A book that finally demystifies Newton’s experiments in alchemyWhen Isaac Newton’s alchemical papers surfaced at a Sotheby’s auction in 1936, the quantity and seeming incoherence of the manuscripts wa
In modern life, technology is everywhere. Yet as a concept, technology is a mess. In popular discourse, technology is little more than the latest digital innovations. Scholars do little better, offeri
Democracies are in danger. Around the world, a rising wave of populist leaders threatens to erode the core structures of democratic self rule. In the United States, the election of Donald Trump marked
Nothing set the world in motion like gold. Between the discovery of California placer gold in 1848 and the nostalgic rush to Alaska fifty years later, the search for the precious yellow metal accelera
From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Europeans struggled to understand their identity in the same way we do as individuals: by comparing themselves to others. In Savages, Romans, and Despot
When Kenneth Burke conceived his celebrated “Motivorum” project in the 1940s and 1950s, he envisioned it in three parts. While the third part, A Symbolic of Motives, was never finished, A
Imagination allows us to step out of the ordinary, but also to transform it, in our sense of wonder and play, artistic inspiration and innovation, or the eureka moment of a scientific breakthrough. In
In this sequel to the tour de force children’s art-history picture book If Picasso Painted a Snowman, Amy Newbold conveys nineteen artists’ styles in a few deft words, while Greg Newbold’s chameleon-l
Throughout most of history, in China the insane were kept within the home and treated by healers who claimed no specialized knowledge of their condition. In the first decade of the twentieth century,
Miguel Ruiz is a Spanish veteran exiled in France who was a member of “La Nueve” ("The Nine"), a company of men that went straight from fighting for their homeland in the Spanish Civil War to battles
A widespread conviction in the need to rescue China’s children took hold in the early twentieth century. Amid political upheaval and natural disasters, neglected or abandoned children became a humanit
In the early years of the twenty-first century, China and India have emerged as world powers. In many respects, this is a return to the historical norm for both countries. For much of the early modern
If you’ve got some money in the bank, chances are you’ve never seriously worried about not being able to withdraw it. But there was a time in the United States, an era that ended just over
Brazilian cartoonist Daniel Semanas’s candy-colored debut graphic novel, influenced by American pop art and manga, is set in South Korea in the near future. A young fighter has a fiercely competitive
Philosophy’s relation to the act of writing is John T. Lysaker’s main concern in Philosophy, Writing, and the Character of Thought. Whether in Plato, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, or
In Talking Art, acclaimed ethnographer Gary Alan Fine gives us an eye-opening look at the contemporary university-based master’s-level art program. Through an in-depth analysis of the practice o
A gripping revisionist history that shows how ordinary Italians played a central role in the genocide of Italian Jews during the Second World WarIn this gripping revisionist history of Italy’s role in
In 1956 Harry Belafonte’s Calypso became the first LP to sell more than a million copies. For a few fleeting months, calypso music was the top-selling genre in the US—it even threatened to
Following his “obsessive, intricate, intimate, and brilliant” (Washington Post) work in Posthumous Keats and The Immortal Evening, renowned poet Stanley Plumly further explores immortality in art thro
Since its founding in 1971, Paris-based SCAU Architecture has grown to be one of the premier architectural firms in the world, with landmark projects like the Stade de France, Paris; the Quai des Savo
German modernist architect Konrad Wachsmann (1901–1980) had a career-spanning interest in construction processes—in particular the prefabrication of building components and their assembly
In Frontier Rebels, historian Patrick Spero tells the story of the Black Boys, a band of rebels whose protests ignited the American Revolution. In 1765, as the Stamp Act riled eastern seaports, fronti
Until well into the twentieth century, pack animals were the primary mode of transport for supplying armies in the field. The British Indian Army was no exception. In the late nineteenth century, for
The widespread understanding of language in the West is that it represents the world. This view, however, has not always been commonplace. In fact, it is a theory of language conceived by Plato, culmi
Eunuch and Emperor in the Great Age of Qing Rule offers a new interpretation of eunuchs and their connection to imperial rule in the first century and a half of the Qing dynasty (1644–1800). Thi
In this gripping narrative history, Seth G. Jones reveals the CIA’s involvement in a landmark victory for democracy during the Cold War. In 1982, while Soviet- backed Polish prime minister Wojciech Ja
Eighty-nine-year-old Jules Feiffer delivers the tour deforce of his illustrious career in this epic finale thatdares “to try things that film noir could only dreamof” (Chris Ware). In The Ghost Script
We are living in an age of crisis—or an age in which everything is labeled a crisis. Financial, debt, and refugee “crises” have erupted. The word has also been applied to the Arab Spring and its after
The idea of corporate culture is a much-discussed concept in today’s business world, but often it only comes into focus as a response to problems in the workplace. Business Culture Design change
The Wala reside in the Langalanga Lagoon on the west coast of Malaita island, Solomon Islands. Written by local writers in collaboration with an academic researcher, the purpose of this book, Birana i
About a millennium ago, in Cairo, an unknown author completed a large and richly illustrated book. In the course of thirty-five chapters, this book guided the reader on a journey from the outermost co
Does science aim at providing an account of the world that is literally true or objectively true? Understanding the difference requires paying close attention to metaphor and its role in science. In T
Bricks have been in use constantly for more than nine millennia. Today, the appreciation for their versatile application, construction qualities, and energy efficiency remains unbroken. Founded in Vie
The past fifty years have seen marked significant shifts in attitudes toward and acceptance of LGBTQ people in the United States and the West. Yet the extent of this progress, argues Martin Duberman,
Visual culture was an essential part of ancient social, religious, and political life. Appearance and experience of beings and things was of paramount importance. In Visual Power in Ancient Greece and
After his long sojourn in the Mediterranean, Prince Valiant is back in Britain, where he takes on a new, intricate mission on behalf of King Arthur. Here, Valiant finds himself in the middle of a conf
When Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981, the United States and NATO were losing the Cold War. The USSR had superiority in conventional weapons and manpower in Europe, and had embarked on a cons
Immigration policy is one of the most contentious public policy issues in the United States today. High-skilled immigrants represent an increasing share of the U.S. workforce, particularly in sc
Americans spend hours every day sitting in traffic. And the roads they idle on are often rough and potholed, their exits, tunnels, guardrails, and bridges in terrible disrepair. According to transport
The untold story of how hereditary data in mental hospitals gave rise to the science of human heredityIn the early 1800s, a century before there was any concept of the gene, physicians in insane asylu
