UMB StaffNadine Finigan-Carr, PhD, MS, Executive Director, University of Maryland, Baltimore Center for Violence Prevention. “The Waterman’s Daughter” (Full Circle Press, 2026).
The novel “The Waterman’s Daughter” is set in a not-too-distant future and explores enduring questions of family, identity, resilience, and the ties that connect people across generations and circumstances. In the uneasy years after a second Civil War fractures the United States, Delmarva has become a self-determined refuge for Black people. Once a survivor of human trafficking, CC now stands on the front lines as a fierce victims’ rights advocate, helping others find safety, justice, and hope. When her goddaughter suddenly vanishes, the past comes roaring back. Rumors of a trafficking ring ignite a desperate search, pulling CC into a world she fought to escape and into memories she has spent years trying to bury. With time running out and authorities hitting dead ends, CC must rely on her instincts, her community, and the resilience that once kept her alive. But bringing her goddaughter home will require facing the past she never truly left behind. In a fractured nation struggling to rebuild, one woman’s fight for justice becomes a journey toward healing, reconciliation, and hope.
Margaret McCarthy, PhD, Distinguished University Professor; James and Carolyn Frenkil Dean’s Professor and Director, University of Maryland — Medicine Institute of Neuroscience Discovery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, co-editor. “Sex and Gender: Understanding Entanglement, Transforming Practice (Strüngmann Forum Reports)” (Springer, 2026).
This open access book originates from the 36th Ernst Strüngmann Forum, where scholars from a wide range of disciplines met in 2023 to advance understanding of gender, sex, and their entanglement. Although these interdisciplinary discussions revealed no single approach to the conceptualization or operationalization of sex/gender entanglement, they did uncover a high degree of convergence. Driving this project was the pressing need for constructive, interdisciplinary dialogue, as clearly articulated arguments grounded in rigorous, principled scholarship are required to promote sound application in research, policy, medicine, and public health. At the forum, open debate is a given, but science does not operate in isolation from the political and social forces around it. This became starkly evident in 2025, when newly instituted policy interventions and measures impacted research and knowledge production in many areas of science, interfering not only with the first edition of this volume but, more broadly, affecting the lives of many individuals. The second edition seeks to redirect attention back to sound science. Together with updates throughout and a restored chapter on brain transcriptomics, this edition advances rigorous, interdisciplinary scholarship on sex/gender entanglement and illuminates viable paths forward.
Keita Franklin, PhD, MSW ’00, University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW) alumna. “The Humanity Cure: How Small Acts Can Change the World.” (Manuscripts LLC, 2026).
In a world that can feel overwhelmed by crisis, burnout, and division, we often search for big solutions to complex problems. “The Humanity Cure” offers a different answer: lasting change begins with small acts — of connection, kindness, compassion, presence, and care — and grows when leadership and systems create the conditions for those acts to happen more often and reach more people. Drawing on decades of experience at the intersection of public health, mental health, policy, and community care, Franklin weaves together personal stories, interviews, and research-informed leadership insights to show how human connection, in its many forms, functions as a powerful protective force. From military families and veterans to children navigating trauma, health care workers under strain, and communities searching for hope, Franklin illustrates how ordinary moments — when supported, repeated, and sustained — can change life trajectories.
Michael Reisch, PhD, Professor Emeritus, UMSSW. “Social Workers: The Americanization Movement, and The Construction of Americans, 1874-1930.” (Routledge, 2026).
This book analyzes the role of social work in the Americanization movement. It asserts that the emerging field of social work played a significant role in both the execution of the movement and the development and promulgation of theories and processes that rationalized its determination of the borders of inclusion and exclusion from the American nation and its polity. While the Americanization movement as a national endeavor abated by the mid-20th century, its underlying assumptions still shape contemporary social work and the national discourses of belonging. As the first comprehensive historical study of social work’s role in the discourses of immigration, the book fills a significant gap in social welfare history. This volume introduces an important new field of study for scholars of social work, as well as students and academics of social history, ethnic studies, and political science. It is suitable for courses on social welfare policy, social welfare history, and social work ethics, as well as those studying immigration and the history of ethnic minorities in the U.S.
