Lan Xiaohuan's "Inside the Matter" (Shanghai People's Publishing House, Century Wenjing): A wonderful popular science masterpiece on the position, influence and role of the government in China's economic development launched by Lan Xiaohuan, a young economic scholar who works for Fudan University, is divided into micro and macro parts, starting from the economic phenomena such as investment promotion, fiscal and tax collection, and urbanization that are familiar to the public readers, and telling the complex interactive relationship between the Chinese government and economic development with concise and vivid words. The author's sharing truly achieves "getting in" and "getting out", and its clear framework, clear points and step-by-step explanations not only reflect his rich accumulation of contemporary Chinese political economy and development economics research over the years, but also reflect his effective experience of "teaching and learning" (teaching and research promote each other) in university teaching positions. The conclusion and extended reading at the end of each chapter are more vividly reflected in the author's reader-oriented consciousness and popular science communication ability. Such a well-polished high-quality work is worth reading carefully by every friend who pays attention to the political, economic and social development of contemporary China.
Shi Qiande's "Rickshaw Puller in Beijing" (Jiangsu People's Publishing House): A masterpiece of American scholar Shi Qiande's research on the urban politics and social ecology of Beijing in the 1920s, although the Chinese edition came out, nearly thirty years after its original publication, it still has important reference value in terms of research themes, research perspectives, material use and writing expression, etc., and for the relevant domestic academic circles and reading circles. From a personal point of view, this book has three major characteristics - one is to get rid of the traditional dualistic paradigm of "state and society", fully restore the rich hierarchies and aspects within various occupational groups in Beijing, close interaction and interconnection with the outside, and clearly show the intricate and interlaced relationship between political power, community organization, and individual existence in the formation and interaction of various groups and subcultures; the other is the microscopic, mesoscopic, and interlocking relationship between political power, community organization, and individual existence in the formation and interaction of various groups and subcultures; the other is the microscopic, mesoscopic, and interlocking relationship between historical events, the restoration of group and individual existence, and the reproduction of the background of the times. The combination of macro perspectives is relatively well done; the third is the comprehensive use of literary works, archives, social surveys, media reports and other historical materials, and its overall interpretation is deep and appropriate. Overall, it is a very good and outstanding work of Chinese urban history research, which is worth paying attention to and perusing.
(United States) Darnton's "The World of Books on the Eve of the French Revolution" (Shanghai People's Publishing House, Century Wenjing): a masterpiece of the history of books before the French Revolution, a hall-level scholar of new cultural history and reading and publishing history, starting from the tens of thousands of archives of an ordinary publishing house at that time, combined with correspondence between booksellers, publishing yearbooks, media reports and other complicated historical materials, for readers to restore a sales representative of the publishing house, traveled all over France, contacted the complete process of selling books. Behind the narrative and readable travel story of sales representatives, Darnton's superb ability to string together and sort out massive historical materials with clear problem awareness, from the microscopic perspective of individualized stories, the small-mindedness of reading, publishing and social culture in France at that time, and the audience-oriented consciousness of transforming cumbersome historical materials into clear and interesting fluent texts, are all breathtaking.
Sandel's "The Arrogance of the Elite" (CITIC Publishing Group, Wanderer): Sandel's latest work, a public philosophy scholar who has always paid attention to major issues in the United States and global politics and society, systematically expounds the reflection and criticism of the meritocracy that supports the daily operation of American society in the latest social context of Trump's administration, intensified class solidification, and increasingly serious polarization. In Sandel's view, meritocracy in which the most outstanding performance of talent occupies the upper echelons and dominance of society will lead to the elite's conviction and natural arrogance in the legitimacy of the social status they have acquired, and will also lead to the living state of the "silent majority" with ordinary performance, which will be ignored and ignored for a long time. It is Sander's social ideal to get rid of the blind supremacy of merit and let everyone live a relatively equal, decent and prosperous life. Although Sandel is difficult to give a complete alternative to meritocracy, the author's reflection, whether it is in American society or in a Chinese society where there are many adherents of meritocracy, is of great reference value and innovative significance.
Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (Yilin Press): A blockbuster translation of Yilin Publishing House's brand series , "Humanities and Society" translation series, launched in the spring of 2021. Its focus on the theme of anti-intellectualism in American social life is enough to make readers reflect on the historical origin of the new reality of the United States under Trump on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can also make readers reflect on the core social crux and issues of their own country through the social reality of the world's number one power, the United States, at a time when consumerism and fast-paced life are pervasive around the world. What is even more valuable is that this book is not only an empirical research treatise based on social life cases, but also goes deep into the starting point and development of American social thought and social beliefs, and explores the deep-seated reasons why anti-intellectualism has become the mainstream social culture in the United States. This kind of academic masterpiece that integrates the study of social and cultural history and the study of the history of social thought, and has both ideological thickness, rich cases, smooth exposition and practical significance, is very worthy of attention.
Zhou Xiaohong Editor-in-Chief of Reconstructing Chinese Sociology (Commercial Press): An oral interview transcript compiled by an academic team led by Zhou Xiaohong, a well-known scholar of sociology, social psychology and Chinese studies, for 40 sociologists who participated in the reconstruction of Chinese sociology disciplines since the reform and opening up. In addition to a small number of scholars such as Zheng Yefu who have not been able to conduct interviews for various reasons, this two-volume set of large books basically covers a group of senior scholars who are most well-known and active in the field of Chinese sociology today. In terms of the outline design and problem awareness of the oral interview, it corresponds to the three major research directions of the editor-in-chief, namely, the discipline reconstruction process of Chinese sociology from the perspective of sociology, the introduction and dissemination of Western sociological theories and methods, the evolution and development process of localized sociological research, the academic research career, the course of the scholar's heart and personal life trajectory from the perspective of social psychology, and the life history of a generation of sociologists from the perspective of Chinese studies. The close interaction between academic history and the history of the evolution and change of the times in the past 40 years of reform and opening up. Together, these oral transcripts are essential references for understanding, studying, and studying the history of Chinese sociology and contemporary Chinese history.
Jesse Norman's Biography of Adam Smith (CITIC Publishing Group): An excellent biography of the scholar Adam Smith. It is mainly reflected in three aspects - First, this book completely and exhaustively introduces Smith's life, thoughts and major contributions, and organically combines these three to outline a clear vein of Smith's life and thought. Second, the appearance of Smith presented in this book is comprehensive and three-dimensional, which to a large extent breaks the media and the public's habitual and solidified cognition of the roles of Smith's economists, liberals, market fundamentalists and so on. The third is the account of this book, which is mainly based on the careful reading and deep cultivation of first-hand literature and Smith's representative works, and although the relevant views are not uncommon and innovative, the arguments are fair and well-founded. The publication of such an excellent biographical Chinese edition is of great benefit to Chinese readers in fully grasping Smith's life and thoughts, and then clarifying the prejudices and one-sided perceptions of Smith caused by the media and the public's previous misreadings of Smith.
Li Yongjing's Mutation (One Page & Guangxi Normal University Publishing House): A well-known Scholar of Japanese Studies by Mr. Li Yongjing, a good academic and popular science work on Japan, with important cultural elements, important figures, important historical events and important contemporary issues related to Japan as keywords, one by one, a clear interpretation of both academic, readable and fluent. In the process of interpretation, the origin and similarities and differences between Japanese culture ("culture" here is a big cultural concept, which is different from the "culture" in the previous article) and Chinese culture, highlights the origins and similarities and differences between the public's inherent prejudice against "perversion" of Japanese culture, and highlights the analysis of the origin and truth of the public's inherent prejudice against Japanese culture, and highlights the analysis of the various mutations and evolutionary changes that have occurred in Japanese culture over the past two thousand years. It is really an excellent Japanese overview work for the Chinese intellectual public, and it is worth recommending.
Cao Dongbo, "In the City and Looking at the Countryside" (Shanghai People's Publishing House, Century Wenjing): Cao Dongbo, a young scholar at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, is the latest book on the study of the "three rural areas" in contemporary China. In my personal opinion, this book has at least four advantages - one is that the problem awareness is strong, the whole book is unfolded in the form of five lectures, focusing on the core issues in the "three rural" work such as land and governance, and carrying out the exposition of words and materials; second, the practice orientation is prominent, all the expositions are based on the author's in-depth and solid fieldwork, although there is no lack of theoretical care, but the relevant theoretical analysis is effectively tested by rural reality and actual practice, truly embodying "writing papers on the ground"; third, the integration of urban and rural perspectives. The author changes the current academic circles that are too much in pursuit of division of disciplines, often separating urban and rural research, such as the title of the book "Looking at the Countryside in the City", to clarify the historical and practical context of the interactive relationship between Urban and Rural Development in China; fourth, the selection of historical materials is unique, the author not only has a deeper Marxist theoretical attainment, but also uses the relevant literature of Chen Yun and other new Chinese leaders as important materials, and his efforts to explore the "three rural areas" problem in China's mainstream political context are admirable.
Zhao Dingxin's "What is Sociology" (Sanlian Bookstore): A latest work launched by the "Ledao Library" edited by Mr. Luo Zhitian, written by Zhao Dingxin, a well-known sociologist from science and engineering. In a modestly long space, the author abandons an all-encompassing introduction to the discipline of sociology, focusing instead on the structural/mechanism analysis perspective of sociology, analyzing in detail the inherent research methods of this analytical perspective, reflecting on the limitations and shortcomings of its perspective and method, and suggesting improvements in this regard. The author's background in science and engineering makes his narrative logical and hierarchical, and at the same time has a strong theoretical color, he is as clear and readable as possible. In the process of narration, the consistent awareness of problems and reflection directly helps readers to cultivate a sociological way of thinking, and to have a clear understanding and reflection on the discipline. It can be called a scientific popularization work in a high-level sense and is worth recommending.
(The bibliography of this book is all read by Gong Weng in 2021, Chinese mainland publishing houses in the first edition of 2021 (not a revised edition or republishment), and the stars are selected from the four-star or above ideological history and social science books, and the reviews are original by Gong Weng, representing only personal views and for the reference of book friends.) ）
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