UNITED STATES AUTHOR · SOCIOLOGY · SOCIAL SCIENCES
Howard Saul Becker
Also known as: Howard S. Becker, Howard Becker
Howard Saul Becker (April 18, 1928 – August 16, 2023) was an American sociologist who taught at Northwestern University.
ALL social groups make rules and attempt, at some times and under some circumstances, to enforce them.
— from Outsiders
Most acclaimed
Outsiders
I was familiar with Sherwin Carlquist's scientific production, which I find to be very clearly written and approachable despite it being catered to technical audiences. In this collection of short stories, I was completely amazed to find Dr. Carlquist's prose is even more entertaining and captivating than you would expect from a scientist. As a trans non-binary person who lived many years as a gay man, and as someone who has studied Dr. Carlquist's work for their own research, I feel that this book provided me with a very inspiring perspective of the man behind the science: someone unabashedly queer who wanted to tell uplifting queer stories so that future generations of gay men could imagine themselves living fulfilling lives.
Evidence
#1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman writes unforgettable tales of crime and detection that expose the shadowy side of glittering Los Angeles. And in Evidence, readers are once again in the dexterous grip of a master storyteller and stylist equally skilled at teasing your brain and taking your breath away.In the half-built skeleton of a monstrously vulgar mansion in one of L.A.'s toniest neighborhoods, a watchman stumbles on the bodies of a young couple--murdered in flagrante and left in a gruesome postmortem embrace. Though he's cracked some of the city's worst slayings, veteran homicide cop Milo Sturgis is still shocked at the grisly sight: a twisted crime that only Milo's killer instincts--and psychologist Alex Delaware's keen insights--can hope to solve.While the female victim's identity remains a question mark, her companion is ID'd as eco-friendly architect Desmond Backer, who disdains the sort of grandiose superstructure he's found dead in. And the late Mr. Backer, it's revealed was also notorious for his power to seduce women. The rare exception is his ex-boss, Helga Gemein, who's as indifferent to Desmond's death as she apparently was to his advances. Though Milo and Alex place her on their short list of suspects, the deeper they dig for clues the longer the list grows. An elusive prince who appears to harbor decidedly American appetites, an eccentric blueblood with an ax to grind, one of Desmond's restless ex-lovers and her cuckolded husband--all are in the homicidal mix spiced with eco-terrorism, arson, blackmail, conspiracy, and a vendetta that runs deep. But when the investigation veers suddenly in a startling direction, it's the investigators who may wind up on the wrong end of a cornered predator's final fury.From the Hardcover edition.
The Other Side
This is the first collection of stories by the best-selling Dutch writer Marga Minco to appear in English. In several of these, the German Occupation of Holland is relived in the post-war period through a series of vivid vignettes. Others evoke childhood anxieties and social embarrassment, the wish-fulfillment of a spinster and romantic reverie of a young married woman. A girl makes a desperate last attempt to save her parents from transportation to a concentration camp; a Jewish wedding takes place on the eve of the Nazi Diaspora; a neighbour betrays his wartime affiliation by whistling a tell-tale tune. There is a taut episode of shoplifting and portrayal of a patient who suspects she has cancer. Marga Minco has a masterful, subtle talent for projecting the human predicament with telling understatement. Her stories, like her novels, are poignant and compassionate yet never mawkish, and the observation is always sharp.