2025 Mixed Media List

KAT CALLO, F18, ghostwrites this soulful memoir, based on interviews with her 95-year-old father, retired U.S. Naval Reserve Rear Adm. Joe Callo. The book explores what it meant for this grandson of Sicilian and Irish immigrants to grow up in the Bronx in the1930s. It is a quiet meditation on the pursuit of meaning in an over-circuited modern age.

Defeating Disinformation: Digital Platform Responsibility, Regulation and Content Moderation on the Global Technological Commons 

Edited by BHASKAR CHAKRAVORTI, dean of global business at Fletcher, and JOEL TRACHTMAN, professor of international law at Fletcher, this volume explores how to balance free speech and dangerous online content to reduce the societal risks of digital platforms. The book offers an interdisciplinary approach, drawing upon insights from different geographies and parallel challenges of managing global phenomena with national policies and regulations. This balance between national rules and the need for appropriate content moderation threatens to splinter platforms and reduce their utility across the globe. Timely and expansive, Defeating Disinformation develops a global approach to address these tensions while maintaining, and even enhancing, the social contribution of platforms. Chakravorti discussed the book in an interview with Tufts Now. (Description adapted from Cambridge University Press’ summary on cambridge.org/core, 2025)

The eMBA Coach Playbook: Preparing Future-Ready Leaders 

Written by BELINDA CHIU, F04, The eMBA Coach Playbook: Preparing Future-Ready Leaders is a tool kit for future-ready leaders, high performers, and executive coaches who want to lead with a mindset of generativity and compassion. This playbook covers 52 topics chosen from more than 20 years of study and practical application with thousands of clients, leaders, and M.B.A. students and graduates to create positive impact through gold-standard leadership. It is a self-guided companion for leaders and executive coaches to coach themselves, their clients, and their teams to skillfully navigate continuous change to unlock opportunity, create innovative solutions, and leave their organization—and the world—better than they found it.

Within Our Grasp: Changing Ourselves and the World 

Within Our Grasp: Changing Ourselves and the World is the story of TOM ETZEL, F10, and his transformative journey from grief to empowerment after losing two loved ones, including his beloved niece, on 9/11. His experience at Fletcher is woven throughout the memoir. Tom shares how the enriching curriculum, deep connections with classmates and professors, and the global Fletcher community helped him channel his grief into action. Tom’s thesis, “The Impact of Grassroots Diplomacy on Peace Building,” laid the groundwork for the Global Peace Building Foundation, which he founded on September 11, 2010—six weeks after earning his master’s degree from The Fletcher School. Today, the organization is the central force behind Tom’s lifelong mission of hope, healing, and meaningful impact.

Refugee Governance in the Arab World: The International Refugee Regime and Global Politics

The Arab region has played an oversized role in hosting refugees. Yet a paucity of literature exists on how the region has contributed to shaping the international refugee regime. Edited by TAMIRACE FAKHOURY, associate professor of international politics and conflict at Fletcher, and Dawn Chatty, this anthology presents the first comprehensive study of how Arab states interact with the international refugee regime. It offers a multidisciplinary perspective bringing together historical, political, legal, sociological, and anthropological approaches. Through a wide range of case studies, the anthology explores how Arab states have created norms and practices of refugee governance beyond—and not necessarily aligned with—international refugee law. It also analyzes how Arab states have negotiated and contested international agreements and processes. In doing so, the book “de-exceptionalizes" the Arab region, positioning states and societies as norm shapers with an impact on global politics beyond the Arab world. (Description adapted from Bloomsbury’s summary on bloomsbury.com, 2025)

Saeed's Notes: Resonance of History in Destiny

In this reflective memoir, SAEED M. FEYZ-MAHDAVI, F78, examines a life shaped by decades of transnational experiences across five countries, tracing his development through the stages of child, student, professional, and father. These experiences support a central claim: Regardless of assimilation, questions of personal and cultural identity inevitably resurface, with lasting significance. Drawing on his interpretation of ancient and contemporary Iranian history, he analyzes Iran’s enduring capacities and the sociocultural patterns that, when overlooked, have contributed to its cultural and political decline. Blending autobiographical narrative with sociohistorical analysis, the work shows how historical forces continue to shape individual lives. It argues that through critical and purposeful cultural and historical engagement, combined with inclusive dialogue, Iran—drawing on foundations and reserves built over 2,500 years—can transcend cycles of decline and realize its fullest potential.

Etymology of Caviar & Other Caspian Fish Stories

Etymology of Caviar & Other Caspian Fish Stories combines the knowledge of history, geography, ichthyology, and culture (religious and culinary influences) of the lower tidelands of the Caspian Sea in order to trace the likely origin of the term caviar to the longstanding Gilaki and Tabari word ashpalan (“roe-bearing fish”). This term, due to Arabic linguistic influences, gave rise to the Farsi protoword hâvi eh-yar. GUIVE MIRFENDERESKI, F76, F76, FG85, pulled together detailed information from a variety of primary and secondary sources, including recent Iranian scholarship on the subject. The work offers a competing explanation of the word-origin of caviar. Most theories claim the etymon of the term to be Greek, Old Persian, Ossetic/Gypsy, Roman, Russian, Tatar, and Turkish.

Mirages of Reform: The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World

Despite decades of international pressure, Arab regimes' adoption of trade-liberalizing policies has been varied, selective, and often ineffective; neoliberal trade policies have not deepened international trade in many Arab markets. In this book, STEVE MONROE, F13, explains why. Drawing on interviews, firm- and industry-level data, and evidence from Jordan to Morocco, he reveals how international and domestic factors interact to shape the Arab world's rugged trade policy terrain. When regimes have strong support from global powers and strong social connections to the industrial elite, they engage in extensive but deceptive trade policy reform: Behind an edifice of liberalizing trade policies, illicit forms of protectionism like tax evasion, insider information, and noncompetitive procurement shield the socially connected from international competition. This book imparts important lessons and warnings about the repercussions of economic reform in the region.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Money

PAUL PODOLSKY, F96, wrote The Uncomfortable Truth About Money as a letter to his kids, now adults, who know nothing about money. Paul grew up without much money and learned about it step by step. Some of that took place at Fletcher, some while working for 16 years at Bridgewater Associates, the biggest hedge fund in the world, and some while running his investment management company. The Uncomfortable Truth About Money breaks down money to the core drivers—income, borrowing, and investing—but in a real-world way, for example, how office politics affects income generation. The book has been translated into many languages.

A More Perfect Party: The Night Shirley Chisholm and Diahann Carroll Reshaped Politics

Just four years after becoming the first Black woman to be elected to Congress in 1968, Brooklynite Shirley Chisholm broke another glass ceiling by running for president. A key campaign fundraiser was a party hosted by singer, actress, and 1960s icon Diahann Carroll that was attended by celebrities from the worlds of entertainment, politics, and pop culture. This sharp examination of the soirée by MSNBC political analyst JUANITA TOLLIVER, F14, shows that it built Chisholm a coalition at a time when she was being dismissed and disparaged by the press and political leaders. Tolliver writes that the gathering reflected “the power of ... community with others as a pathway toward our collective well-being.”

You Have Unleashed a Storm: New York City’s Descent Into Chaos During America’s Most Explosive Era of Radical Violence

DAVID VIOLA, F10, unveils archival collections, newly declassified files, and preserved court records to provide a detailed account of radical groups in New York and their impact on contemporary American life. New York City in the 1960s was the beating heart of the United States, a global metropolis thriving on its abundance and diversity. But in a short time, “Gotham” entered a frantic era of social, political, racial, and economic turmoil. Radical groups with distinct ideological goals arose, leading to a surge in violence and a chilling response by American authorities. Terrorism, and how American authorities have responded to it, has had an impact on U.S. history far greater and for far longer than is commonly understood. The ripple effects of this largely forgotten moment in the 1960s have played a significant role in how contemporary American life has unfolded.

The Proxy Pact

SANG YEOB KIM, F17, delivers a Cold War political thriller exploring the legal and geopolitical tensions behind the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Set in 1987, international law expert Jack Dalton uncovers a conspiracy to weaponize the NPT’s withdrawal clause, risking a new arms race. Partnering with KGB lawyer Elena Petrova, Jack navigates a web of betrayal, power, and fragile alliances. Inspired by Kim’s master’s thesis—“Article X(1): Responsibility for Any Violation of Legal Obligations Committed Prior to Withdrawal From the NPT”—the novel blends diplomatic realism with gripping suspense to examine how treaties can be manipulated in the shadows of global power.

The Moldavian Gambit

BRAD M. MESLIN’S, F82, FG84, A21P, debut novel The Moldavian Gambit is a taut, heart-pounding geopolitical thriller, inspired by actual events. In the summer of 1991, a portable nuclear weapon is stolen from a secure armory by nationalist forces seeking to blackmail the Kremlin. When the weapon’s location is uncovered, the world faces a terrifying threat that could draw NATO and the United States into a nuclear conflict of unprecedented scale. This novel catapults readers into a world of nuclear blackmail, political deception, and high-stakes espionage. (Description adapted from author's summary on bradmeslin.com, 2024)

Is Climate Change Your Concern?

Hosted by ANIRUDH NANDA, F24, the Is Climate Change Your Concern? podcast addresses the climate crisis by fostering understanding and encouraging action. Through in-depth conversations with experts from diverse fields including law, science, policy, and psychology, the podcast explores the interconnected aspects of the climate challenge. It highlights potential solutions aimed at driving significant change. Topics covered range from ecocentric laws and climate behavior to the relationship between climate change and colonialism. With more than 32,000 views and 650 subscribers across YouTube and Spotify, the podcast serves to inform listeners about the complexities of climate change and pathways for impact.