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This book systematically demonstrates how important capital from the slave trade was in building and supporting many prominent universities in the US. It also shows how attending these universities did nothing to alter the slaveholding practices of its graduates. What it doesn't do in most cases, however, is show the regular employment of institutional or academic resources in supporting slavery with the notable exception of eugenics. This isn't to absolve universities of responsibility, or the necessity of understanding this history for people in academia, but I was a bit surprised at how little institutional dirt was there

This book is focused on the cultural forces that shaped the use of and impression of pockets, which is inextricably linked with its gendered norms. There's surprisingly little about the initial adoption of pockets by European royalty and how it was spread from the Ottoman empire, and in general I would've liked more on the diffusion pattern of different styles. Still, an interesting foray into fashion history

This book makes clear just how profoundly air conditioning changed society, arguably making it the most transformative modern invention. Basile further shows how hard it was for people to grasp the value of AC due to cultural norms - becoming expected only after half a century of technical and commercial feasibility. How work, production, and even the distribution of the US population looked before and after the adoption of AC is difficult to overstate, and this book methodically demonstrates the breadth of that transformation. Highly recommend

Contracts are an essential aspect of business, and yet beyond vague generalities how they formally function, and importantly don't function, is poorly understood by the general public. Even if you don't have any legal background, Horton provides an excellent, high level foothold in US contract law, important cases, and where grey areas still exist. Highly recommend

This book follows the different players and techniques that dealt with the 1952 Copenhagen polio epidemic, which reverberated throughout medicine in Denmark and beyond. Many technologies and processes that we take for granted - ventilators, anesthesia improvements, rigorous hand washing and quarantine procedures - owe something to this epidemic crucible. While Wunsch provides fascinating and engaging detail, I wish there was more time spent on the practice of emergency medicine writ large - it was often hard to gauge how much certain practices differed from the international norm, as well as to what degree those practices shifted after the epidemic. Still, as a look at how medicine and work more broadly can be dramatically changed and improved through crisis, this book is an excellent read. Highly recommend