John J. Macionis was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began studying engineering at Cornell University before majoring in sociology and earning a bachelor’s degree. John received a doctorate in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.
With years of experience across schools, community colleges, and universities, my primary goal has always been to offer the best-in-class material to my colleagues and students. In a rapidly changing world, it’s crucial that textbooks evolve as well. I believe that timely updates to book editions are essential to ensure relevance and accuracy, reflecting new knowledge.
On quiet evenings, if you walk to the knoll where Kirtu first named the valley, you can find paper flakes in the grass—maps that the wind still forgets to take. They are soft as fallen leaves. If you follow one carefully, you might find a path back to a lost porch, a hidden orchard, or a childhood well. And if you ask the people who live there about the little man who once drew the world into shape, they will smile and tell you: he taught us how to name our homes so that the earth remembers to be steady.
But the thief would not be undone by names alone. Night came heavy and the thief appeared like smoke shaped into a man, wearing the swapped faces of all who had forgotten their promises. He argued: lines should be flexible; the world should be for those bold enough to bend it. He offered Kirtu coin, offered Mara the map’s power. Kirtu held a small piece of chalk and a single rule: a map must be truthful to be useful. He refused the coin. Mara refused the power. kirtu comic story
Kirtu grew older. His hands trembled with age, but his ink still found the heart of a place. People now brought their own scraps—old names, new songs—and Kirtu stitched them into maps that were no longer only his. When at last he left, his cartography tools were placed in a simple box with a note: “Maps are for remembering, not for owning.” The guild hung the box above its door so that new mapmakers could say a promise aloud when they crossed the threshold. On quiet evenings, if you walk to the
Every map Kirtu made began with a whisper. He would close his eyes, press the heel of his palm to the table, and listen. The buildings spoke in creaks, the trees in a rustle of leaves, stones in the slow conversation of roots. From these murmurs Kirtu traced routes that others could not see—shortcuts through fog, safe paths around quicksand, the secret door in the grocer’s cellar that led to a merchant’s ruined ledger. And if you ask the people who live
The woman—named Mara—told stories between the places: the map had been kept by a guild of cartographers who once understood the world so completely they could write a river back into its bed. But greed had crept into the guild’s chambers. Someone stole the great map and used it to redraw lines for profit: to make kingdoms larger overnight, to shift the coastline over a rich mine. The world, grieving the betrayal, had begun to unthread.
The focus of my work remains writing what I hope are the most engaging, up-to-date, and change-focused texts in the field of sociology. In an age of outsourcing and cost saving, I still do the work the old-fashioned way--by myself, and I do what it takes to get it right. All the content, all the supplements, all the test questions are done “in house” so you can have complete confidence in accuracy and quality. The Revel digital learning material, which is fully functional on any and all computers and mobile devices, is interactive, current, and written to change lives and change society.
Why digital? This is the future and it is already here. Most of today’s students have experienced digital learning for their entire lives. Because students expect information to be available through electronic devices, they are most likely to complete assignments that are available online. There are other advantages as well. Our digital titles are completely ADA compliant, presenting material in ways that meet the needs of all people including those with various disabilities. Readers can modify screen size, just as students can choose to listen to content available in audio files.
Digital learning is also the answer to the long-time problem of high book prices: Revel titles are sold for less than half of cost of print books (and students may choose to purchase a supplemental print version for a small additional cost). Yes, they can also opt to rent print books for a very low cost.
Most important, digital allows all students to learn through discovery. Rather than passively reading a book, students interact with a digital title that invites the experience of active discovery. Every semester, I increase the interactive content of our titles. This is the bright future of learning. Will you join me and our students on this journey?
If you have questions or comments, I invite you to write to me at macionis@kenyon.edu
Here is a forty minute video lecture that examines income inequality beginning with my own Kenyon campus and then investigates broader patterns of inequality in diverse work settings, including education, medicine, and the world of finance. The presentation also contrasts public perceptions to the reality of wealth inequality.
