Best-selling author Umberto Eco's latest work unlocks the riddles of history in an exploration of the "linguistics of the lunatic," stories told by scholars, scientists, poets, fanatics, and ordinary
To compete with today's increasing globalization and rapidly evolving technologies, individuals and organizations must take their ability to learn-the foundation for continuous improvement, operationa
With the work of journalists under fire around the world, this year’s anthology of National Magazine Awards finalists and winners is a timely reminder of the power of journalism. These pieces from wri
Marco Politi takes us deep inside the power struggle roiling the Roman Curia and the Catholic Church worldwide, beginning with Benedict XVI, the pope who famously resigned in 2013, and intensifying wi
This volume examines the gangster film in its historical context with an emphasis on the ways the image of the gangster has adapted and changed as a result of socio-cultural circumstances. From its or
The narrator of this novel is Ballerina, a fifteen-year-old with the cognitive faculties of a child, and each of its fifteen chapters begins with her first wetting her bed and thereby greeting a new d
An anthology Malcolm Gladwell has called "riveting and indispensable," The Best Business Writing is a far-ranging survey of business's dynamic relationship with politics, culture, and life. This year
"Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back" is a study of action cinema, exploring the ethics and aesthetics of the genre with reference to its relatively short history. It moves from seminal classic
"The Best American Magazine Writing 2011" contains award-winning features, exposes, and profiles along with extraordinary commentary, fiction, and poetry from America's leading magazines. This year's
Looks at the science behind everyday cooking with information on molecular gastronomy, the physiology of taste, basic components of meals, the use of tenderizing enzymes and gelatins, and covers the e
"The Best American Magazine Writing 2008" is an essential guide to the year's most entertaining, politically charged, and sophisticated essays. With pieces first published in "The Nation," "National G
The second installment in Roubaud's popular and widely acclaimed "Hortense" series opens with a murder of a dog at the Church of Sainte-Gudule. Chief Inspector Blognard and his sidekick Arapede are on
In a time of reckoning with wrongdoing in high places, this year’s National Magazine Awards finalists and winners focus on abuse of power in all its forms. Ronan Farrow’s Pulitzer Prize–winning revela
A thousand years ago, a young Japanese girl embarked on a journey from deep in the countryside of eastern Japan to the capital. Forty years later, with the long account of that journey as a foundation
Andrei Sinyavsky wrote In Gogol's Shadow while serving time in a Soviet labor camp. Opening with Gogol's funeral, this unorthodox biography strips the man away from the myth. Sinyavsky challenges the
To some, food allergies seem like fabricated cries for attention. To others, they pose a dangerous health threat. Food allergies are bound up with so many personal and ideological concerns that it is
With a nation seemingly more divided than ever, many worry that Americans risk losing ground on solving the complex, interrelated problems the country faces—including rising inequality, the specter of
Andrei Sinyavsky wrote Strolls with Pushkin while confined to Dubrovlag, a Soviet labor camp, smuggling the pages out a few at a time to his wife. His irreverent portrait of Pushkin outraged émigrés a
John Barth, a moderately successful novelist just turned sixty, decides to take a sail on Chesapeake Bay with his wife, but a tropical storm forces them deep into the Maryland tidal marshes. Lost, Bar
Finnley Wren: His Notions and Opinions, Together with a Haphazard History of His Career and Amours in These Moody Years, as Well as Sundry Rhymes, Fables, Diatribes and Literary Misdemeanors stands as
There is a high risk that someone will use, by accident or design, one or more of the 17,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. Many thought such threats ended with the Cold War or that current polic
A dazzling new collection of essays -- on reading, writing, form, and thought -- from one of America's master writers. Beginning with personal, both past and present, it emphasizes William H. Gass's l
More than Mom's apple pie, peanut butter is the all-American food. With its rich, roasted-peanut aroma and flavor; caramel hue; and gooey, consoling texture, peanut butter is an enduring favorite, fou
Prompted by the thirtieth anniversary of the French philosopher Jacques Lacan's death, this exchange between two prominent intellectuals is rich with surprising insights. Alain Badiou shares the clear
Once a model of Muslim enlightenment, Pakistan is now facing a lethal Islamist threat. Many believe this is due to Pakistan's partnership with the United States, while others see it as the consequence
In 1962, the philosopher Richard Taylor used six commonly accepted presuppositions to imply that human beings have no control over the future. David Foster Wallace not only took issue with Taylor's m
Herv? This (pronounced "Teess") is an internationally renowned chemist, a popular French television personality, a bestselling cookbook author, a longtime collaborator with the famed French chef Pierr
Moscow in the middle of the seventeenth century had a distinctly apocalyptic feel. An outbreak of the plague killed half the population. A solar eclipse and comet appeared in the sky, causing panic. A
Berkshire Hathaway, the $500 billion conglomerate that Warren Buffett built, is among the world's largest and most famous corporations. Yet, for all its power and celebrity, few people understand Berk
Here is the whole sweep of the Soviet experiment and experience as told by its last steward. Drawing on his own experience, rich archival material, and a keen sense of history and politics, Mikhail Go
Instead of treating art as a unique creation that requires reason and refined taste to appreciate, Elizabeth Grosz argues that art-especially architecture, music, and painting-is born from the disrupt
While serving as the first Treasury Secretary from 1789 to 1795, Alexander Hamilton engineered a financial revolution. Hamilton established the Treasury debt market, the dollar, and a central bank, wh
Klotsvog is a novel about being Jewish in the Soviet Union and the historical trauma of World War II—and it’s a novel about the petty dramas and demons of one wonderfully vain woman. Maya Abramovna Kl
Among contemporary Russian writers, Yuz Aleshkovsky stands out for his vivid imagination, his mixing of realism and fantasy, and his virtuosic use of the rich tradition of Russian obscene language. Th
When the tough-on-crime politics of the 1980s overcrowded state prisons, private companies saw potential profit in building and operating correctional facilities. Today more than a hundred thousand of
One of Asia's best-respected writers on business and economy, Hong Kong-based author Mark L. Clifford provides a behind-the-scenes look at what companies in China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines
In these two novellas, Kimura Yusuke explores human and animal life in northern Japan after the natural and nuclear disasters of March 11, 2011. Kimura inscribes the “Triple Disaster” into a rich regi
The award-winning climate scientist Michael E. Mann and the Pulitzer Prize–winning political cartoonist Tom Toles have been on the front lines of the fight against climate denialism for most of their
The American Century began in 1941 and ended on January 20, 2017. While the United States remains a military giant and is still an economic powerhouse, it no longer dominates the world economy or geop
On Christmas Eve 1951, Santa Claus was hanged and then publicly burned outside of the Cathedral of Dijon in France. That same decade, ethnologists began to study the indigenous cultures of central New
