New Books at Finch Library: Home

"The government is a vast, complex system that Americans pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss, and celebrate. It's also our shared resource for addressing the biggest problems of society. And it's made up of people, mostly unrecognized and uncelebrated, doing work that can be deeply consequential and beneficial to everyone. Michael Lewis invited his favorite writers to find someone doing an interesting job for the government and write about them in a special in-depth series for the Washington Post. The stories they found are unexpected, riveting, and inspiring, including a former coal miner devoted to making mine roofs less likely to collapse, saving thousands of lives; an IRS agent straight out of a crime thriller; and the manager who made the National Cemetery Administration the best-run organization, public or private, in the entire country. Each essay shines a spotlight on the essential behind-the-scenes work of exemplary federal employees. Whether they're digitizing archives, chasing down cybercriminals, or discovering new planets, these public servants are committed to their work and universally reluctant to take credit. Expanding on the Washington Post series, the vivid profiles in Who Is Government? blow up the stereotype of the irrelevant bureaucrat. They show how the essential business of government makes our lives possible, and how much it matters"-- provided by publisher

"US Foreign aid is one of the most misunderstand functions of our federal government. Consuming less than 1% of the federal government budget, it has nonetheless played an outsized role in political debate. At the center of this controversy and misunderstanding has been the U.S. Agency for International Development, or AID, the government agency created during the Kennedy administration to administer America's foreign assistance programs, an often-conflicted behemoth with a presence spanning the globe. In this book, journalist and foreign policy expert John Norris provides a compelling and rich story of AID, warts and all. There have been moments of enormous triumph: the eradication of smallpox, the Green Revolution, efforts to bring family planning to millions of women for the first time. There have also been florid, headline-grabbing failures in places like Vietnam and Iraq, missteps born out of ignorance and ethnocentrism, and money that flowed into the coffers of despots like President Mobutu in Zaire. In totality, the work of AID has touched millions and millions of lives in ways that have been truly profound, both good and bad. On the Eve of AID's 60th anniversary, Norris shares history on an almost epic scale that remains largely untold." -- provided by publisher

"By the author of the blog Not One-Off Britishisms (NOOB), an account of when, how, and why various British terms and phrases have become part of contemporary American English. Critics and lexicographers have long noted the many differences between British and American English, and British writers and critics have complained about the invasion of Americanisms since at least the 1700s. More recently, however, a large number of words and phrases once thought to be strictly British English have worked their way into mainstream American writing and speech. Since 2011, Ben Yagoda has maintained a blog, Not One-Off Britishisms, in which he tracks, defines, and discusses British terms and phrases that have entered the American lexicon. In this short, entertaining book he collects his findings, charts the changes, and explores why certain UK expressions have taken hold in the US, sometimes even when a serviceable American equivalent exists. Chapters cover historical NOOBs, military slang, the top 40 NOOBs, insults, sport, food and drink, and faux NOOBs, along with notes on grammar, syntax, and pronunciation. See draft MS in the DAM"-- from the publisher

"A bold, urgent appeal from the acclaimed columnist and political commentator, addressing one of the most important issues of our time. In Peter Beinart's view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history, and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvation, Beinart argues, Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must do nothing less than offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew? Beinart imagines an alternate narrative, which would draw on other nations' efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish tradition. A story in which Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. One that recognizes the danger of venerating states at the expense of human life. Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza is a provocative argument that will expand and inform one of the defining conversations of our time. It is a book that only Peter Beinart could write: a passionate yet measured work that brings together his personal experience, his commanding grasp of history, his keen understanding of political and moral dilemmas, and a clear vision for the future." -- provided by publisher

"TikTok is the fastest growing app in the world, and the first to challenge Silicon Valley's dominance of social media. Donald Trump claimed it was a threat to US security and tried to outlaw it and India has banned it. Do the concerns about Chinese ownership justify TikTok's treatment in the West? How has it taken over the world in just a few years, and what does its success mean for the future of technology? For this book, the author interviewed hundreds of people connected to the short-form video app. He goes behind the scenes at its ambitious Chinese owner, ByteDance, to present an examination of the characters and strategies behind the world's new tech order." -- adapted from publisher's description.

"How Donald Trump used threats, co-option, and conspiracy theories to bend DOJ and FBI officials to his will to a greater extent than publicly known -- and how Merrick Garland, other prosecutors, and judges failed to hold him accountable before the 2024 election. Over the course of his presidency, Donald Trump intimidated, silenced, and bent to his will Justice Department and FBI officials, from Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and William Barr to career public servants. He sowed public doubt in both agencies so successfully that when he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election, he paid little political cost and, despite an unprecedented array of criminal indictments, easily won the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election. In Where Tyranny Begins, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Rohde investigates the strategies Trump systematically used to turn the country's two most powerful law-enforcement agencies into his personal political weapons. Rohde also reveals how, during the Biden years, Justice Department nonpartisan 1970s norms that Attorney General Merrick Garland reinforced inadvertently helped Trump, and could fail to deliver a trial and legal accountability by Election Day 2024. Where Tyranny Begins exposes how ill-suited both the DOJ and FBI are to serve as checks on abuses of presidential power. The rise of hyper-partisanship and the Trump and Biden presidencies have uncovered core flaws in American constitutional democracy that Trump would exploit in a second term. A round of historic reforms equivalent to the post-Watergate reforms that stabilized American democracy in the 1970s are immediately needed. A five-word warning coined by the English philosopher John Locke in 1689 captures the stakes in 2024: "Where-ever law ends, tyranny begins." -- provided by publisher

"Examines the contentious events surrounding President Ford's decision to pardon Nixon, featuring key players such as Alexander Haig and Benton Becker, and explores its long-term impact on American politics and the presidency, arguing that this was not a necessary act of healing, but rather an unwise gift to an undeserving recipient" - provided by publisher

"In the beginning was the Word," reads the Gospel of John. This sentence and the words of all four gospels are central to the teachings of the Christian church and have shaped Western art, literature, and language, and the Western mind. Yet in the years after the death of Christ, there was not merely one word, nor any consensus as to who Jesus was or why he had mattered. There were many different Jesuses: the Jesus who scorned his parents and harmed those who opposed him; the Jesus who sold his twin into slavery; the Jesus who had someone crucified in his stead. Moreover, in the early years of the millennium, there were many other saviors, many sons of gods who healed the wounded and cured the sick. But as Christianity spread, they were pronounced unacceptable--even heretical--and they faded from view. Now, in Heresy, Cathering Nixey tells their extraordinary and thrilling story, one of plurality, power, and chance. It is a story about what might have been"-- Jacket flap.

"The Newsmongers unfolds the seedy history of tabloid journalism, from the first printed 'Strange Newes' sheets of the sixteenth century to the sensationalism of today's digital age. The narrative weaves from Regency gossip writers through New York's 'yellow journalism' battles to the 'sex and sleaze' Sun of the 1970s; and from the Brexit-backing populism of the Daily Mail to the celebrity-obsessed Mail Online of the 2000s. Colourful figures such as Daniel Defoe, Lord Northcliffe, Hugh Cudlipp, Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell are brought to vivid life. From scandalous confessions to the Leveson Inquiry, the book explores journalists' unscrupulous methods, taking in phone hacking, privacy breaches and bribery. In the digital era, popular journalism succumbed to 'churnalism' while a certain royal is seeking revenge on the tabloids today" - provided by publisher

In this urgent, insightful essay, a respected historian places the Israeli-Palestinian war in context, challenging Western attitudes about the region. Is the destruction of Gaza only a consequence of the October 7, 2023 attack, or is it also the outcome of a long process of dispossession and eradication? Do Palestinians have the right to resist the occupation? Is talking about genocide anti-Semitism? Enzo Traverso goes to the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by calling history into question and offers a critical interpretation that overturns the one-sided perspective from which we have become accustomed to observing what is happening in Gaza.-- provided by publisher

"An ethnographically rich study of graffiti as monument and the monument as graffiti, establishing that graffiti is an inherently political form of popular visual culture"-- "What is graffiti--vandalism, ornament, art? What if, rather than any of those things, we thought of graffiti as a monument? How would that change our understanding of graffiti, and, in turn, our understanding of monument? In Monumental Graffiti, curator and anthropologist Rafael Schacter focuses on the material, communicative, and contextual aspects of these two forms of material culture to provide a timely perspective on public art, citizenship, and the city today. He applies monument as a lens to understand graffiti and graffiti as a lens to comprehend monument, challenging us to consider what the appropriate monument for our contemporary world could be. Monumental Graffiti unpacks today's iconoclastic moment, showing us why graffiti demands our urgent attention as a form of expression that challenges power structures by questioning whose voices are included in--and whose are excluded from--public space. Written from twenty years of embedded research on graffiti, the book includes works from graffiti writers such as 10Foot, Delta, Egs, Honet, Mosa, Petro, Revok, and Wombat, alongside those of artists such as Francis Alÿs, Jeremy Deller, Thomas Hirschhorn, Jenny Holzer, Klara Liden, Gordon Matta-Clark, William Pope.L, Cy Twombly, and many more." -- provided by publisher

"Catastrophic diplomacy offers a sweeping history of US foreign disaster assistance, highlighting its centrality to twentieth-century US foreign relations. Spanning over seventy years, from the dawn of the twentieth century to the mid-1970s, it examines how the US government, US military, and their partners in the American voluntary sector responded to major catastrophes around the world. Focusing on US responses to sudden disasters caused by earthquakes, tropical storms, and floods-crises commonly known as 'natural disasters'-historian Julia F. Irwin highlights the complex and messy politics of emergency humanitarian relief. Deftly weaving together diplomatic, environmental, military, and humanitarian histories, Irwin tracks the rise of US disaster aid as a tool of foreign policy, showing how and why the US foreign policy establishment first began contributing aid to survivors of international catastrophes. While the book focuses mainly on bilateral assistance efforts, it also assesses the broader international context in which the US government and its auxiliaries operated, situating their humanitarian responses against the aid efforts of other nations, empires, and international organizations. At its most fundamental level, Catastrophic Diplomacy demonstrates the importance of international disaster assistance-and humanitarian aid more broadly-to US foreign affairs"- provided by publisher.

"Not long after the Berlin Wall came down, three teenagers--a woman and two men--became friends in the East German town of Jena. It was a time of excitement, but also of economic crisis: some four million East Germans found themselves out of a job. At first, the three friends spent their nights lingering in train stations, smoking, drinking, and looking for trouble. Then, they began attending far-right rallies with people called themselves National Socialists: Nazis. Like the Hitler-led Nazis before them, these Neo-Nazis--also known as the National Socialist Underground--blamed minorities for their ills: working-class men and women from countries like Turkey, Vietnam, and Greece who had been brought over as "guest workers" to fill jobs in Germanys' factories and mines. And so, from 2000 to 2011, the NSU began to kill them and their descendants one by one. It became the most horrific string of white nationalist killings since the Holocaust. Inside family homes, police and intelligence agencies, and a Munich courtroom, which would witness Germany's most sensational trial since Nuremburg, Look Away follows Beate Zschäpe and her two accomplices--and sometimes lovers--as they radicalized within Germany's far-right scene, escaped into hiding, and carried out their anti-immigrant killing spree. It also follows Katharina König, an Antifa punk who, sickened and frightened by the rise of Neo-Nazis in her hometown in the 1990s, began secretly tracking the NSU--and would later expose them to the world. This is the definitive account of how a group of young Germans carried out a shocking spree of white supremacist violence, and how a nation and its government looked the other way until it was too late"-- provided by publisher

"In his first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, #1 bestselling author John Grisham and Centurion Ministries Founder Jim McCloskey share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions. Impeccably researched and grippingly told, Framed offers an inside look at the victims of the United States criminal justice system. A fundamental principle of our legal system is a presumption of innocence, but once someone has been found guilty there is very little room to prove doubt. Framed shares ten true stories of men who were innocent but found guilty and forced to sacrifice friends, families, wives, and decades of their lives to prison while the guilty parties remained free. In each of the stories, John Grisham and Jim McCloskey recount the dramatic hard-fought battles for exoneration. They take a close look at what leads to wrongful convictions in the first place, and the racism, misconduct, flawed testimony, and the corrupt court system that can make them so hard to reverse. Told with page-turning suspense as only John Grisham can deliver, Framed is the story of overcoming adversity when the battle already seems lost, and the deck is stacked against you"-- provided by publisher.

Blues Mamas and Broadway Belters examines racialized embodied singing techniques and their transmission, dwelling with the ways that black women singers theorized the voice in US musical theater performances from 1900 to 1970. Approaching voice from a performance studies perspective, Masi Asare sketches biographies of singers such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt, and others, focusing on the different types of training each performer received. Asare draws on her own experience as a composer, lyricist, playwright, and voice teacher to engage readers in a comprehensive singing lesson and practice of listening, offering analysis of vocal performances, critical theorization of voice pedagogy, and a series of creative voice exercises. As a black feminist voice study, Blues Mamas and Broadway Belters serves as a project to write black women and racially marginalized groups into the history of Broadway and musical theater"-- provided by publisher

"Crowded Out examines how charitable crowdfunding so quickly overtook public life, where it is taking us, and who gets left behind by this new platformed economy. While crowdfunding has become ubiquitous in our lives, it is largely misunderstood by the public: rather than a friendly free market "powered by the kindness" of strangers, crowdfunding is powerfully reinforcing inequalities and changing the way Americans think about, and access, health care. Drawing on extensive research and rich storytelling, Crowded Out demonstrates how crowdfunding for health is fueled by, and further reinforces, financial and moral "toxicities" in market-based health systems"-- provided by publisher

"From the finance editor of The New York Times, an examination of Bill Gates-one of the most powerful, fascinating, and contradictory figures of the past four decades-and an eye-opening exploration of our national fixation on billionaires"-- provided by publisher.

"In Human Trafficking: Interdisciplinary Perspectives experts from a wide range of disciplinary and professional backgrounds provide a uniquely comprehensive understanding of human trafficking in the twenty-first century. Chapter authors consider historical, sociocultural, legal, public health, human rights and psychological aspects of this issue. New chapters address important topics such as racism, child soldiers, organ trafficking and the role of technology and the banking industry in trafficking. The third edition also explores the ways in which institutionalized oppression of people of color, Native Americans and those in the LGBTQ+ community can underlie vulnerability of these populations to being trafficked. Human Trafficking is essential reading for professionals in law enforcement, human services, and health care, and for concerned citizens interested in human rights and making a difference in their communities. This book is also intended for use in undergraduate and graduate interdisciplinary courses in human trafficking"-- provided by publisher.

"An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo's cobalt mining operation-and the moral implications that affect us all. Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has traveled deep into cobalt territory to document the testimonies of the people living, working, and dying for cobalt. To uncover the truth about brutal mining practices, Kara investigated militia-controlled mining areas, traced the supply chain of child-mined cobalt from toxic pit to consumer-facing tech giants, and gathered shocking testimonies of people who endure immense suffering and even die mining cobalt. Cobalt is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today, the batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. More than 70 percent of the world's supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions. Billions of people in the world cannot conduct their daily lives without participating in a human rights and environmental catastrophe in the Congo. In this stark and crucial book, Kara argues that we must all care about what is happening in the Congo-because we are all implicated"-- provided by publisher.

"The new economics of love and marriage-and who benefits. The realities of single parenting in the US have long carried a connotation of hardship-not just in finances, but in the wrenching day-to-day challenges of parenting without a net. As marriage rates in the US continue to drop, and as single-parent households become increasingly concentrated at the lower end of the income spectrum, it begs the question: what does all this mean for a country and a society already dogged by inequality and the weight of racial discrimination? The Two-Parent Privilege examines the emerging role of marriage in the United States. Weaving data and observations drawn from across the social sciences, economist Melissa Kearney explores how the concentration of marriage among the affluent has made the institution of marriage itself a propagator of American inequality--one that may signal the end of American economic mobility. Kearney's work is a trenchant, sometimes uncomfortable, but deeply necessary critical look at how the makeup of our households are charting our path ahead"-- provided by publisher.

"Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God is the most-compreshensive examination of Hezbollah's covert activities beyond Lebanon's borders, including its financial and logistical support networks and its criminal and terrorist operations worldwide. Originally published in 2013, this paperback edition includes a new preface and epilogue by the author to update us on Hezbollah's activities in recent years, particularly in supporting the Assad regime in Syria's civil war and the latest crossborder fighting between Hezbollah and Israel after October 7, 2023. Hezbollah-which translates as "Party of God"-is a multifaceted organization: It is a powerful political party in Lebanon, a Shia Islam religious and social movement, Lebanon's largest militia, a close ally of Iran and Hamas, and a terrorist organization. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including declassified government documents, court records, and personal interviews with intelligence and law enforcement officials around the world, Matthew Levitt examines Hezbollah's beginnings, its first violent forays in Lebanon, and then its terrorist activities and criminal enterprises abroad in Europe, the Middle East, South America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and finally in North America. Levitt also describes Hezbollah's unit dedicated to supporting Palestinian militant groups and Hezbollah's involvement in training and supporting insurgents who fought US troops in post-Saddam Iraq. The book concludes with a look at Hezbollah's integral, ongoing role in Iran's shadow war with Israel and the West, including plots targeting civilians around the world. Levitt shows convincingly that Hezbollah's willingness to use violence at home and abroad, its global reach, and its proxy-patron relationship with the Iranian regime remains a serious international concern. Hezbollah is an important book for scholars, policymakers, students, and the general public interested in international security, terrorism, international criminal organizations, and Middle East studies"-- provided by publisher.

"Ellen Schrecker shows how universities shaped the 1960s, and how the 1960s shaped them. Teach-ins and walkouts-in institutions large and small, across both the country and the political spectrum-were only the first actions that came to redefine universities as hotbeds of unrest for some and handmaidens of oppression for others. The tensions among speech, education, and institutional funding came into focus as never before-and the reverberations remain palpable today"-- provided by publisher.

"This guide will help Indigenous students and Students of Color to thrive in post-secondary education as their full, authentic selves. Readers will find an interactive resource that includes relatable vignettes"-- "This one-of-a-kind, 'how-to' guide is designed to help Indigenous Students and Students of Color (ISOC) thrive in postsecondary education. It spotlights the personal and cultural capital ISOCs bring with them on their postsecondary educational journey. This book helps students identify, strengthen, and use these assets so that success in higher education is not only possible but inevitable. Written by faculty and administrators of color, from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, this guide contains insider advice and strategies to help ISOCs successfully navigate the challenges they might face wherever their postsecondary journey takes them. Through stories and relatable vignettes that help readers envision themselves in the book, this easy-to-use, interactive resource includes features such as Professional Tips, Think Alone/Think Together discussion prompts, and skill-building end-of-chapter activities that help students to develop their assets and hone their skills." -- provided by publisher

"In science, it frequently happens that researchers look for something and find something else: understanding why leads us to the heart of how scientific method works and to the root of its wonder"-- provided by publisher

"A president defying Congress. Disrespect for the law. Attacks on the press. Evasion in the courts. The privatization of war. Quid pro quos with foreign nations. The mounting dangers to American democracy have long been with us. But all these perils first emerged together during the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan-Bush era. This opaque foreign policy mess has receded from history, a minor speedbump at the triumphant end of the Cold War. With American democracy in increasing jeopardy from the inside, however, Iran-Contra must be reassessed as a major step down that dark path. In this gripping blow-by-blow account of the 1980s efforts to trade arms with Iran illegally, fund rebels in Central America despite a congressional prohibition, and dodge political and legal consequences once the truth emerged, Alan McPherson argues for the salience of six democracy-degrading behaviors throughout the fiasco. At the time, many warned of the broad attack on democratic norms, yet no one paid a real price or learned a lesson. Those failures left the country more divided than ever before, and ill-equipped for more severe assaults to come"-- provided by publisher

"If you could ask a dolphin one question, what would it be? What might a dolphin ask you? In her studies of marine mammal communication, researcher and author Denise Herzing has asked these and related questions for nearly forty years. In this wide-ranging and accessible book, Herzing connects research on dolphin communication to findings from Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Dian Fossey on mountain gorillas, Cynthia Moss on African elephants, and others driving today's exploration of animal language. Considering dolphins and other nonhuman animals as colleagues instead of research subjects, she asks us to meet animals as both speakers and listeners, learning from what others have to tell us, regardless of our agendas. Our ancestors evolved with plants, animals, and the earth itself. We breathe the same oxygen, walk in the same woods, and feel the same wind and water as other life. Understanding animal communication, Herzing reminds us, helps us start to appreciate that we are mutually curious species, carefully considering each other"-- provided by publisher

"Today's tech has overtaken religion as the chief shaper of 21st-century human lives and communities. In this book, Greg M. Epstein, the influential humanist chaplain at Harvard and MIT, explores what it means to be a critical thinker about this new faith, taking readers on a journey towards reasserting our common humanity"-- "Today's technology has overtaken religion as the chief influence on twenty-first century life and community. In Tech Agnostic, Harvard and MIT's influential humanist chaplain Greg Epstein explores what it means to be a critical thinker with respect to this new faith. Encouraging readers to reassert their common humanity beyond the seductive sheen of 'tech,' this book argues for tech agnosticism - not worship - as a way of life. Without suggesting we return to a mythical pre-tech past, Epstein shows why we must maintain a freethinking critical perspective toward innovation until it proves itself worthy of our faith or not. Epstein asks probing questions that center humanity at the heart of engineering: Who profits from an uncritical faith in technology? How can we remedy technology's problems while retaining its benefits? Showing how unbelief has always served humanity, Epstein revisits the historical apostates, skeptics, mystics, Cassandras, heretics, and whistleblowers who embody the tech reformation we desperately need. He argues that we must learn how to collectively demand that technology serve our pursuit of human lives that are deeply worth living" -- provided by publisher

You can hardly pass through customs at an airport today without having your picture taken and your fingertips scanned, that information then stored in an archive you'll never see. Nor can you use your home's smart technology without wondering what, exactly, that technology might do with all you've shared with it: shopping habits, security decisions, media choices. Every day, Americans surrender their private information to entities that claim to have their best interests in mind, in exchange for a promise of safety or convenience. This trade-off has long been taken for granted, but the extent of its nefariousness has recently become much clearer. As Lawrence Cappello's None of Your Damn Business reveals, the problem is not so much that data will be used in ways we don't want, but rather how willing we have been to have our information used, abused, and sold right back to us. In this startling book, Cappello shows that this state of affairs was not the inevitable by-product of technological progress. He targets key moments from the past 130 years of US history when privacy was central to battles over journalistic freedom, national security, surveillance, big data, and reproductive rights. As he makes dismayingly clear, Americans have had numerous opportunities to protect the public good while simultaneously safeguarding personal information, and we've squandered them every time. The wide range of the debates and incidents presented here shows that, despite America's endless rhetoric or individual freedom, we actually have some of the weakest privacy protections in the developed world. None of Your Damn Business is a rich and provocative survey of an alarming topic that grows only more relevant with each fresh outrage of trust betrayed. -- provided by publisher

"The gaping holes in the U.S. and Canadian safety nets at a federal level mean that many people live in a state of financial precarity that can instantly become untenable in the face of another big expense, such as a large medical bill or damaged property. Historically, people have turned to their communities, neighbors, families, and loved ones for help in these situations. Today, asking for money on the internet through crowdfunding is among the most popular ways of seeking and donating charity, and for-profit enterprises have realized that tapping into this instinct for seeking help would be extremely good business. 'GoFailMe' reveals how these sites, most notably GoFundMe, are enjoying massive revenue, without providing the help they promise. They fail their users while putting them through an emotional rollercoaster and using sneaky tactics to obscure that reality. With unprecedented access to interviews, surveys, and hundreds of thousands of crowdfunding cases across North America, Erik Schneiderhan and Martin Lukk take on pressing questions with critical insight: When do we turn to others for help? Who succeeds and who fails in the digital crowd? Whom do these sites benefit? Ultimately, the failure of GoFundMe is emblematic of the inability of the for-profit sector and Big Tech to engineer an end to social inequality."-- provided by publisher