Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2017 -

While Marinucci's preface to this second edition is an impassioned but somewhat statistically weak argument, the book itself, like its first edition (CH, May'11, 48-5401), is an outstanding reference for students and faculty attempting to understand the history and current issues in the LGBTQ+ communities. The author's presentation of social construction and paradigm clearly and logically explains the issues in developing a history of LGBTQ+. Additionally, Marinucci (philosophy and women's and gender studies, Eastern Washington Univ.) does an excellent job of addressing the queer movement as oppositional to what are often the binary definitions involved in LGBT orientations. The issues involved with gender and sexual identification socially and personally are well constructed and will help students gain clarity in this field of study. Marinucci does an equally good job of orienting readers to feminism. Her discussion of the intersection of queer theory and feminism offers a dynamic range of classroom topics. The final chapter involving allies will also spark interesting discussions. Finally, each chapter is followed by additional resource material, topics for discussion, and notes. A great resource for students and faculty alike.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries.

This well-written, informative book reports the author's comprehensive examination of the experienced joys and challenges of transnational adoption. She beautifully captures narratives from not only the 30 adoptive families she interviewed, but also the too-often-neglected families of origin. Privileging the struggles and concerns of these 35 first mothers by giving space to their stories, Hogbacka (social research, Univ. of Helsinki, Finland) provides a great gift to them and to readers: a clear-eyed perspective on international adoption as a complex and complicated process of supply and demand, replete with mixed emotions from each side. The book calls into question the normative assumptions adoption brings, and explores emerging notions of compassionate domination, reflexivity, kinning and de-kinning, and the postcolonial and critical realist notions of agency and entitlement within the context of adoption. In so doing, and as an adoptive mother herself, Hogbacka creates one of the most authentic analyses of the dynamics of international adoption ever written.Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries.

Feminist scholar Brooks (sociology, Providence College) has written a fascinating and engaging book on the ways that women grapple with aging against a cultural backdrop that privileges youthful beauty. Botox, facelifts, and myriad other procedures that help women shave years off their physical appearance have become a multimillion dollar industry. What makes some women flock to these treatments, while others defiantly and proudly age naturally? The author vividly weaves together the accounts of 44 women ages 44-74 who use, refuse, or have not yet decided whether to embrace cosmetic, anti-aging technologies. Brooks sets up an intriguing paradox: although women have more education, income, and political power than ever before, they are still valued for how they look. This rich and insightful analysis shows that a woman's decision to go under (or avoid) the knife is shaped by key aspects of identity, including her sense of femininity, physical attractiveness, and sexuality. A particularly intriguing finding is that most husbands prefer that their wives age naturally, although women retort that anti-aging treatments afford them control over the aging process. A must-read glimpse into a uniquely contemporary aspect of ageism.Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries.