Literature in the Dawn of Sociological Theory: Stories that are Telling focuses on a selection of novelists from the early 1800s to the early 1900s and their contribution to the sociological imagination. Building on the aesthetic, sociological, and literary theories of Theodor Adorno, Gyoergy Lukacs, Fredric Jameson, Raymond Williams, Wolf Lepenies, Franco Moretti, Lucien Goldmann, John Orr, and others, the main chapters discuss Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Joseph Conrad, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Virginia Woolf, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. The concluding chapter reflects on the dawn of the modern era, especially the birth of capitalism and the plague crisis in Boccaccio's Florence, as described in The Decameron. Throughout the text, the author considers these "stories that are telling" in light of social issues today. Sarah Louise MacMillen presents a case for highlighting the insight of the authors of the past, wherein these "fictional" accounts anticipate some of our contemporary social problems and conflicts. These include the environmental crisis, globalization, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, "cancel culture," debates about gender non-conformity, secularization, the call for solidarity in shifting patterns of social existence, and rebuilding society post-COVID.

Survey of Sociology: From Hobbes to Hip-Hop provides students with articles that introduce them to key concepts in sociology. Students learn how and why scholars study society, as well as how cultural systems, economics, systems of power, and art influence society and our everyday world. The anthology is divided into four parts. Part I includes readings that invite students to begin thinking like a social scientist and introduce various data collection methods. In Part II, students learn about the effects of cultural systems, including religion and perspectives on gender and sexuality, on society. The readings in Part III address big-picture issues, including economics, power, capitalism, and ecology. In the final part, students examine perspectives that relate to the individual and everyday life, including the "inner dialogue" between our sense of self and our projection of society's expectations, exchange-behavior in business culture, and how art, literature, and music can transcend the material experiences of inequality and injustice and transform society. Insightful and timely, Survey of Sociology is an ideal supplementary textbook for introductory courses within the discipline.