Sree Sreenivasan Powerwomensummit

Social coach, @refugees @prathamusa @teacherprize • cofounder, @digimentors w/@fuzheado • exCDO @Columbia @MetMuseum @NYCgov • Mr @roopaonline • sree@sree.net

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Book Recommendations:

I learned so much interviewing one of my journalism heroes, @davidcayj about his new book, “The Big Cheat,” about the Trump criminal enterprise. Check out his awesome @DCReportMedia - stories you won’t see elsewhere! https://t.co/mWErGNvmIn (from X)

Pulitzer Prize­–winning reporter and dean of Trumpologists David Cay Johnston reveals years of eye-popping financial misdeeds by Donald Trump and his family. While the world watched Donald Trump’s presidency in horror or delight, few noticed that his lifelong grifting quietly continued. Less than forty minutes after taking the oath of office, Trump began turning the White House into a money machine for himself, his family, and his courtiers. More than $1.7 billion flowed into Donald Trump’s bank accounts during his four years as president. Foreign governments rented out whole floors of his hotel five blocks from the White House while lobbyists conducted business in the hotel’s restaurants. Payday lenders and other trade groups moved their annual conventions to Trump golf resorts. And individual favor seekers joined his private Mar-a-Lago club with its $200,000 admission fee in hopes of getting a few minutes with the President. Despite earning more than $1 million every day he was in office, Trump left the White House as he arrived—hard up for cash. More than $400 million in debt comes due by 2024, and Trump still lacks the resources to pay it back. “Few people are as well positioned to write an exposé of the former president as Johnston” (The Washington Post), and The Big Cheat offers a guided tour of how money flowed in and out of Trump’s hundreds of enterprises, showing in simple terms how a corrupt president used our government for his benefit, even putting national security at risk. Johnston details the four most recent years of the corruption that has defined the Trump family since 1885 and reveals the costs of Trump’s extravagant lifestyle for American taxpayers.

How awesome is this gathering - and, that too, for @WajahatAli’s new book! 🙌🏾 And are this many cool Asian Americans even allowed to gather in a single spot (apart from at @aaww & @SymphonySpace, of course)? 🤣 See you there! https://t.co/GsRl8PdXb0 (from X)

“Go back to where you came from, you terrorist!” This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up, but is now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago? Growing up living the suburban American dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties. (“Become a doctor!”) He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore Husky pants, but he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was studying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced communists as America’s enemy #1, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y. Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one of the foremost and funniest public intellectuals in America. In Go Back to Where You Came From, he tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. In this refreshingly bold, hopeful, and uproarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons for cultivating a more compassionate, inclusive, and delicious America.

DROPPING TODAY! @priyafsingh's powerful new book, "How the Other Half Eats," transports readers to the frontlines of America’s nutritional crisis to examine what's driving the dietary gap between the most & least privileged. https://t.co/76TEaPPmFM (from X)

This important book “weaves lyrical storytelling and fascinating research into a compelling narrative” (San Francisco Chronicle) to look at dietary differences along class lines and nutritional disparities in America, illuminating exactly how inequality starts on the dinner plate. Inequality in America manifests in many ways, but perhaps nowhere more than in how we eat. From her years of field research, sociologist and ethnographer Priya Fielding-Singh brings us into the kitchens of dozens of families from varied educational, economic, and ethnoracial backgrounds to explore how—and why—we eat the way we do. We get to know four families intimately: the Bakers, a Black family living below the federal poverty line; the Williamses, a working-class white family just above it; the Ortegas, a middle-class Latinx family; and the Cains, an affluent white family. ​ Whether it's worrying about how far pantry provisions can stretch or whether there's enough time to get dinner on the table before soccer practice, all families have unique experiences that reveal their particular dietary constraints and challenges. By diving into the nuances of these families’ lives, Fielding-Singh lays bare the limits of efforts narrowly focused on improving families’ food access. Instead, she reveals how being rich or poor in America impacts something even more fundamental than the food families can afford: these experiences impact the very meaning of food itself. Packed with lyrical storytelling and groundbreaking research, as well as Fielding-Singh’s personal experiences with food as a biracial, South Asian American woman, How the Other Half Eats illuminates exactly how inequality starts on the dinner plate. Once you’ve taken a seat at tables across America, you’ll never think about class, food, and public health the same way again.

@greatbong @kushanmitra @MMFlint It’s because Americans have zero knowledge about the great damage Churchill did in India. Even smart folks like @AriMelber may have read nothing about it. That’s why @Madhusree1984’s book is so important. https://t.co/68Z9PCenPo (from X)

A dogged enemy of Hitler, resolute ally of the Americans, and inspiring leader through World War II, Winston Churchill is venerated as one of the truly great statesmen of the last century. But while he has been widely extolled for his achievements, parts of Churchill’s record have gone woefully unexamined. As journalist Madhusree Mukerjee reveals, at the same time that Churchill brilliantly opposed the barbarism of the Nazis, he governed India with a fierce resolve to crush its freedom movement and a profound contempt for native lives. A series of Churchill’s decisions between 1940 and 1944 directly and inevitably led to the deaths of some three million Indians. The streets of eastern Indian cities were lined with corpses, yet instead of sending emergency food shipments Churchill used the wheat and ships at his disposal to build stockpiles for feeding postwar Britain and Europe.Combining meticulous research with a vivid narrative, and riveting accounts of personality and policy clashes within and without the British War Cabinet, Churchill’s Secret War places this oft-overlooked tragedy into the larger context of World War II, India’s fight for freedom, and Churchill’s enduring legacy. Winston Churchill may have found victory in Europe, but, as this groundbreaking historical investigation reveals, his mismanagement—facilitated by dubious advice from scientist and eugenicist Lord Cherwell—devastated India and set the stage for the massive bloodletting that accompanied independence.

.@AravindAdiga's "The White Tiger" is an awesome book! https://t.co/PLUfhtuIbO (from X)

The White Tiger: A Novel book cover

by Aravind Adiga·You?

Relocating to New Delhi when he is offered a new job, Balram Halwai is disillusioned by the city's twenty-first-century materialism and technology-spawned violence, a circumstance that forces him to question his loyalties, ambitions, and past. A first novel. 75,000 first printing.

@declanwalsh Would love to interview you about your book for my global show in the days ahead. We can do noon ET/8 pm EAT. DM or email? sree@sree.net CCing my producers, @vandana_menon @RoseHorowitz31 https://t.co/tFRHTWqn19 (from X)

Winner of the 2021 Overseas Press Club of America Cornelius Ryan Award The former New York Times Pakistan bureau chief paints an arresting, up-close portrait of a fractured country. Declan Walsh is one of the New York Times’s most distinguished international correspondents. His electrifying portrait of Pakistan over a tumultuous decade captures the sweep of this strange, wondrous, and benighted country through the dramatic lives of nine fascinating individuals. On assignment as the country careened between crises, Walsh traveled from the raucous port of Karachi to the salons of Lahore, and from Baluchistan to the mountains of Waziristan. He met a diverse cast of extraordinary Pakistanis―a chieftain readying for war at his desert fort, a retired spy skulking through the borderlands, and a crusading lawyer risking death for her beliefs, among others. Through these “nine lives” he describes a country on the brink―a place of creeping extremism and political chaos, but also personal bravery and dogged idealism that defy easy stereotypes. Unbeknownst to Walsh, however, an intelligence agent was tracking him. Written in the aftermath of Walsh’s abrupt deportation, The Nine Lives of Pakistan concludes with an astonishing encounter with that agent, and his revelations about Pakistan’s powerful security state. Intimate and complex, attuned to the centrifugal forces of history, identity, and faith, The Nine Lives of Pakistan offers an unflinching account of life in a precarious, vital country.

Beyond excited to interview @antoniomjohnson, amazing photographer and storyteller as we celebrate his brand-new book, "You Next: Reflections in Black Barbershops." Been following him since he started his series. Live, 9p ET tonight #sreecovid19call https://t.co/7lrCRi15pR https://t.co/3NS6UkGTfQ (from X)

“A stirring work . . . images meet text to convey a most handsome portrait of Black barbering in America as a revered cultural practice. Honest, intelligent, poignant—You Next is brilliant from cover to cover.” —Maurice Wallace, Rutgers University An intimate photographic exploration of the ways Black barber shops operate as sites for the cultivation of Black male identity and wellness Growing up, getting a haircut was a weekly event Antonio M. Johnson looked forward to more than anything. There in that tilted chair surrounded by members of his community and totems of a shared experience, Johnson felt safe—felt like anything was possible. Barber shops are more than places simply to get a cut. They are where Black men can speak and receive feedback about who we are, who we want to be, and what we believe to be true about the world around us. The interpretation of the barber shop as community center falls short of capturing what they really are for so many Black men: sanctuaries in a hostile land. You Next is an intimate photographic exploration of Black barber shops in major US cities—Gary, Indiana; Washington DC; New York City; Oakland; Atlanta; Los Angeles; Detroit; New Orleans; Montgomery; Memphis, and Johnson's hometown of Philadelphia. These photos, interviews, and essays tell the full story of the Black barber shop in America.

Continuing my 🧵 in praise of @AbigailPesta’s book... Get one everyone! And join me, @neilparekh, @biggreenpen Sunday from 8:30-10 am ET as she does our #NYTReadalong. We’ll discuss the 🗞 as well as her 📚 on my @facebook Live. Will be awesome! https://t.co/TrULGDfCKj https://t.co/qDvaXfqOUw (from X)

The inside story of how serial predator Larry Nassar got away with abusing hundreds of gymnasts for decades — and how a team of brave women banded together to bring him down. We think of Larry Nassar as the despicable sexual predator of Olympic gymnasts — but there is an astonishing, untold story. For decades, in a small-town gym in Michigan, he honed his manipulations on generations of aspiring gymnasts. Kids from the neighborhood. Girls with hopes of a college scholarship. Athletes and parents with a dream. In The Girls, these brave women for the first time describe Nassar’s increasingly bold predations through the years, recount their warning calls unheeded, and demonstrate their resiliency in the face of a nightmare. The Girls is a profound exploration of trust, ambition, betrayal, and self-discovery. Award-winning journalist Abigail Pesta unveils this deeply reported narrative at a time when the nation is wrestling with the implications of the MeToo movement. How do the women who grew up with Nassar reconcile the monster in the news with the man they once trusted? In The Girls, we learn that their answers to that wrenching question are as rich, insightful, and varied as the human experience itself.

Surprise appearance at @IndiasporaForum by @suketumehta, whose new book, “This Land is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto” is a must-read. “The fear of migrants is doing more damage to the West than anything the migrants could do themselves.” A standing ovation! #indiaspora2019 https://t.co/fbFvh7iENM (from X)

A 2019 NPR Staff Pick “Written ‘in sorrow and anger,’ this is a brilliant and urgently necessary book, eloquently making the case against bigotry and for all of us migrants―what we are not, who we are, and why we deserve to be welcomed, not feared.” ―Salman Rushdie A timely argument for why the United States and the West would benefit from accepting more immigrants There are few subjects in American life that prompt more discussion and controversy than immigration. But do we really understand it? In This Land Is Our Land, the renowned author Suketu Mehta attacks the issue head-on. Drawing on his own experience as an Indian-born teenager growing up in New York City and on years of reporting around the world, Mehta subjects the worldwide anti-immigrant backlash to withering scrutiny. As he explains, the West is being destroyed not by immigrants but by the fear of immigrants. Mehta juxtaposes the phony narratives of populist ideologues with the ordinary heroism of laborers, nannies, and others, from Dubai to Queens, and explains why more people are on the move today than ever before. As civil strife and climate change reshape large parts of the planet, it is little surprise that borders have become so porous. But Mehta also stresses the destructive legacies of colonialism and global inequality on large swaths of the world: When today’s immigrants are asked, “Why are you here?” they can justly respond, “We are here because you were there.” And now that they are here, as Mehta demonstrates, immigrants bring great benefits, enabling countries and communities to flourish. Impassioned, rigorous, and richly stocked with memorable stories and characters, This Land Is Our Land is a timely and necessary intervention, and a literary polemic of the highest order.

This book is remarkable. I recommend it to students looking to learn about “real-world” reporting by young journos. • The impossibly poised @smkalita took her storytelling (and empathy levels) to new levels on 9/11. #NeverForget911 (👀 @JimmyVanBramer) https://t.co/yE87dPJyGt (from X)

The young reporters featured in this book were in the midst of a tragedy that most Americans felt deeply if from a distance. Amongst them are contributors from Newsweek, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, The Advocate, Stars and Stripes, CNN, Reuters, the Stuyvesant Standard, Yomiuri Shimbun, India Abroad, the Columbia News Service, and more. Their powerful stories and individual experiences are personal in their details but universal in their impact. Many contributors were at the scene of the collapse, and all describe the anger, thrills, terror, depression, and redemption that accompanied their coverage. They relate who they interviewed, what they photographed, and how they presented the information they uncovered to editors and readers. Here, a Fox News telecaster describes her heartbreaking work interviewing victims’ families. An NPR radio correspondent records the sounds of crowds fleeing the collapse while a New York Daily News photographer is buried in rubble. South Asian- and Middle Eastern-Americans terrified by potential repercussions speak to a Newsday reporter, and a Columbia Journalism School student presents articles written while planning to drop out of journalism school because of the trauma. Like most Americans, these writers are not seasoned war correspondents. Instead, they are smart, articulate, sensitive adults writing personal stories, memoirs in miniature, of their coming-of-age as journalists during a time of national tribulation.

#NationalAuthorsDay makes me realize that my favorite author isn’t really Shakespeare or any of the dozen names that I’ve been citing for decades. It’s actually @roopaonline, my wife. 😉 Checkout her book, https://t.co/y5CNmY0H9G https://t.co/7IqUPGJuL1 (from X)

[*Read by the author - Roopa Unnikrishnan] Innovative career consultant Roopa Unnikrishnan shows you how to shape the future to your advantage -- regardless of your current job position. We live in an evolving economic environment, one in which job security and career certainty are distant memories. The old rules for navigating the turbulent waters of employment just don't apply anymore. In the face of these ongoing changes, it's easy to become fearful and discouraged. In The Career Catapult, innovative career consultant Roopa Unnikrishnan shows you how to gaze into this uncertain future and shape it to your advantage -- regardless of your current position in the hierarchy. Leaping into a revised career trajectory requires quick and purposeful movement. In The Career Catapult, Roopa offers five essential disciplines that will catapult you along the fast track: Dig Deep to Soar. Examine your skills and resources to accurately assess your marketplace value.Stalk Innovations and Trends. Explore the context in which you can offer your value.Jolt Your Network. Use your assets, including networks that can drive significant value.Prototype Possibilities. Free yourself to imagine. Visualize the full array of possibilities and test-drive them. Find ways to don the mantle of the new role.Go Extreme. Is your desired future achievable? Yes! Take that confident leap into your future.

A great book for midcareer folks looking for a path forward in careers & lives. “Imagine It Forward,” by @bethcomstock, former GE vice chair. Blurbs by @AdamMGrant @simonsinek @susancain Kim Scott, Seth Godin https://t.co/7KDUDeakwg [I recommend it for those reading this thread] https://t.co/JHEsMNpVG6 (from X)

FROM ONE OF TODAY'S FOREMOST INNOVATION LEADERS, AN INSPIRING, PERSONAL APPROACH TO MASTERING CHANGE IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINTY. NAMED A 2018 BEST BUSINESS BOOK PICK BY FAST COMPANY AND WIRED UK. Confronting change is incredibly hard, both organizationally and personally. People become resistant. They are afraid. Yet the pace of change in our world will never be slower than it is right now, says Beth Comstock, the former Vice Chair and head of marketing and innovation at GE. Imagine It Forward is an inspiring, fresh, candid, and deeply personal book about how tograpple with the challenges to change we face every day.It is a different kind of narrative, a big picture book that combines Comstock’s personal story in leading change with vital lessons on overcoming the inevitable roadblocks. One of the most successful women in business, Comstock shares her own transformation story from introverted publicist to GE’s first woman Vice Chair, and her hard-won lessons in shifting GE, a 125 year old American institution, toward a new digital future and a more innovative culture. As the woman who initiated GE's Ecomagination clean-energy and its (and NBC’s) digital transformations, Comstock challenged a global organization to not wait for perfection, but to seek out emerging trends, embrace smart risks and test ideas boldly, and often. She shows how each one of us can become a “change maker” by leading with imagination. “Ideas are rarely the problem,” writes Comstock.  “What holds all of us back, really—is fear. It’s the attachment to the old, to ‘What We Know.’” As Comstock makes clear, transforming the mindset and culture of a company is messy. There is no easy checklist. It is fraught with uncertainty, tension and too often failure. It calls for the courage to defy convention, go around corporate gatekeepers when necessary, and reinvent what is possible. For all those looking to spearhead change in their companies and careers, and reinvent “the way things are done,” Imagine It Forward masterfully points the way.