Georges-Louis Leclerc, le comte de Buffon's The Epochs of Nature, originally published as Les Époques de la Nature in 1778, is one of the first great popular science books, a work
Torture has lately become front page news, featured in popular movies and TV shows, and a topic of intense public debate. It grips our imagination, in part because torturing someone seems to be an unt
The six research studies in Volume 32 of Tax Policy and the Economy analyze the U.S. tax and transfer system, in particular its effects on revenues, expenditures, and economic behavior. First, James A
Why is it so hard for us to connect on a deep level with others, particularly those who are suffering? We constantly find ourselves interrupted and inundated with tasks and stresses. We are disconnect
The subprime crash of 2008 revealed a fragile, unjust, and unsustainable economy built on retail consumption, low-wage jobs, and fictitious capital. Finance and global commodity chains transformed Sou
When Laura—a.k.a. Masterpiece Robot—heads into the backyard with her little sister Molly—a.k.a. Sidekick—her active imagination places them instead on patrol around the perimeter of a dystopian city,
“On the day of the Great Fall he left nothing, nothing at all behind.”The latest work by Peter Handke, one of our greatest living writers, chronicles a day in life of an aging actor as he makes his wa
On Descartes’ Passive Thought is the culmination of a life-long reflection on the philosophy of Descartes by one of the most important living French philosophers. In it, Jean-Luc Marion examines
A groundbreaking work on how the topic of scale provides an entirely new understanding of Inca material cultureAlthough questions of form and style are fundamental to art history, the issue of scale h
Allison Davis (1902–83), a preeminent black scholar and social science pioneer, is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking investigations into inequality, Jim Crow America, and the cultural bi
Who and what a government taxes, and how the government spends the money collected, are questions of primary concern to governments large and small, national and local. When public revenues pay for hi
Colonial documents and works of literature from early modern Spain are rife with references to public women, whores, and prostitutes. In Profit and Passion, Nicole von Germeten offers a new history of
It is a curious and relatively little-known fact that for two decades—from the end of World War II until the late 1960s—existentialism’s most fertile ground outside of Europe was in
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” Blaise Pascal wrote in 1654. But then there’s Walt Whitman, in 1856:
Regarded as one of Charles Dickens''s masterpieces, this is the story of the orphan Pip and his growth to adulthood. Supported by a mysterious anonymous benefactor, Pip travels to London to be educate
The clerk attended desk and counter at the intersection of two great themes of modern historical experience: the development of capitalism and of a society governed from below. Who better illustrates
The bitter feud between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Chief Justice Earl Warren framed the tumultuous future of the modern civil rights movement. Eisenhower was a gradualist who wanted to coax wh
How the latest cutting-edge science offers a fuller picture of life in Rome and antiquityThis groundbreaking book provides the first comprehensive look at how the latest advances in the sciences are t
So shattering were the aftereffects of Kishinev, the rampagethat broke out in late-Tsarist Russia in April 1903,that one historian remarked that it was “nothing lessthan a prototype for the Holocaust
The Supreme Court Economic Review is a faculty-edited, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary series that applies world-class economic and legal scholarship to the work of the Supreme Court of the United St
From the 1830s to the Civil War, Americans could be found putting each other into trances for fun and profit in parlors, on stage, and in medical consulting rooms. They were performing mesmerism. Surp
“The American people sees itself advance across the wilderness, draining swamps, straightening rivers, peopling the solitude, and subduing nature,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in 1835. Tha
Øresund, or the Sound—the body of water separating Denmark from Sweden—has always been strategically important. Between 1429 and 1857, the Danish king levied a toll on ships traveli
South of Geneva, Switzerland, the Aire River runs across a plain that for centuries has been agricultural land. Since the late nineteenth century, the waterway has been embanked for flood protection,
Following her bestselling Life Along the Silk Road, Susan Whitfield widens her exploration of the great cultural highway with a new captivating portrait focusing on material things. Silk, Slaves, and
In recent decades, sociology of education has been dominated by quantitative analyses of race, class, and gender gaps in educational achievement. And while there’s no question that such work is
The history of Mexico City is monumental, like Our Lady of Guadalupe that watches over the city. That's because time, people, and cultures have never stopped intermixing there. In the 1920s
The 637 documents in this volume span 1 February to 31 August 1819. As a founding member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, Jefferson helps to obtain builders for the infant institution,
A sweeping history of Latin American republicanism in the nineteenth centuryBy the 1820s, after three centuries under imperial rule, the former Spanish territories of Latin America had shaken off thei
A new look at the ways van Gogh represented the seasons and the natural world throughout his careerThe changing seasons captivated Vincent van Gogh (1853–90), who saw in their unending cycle the majes
Every square inch of soil is rich with energy and life, and nowhere is this more evident than in the garden. At the tips of our trowels, a sun-driven world of microbes, insects, roots, and stems await
First collected nearly a millennium ago, these folktales are presented as stories that the beautiful Scheherazade tells her husband, King Shahryar, over 1001 consecutive nights. They include some of t
In a groundbreaking history as game-changing as Charles Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, We the Corporations reveals how American business won equal rights
Giant factories, with their ingenious machinery and miraculous productivity, have long been celebrated as modern wonders of the world. Yet from their very beginnings, when William Blake called them “d
Health care costs represent a nearly 18% of U.S. gross domestic product and 20% of government spending. While there is detailed information on where these health care dollars are spent, there is much
In a book that is part memoir and part history, David Roberts looks back at his personal relationship to extreme risk, and tries to make sense of why so many have committed their lives to the desperat
From the 1920s through the 1950s, Bertolt Brecht wrote a number of short, fictionalized comments on contemporary life, politics, and thought. Through the dramatic events of the first half of the twent
Before the time of Napoleon, the most ambitious effort to explore and map the Nile was undertaken by the Ottomans, as attested by two monumental documents: an elaborate map, with 450 rubrics, and a le
Market globalization, technology, climate change, and postcolonial political forces are together forging a new, more modern world. However, caught up in the mix are some powerful religious narratives
The Communist regimes of Europe collapsed more than a quarter century ago, and the Third Reich fell in World War II. But today’s rising global tide of far-right extremism makes totalitarian regi
