For the past 500 years, gamblers-led by mathematicians and scientists-have been trying to figure out how to pull the rug out from under Lady Luck. In The Perfect Bet, mathematician and award-winning w
A preeminent authority on the Catholic Church and papal biographer describes what he learned from chronicling the life of a Pole who became a saint. In Lessons in Hope, George Weigel tells the sto
A beloved folk singer presents an impassioned account of the fall and rise of the small American towns she cherishesDubbed by the New Yorker as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters," Dar Wil
A celebrated mathematician traces the history of math through the lives and work of twenty-five pioneering mathematiciansIn Significant Figures, acclaimed mathematician Ian Stewart introduces the visi
Why have recent presidents failed to bring promised change?In The Impossible Presidency, celebrated historian Jeremi Suri charts the rise and fall of the American presidency, from the limited role env
"Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see black youth seated together in the cafeteria. Of course, it's not just the black kids sitting together--the white, Latino, Asian Pacific, and
A leading educational thinker argues that the American university is stuck in the past--and shows how we can revolutionize it to prepare students for our age of constant changeOur current system of hi
Legends don't come close to capturing the incredible story of the coyote. In the face of centuries of annihilation campaigns that employed gases, helicopters, and engineered epidemics, coyotes didn't
How does trauma affect a child's mind?and how can that mind recover? In the classic The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, Dr. Perry explains what happens to the brains of children exposed to extreme stress
Why cracking the code of human conception took centuries of wild theories, misogynist blunders, and ludicrous mistakes Throughout most of human history, babies were surprises. People knew the basics:
"In The Russian Revolution, historian Sean McMeekin traces the origins and events of the Russian Revolution, which brought an end to Romanov rule and ushered the Bolsheviks into power. Between the daw
Creativity has long been thought to be an individual gift, best pursued alone; schools, organizations, and whole industries are built on this idea. But what if the most common beliefs about how creati
In The Collapse of Parenting, internationally acclaimed author Leonard Sax argues that rising levels of obesity, depression, and anxiety among young people can be traced to parents abdicating their au
As early as 1941, Allied victory in World War II seemed all but assured. How and why, then, did the Germans prolong the barbaric conflict for three and a half more years? In The German War, acclaimed
Video games have seemingly taken over our lives. Whereas gamers once constituted a small and largely male subculture, today 67 percent of American households play video games. The average gamer is now
Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize in American History, this is a landmark history of how the entire American health care system of doctors, hospitals, health plans, and governme
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
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.
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
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
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
?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
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
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
