The Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities is delighted to announce the return of its New Books by BC Faculty Series for fall 2025. This semester, the series will spotlight the scholarship and creativity of seven Brooklyn College faculty members. Each event in the series will celebrate a recently published work, offering the campus community the opportunity to engage directly with the authors and their ideas. The full schedule is listed below, with complete event details available through the event title links. September 29, 6:30–7:30 p.m. Free Speech Handbook: A Practical Framework for Understanding Our Free Speech Protections Join this online conversation with author Ian Rosenberg and illustrator Mike Cavallaro, moderated by Associate Professor Beth Evans, Brooklyn College Library. In the face of a rising tide of censorship and suppression, this updated paperback edition of Free Speech Handbook, the acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel, equips readers with a practical framework for appreciating the history―and future―of our free speech protections. October 7, 12:30–2 p.m. Labor Evangelicals: Faith, Authority, and Resistance at Work Join us for a conversation with Associate Professor of Political Science Ken Estey, author of Labor Evangelicals, and Professor of Sociology Timothy Shortell. Estey’s recent book studies theologically conservative working-class evangelicals in the United States who resist the common preconception that they eagerly embrace deregulation, unfettered markets, and globalized capital. October 9, 6–7:15 p.m. Art as Cognition: How Gist Reframes the Aesthetic Experience as Conversation Join Associate Professor of Philosophy Dena Shottenkirk and Assistant Professor Nicholas Whittaker (Wesleyan University) as they discuss Shottenkirk’s Art as Cognition. The book argues that a satisfactory account of the aesthetic experience would be derived from the perceptual experiences of both artist and viewer. October 16, 6–7:15 p.m. Embodied Epistemology as Rigorous Historical Method Join medieval historian Lauren Mancia and Professor of Anthropology Katie Rose Hejtmanek as they discuss Mancia’s new short book, Embodied Epistemology as Rigorous Historical Method. Learn why scholars assume they cannot use reperformance in academic inquiry and why they, in fact, should. October 20, 6–7:15 p.m. Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities Join Gabe Dunn, bestselling author, actor, and filmmaker, and host of the podcast “Bad With Money,” and Professor Celina Su, Department of Political Science, for a conversation on racial capitalism, coalition building, and her book recent book, Budget Justice. Drawing on her years of engagement with democratic governance in New York City and around the globe, Su proposes in her book a new kind of democracy, in which city residents make collective decisions about public needs through processes like participatory budgeting, and in which they work across racial divides and segregated spaces as neighbors rather than as consumers or members of voting blocs. October 23, 6–7:15 p.m. The Fruitfulness of Normative Concepts Join Associate Professor of Philosophy Professor Matthew Lindauer for a conversation on his important recent book, The Fruitfulness of Normative Concepts. Can philosophical concepts do real work in improving our world? Should we, when evaluating competing understandings of concepts like “justice” and “solidarity,” take into account whether these different understandings can help us to fight injustice and promote solidarity between people? November 20, 3:40–5 p.m. Words With Wings and Magic Things Join author and Associate Professor of English Matthew Burgess and illustrator Doug Salati as they discuss their collaboration in their recent book, Words With Wings and Magic Things. Beyond the doorway of the first page of this collection awaits a dragon piñata, an alligator on the A train, a hungry yeti, an ice cream dream, jetpack sneakers, midnight firelight, a gray day, a plump tomato, a serious question, and so much more.
