Looking for a New Book?

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This story originally appeared in the winter 2025 issue of UC San Diego Magazine as “On the Shelf.”

• In “A Spell for Midwinter’s Heart” (Dutton, 2025), Morgan Lockhart ’07 crafts a holiday romance novel with a twist: A magic-averse witch returns home to try to help save her small town’s winter festival in time for the holidays, aided by her estranged coven and the son of the festival’s landlord. Lockhart graduated with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the School of Arts and Humanities.

• In “Business as Usual: How Sponsored Media Sold American Capitalism in the Twentieth Century” (The University of Chicago Press, 2024), Caroline Jack explores how capitalism has been promoted in the U.S. through public service announcements, pamphlets, educational films and games. She argues that these items were funded by corporations and trade groups who aimed to “sell America to Americans,” promoting ideals of free enterprise under the guise of public service and civic education. Jack is an associate professor of communication in the School of Social Sciences.

• In “Elephants: Behavior and Conservation” (Cambridge University Press, 2024), Shermin R. de Silva compiles more than 20 years of behavioral research on the three living species of elephants: the African savanna, the African forest and the Asian elephant. The implications of conserving and managing wild elephant populations are also explored and presented in language accessible to a wide range of nonspecialists. De Silva is an assistant professor of ecology, behavior and evolution in the School of Biological Sciences.

• In “Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland: Race and Redevelopment in the Rust Belt” (Temple University Press, 2025), Rebecca Jo Kinney, MA ’06, PhD ’11, takes a look at community building in the AsiaTown neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio. Examining the area’s history of racial segregation and neighborhood diversity from the 1940s onward, the book challenges the idea of Asian Americans as invisible in the urban Midwest. Kinney graduated with a master’s and doctorate in ethnic studies from the School of Social Sciences.

• In “Net Values: Environmental, Economic, and Social Entanglements in the Gulf of California” (The University of Arizona Press, 2025), Nicole D. Peterson, MA ’99, PhD ’05, examines the idea of “choice” in relation to tourism, environmental concerns and economic precarity and explores how it is understood by fishing families and the staff of Loreto Bay National Park who are trying to maintain their livelihoods and the availability of natural resources. Peterson graduated with a master’s and doctorate in anthropology from the School of Social Sciences.

• In “The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI” (The University of Oklahoma Press, 2025), Tricia Bertram Gallant and David A. Rettinger offer a new approach to protect academic integrity from the proliferation of potential student cheating in a world of the ever-expanding internet, generative AI and term paper mills. This book outlines practical, proactive suggestions to enhance student learning and integrity. Bertram Gallant is director of the Academic Integrity Office and Triton Testing Center at UC San Diego. Rettinger is an applied professor and undergraduate program director in psychology at the University of Tulsa.

• In “The Romans: A 2,000-Year History” (Basic Books, 2025), Edward J. Watts offers a comprehensive account of the full sweep of ancient Rome’s history spanning two millennia. The book is intended to be a definitive history of Rome and its citizens, extending from the foundation of the city to the onslaught of the Crusaders. Watts is a professor of history in the School of Arts and Humanities.

• In “Window Shopping With Helen Keller: Architecture and Disability in Modern Culture” (The University of Chicago Press, 2025), David Serlin examines four case studies that demonstrate how disabled individuals with sensory and physical impairments navigated urban spaces and contributed to shaping modern culture. These include the lives of Helen Keller and Joseph Merrick, also known as “The Elephant Man,” as well as projects from the Works Progress Administration and Stanley Tigerman’s design of the Illinois Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Serlin is a professor of communication and science studies in the School of Social Sciences.

Share a new book for consideration in a future issue of UC San Diego Magazine at magazine@ucsd.edu.