This recommendation is a bit tongue-in-cheek. Lennard J. Davis’ Obsession: A Historytracks the “disease” of obsession from demonic possession to contemporary television addiction. We’ve all got an unusually avid interest in something, perhaps an obsession. Rather than retreat and “fix” it, have a read of Davis’ book. Now out from University of Chicago Press. Available now from Amazon.

An oft forgotten program of the New Deal dedicated billions to the recovery and galvanization of the main street store front. Throughout the 1930s the Modernization Credit Plan added store owners, helping them revamp facades, and played a major rollin modernizing the American shopping district. In Modernizing Main Street, Gabrielle Esperdy traces the cultural history of the plan. She shows how the seemingly diametric forces of depression and consumerism interact, and work to transform thearchitecture of commerce. The book is published by University of Chicago Press. 

Inevitably, at some point in our lives, we are all trapped in the cycle of the airport. Bagsare lost. Connections missed. Delays endured. On the other end of the spectrum,the airport can be a location of great jubilation. Reuniting with lovers. Escaping reality. The beginning of an adventure. 

Airports have come along way since their original inception. They’ve become sites of architectural genius and security inadequacy. Alistair Gordon’s Naked Airport: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Revolutionary Structure, details the rise of the airport. He covers socio-economic impact, as well as the affect of air travel on perceptions of time and place. Naked Airport is now out in paperback, convenient for all those new baggage weight restrictions, from University of Chicago Press.