Beyond The Dragon Daughter and Other Lin Lan Fairy Tales May 02, 2022 The lack of Chinese fairy tales in English translation has been a reality that hinders not only academic studies of the fairy tale, but also the cross-cultural understanding of Chinese traditions in general. Read More
Andrei Sourakov and Rachel Warren Chadd on The Lives of Moths April 29, 2022 While butterflies may get more press than moths, Andrei Sourakov and Rachel Warren Chadd reveal that the lopsided attention is unjust. Read More
Jeff Deutsch on In Praise of Good Bookstores April 26, 2022 Do we need bookstores in the twenty-first century? If so, what makes a good one? In this beautifully written book, Jeff Deutsch—the director of Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstores, one of the finest bookstores in the world—pays loving tribute to one of our most important and endangered civic institutions. Read More
The universe from a 3D perspective April 25, 2022 The universe is huge. If we could travel at the speed of light (and we can’t) it would take us only about a second to go to the Moon. Read More
Why tech innovation alone isn’t good enough April 20, 2022 The list of crises we face today seems to grow daily. As if inequality and civil wars and global warming and refugee crises weren't enough, we have also grappled with a global pandemic and the sudden threat of nuclear war. Read More
R. Douglas Arnold on Fixing Social Security April 20, 2022 Since its establishment, Social Security has become the financial linchpin of American retirement. Yet demographic trends—longer lifespans and declining birthrates—mean that this popular program now pays more in benefits than it collects in revenue. Read More
Margaret Cohen on The Underwater Eye April 12, 2022 In The Underwater Eye, Margaret Cohen tells the fascinating story of how the development of modern diving equipment and movie camera technology has allowed documentary and narrative filmmakers to take human vision into the depths, creating new imagery of the seas and the underwater realm, and expanding the scope of popular imagination. Read More
Scientific rationalism in an irrational world April 08, 2022 As a young student in the mid-1980s, I read a popular science book called To Acknowledge the Wonder by Euan Squires about the then latest ideas in fundamental physics. At a time when I was contemplating a career in physics, the chance to acknowledge the wonders of the physical world was what really inspired me to devote my life to science. Read More
Vladimir Putin’s case April 07, 2022 Law is neither dead nor irrelevant in wartime. It permeates the bureaucratic, legalistic structure of the modern war machine. All world leaders, including Vladimir Putin, acknowledge the post–World War II legal basis for waging war. Read More
Robert K. Durkee on The New Princeton Companion April 05, 2022 The New Princeton Companion, edited by Robert K. Durkee, former vice president and secretary of Princeton University, is both a compendium and a chronicle of one of America’s finest institutions of higher learning. Read More
A new vision for a celebrated history series March 28, 2022 In 1996, Princeton University Press founded the Politics and Society in Modern America book series, with William H. Chafe, Linda Gordon and Gary Gerstle as founding editors, and Julian Zelizer joining the team in 2001. Read More
Michael Brenner on In Hitler’s Munich March 28, 2022 In the aftermath of Germany’s defeat in World War I and the failed November Revolution of 1918–19, the conservative government of Bavaria identified Jews with left-wing radicalism. Read More
Stephen B. Heard on The Scientist’s Guide to Writing March 23, 2022 The ability to write clearly is critical to any scientific career. The Scientist’s Guide to Writing provides practical advice to help scientists become more effective writers so that their ideas have the greatest possible impact. Read More
Madison’s balancing act March 22, 2022 The further the American Revolution recedes into history, the easier it is to miss just how close the United States of America came to being a divided collection of competing colonies under the punishing heel of an angry Britain. Read More
The evolution of bird migration March 21, 2022 To an earthbound species like humans, bird migration is nothing short of extreme. A four-ounce Arctic tern can fly to Antarctica and back each year during a lifetime that spans 30 years. Read More