In The Unruly City, historian Mike Rapport offers a vivid history of three intertwined cities toward the end of the eighteenth century?Paris, London, and New York?all in the midst of political chaos a
Today the United States is the dominant power in world affairs, and that status seems assured. Yet in the decade following the ratification of the Constitution, the republic’s existence was contingent
Why do we catch colds? What causes seasons to change? And if you fire a bullet from a gun and drop one from your hand, which bullet hits the ground first? In a pinch we almost always get these questio
Not since Merrill Peterson's Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation has a scholar attempted to write a comprehensive biography of the most complex Founding Father. In Jefferson, John B. Boles plumbs ever
Americans today are frustrated and anxious. Our economy is sluggish, and leaves workers insecure. Income inequality, cultural divisions, and political polarization increasingly pull us apart. Our gove
An acclaimed military historian charts the history of America's Special Operations Forces, highlighting both the heroism of America's finest soldiers and the strategic limits of special operations.
Richard Florida confronts the dark side of the creative economy he celebrated inThe Rise of the Creative Class, and grapples with the gentrification, inequality, and segregation it has created in our
From the summer of 1870 through the spring of 1871, France suffered a humiliating defeat in its war against Prussia and witnessed bloody class warfare that culminated in the crushing of the Paris Comm
A veteran war correspondent journeys to remote mountain communities across the globe?from Albania and Chechnya to Nepal and Colombia?to investigate why so many conflicts occur at great heightsMountain
An award-winning science writer takes us into the lab to answer some of life’s biggest questions: How was the universe created? And could we create our own?What if you could become God, with the abili
Algorithms increasingly run our lives. They find books, movies, jobs, and dates for us, manage our investments, and discover new drugs. More and more, these algorithms work by learning from the trails
From the 9/11 attacks to waterboarding to drone strikes, relations between the United States and the Middle East seem caught in a downward spiral. And all too often, the Central Intelligence Agency ha
As the twentieth century draws to a close, the United States has emerged as the world’s only superpower: no other nation possesses comparable military and economic power or has interests that bestride
Toussaint Louverture’s life was one of hardship, triumph, and contradiction. He was born a slave on Saint-Domingue yet earned his freedom and established himself as a small-scale planter. He even purc
In First Bite, award-winning food writer Bee Wilson draws on the latest research from food psychologists and neuroscientists to reveal that our food habits are shaped by a host of factors: family and
When the fuzzy indeterminacy of quantum mechanics overthrew the orderly world of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrodinger were at the forefront of the revolution. Neither man was ever satis
Pius the Twelfth has long been vilified as ?Hitler’s Pope,” but a key part of the story has remained untold. Pope Pius ran the world’s largest church and oldest spy service. Under his leadership the V
What is economic growth? And why, historically, has it occurred in only a few places? Previous efforts to answer these questions have focused on institutions, geography, finances, and psychology. But
?As panoramic as it is learned, this is ancient history for our globalized world.”Tom Holland, author of Dynasty and RubiconTwenty-five-hundred years ago, civilizations around the world entered a revo
In 1962, boxing writers and fans considered Cassius Clay an obnoxious self-promoter, and few believed that he would become the heavyweight champion of the world. But Malcolm X, the most famous ministe
World War II reached into the homes and lives of ordinary people in an unprecedented way. Civilians made up the vast majority of those killed by war. On Europe’s home front, the war brought the German
John Simpson has spent almost four decades immersed in the intricacies of human language. In The Word Detective, an intensely personal memoir and a joyful celebration of the English language, Simpson
We assume we know our bodies intimately, but for many of us they remain uncharted territory, an enigma of bone and muscle, neurons and synapses. How many of us understand the way seizures affect the b
Hailed as the most important method to emerge in psychotherapy in decades, EMDR has successfully treated psychological problems and illnesses in more than one million sufferers worldwide, with a rapid
In 1914 the Ottoman Empire was depleted of men and resources after years of war against Balkan nationalist and Italian forces. But in the aftermath of the assassination in Sarajevo, the powers of Euro
Smart as hell and funny as fuck, this book explains why we can’t stop swearing and what it tells us about our language and brains.Everyone swears. Only the rare individual can avoid ever letting slip
In Vietnam, Christopher Goscha tells the full history of the events that created the modern state of Vietnam, from antiquity to the present day. Generations of emperors, rebels, priests, and colonizer
Dog owners know that dogs can be trained, but the idea of training rarely crosses cat owners’ minds. But as bestselling anthrozoologist John Bradshaw and cat expert Sarah Ellis show, not only can cats
When the stories that lead our daily news involve momentous constitutional questions, present-minded journalists and busy citizens cannot always see the stakes clearly. InThe Constitution Today, Akhil
How filling life with play?whether soccer or lawn mowing, counting sheep or tossing Angry Birds?forges a new path for creativity and joy in our impatient ageLife is no game. It’s demanding, boring, an
In Wealth, Poverty, and Politics, Dr. Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, examines the reasons for large differences in income and wealth between nations and among groups wit
The first generation of Digital Natives”children who were born into and raised in the digital worldare coming of age, and soon our world will be reshaped in their image. Our economy, our politics, our
Something scary is happening to boys today. From kindergarten to college, American boys are, on average, less resilient and less ambitious than they were a mere twenty years ago. The gender gap in col
A passionate plea to preserve and renew public education, The Death and Life of the Great American School System is a radical change of heart from one of America’s best-known education experts.Diane R
The Crimea, the Boer War, the Somme, Tobruk, Pearl Harbor, the Bay of Pigs: these are just some of the milestones in a century and a half of military incompetence, of costly mishaps and tragic blunder
Evolutionary biologist Schaik and historian Michel place the Bible within the context of human social evolution--specifically in the shift from small groups of migratory hunter-gatherers to large popu
Iran is a land of contradictions. It is an Islamic republic, but one in which only 1.4 percent of the population attend Friday prayers. Iran’s religious culture encompasses the most censorious and dog
Between 1939 and 1945 India underwent irreversible change when Indians suddenly found themselves fighting in World War II, and the author paints a picture of battles abroad and life on the home front,
Freud’s concepts have become a part of our psychological vocabulary: unconscious thoughts and feelings, conflict, the meaning of dreams, the sensuality of childhood. But psychoanalytic thinking has un
What is math? How exactly does it work? And what do three siblings trying to share a cake have to do with it? InHow to Bake Pi, math professor Eugenia Cheng provides an accessible introduction to the
