Latest titles for the week of May 20, 2019
The Crisis of Multiculturalism in Europe
A History
Rita Chin
"Chin analyzes the current debates in Europe over immigration and Western values to create a vivid picture of a continent consumed by social tensions. The questions [she] poses have never seemed more urgent."—Radhika Jones, New York Times Book Review
Hardcover | 2017
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Protestants Abroad
How Missionaries Tried to Change the World but Changed America
David A. Hollinger
"Protestants Abroad is one of those rare books that slices American society in a way that hardly anyone—certainly no one of Hollinger’s intellectual breadth—has thought to cut the cake before."—Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost
Hardcover | 2017
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Decolonization
A Short History
Jan C. Jansen & Jürgen Osterhammel
Translated by Jeremiah Riemer
"For those looking for a compact and lucid account of why decolonization occurred, and what it meant, this is the place to start."—Krishan Kumar, Times Literary Supplement
Hardcover | 2017
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Art Rebels
Race, Class, and Gender in the Art of Miles Davis and Martin Scorsese
Paul Lopes
"Accessible, appealing, and persuasive. Lopes has written a knowing history of the creative and commercial paths blazed by Scorsese and Davis, showing how their art, ideas, and public images are registers of important cultural and social changes."—George Lipsitz, author of Midnight at the Barrelhouse: The Johnny Otis Story
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
The Norm Residue Theorem in Motivic Cohomology
Christian Haesemeyer and Charles A. Weibel
This book presents the complete proof of the Bloch-Kato conjecture and several related conjectures of Beilinson and Lichtenbaum in algebraic geometry. Brought together here for the first time, these conjectures describe the structure of étale cohomology and its relation to motivic cohomology and Chow groups.
Hardcover | 2019
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Calculus Simplified
Oscar E. Fernandez
"This reader-friendly book is specifically designed for first-year calculus students. Fernandez writes in a welcoming style and the text is neither repetitive nor jargon-laden. With a strong presentation, well-chosen examples, and useful exercises, he does a marvelous job distilling the subject down to the essentials."—David R. Dorman, Middlebury College
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Faces of Muhammad
Western Perceptions of the Prophet of Islam from the Middle Ages to Today
John V. Tolan
"John Tolan sets aside the historical Muhammad and Muslim portraits of God's beloved Messenger to focus on Mahomet as European men have depicted him over the centuries. He shows how wildly varied versions of Islam's prophet emerge and how they make sense within their own social, intellectual, and theological contexts. Nuanced and fascinating, Faces of Muhammad is a terrific read."—Kecia Ali, author of The Lives of Muhammade
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
The Crime of Aggression
The Quest for Justice in an Age of Drones, Cyberattacks, Insurgents, and Autocrats
Noah Weisbord
"With the rules-based global order under siege, The Crime of Aggression is a timely and valuable reminder of the powerful potential of international law. Weisbord's realistic but optimistic grasp of world politics offers a better way to deal with the worst of the worst, even as he argues for us all to fashion strong institutions for a more just world."—Guy Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of War Dogs
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila
A Biography
Carlos Eire
"Eire provides an enthralling exploration of the life and influence of an important historical work."—Publishers Weekly
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
Latest titles for the week of May 13, 2019
Basquiat-isms
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Edited by Larry Warsh
"A wonderful book, Basquiat-isms brings us closer to understanding Basquiat's experiences as an artist and as a black man. We see glimpses of the artist's wit and his ideas about painting in equal measure."—Jordana Moore Saggese, author of Reading Basquiat
Hardcover | 2019
A Dynamical Systems Theory of Thermodynamics
Wassim M. Haddad
"Haddad develops an original mathematical framework for thermodynamics deeply rooted in modern systems theory, threading postulates and analyses of a science that has evolved from the seemingly mundane quest for efficiency in steam engines to the flow of time and the workings of the cosmos and life itself. He succeeds in presenting an all-encompassing treatise, from the early works of Carnot and Clausius to the insights of relativity and the conundrum of the time arrow, in a lucid exposition that systematically details a rigorous base for future generations of scientists and theorists."—Tryphon Georgiou, University of California, Irvine
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
The Infidel and the Professor
David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought
Dennis C. Rasmussen
"A wonderfully written book about a beautiful friendship."—Tyler Cowen, Bloomberg View
Hardcover | 2017
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Latest titles for the week of May 6, 2019
The Book of Common Prayer
A Biography
Alan Jacobs
"One could not wish for a more engaging introduction to the history of the Prayer Book. . . . [A] triumph of compression and lucidity."—David Martin, Church Times
Hardcover | 2013
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
The Code of Capital
How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality
Katharina Pistor
"This is a fascinating book that demonstrates how the rights of capital have been entrenched in the international legal system. The Code of Capital opens the way for a thoughtful discussion about the treaties on capital flows and privileges that need to be rewritten. A must-read."—Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
The Dead Sea Scrolls
A Biography
John J. Collins
"One could scarcely imagine a better concise guide to the Scrolls."—Robert Alter, London Review of Books
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Democratic Capitalism at the Crossroads
Technological Change and the Future of Politics
Carles Boix
"Democracy is dying. Inequality is out of control. Technical progress, which is supposed to make us better off, is tearing us apart. What to do? Start by remembering that we have been here before. In this indispensable book, Carles Boix takes us from nineteenth-century Manchester to present-day Silicon Valley to show us how the dance of democracy, inequality, and technology has played out on other stages, each with lessons for today."—Angus Deaton, author of The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
The Dictionary Wars
The American Fight over the English Language
Peter Martin
"An informative and often pleasantly surprising cultural history."—Kirkus
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
The Jewish Century, New Edition
Yuri Slezkine
With a new preface by the author
"[A] richly detailed study that aims not only to recast our understanding of the modern Jewish predicament but of the modern predicament as a whole."—Daniel Lazare, The Nation
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
The Lives of Bees
The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild
Thomas D. Seeley
"A wealth of information about honeybees based on decades of scientific research."—Kirkus
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
Audiobook available
Quaint, Exquisite
Victorian Aesthetics and the Idea of Japan
Grace E. Lavery
"This is a remarkable and distinctive piece of work—extremely smart, wide-ranging, and provocative. It challenges received wisdom on many fronts, exploring the power of Japan as a realm of fantasy that animates late-Victorian and modernist aesthetics, as well as the organization of queer desire."—James Eli Adams, Columbia University
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae
A Biography
Bernard McGinn
"Introductions to Aquinas abound, but few manage so succinctly to introduce the reader not only to the person and his work, but also to the enduring influence of Aquinas."—Alban McCoy, The Tablet
Hardcover | 2014
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Latest titles for the week of April 29, 2019
Patient Capital
The Challenges and Promises of Long-Term Investing
Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner
"This book provides a thorough and thoughtful analysis of the role that patient, long-term capital plays in the economy. Ivashina and Lerner do a wonderful job of combining clear and intuitive explanations with entertaining anecdotes that keep the reader’s attention and make it easier to understand the underlying ideas. At every point their in-depth knowledge shines through and makes for a very enjoyable read."—Antoinette Schoar, MIT Sloan School of Management
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
The Seduction of Unreason
The Intellectual Romance with Fascism from Nietzsche to Postmodernism, Second Edition
Richard Wolin
With a new preface by the author
"Absolutely entrancing. . . . [A] wide-ranging yet subtle consideration of the intellectual’s abiding fascination with absolutism. . . . [A] perceptive, compelling and invaluable document."—John Banville, Irish Times
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
The Wealth of Religions
The Political Economy of Believing and Belonging
Rachel M. McCleary and Robert J. Barro
"It might seem incongruous, but applying the principles of economics to the realm of religious faith and observance leads to some fascinating insights. Reviving questions first raised by Max Weber and others over a century ago, Rachel McCleary and Robert Barro ask if there is, after all, a Protestant ethic related to the spirit of capitalism. What have been the economic consequences of the spread of Islam? Is secularization an irresistible consequence of rising incomes? The answers presented here to these and other questions would have delighted the late David Landes, whose Wealth and Poverty of Nations did so much to revive scholarly interest in the economic history of religion."—Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford, and author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
Latest titles for the week of April 22, 2019
Adaptive Markets
Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought
Andrew W. Lo
With a new afterword by the author
"A fascinating read, cogently situating financial behaviour within what we know about human behaviour and evolutionary history."—Diane Coyle, Nature
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Chinese Architecture
A History
Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt
"Chinese Architecture is a milestone in the field. This authoritative and lucid book represents the best scholarship today on the history of Chinese architecture in any language. The comprehensiveness of its scope and depth is unmatched and it sets the standard for how the history of Chinese architecture should be taught and studied."—Wei-Cheng Lin, University of Chicago
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
Economics for the Common Good
Jean Tirole
"An ambitious yet accessible summary of [Tirole’s] ideas on the proper role of economists and the value of their ideas in informing government, business and social life. . . . Tirole has a patient, explanatory style."—Philip Delves Broughton, Wall Street Journal
Paperback | 2019
Field Guide to the Flower Flies of Northeastern North America
Jeffrey H. Skevington and Michelle M. Locke,
Andrew D. Young, Kevin Moran, William J. Crins and Stephen A. Marshall
"This richly illustrated book, the first flower fly field guide for North America, is a major accomplishment. An advancement in scientific knowledge, it will greatly interest naturalists and raise awareness of this ubiquitous group."—John Klymko, Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Formal Verification of Control System Software
Pierre-Loïc Garoche
"Innovative, mathematically exact, and very well written. Garoche is a rare resource, and his book will enrich the knowledge of both the computer-science and control-systems communities."—Eric Feron, Georgia Institute of Technology
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
Megaphone Bureaucracy
Speaking Truth to Power in the Age of the New Normal
Dennis C. Grube
"Grube’s contribution is to show how civil servants, in an era of bots and deliberate misinformation, can up the volume for veracity, pushing boundaries while not crossing them. It’s a message we need to hear."—Drew Fagan, Literary Review of Canada
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
A History of Ambiguity
Anthony Ossa-Richardson
"For anyone who imagines that the history of ambiguity begins with William Empson, this book will come as a revelation. Anthony Ossa-Richardson presents an alternative history of ambiguity in which Empson and the New Critics are the end point rather than the beginning. In a work of thrilling ambition—ranging across biblical criticism, classical translation, religious polemic, and legal hermeneutics—he recovers a lost tradition of medieval and early modern scholarship which, rather than trying to eliminate ambiguity, reveled in its power and possibility. A History of Ambiguity takes its readers on a voyage of discovery into uncharted waters which will not only expand their horizons but redraw their map of intellectual history."—Arnold Hunt, University of Cambridge
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
The Many Deaths of Jew Süss
The Notorious Trial and Execution of an Eighteenth-Century Court
Jew Yair Mintzker
"Shrewd, elegant and illuminating."—Adam Sutcliffe, Times Literary Supplement
Hardcover | 2017
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Masada
From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth
Jodi Magness
"Shrewd, elegant and illuminating."—Adam Sutcliffe, Times Literary Supplement
Hardcover | 2019
Audiobook available
eBook available
On Mercy
Malcolm Bull
"In his brilliant treatise On Mercy, Malcolm Bull recuperates this ancient notion, displaced in modern political thought, and powerfully reinserts mercy at the heart of contemporary politics. In a sweeping, masterful, erudite history ranging from Seneca and Cicero through Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Montaigne to Shklar and Bernard Williams, Bull demonstrates that politics, in the end, is nothing more or less than power mercifully exercised. The only way that we, as a society, will overcome the dangers of global climate change or the threat of AI apocalypse will be to adopt a politics of mercy. I urge you to read On Mercy; it is a book for our times."—Bernard E. Harcourt, author of The Illusion of Free Markets
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
Priced Out
The Economic and Ethical Costs of American Health Care
Uwe E. Reinhardt
Forewords by Paul Krugman & Sen. William H. Frist
"Wish I could afford to buy a copy for every adult in the U.S. If healthcare matters to you, please read it."—Ted Kinni
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
Uneasy Street
The Anxieties of Affluence
Rachel Sherman
"Sherman takes a dispassionate approach to find out how those who are ‘benefitting from rising economic inequality’ experience ‘their own social advantages.’ She elicits her subjects’ thoughts about work and productivity, charitable giving, marital discord and more. Worthwhile humanizing ensues, as do plenty of squirm-inducing moments."—John Williams, New York Times Book Review
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Latest titles for the week of April 15, 2019
digitalSTS
A Field Guide for Science & Technology Studies
Edited by Janet Vertesi and David Ribes
"This delightful collection of thought-provoking essays, case studies, and research findings creates a coherent story out of the disparate threads that have helped animate digital science and technology studies. digitalSTS is an essential volume, helping junior scholars get their bearings while also enabling reflexivity among those deeply immersed in this field."—danah boyd, principal researcher at Microsoft Research, founder of Data & Society, and author of It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens
Hardcover | 2019
Paperback | 2019
eBook available
Racial Migrations
New York City and the Revolutionary Politics of the Spanish Caribbean
Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof
"Following carefully a 'printed trail of clues' produced by a remarkable group of radicals of African descent, from Cuba and Puerto Rico to the United States, Hoffnung-Garskof offers a rich reconstruction of a vibrant and little-known world of black activism and intellectual production. Giving readers access to important history through interconnected stories, Racial Migrations is beautifully written."—Alejandro de la Fuente, Harvard University
Hardcover | 2019
eBook available
Red Meat Republic
A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America
Joshua Specht
"[A] masterful piece of scholarship. . . . Baden’s accessible prose will make this exceptional work appeal to scholars and general readers alike."—Publishers Weekly
Hardcover | 2019
Audiobook available
eBook available