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Intersectionality, by Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge

How we define ourselves and others is complex because we hold multiple identities simultaneously. Social contexts and the resulting power relations (racism, sexism, classism, etc.) “are intertwined and mutually constructing.” This book portrays intersectionality as not only an analytic tool used by scholars but also a performative concept—it accomplishes as well as describes. In other words, it is both theory and practice. From the protests around the 2014 FIFA World Cup to “cyberfeminist debates” to hip hop, the authors vividly illustrate how intersectionality shapes people’s lives.

A Sense of Wonder, edited by Brian Doyle

This “best of” volume contains an impressive array of spiritual writing. Its essays, all of which have been published in Portland Magazine since 2003, give readers a glimpse into the aesthetic and theological sensibilities of editor Brian Doyle. More important, they model how to write well about faith, doubt, trauma, grace, sin, death, and beauty. From Mary Gordon to Edward Hoag­land, Cynthia Ozick to Thomas Lynch, these authors set forth equal measures of realism and hope. As Alice Lok Cahana, an Auschwitz survivor, explains, “God says to us, . . .

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The Gardener and the Carpenter, by Alison Gopnik

Caregiving is a form of love rooted in relationship, not a form of work. So argues Alison Gopnik, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, and is known for her research on the psychology of children. Drawing upon neuroscience, philosophy, and social psychology, Gopnik shows how “the parenting model” (aimed at producing a particular type of child, as a carpenter produces a chair) often fails to engage the plastic minds of young children.

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