A powerful indictment of the ways elites have co-opted radical critiques of racial capitalism to serve their own ends. “Identity politics” is everywhere, polarizing discourse from the campaign trail to the classroom and amplifying antagonisms in the media, both online and off. But the compulsively referenced phrase bears little resemblance to the concept as first introduced by the radical Black feminist Combahee River Collective. While the Collective articulated a political viewpoint grounded in their own position as Black lesbians with the explicit aim of building solidarity across lines of difference, identity politics is now frequently weaponized as a means of closing ranks around ever-narrower conceptions of group interests. But the trouble, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò deftly argues, is not with identity politics itself. Through a substantive engagement with the global Black radical tradition and a critical understanding of racial capitalism, Táíwò identifies the process by which a radical concept can be stripped of its political substance and liberatory potential by becoming the victim of elite capture—deployed by political, social, and economic elites in the service of their own interests. Táíwò’s crucial intervention both elucidates this complex process and helps us move beyond a binary of “class” vs. “race.” By rejecting elitist identity politics in favor of a constructive politics of radical solidarity, he advances the possibility of organizing across our differences in the urgent struggle for a better world.

In this involving, compassionate memoir, Christina Thompson tells the story of her romance and eventual marriage to a Maori man, interspersing it with a narrative history of the cultural collision between Westerners and the Maoris of New Zealand. Despite their significant differences, Thompson and her husband, Seven, share a similar sense of adventure and a willingness to depart from the customs of their families and forge a life together on their own. Thompson explores cultural displacement through the ages and the fascinating history of Europeans in the South Pacific, beginning with Abel Tasman's discovery of New Zealand in 1642. Yet at its core, this is the story of two people who meet, fall in love, and are forever changed.

Want to cook better while saving money and reducing your trash? Learn to eat less wastefully and more sustainably in this combination cookbook and field guide, full of ingenious use-it-up tips, smart storage ideas, and infinitely adaptable Hero Recipes. Whether you’ve got a lingering bunch of herbs or an abundance of summer tomatoes, Perfectly Good Food will help rescue everything in your fridge while getting a delicious dinner on the table quickly and easily—you’ll be inspired never to waste good food again. Written by the chef-sisters behind Boston’s acclaimed Mei Mei Dumplings, Perfectly Good Food combines professional know-how from a decade in the restaurant industry with the make-it-work approach of a home cook feeding a busy family. With clever, colorful illustrations supporting a diverse array of plant-forward recipes, this is a book for the thrifty chef, the environmentally mindful cook, and anyone looking to make the most of their ingredients.

Climate activist and farmer Acadia Tucker fell in love with container gardening after glimpsing its potential to produce food—lots of food. By applying select growing practices, and managing for square inches rather than square feet, she has come up with instructions for growing a small-scale farm in your patio, on your stoop, or in your dining room. If all you want is a garden just big enough to line a windowsill, she’s got you covered there, too. Her goal is to make it easier for anyone with access to a patch of sun to grow and harvest food—year round, if you’d like. No backyard required. Tiny Victory Gardens includes step-by-step guidance on finding the right containers (there are wrong ones), prepping your soil, growing plants indoors and outdoors, and raising crops all year long. It profiles 21 crops that are easy to grow in containers, including tomatoes, lemon trees, and avocados, and includes recipes for cultivating mini farms in pots, with names like Tiny Herb Garden, Griller’s Choice, and Beans, Bees, and Butterflies. As she has in all her gardening books, Acadia describes how to maximize the environmental impact of growing food. She offers tips on attracting pollinators, and how to build microbe-rich living soil. She shares hacks that help you cut back on watering, and how to ditch harmful pesticides and fertilizers. She also makes a case for why it’s practical to develop food gardening skills in a climate-whipped world. Part of the inspiration for this book is the victory garden movement that was so popular during World Wars I and II, when US citizens turned out in force to do their patriotic duty and grow food for their country. It’s time for another victory garden movement, writes Acadia. If more of us commit to growing our own food, and do it in a way that’s good for the planet, we can buffer some of the effects of climate change, and promote food resilience, for ourselves and for our neighborhoods. Acadia Tucker has published Growing Perennial Foods and Growing Good Food, which describe how to grow food in your backyard in a way that’s good for the planet. Tiny Victory Gardens is another addition to the Stone Pier Press citizen gardening series, which also includes Lawns Into Meadows

Learn the art of visible mending—a joyful, meditative, and restorative practice—to repair the clothes and belongings you love! Mending Life, a beautiful modern sewing and mending guide with vibrant, full-color illustrations woven throughout, encourages us to break free from the fast fashion industry by repairing our clothes rather than discarding them. Along with DIY and how-to illustrations and tutorials, you’ll find heartfelt stories by authors Nina and Sonya Montenegro (creators of the popular @TheFarWoods) that encourage you to change your consumption habits, celebrate a sustainable, intentional lifestyle, demonstrate mending as a powerful act that not only strengthens the object we are repairing, but ourselves as well.  Beginners and Seasoned Sewers will find: Basic Mending Skills - how to thread a needle, how to tie knots, and basic stitches Sashiko - a striking Japanese hand-sewing technique for reinforcement and decoration Darning - plain weave, swiss weave, crocheted patch, knitted patch, and needle-felted patch Patching - the best three ways to patch holes how-to guide Mending Tutorials by Item - down jackets, shirt cuffs, and linen Other Common Repairs - snags, buttons, belt loops, leggings, pant pockets, and more Sewing Beyond Mending - hemming pants, taking garments in, and adding pockets Extend the life of your favorite clothes and beloved household items with mending with this timeless and practical guide to cherishing and caring for our belongings.

A powerful indictment of the ways elites have co-opted radical critiques of racial capitalism to serve their own ends. “Identity politics” is everywhere, polarizing discourse from the campaign trail to the classroom and amplifying antagonisms in the media, both online and off. But the compulsively referenced phrase bears little resemblance to the concept as first introduced by the radical Black feminist Combahee River Collective. While the Collective articulated a political viewpoint grounded in their own position as Black lesbians with the explicit aim of building solidarity across lines of difference, identity politics is now frequently weaponized as a means of closing ranks around ever-narrower conceptions of group interests. But the trouble, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò deftly argues, is not with identity politics itself. Through a substantive engagement with the global Black radical tradition and a critical understanding of racial capitalism, Táíwò identifies the process by which a radical concept can be stripped of its political substance and liberatory potential by becoming the victim of elite capture—deployed by political, social, and economic elites in the service of their own interests. Táíwò’s crucial intervention both elucidates this complex process and helps us move beyond a binary of “class” vs. “race.” By rejecting elitist identity politics in favor of a constructive politics of radical solidarity, he advances the possibility of organizing across our differences in the urgent struggle for a better world.

The Sentence asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading with murderous attention, must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning. The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.

The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.