportunity to become the person you really want to be. A clear five-step model is followed: start with a vision of where you want to be; understand clearly where you are now; know what you need to change personally; get ready for the technological changes you will need; finally, when you’re ready, take transformative action or, to quote Wells: ‘Make your dreams come true, then go beyond that.’ It’s an easy read, written in a clear, accessible style and the ideas are illustrated with vivid, often humorous anecdotes and stories. Above all, The Age of Abnormal is practical. If you dread grappling with new technology, see only negatives in the current situation or simply are stuck for ideas on what to do next, you will find help here.

From their beginnings, campuses emerged as hotbeds of traditions and folklore. American college students inhabit a culture with its own slang, stories, humor, beliefs, rituals, and pranks. Simon J. Bronner takes a long, engaging look at American campus life and how it is shaped by students and at the same time shapes the values of all who pass through it. The archetypes of absent-minded profs, fumbling jocks, and curve-setting dweebs are the stuff of legend and humor, along with the all-nighters, tailgating parties, and initiations that mark campus tradition—and student identities. Undergraduates in their hallowed halls embrace distinctive traditions because the experience of higher education precariously spans childhood and adulthood, parental and societal authority, home and corporation, play and work. Bronner traces historical changes in these traditions. The predominant context has shifted from what he calls the “old-time college,” small in size and strong in its sense of community, to mass society’s “mega-university,” a behemoth that extends beyond any campus to multiple branches and offshoots throughout a state, region, and sometimes the globe. One might assume that the mega-university has dissolved collegiate traditions and displaced the old-time college, but Bronner finds the opposite. Student needs for social belonging in large universities and a fear of losing personal control have given rise to distinctive forms of lore and a striving for retaining the pastoral “campus feel” of the old-time college. The folkloric material students spout, and sprout, in response to these needs is varied but it is tied together by its invocation of tradition and social purpose. Beneath the veil of play, students work through tough issues of their age and environment. They use their lore to suggest ramifications, if not resolution, of these issues for themselves and for their institutions. In the process, campus traditions are keys to the development of American culture.