Six New Books to Understand the Present

A curated list of six recent Italian publications addresses urgent contemporary issues, from gender-based violence to digital photography, water management, psychiatric care, and gentrification. Rita Laura Segato's "Guerra contro le donne" (Tamu Edizioni, 2023) frames violence against women as a political act of power and domination, challenging Western privatization of the issue. Andrew Dewdney's "Dimenticare la fotografia" (postmedia books, 2023) argues that the analog-to-digital transition has fundamentally altered photography's meaning, introducing terms like "network image" and "computational image." Andrea Rinaldo's "Il governo dell'acqua" (Marsilio, 2023) explores the historical struggle to control water amid ecological and capitalist demands. Piero Cipriano's "Vita breve della psichiatria dal manicomio alla psichedelia" (Luca Sossella Editore, 2023) traces mental health treatment from asylums through Basaglia's reforms and Leary's psychedelics to today's psychedelic renaissance. Giovanni Semi's "Breve manuale di gentrificazione carina" (Mimesis, 2023) satirizes urban gentrification as a process that homogenizes neighborhoods, raises prices, and displaces residents under the guise of "redevelopment." All books were published in 2023 by Italian publishers.