Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries has named University of Houston-Downtown's associate professor of psychology Kristin Anderson's book, "Benign Bigotry: The Psychology of Subtle Prejudice" as one of the Outstanding Academic Titles of 2010.
Choice Magazine is the source 35,000 higher education librarians rely on for collection development and scholarly research. The magazine reaches most university libraries in the country. The magazine reviews more than 7,000 works each year and names approximately 700 of those works Outstanding Academic Titles for the previous year.
Anderson's book relates myths like "feminists are man haters" and "gays flaunt their sexuality" to real events, showing how errors in individual thinking affect society at large. Her book suggests strategies for reducing prejudice in daily life.
"Recognition from one's professional peers is always gratifying and the Choice list is meaningful because it connects academic work to its intended audience," Anderson said. "At the same time, I hope the book offers readers, especially students, a useful framework for making some sense of real-life events ranging from stereotypes about women politicians to lesbian and gay suicides to coercive interrogations and unlawful detentions."
Outstanding Academic Titles is a prestigious list that reflects the best in scholarly titles reviewed by Choice and brings with it the extraordinary recognition of the academic library community, magazine editors said. In awarding Outstanding Academic Titles, the editors indicate they apply several criteria to reviewed titles:
- overall excellence in presentation and scholarship
- importance relative to other literature in the field
- distinction as a first treatment of a given subject in book or electronic form
- originality or uniqueness of treatment
- value to undergraduate students
- importance in building undergraduate library collections
More information about Choice and the awards is available here. UHD associate professor of history David Ryden's book, "West Indian Slavery and British Abolition, 1783-1807," was named to the Outstanding Academic Titles list for 2009.
