#AcademicRunPlaylist - 9/13/25

It's really starting to turn into fall in Boston, and I enjoyed the first hint of the new season while listening to books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was "Unfabling the East: The Enlightenment's Encounter with Asia" by Jürgen Osterhammel, who has penned a masterful work of scholarship, detailing how European thought was profoundly challenged by deeper interactions across Asia as transportation technology improved, spurring the Enlightenment and social science itself. The book chronicles not only how European ideas of "Asia" changed over time, but also engages in historiography around how European thinkers conceptualized themselves and the different civilizations they encountered. Osterhammel continually emphasizes just how new the notion of "travel" was, and how this necessitated new social and business norms.

What was perhaps most surprising to me is how throughout this period Europeans viewed most of the civilizations they encountered nearly as equals. Europeans considering the Dutch sailors they encountered in different ports as less "civilized" than the locals is illustrative here. While it's possible to read these encounters, and the Enlightenment itself, as a prelude to imperialism, this history adds significant nuance to that direct throughline. Highly recommend https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691172729/unfabling-the-east

Next was "Riding Jane Crow" by Miriam Thaggert. This book provides a rich portrait of what US railroads meant to African American women and its societal implications. This is mostly investigated through a qualitative and critical studies lens - quantitative data is largely absent. This makes it challenging to derive the representativeness of different cases that Thaggert explores. In general, this book provides a brief look at how the initially "classless" nature of rail travel quickly gave away to one that mirrored the sexist and racist systems of the rest of society, albeit one with now more opportunities for mobility than in the past https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=28nsg7gk9780252044526

Last was "Empire of Normality" by Robert Chapman. The vast majority of this book is devoted to the history of how neurodiversity was understood in the West, and those parts of the book are exceptional. Chapman goes through the importance of technological and scientific developments in driving a new societal understanding of human difference (unsurprisingly Galton and statistics make a central appearance). This continues into the 20th century, with the intersection of the anti-psychology movement and the rise of neoliberalism conspiring to push fundamentally social issues entirely onto individuals.

It's in the portions of this book that veer into political economy that the wheels fall off. As with most philosophers, Chapman routinely conflates capitalism with neoliberalism and expounds at length using logical arguments for what are fundamentally empirical questions (e.g. does working more flexible hours impair mental health). If you ignore these deeply flawed sections, however, it's an excellent book. Highly recommend https://www.plutobooks.com/product/empire-of-normality/