Dmitrii Mendeleev (1834–1907) is a name we recognize, but perhaps only as the creator of the periodic table of elements. Generally, little else has been known about him. A Well-Ordered Thing is an aut
How digital media are transforming Arab culture, literature, and politicsIn recent years, Arab activists have confronted authoritarian regimes both on the street and online, leaking videos and exposin
How digital media are transforming Arab culture, literature, and politicsIn recent years, Arab activists have confronted authoritarian regimes both on the street and online, leaking videos and exposin
How poetic modernism shaped Arabic intellectual debates in the twentieth century and beyondCity of Beginnings is an exploration of modernism in Arabic poetry, a movement that emerged in Beirut during
The year’s finest mathematical writing from around the worldThis annual anthology brings together the year’s finest mathematics writing from around the world. Featuring promising new voices alongside
In the wake of the AIDS pandemic, legions of organizations and compassionate individuals from faraway places descended on Africa to offer help and save lives. Ann Swidler and Susan Cotts Watkins vivid
Why do some leaders and segments of the public display remarkable persistence in confrontations in international politics, while others cut and run? The answer given by policymakers, pundits, and poli
Written at the height of the arts and crafts movement in fin-de-siecle Vienna, Alois Riegl's Stilfragen represented a turning point in defining art and understanding the sources of its inspiration. De
Long before the "one percent" became a protest slogan, American founding father John Adams feared the power of a class he called simply "the few"—the wellborn, the beautiful, and especially the rich.
How modern economics abandoned classical liberalism and lost its wayMilton Friedman once predicted that advances in scientific economics would resolve debates about whether raising the minimum wage is
It has long been contended that the Indian Constitution of 1950, a document in English created by elite consensus, has had little influence on India’s greater population. Drawing upon the previously u
The ideal textbook for a one-semester introductory course for graduate students or advanced undergraduatesThis book provides an essential introduction to the physics of quantum many-body systems, whic
An award-winning translator presents selections from the haunting final volumes of a leading voice in contemporary Hungarian poetrySzilárd Borbély remains one of the most celebrated writers to emerge
An award-winning translator presents selections from the haunting final volumes of a leading voice in contemporary Hungarian poetrySzilárd Borbély remains one of the most celebrated writers to emerge
At a time when the bulwarks of the music industry are collapsing, what does it mean to be a successful musician and artist? How might contemporary musicians sustain their artistic communities? Based o
Racism is a common occurrence for members of marginalized groups around the world. Getting Respect illuminates their experiences by comparing three countries with enduring group boundaries: the United
Translated into English here for the first time, The Life of Walatta-Petros (1672) tells the story of an Ethiopian saint who lived from 1592 to 1642 and led a successful nonviolent movement to preserv
First published in English in 1954, this founding work of the history of religions secured the North American reputation of the Romanian émigré-scholar Mircea Eliade. Making reference to an astonishin
Murder, mutilation, cannibalism, infanticide, and incest: the darker side of classic fairy tales is the subject of this groundbreaking and intriguing study of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s Nursery and Hou
A bold new view of sentimental art’s significance in American visual culture from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuryIn Moved to Tears, Rebecca Bedell overturns received ideas about sentimental ar
The troubling ethics and politics of philanthropyIs philanthropy, by its very nature, a threat to today’s democracy? Though we may laud wealthy individuals who give away their money for society’s bene
The fascinating untold story of how the ancients imagined robots and other forms of artificial life—and even invented real automated machinesThe first robot to walk the earth was a bronze giant called
A leading historian reconstructs the forgotten history of medieval AfricaFrom the birth of Islam in the seventh century to the voyages of European exploration in the fifteenth, Africa was at the cente
The story of the woman taken in adultery features a dramatic confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over whether the adulteress should be stoned as the law commands. In response, Jesus famously
Following an unprecedented economic boom fed by foreign investment, the Russian Revolution triggered the worst sovereign default in history. Bankers and Bolsheviks tells the dramatic story of this boo
A comprehensive look at the world of illicit trade Though mankind has traded tangible goods for millennia, recent technology has changed the fundamentals of trade, in both legitimate and illegal econo
The first comprehensive history of the Turkish economyThe population and economy of the area within the present-day borders of Turkey has consistently been among the largest in the developing world, y
A collection of political tales—first published in British workers’ magazines—selected and introduced by acclaimed critic and author Michael RosenIn the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
The moral and political role of German journalists before, during, and after the Nazi dictatorshipJournalists between Hitler and Adenauer takes an in-depth look at German journalism from the late Weim
The fascinating untold story of how the ancients imagined robots and other forms of artificial life—and even invented real automated machinesThe first robot to walk the earth was a bronze giant called
How social upheavals after the collapse of the French Empire shaped the lives and work of artists in early nineteenth-century EuropeAs the French Empire collapsed between 1812 and 1815, artists throug
Why does democracy—as a word and as an idea—loom so large in the political imagination, though it has so often been misused and misunderstood? Setting the People Free starts by tracing the roots of de
Theology and the Scientific Imagination is a pioneering work of intellectual history that transformed our understanding of the relationship between Christian theology and the development of science. D
A bold new religious history of the late antique and medieval Middle East that places ordinary Christians at the center of the storyIn the second half of the first millennium CE, the Christian Middle
Sheldon Wolin was one of the most influential and original political thinkers of the past fifty years. In Fugitive Democracy, the breathtaking range of Wolin’s scholarship, political commitment, and c
How digital technology is upending the traditional creative industries—and why that might be a good thingThe digital revolution poses a mortal threat to the major creative industries—music, publishing
An illustrated guide to one of the most enduring masterworks of world literatureWritten in the eleventh century by the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji is a masterpiece of prose
In this concise book, one of the world’s leading epistemologists provides a sophisticated, revisionist introduction to the problem of knowledge in Western philosophy. Modern and contemporary accounts
New York City witnessed unparalleled growth in the first half of the nineteenth century, its population rising from thirty thousand to nearly a million in a matter of decades. Feeding Gotham looks at
Our species has transitioned from being one among millions on Earth to the species that is single-handedly transforming the entire planet to suit its own needs. The New Ecology shows how today’s ecolo