It’s been a radically busy summer and fall in both the world of carpentry, music, and academia. But I have finally found a solid month of rest (especially now that I’m sick with a cold…)
On the carpentry side, I completed two kitchen remodels and a bathroom remodel. I was pleased with all of the results – especially the tiled shower in a basement unit (gorgeous black marble-feel porcelain tile; corner pockets for shampoo etc.). Still need to get appliances in there and mirrors, furnishings, etc. before traveling nurses move in come January. Also need to further clean the floor tile I installed (24 x 12 porcelain, blue gray).
On the academic side, tons of fun developments.
First, my monograph Religion and Cooperative Economics: Justice in an Age of Capital (Cham: Palgrave MacMillan, 2025; series on Religion and Power, edited by Joerg Rieger) was published in hardback ($180; the paperback will be cheaper…:D). I didn’t really have time or interest to pursue major theological dimensions of the subject (which I think disappointed some people). But the chapters are pretty great, and overall happy with the result. It is the seminal volume on the subject.
I was happy to use one of my own photos of a small business in occupied Palestine (2013) for the cover photo, and also get some last-second endorsements:
“… a monumental contribution, demonstrating with remarkable clarity and breadth how religion and cooperatives intersect—how they have done so powerfully in the past and how they can even more so in the future. Hübner has written a book I have long been hoping for.” (Nathan Schneider, University of Colorado Boulder, author of Everything for Everyone)
“… a meticulously-researched volume exploring the connections between religion and cooperative economics, the latter defined as collective action and an ethical commitment to economic justice. The book surveys relevant practice and scripture within the Vedic traditions of India, as well as Islam, Judaism and Christianity, among others and couldn’t be more timely considering the latter-day instrumentalization of religious faith by the Trumps, Orbans and Modis of the world.” (Jerome Warren, Royal Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters of Belgium, co-editor of Global Cooperative Economics & Movements)
“This brilliant, profound, stimulating and compelling book comes at a time when the world grapples with economic injustice, epistemic injustice, climate catastrophe, wars, genocides, western neo colonialism and imperialism, food insecurity, constriction of health, education and social security systems adversely affecting people in margins. Hübner draws attention to existing models of cooperatives and argues how cooperative economics and religion can play an important role in empowering communities to make their own decisions in resource management, where people have the power and control of their bodies, workplaces, resources and the ecosystem. His prophetic work provides solutions for re-imagining, reorganizing and re-orienting ourselves as societies, churches, faith communities, businesses, education systems, and political organizations to work towards building social, ecological, and biological harmony as an ethical and just response. This is an excellent resource that will be widely read and utilised not just in academic research and theology, but for movements and I hope by churches, cooperatives and workers too.” (Sanjana Das, University of KwaZulu Natal)
I also finished, after many months of grueling labor, my work “Israel’s Genocide in Gaza: An Annotated Bibliography.” I can’t say I celebrated this final result. In fact, in two particular moments writing it I felt like I was going to vomit because of everything I was reading. (And Gaza is just one of three genocides happening in 2025.) I submitted it to two publications. One of them (Journal of Genocide Research) liked it but it was way too big and figured it would be outdated as soon as it was published and recommended doing it online as a live reference work. Another (a middle eastern journal) agreed to publish it but without footnotes, and I wasn’t interested in that. So, I haven’t tried open access before, so I opted for SSRN. To my surprise, all 9 editors of different eJournals all accepted it for distribution in their subject fields. So, mission accomplished! (If you would have told me 5 years ago “you’re going to write the bibliography of the most documented genocide in history,” I would have laughed or shat myself. But here we are.)
Nobody has yet realized the work is dedicated to Natalie Wynn (see second footnote), who might “awaken from her profound moral and intellectual stupor on this subject.” (No details for the moment, but I’ve decided to dedicate my publications to people who ought to read them instead of otherwise)
I also authored another bibliography, this one for Oxford Bibliographies entitled “Cooperative Economics.” Oxford Bibliographies have reference works and entries for about every topic and subtopic imaginable…but not cooperative economics? It was bizarre to me. So I approached the editorial board and got the invitation to submit it, and here we are. It should appear soon. It nearly killed me as well, because I actually had to cut it down by around 50%. In fact, I will publish on this blog (or maybe SSRN) a bibliography of all the unused material from that publication…why not publish it so it isn’t wasted?
A wrote a review of Eva Dou’s The House of Huawei for the Economic History Association here.
I am currently deep in two book publications (probably finished in a year) and four articles, three on world history pedagogy and another on animals and genocide.
I’m getting more involved with the Rudolph Rocker Institute and serve as Treasurer. (Hopefully it will be an excuse to travel to Germany at some point, as I have not yet visited there yet.)
I continue to plan seeds for a new university affiliation; while I’m glad for LCC, it would be much better for me long term to have an affiliation in the continental United States. But education is contracting and getting gutted here and in the EU also. So I don’t expect much good news, but hope that some research institution or university will come to appreciate some of my work in these days of nascent fascism. China is one of the few places on the planet where education and research is actually growing instead of shrinking, but I haven’t yet figured out if something can work out there.
I finished reading many great books, such as Bullough, Moneyland, Bollier, Think Like a Commoner, Shelly’s Frankenstein (what a powerful ending; I can’t believe someone 19 or 20 wrote this?), Ours:The Case for Universal Property by Barnes, etc. I continue to read Payne’s History of Fascism, Lockard’s Societies, Networks and Transitions, Levy’s Ages of American Capitalism, Thomas More’s Utopia, etc.