Literature
An engaging reassessment of the celebrated essayist and his relevance to contemporary readers
An entertaining tour of Old English words for animals, from the author of The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English, which Neil Gaiman called “a marvelous book”
An entertaining and illuminating collection of weird, wonderful, and downright baffling words from the origins of English—and what they reveal about the lives of the earliest English speakers
A beautifully illustrated guide to over seventy-five important journeys in world literature, spanning more than thirty countries and twenty-five hundred years
The first book in English to examine Leon Battista Alberti’s major literary works in Latin and Italian, which are often overshadowed by his achievements in architecture
A captivating portrait of the poet and the scientist who shared an enchanted view of nature
A compelling personal introduction to the life and work of Nobel Prize–winning writer Czesław Miłosz from his fellow Polish exile and acclaimed writer Eva Hoffman
The first book-length selection from the extraordinary unpublished diary of the late-Victorian writer “Michael Field”—the pen name of two female coauthors and romantic partners
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism
A history of the chapter from its origins in antiquity to today
An illustrated biography of the pioneering British artist and writer, tracing her life and work through the many places around the world where she lived
The first biography of Henry VIII’s court fool William Somer, a legendary entertainer and one of the most intriguing figures of the Tudor age
A biography of the remarkable woman whose bestselling Mythology has introduced millions of readers to the classical world
What Thoreau can teach us about working—why we do it, what it does to us, and how we can make it more meaningful
A Dominican-born academic tells the story of how the Great Books transformed his life—and why they have the power to speak to people of all backgrounds
The first comprehensive biography of an extraordinary English poet and composer whose life was haunted by fighting in the First World War and, later, confinement in a mental asylum
The definitive biography of a leading twentieth-century French writer
From their acclaimed biographer, a final, powerful book about how Emerson, Thoreau, and William James forged resilience from devastating loss, changing the course of American thought
Revelatory talks about art and life with internationally acclaimed Israeli novelist Amos Oz
A unique look at Thomas Mann’s intellectual and political transformation during the crucial years of his exile in the United States
A vivid and original account of one of Ireland’s greatest poets by an acclaimed Irish historian and literary biographer