Galileo never set foot on the Iberian Peninsula, yet, as Enrique García Santo-Tomás unfolds in The Refracted Muse, the news of his work with telescopes brought him to surprising prominen
The first consumer credit bureaus appeared in the 1870s and quickly amassed huge archives of deeply personal information about millions of Americans. Today, the three leading credit bureaus are among
The rapid growth of doctoral-level art education challenges traditional ways of thinking about academic knowledge and, yet, as Danny Butt argues in this book, the creative arts may also represent a po
For many years it has been known that scholars of Chinese history and culture must keep abreast of scholarship in Japan, but the great majority have found that to be difficult. Japanese for Sinologist
Many in the United States feel that the nation's current level of economic inequality is unfair and that capitalism is not working for 90% of the population. Yet some inequality is inevitable. The que
This book is intended as a guide to the analysis and presentation of experimental results. It develops various techniques for the numerical processing of experimental data, using basic statistical met
We live in strange times. A machine plays the strategy game Go better than any human; upstarts like Apple and Google destroy industry stalwarts such as Nokia; ideas from the crowd are repeatedly more
For more than fifty years, The Supreme Court Review has won acclaim for providing a sustained and authoritative survey of the implications of the Court’s most significant decisions. The Supreme Court
A collection of murder ballads — some of which have been covered by modern masters like Nick Cave, Steve Earle, and Gillian Welch — that have been adapted into ruthless graphic narratives.
The history of contacts between India and Europe tends to be dominated by the British, but Denmark also played a role on the subcontinent in the colonial era. This book offers insight into that histor
One of Barnes & Noble's Leatherbound Classic Editions, this anthology of love poems features a durable bonded-leather binding and distinctive gilt edging.
Mathematics is one of humanity's most successful yet puzzling endeavors. It is a model of precision and objectivity, but appears distinct from the empirical sciences because it seems to deliver nonexp
The nineteenth century introduced developments in science and medicine that made the eradication of pain conceivable for the first time. This new understanding of pain brought with it a complex set of
South African artist William Kentridge’s drawings, films, books, installations, and collaborations with opera and theater companies have established him as a world-class star in contemporary art, medi
Economists often act as if their methods explain all human behavior. But in Cents and Sensibility, an eminent literary critic and a leading economist make the case that the humanities, especially the
"It is safer to be feared than loved." These words embody the spirit of The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli's classic work of political philosophy. Machiavelli's advice for how a ruler should acquire and
Contrary to conventional wisdom, countries that ignite a process of rapid economic growth almost always do so while lacking what experts say are the essential preconditions for development, such as go
Panter’s version doesn’t rely on Milton’s words, but faithfully follows the structure of Milton’s Paradise Regained, with one notable exception: Jesus has been replaced by a hillbilly, Songy, who is o
One in four American workers says their workplace is a "dictatorship." Yet that number probably would be even higher if we recognized most employers for what they are--private governments with sweepin
What does it mean to call something "contemporary"? More than simply denoting what's new, it speaks to how we come to know the present we're living in and how we develop a shared story about it. The s
There are an ever-increasing number of books on improvisation, ones that richly recount experiences in the heat of the creative moment, theorize on the essence of improvisation, and offer convincing a
Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) can be exceptionally effective tools for national resources revenue management in the current global economy. As a response to the challenges posed by financial shocks, S
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the global Mennonite church developed an uneasy relationship with Germany. Despite the religion's origins in the Swiss and Dutch Reformation, as well as
This volume brings together current scholarly debates about how to bridge the gap between theory and practice in media and journalism research. Drawing on work from media scholars and media practition
Between September and December 2016, Ludovic Balland set out with journalist Dasha Lisitsina and researcher Anna Levy to document how Americans were making sense of the campaigns and the constant hum
Caliph Washington’s life was never supposed to matter. As a black teenager from the vice-ridden city of Bessemer, Alabama, Washington was wrongfully convicted of killing an Alabama policeman in 1957.
Across the Middle East in the post–World War I era, European strategic moves converged with late Ottoman political practice and a newly emboldened Zionist movement to create an unprecedented push to p
From the end of the nineteenth century until the onset of the Great Depression, Wall Street embarked on a stunning, unprecedented, and often bloody period of international expansion in the Caribbean.
Two spectacular dead bodies—Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia, found dumped and posed in a vacant lot in January 1947, and Marilyn Monroe, found dead in her home in August 1962—bookend this n
At the turn of the twentieth century the stereograph was king. Its binocular images revealed the world in vivid, three-dimensional detail. Generations of Americans, especially schoolchildren, absorbed
Finland shocked the world when its fifteen-year-olds scored highest on the first Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a set of tests touted for evaluating critical-thinking skills in
Globalization and cheaper travel have led to a rapid increase in cross-cultural encounters worldwide—which makes understanding problems of conflict, prejudice, interaction, and adaptation ever more im
In Albino, photojournalist Ana Palacios takes us inside a shelter for people with albinism and reveals what daily life is like for those living with the genetic condition in Tanzania. As Palacios docu
At the turn of the twentieth century, many observers considered suicide to be a worldwide social problem that had reached epidemic proportions. This idea was especially powerful in Mexico City, where
Mainstreaming Black Power upends the narrative that the Black Power movement provided a catharsis for black rage but achieved little institutional transformation or black uplift. Retelling the story o
In the last decade, public discussions of transgender issues have increased exponentially. However, with this increased visibility has comes not just power, but regulation, both in favor of and agains
In the wake of the murder of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012 and the exoneration of his killer, three black women activists launched a hashtag and social media platform, Black Lives Matter, wh
The book of Genesis records the fiery fate of Sodom and Gomorrah—a storm of fire and brimstone is sent from heaven and, for the wickedness of the people, God destroyed the cities “and all the plains,
