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
The changing face of the liberal creed from the ancient world to todayThe Lost History of Liberalism challenges our most basic assumptions about a political creed that has become a rallying cry—and a
A new interpretation of the Holy Roman Empire that reveals why it was not a failed state as many historians believeThe Holy Roman Empire emerged in the Middle Ages as a loosely integrated union of Ger
The Versailles Settlement, at the time of its creation a vital part of the Paris Peace Conference, suffers today from a poor reputation: despite its lofty aim to settle the world’s affairs at a
Despite its rough-and-tumble image, Chicago has long been identified as a city where books take center stage. In fact, a volume by A. J. Liebling gave the Second City its nickname. Upton Sinclair
Every age and social strata has its bad eggs, rule-breakers, and nose-thumbers. As acclaimed popular historian and author of How to Be a Victorian Ruth Goodman shows in her madcap chronicle, Elizabeth
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
We’re all familiar with the image of a fierce and scowling Beethoven, struggling doggedly to overcome his rapidly progressing deafness. That Beethoven continued to play and compose for more than
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
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
Wildly kaleidoscopic and furiously cinematic, Home After Dark is a literary tour-de-force that renders the brutality of adolescence in the so-called nostalgic 1950s, evoking such classics as The Lord
The American experiment rests on three ideas—“these truths,” Jefferson called them—political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people. And it rests, too, “on a dedication to inquiry
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
Built in 1969, Metsamor, Armenia (then the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic), was intended as a settlement for employees of a nearby nuclear power plant to be completed between 1976 and 1980. But th
Over the last quarter of a century, no other city like Miami has rapidly transformed into a global city. The Global Edge charts the social tensions and unexpected consequences of this remarkable
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
Much is at stake when we choose a word for a form of violence: whether a conflict is labeled civil war or genocide, whether we refer to “enhanced interrogation techniques” or to “torture,” whether a p
On the fortieth anniversary of the Camp David Accords, a groundbreaking new history that shows how Egyptian-Israeli peace ensured lasting Palestinian statelessnessFor seventy years Israel has existed
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
Expertise and Architecture in the Modern Islamic World explores how architectural traditions and practices were shared and exchanged across national borders throughout the world, departing from a narr
For over a century, the Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55) has been at the center of a number of important discussions, concerning not only philosophy and theology, but also, more recently, fi
How did the medieval Middle East transform from a majority-Christian world to a majority-Muslim world, and what role did violence play in this process? Christian Martyrs under Islam explains how Chris
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
Beyond the Pink Tide considers a wave of artistic and curatorial efforts and social movements that refuse national borders to think hemispherically. In modeling a transnational American Studies, the b
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
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
Places that Matter asks the reader to identify a place that matters in their life—their home, a place of worship, a park, or some other site that acts as an emotional and physical anchor and con
Aglaia is a simple sea nymph. One day, a Merman seduces Aglaia, forever altering her life’s course. She is cast out of Oceanid by her chauvinistic father, forcing her to wander many days and nights, u
Work hard in school, graduate from a top college, establish a high-paying professional career, enjoy the long-lasting reward of happiness. This is the American Dream—and yet basic questions at t
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
When Pupshaw and Pushpaw depart for the orgiastic delights of Poochytown, the forlorn Frank is thrown by a twist of fate into an unlikely friendship, propelling him down a long road of escapades and t
Mediterranean Encounters traces the layered history of Galata—a Mediterranean and Black Sea port—to the Ottoman conquest, and its transformation into a hub of European trade and diplomacy
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
How an eighteenth-century engraving of the slave ship became a cultural icon of black resistance, identity, and remembranceOne of the most iconic images of slavery is a schematic wood engraving depict
A groundbreaking history of the Big Questions that dominated the nineteenth centuryIn the early nineteenth century, a new age began: the age of questions. In the Eastern and Belgian questions, as much
On the eve of the 2007 general elections in Morocco, writer, academic, and former cabinet minister Abdallah Saaf embarked on several road trips across the country to get a feel for how its citizens ha
