Kant and Milton brings to bear new evidence and long-neglected materials to show the importance of Kant’s encounter with Milton’s poetry to the formation of Kant’s moral and aesthetic thought. Sanford
The American fixation with marriage, so prevalent in today's debates over marriage for same-sex couples, owes much of its intensity to a small group of reformers who introduced Americans to marriage c
In May 1835 in a Sydney courtroom, a slight, balding man named John Dow stood charged with forgery. The prisoner shocked the room by claiming he was Edward, Viscount Lascelles, eldest son of the power
When Tony Tanner died in 1998, the world lost a critic who was as sensitive a reader of Jane Austen as he was of Thomas Pynchon, and who wrote with a warmth and clarity that belied his fluency in lite
Thought-provoking and tightly argued, this coherent collection of 12 essays engages with the philosophical shift into secularism as described in Taylor's landmark A secular age (Harvard U. Press, 2007
What did the trial of Galileo share with the trial for fraud of the foremost investigator of the effects of lead exposure on children’s intelligence? In the title essay of this rollicking collection o
This book is about the ritual world of a group of rural settlements in Shanxi province in pre-1949 North China. Temple festivals, with their giant processions, elaborate rituals, and operas, were the
In the formative years of the Japanese labor movement after World War II, the socialist unions affiliated with the General Council of Trade Unions (the labor federation known colloquially as Sohyo) fo
Take an economically and racially diverse urban school district emerging from a long history of segregation. Add an energetic, capable, bridge-building superintendent with ambitious district-wide goal
Sassetta, the subtle genius from Siena, revolutionized Italian painting with an altarpiece for the small Tuscan town of Borgo San Sepolcro in 1437–1444. Originally standing some six yards high, double
In his latest book, David Bainbridge combines an otherworldly journey through the central nervous system with an accessible and entertaining account of how the brain's anatomy has often misled anatomi
Listen to a short interview with Matthew ConnellyHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & CraneFatal Misconception is the disturbing story of our quest to remake humanity by policing national border
Listen to a short interview with Tom GriffithsHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & CraneFrom Scott and Shackleton to sled dogs and penguins, stories of Antarctica seize our imagination. In Decem
Greil Marcus, author of Mystery Train, widely acclaimed as the best book ever written about America as seen through its music, began work on this new book out of a fascination with the Sex Pistols: th
For many of the 200,000 black soldiers sent to Europe with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, encounters with French civilians and colonial African troops led them to imagine a world be
The appearance of David R. Slavitt’s translation of Orlando Furioso (“Mad Orlando”), one of the great literary achievements of the Italian Renaissance, is a publishing event. With this lively new vers
Despite the frequent appearances of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri on television screens worldwide, Al Qaeda remains an elusive entity. As the world has grown increasingly familiar with the spe
Listen to a short interview with Jon LatimerHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & CraneIn the first complete history of the War of 1812 written from a British perspective, Jon Latimer offers an a
Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, two iconic scientists of the twentieth century, belonged to different generations, with the boundary marked by the advent of quantum mechanics. By exploring
Listen to a short interview with Risa GoluboffHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & CraneIn this groundbreaking book, Risa L. Goluboff offers a provocative new account of the history of American
In a brisk revisionist history, William Rowe challenges the standard narrative of Qing China as a decadent, inward-looking state that failed to keep pace with the modern West.The Great Qing was the se
Listen to a short interview with Rawi AbdelalHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & CraneThe rise of global financial markets in the last decades of the twentieth century was premised on one funda
Why should we avoid doing moral wrong? The inability of philosophy to answer this question in a compelling manner—along with the moral skepticism and ethical confusion that ensue—result, Stephen Darwa
An entomologist draws on the influential cultural symbols of medieval-period bestiaries in which morality tales were paired with images or descriptions of unusual animals to present a modern tribute t
Listen to a short interview with Sarah McFarland TaylorHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & CraneIt is perhaps the critical issue of our time: How can we, as human beings, find ethical and susta
Born in the Australian bush, Stella Miles Franklin became an international publishing sensation in 1901, at the age of 21, with My Brilliant Career, whose portrayal of an ambitious and independent wom
From the Iliad to Aristophanes, from the gospel of Matthew to Augustine, Greek and Latin texts are constellated with descriptive images of dreams. Some are formulaic, others intensely vivid. The best
With the full panorama of her life forever lost, Cleopatra touches us in a series of sensational images: floating through a perfumed mist down the Nile; dressed as Venus for a tryst at Tarsus; unfurle
Listen to a short interview with David L. KirpHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & CraneThe rich have always valued early education, and for the past forty years, millions of poor kids have had
The waters around Australia, the world’s smallest continent, are home to the greatest diversity of sharks and rays on Earth. Fully 100 of these sea creatures (along with their little-known relatives,
Listen to a short interview with Stephen MihmHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & CraneFew of us question the slips of green paper that come and go in our purses, pockets, and wallets. Yet confi
In Looking Away, Rei Terada revisits debates about appearance and reality in order to make a startling claim: that the purpose of such debates is to police feelings of dissatisfaction with the given w
From the beginning, Darwin’s dangerous idea has been a snake in the garden, denounced from pulpits then and now as incompatible with the central tenets of Christian faith. Recovered here is the less w
"This is a book just the way I don't like them," the father of French Symbolism, Stephane Mallarme, informs the reader in his preface to Divagations: "scattered and with no architecture." On the heels
Easily the most controversial antislavery novel written in antebellum America, and one of the best-selling books of the nineteenth century, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is often credited with intensifying the se
With Comeuppance, William Flesch delivers the freshest, most generous thinking about the novel since Walter Benjamin wrote on the storyteller and Wayne C. Booth on the rhetoric of fiction. In clear an
Christianity, not religion in general, has been important for American democracy. With this bold thesis, Hugh Heclo offers a panoramic view of how Christianity and democracy have shaped each other.Hec
This book examines the revolution in Sanskrit poetics initiated by the ninth-century Kashmiri Anandavardhana. Anandavardhana replaced the formalist aesthetic of earlier poeticians with one stressing t
In 1985, a black veteran of the civil rights movement offered a bleak vision of a long and troubled struggle. For more than a century, black southerners learned to live with betrayed expectations, dim
The Engaged Intellect collects important essays of John McDowell. Each involves a sustained engagement with the views of an important philosopher and is characterized by a modesty that is partly tempe
