NEW RELEASES

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The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing, by Merve Emre, Sept. 11 

A mother-daughter duo’s personality test has bred a whole culture of introspection in and of itself, from its influence on textbooks and classrooms, to online Buzzfeed quizzes and match-making websites—but it has also sparked controversy across the community of professional psychological experts. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test, which identifies an individual’s personality based on questions that determine his or her stance within extraversion vs introversion, sense vs intuition, thinking vs feeling and judgement vs perception, technically has no scientific evidence to actually back up the results. Do we even bother investing in a homemade questionnaire fabricated from a lack of formal training?

 

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William Cordova - Now’s the Time: Narratives of Southern Alchemy,by Maria Elena Ortiz, Sept. 3

Peel back the bountiful layers of William Cordova—Miami-grown, multi-faceted artist of Afro-Peruvian descent—whose artwork details the life he has experienced torn between identities and having overcome cultural borders. Maria Elena Ortiz provides an account of his influential mark left on the art scene, and his insightful discussion of hip hop culture, afro diasporic realities, Pre-Columbian Andean history, western ideologies and more.  

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They Fought Alone: The True Story of the Starr Brothers, British Secret Agents in Nazi-Occupied France, by Charles Glass, Sept. 11

Acclaimed journalist and war correspondent Charles Glass reveals a thrilling account of espionage, sabotage and sacrifice during World War II. Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s top-secret executive order to “set Europe ablaze” bred two Anglo-American recruits, the Starr brothers, who became legendary figures to the guerillas, assassins and saboteurs they led. Captain George Starr commanded networks of résistants in southwest France, cutting German communications, destroying weapons factories, and delaying the Nazi response for seventeen days after D-Day. Younger brother Lieutenant John Starr laid groundwork for resistance in the Burgundy countryside. Two heroic brothers whose ordeals during and after the war challenged the accepted myths of Britain’s wartime resistance in occupied France. 

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A Spark of White Fire,  by Sangu Mandanna, Sept. 4

The first book in a sci-fi retelling of the ancient Indian epic, Mahabharata, this “lush, sweeping space opera about family, curses, and the endless battle between jealousy and love,” begins when Esmae wins a simple contest of skill, unwittingly initiating a conflict that pits her against her own kin. Now a cursed queen in an intergalactic universe of frivolous gods, dark moons and aristocratic kingdoms, Esmae sends her newborn daughter away, as an envious uncle steals the throne of Kali from his nephew, and an exiled prince, Esmae’s brother, vows to take his crown back. Esmae yearns to return home, and when presented with a competition, she faces the opportunity to reunite with her family and assist her brother in retrieving his throne. SRQ