Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voice

Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voice by Emily Midorikawa

The Nineteenth Century was not a good time for outspoken women, but Emily Midorikawa finds, in the Spiritualist Movement of that period, a group of women who used the movement to gain a voice in a male-oriented society that was not interested in what women had to say.
She starts with Maggie, Kate and Leah, the three Fox sisters of upstate New York, who used "rappings" to convince people that they were communicating with the spirit world. Next she tells the story of Emma Hardinge Britten, a clairvoyant who was born in England, but who became one of the leading authors of the American Spiritualist Movement.
Victoria Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin are the next women of the Spiritualist Movement that Midorikawa presents. Woodhull claimed to be advised by spirit guides throughout her life and became the president of the American Association of Spiritualists. Claflin was a healer, and together they started the first stock brokerage on Wall Street to be run by women. They also published a leading liberal newpapers the Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly when it was rare to have women in the press. Woodhull was for a while a leading spokesperson for women's suffrage, addressing a Congressional committee and being the first woman to run for president of the United Staes. Her views on Free Love and Euthenasia make her a difficult figure, both in her time and the present.
Midorikawa's last spiritualist is Georgina Weldon, a British singer who ran orphanages, and whose husband tried to get her involuntarily committed for her spiritualist beliefs. The book ends with a chapter on the waning of the Spiritualist Movement at the end of the 19th century.
Midorikawa's research separates the sensationalistic rumors from the knowable facts, and presents a well-balanced approach to the lives of these women to whom Spiritualism provided a way for them to make a name and space for themselves in a restrictive society.

Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration

Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration by Bryan Caplan and illustrated by Zach Weinersmith

Bryan Caplan is professor of economics at George Mason University, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and a self-described "economic libertarian". In Open Borders he presents the case for worldwide open borders. He argues that opening all borders would eliminate poverty and usher in a booming worldwide economy, greatly benefiting all humanity.
If you are concerned about the restrictive immigration policies of rich countries, this book will provide you with compelling arguments against them. If you are worried that open borders would bring ruin to first world countries, maybe this book will assuage your fears.
Both economic and moral arguments are brought forward to show how opening all borders would make this world a single prosperous place to live and eradicate poverty and the crime associated with it. Caplan spends a good portion of this book addressing the potential criticism to his theories, making it a well-balanced presentation of what some may consider a radical idea. Wonderfully illustrated by Zach Weinersmith, this book is accessible to people with little or no background in economic theory.