Books released during the week of Sept. 17, 2018
How Plants Work
Form, Diversity, Survival
Stephen Blackmore
With a foreword by Peter Crane
All the plants around us today are descended from simple algae that emerged more than 500 million years ago. While new plant species are still being discovered, it is thought that there are around 400,000 species in existence. From towering redwood trees and diminutive mosses to plants that have stinging hairs and poisons, the diverse range of plant life is extraordinary. How Plants Work is a fascinating inquiry into, and celebration of, the complex plant kingdom.
Hardcover | 2018
How to Be a Friend
An Ancient Guide to True Friendship
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Translated and with an introduction by Philip Freeman
“Cicero’s indispensable dialogue, presented here in a lively new translation, is one of the most important treatments of friendship in the ancient world—and not only the ancient world. Cicero balances a poignant picture of the deep love of genuine friends with a shrewd analysis of practical and political relationships. This work illuminates friendship today and highlights the changes that, like everything with a history, it has undergone with time.”—Alexander Nehamas, author of On Friendship
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Reading Machiavelli
Scandalous Books, Suspect Engagements, and the Virtue of Populist Politics
John P. McCormick
"With a level of ingenuity and determination equal to that of his Straussian opponents, John McCormick finds a radical populist soul in the Machiavellian corpus. He distances his reading, not just from the conservative, Straussian construal, but also from the Cambridge interpretation that makes the Florentine a hero for progressive neo-republicans. This is political theory by other, historical means. But both the history and the theory are worthy of close attention and they will certainly command it.”—Philip Pettit, author of Just Freedom
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Stripped Bare
The Art of Animal Anatomy
David Bainbridge
For more than two thousand years, comparative anatomy—the study of anatomical variation among different animal species—has been used to make arguments in natural philosophy, reinforce religious dogma, and remind us of our own mortality. This stunningly illustrated compendium traces the intertwined intellectual and artistic histories of comparative anatomy from antiquity to today.
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Books released during the week of Sept. 7, 2018
Flyover Country
Poems
Austin Smith
"Inspired by his childhood on a dairy farm in Illinois, tales of rural life lead the way in this Austin Smith collection focused on family, violence, and memories."--Matt Sutherland, Foreword Reviews
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
The Mathematics of Secrets
Cryptography from Caesar Ciphers to Digital Encryption
Joshua Holden
"A fascinating tour of the mathematics behind cryptography, showing how its principles underpin the ways that different codes and ciphers operate. . . . While it's all about maths, [The Mathematics of Secrets] is accessible—basic high school algebra is all that’s needed to understand and enjoy it."--Cosmos Magazine
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2017
eBook available
Books released during the week of August 31, 2018
Cents and Sensibility
What Economics Can Learn from the Humanities
Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro
With a new preface by the authors
"This is a bracing, original work." —Roger Lowenstein, Washington Post
Paperback | 2018
eBook available
The Internet Trap
How the Digital Economy Builds Monopolies and Undermines Democracy
Matthew Hindman
"You may think you understand the internet, but chances are you don’t. It’s not what you thought, nor what you hoped. Read this book. Then make your friends read it, too."—Michael J. Copps, former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
The Lost History of Liberalism
From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century
Helena Rosenblatt
"The Lost History of Liberalism is the most acute and careful account on the theme ever composed. Helena Rosenblatt’s accomplishment is thrilling, with self-evident implications for our own time of ideological strife."—Samuel Moyn, Yale University
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Secret Wars
Covert Conflict in International Politics
Austin Carson
"Why do states intervene overtly in some military conflicts but covertly in others? This innovative and compelling study, one of the best available on covert intervention, argues that states intervene secretly to avoid potentially dangerous escalation. In a fascinating twist, adversaries that discover covert interventions sometimes play along, keeping them secret to avoid pressures for counterintervention. Carson brilliantly illuminates this hidden side of war."—Alexander B. Downes, George Washington University
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Weimar Germany
Promise and Tragedy, Weimar Centennial Edition
Eric D. Weitz
With a new preface by the author
"Weitz effortlessly blends politics and economics, philosophy and literature, art and architecture in a gripping portrait of a culture whose pathology was exceeded only by its creativity. . . . This is history at its best." —Josef Joffe, publisher and editor of Die Zeit and fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Paperback | 2018
eBook available
Books released during the week of August 24, 2018
The Euro and the Battle of Ideas
Markus K. Brunnermeier, Harold James & Jean-Pierre Landau
"In The Euro and the Battle of Ideas, the economists Markus Brunnermeier, Harold James, and Jean-Pierre Landau turn a sharp lens on the basic divide between France and Germany."--Rana Foroohar, New York Review of Books
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2016
eBook available
Forging the Franchise
The Political Origins of the Women's Vote
Dawn Langan Teele
“Teele’s profound, provocative book brings fresh insights to the question of why women won the vote at certain times in some countries but not others. Through analysis of the battles over suffrage in the United Kingdom, United States, and France, she shows that male-dominated parties supported reform when they needed votes that suffragist strategies promised to deliver. This is essential reading for scholars, students, and advocates of equal rights.” —Mala Htun, University of New Mexico
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Midlife
A Philosophical Guide
Kieran Setiya
"Midlife has a self-soothing quality. . . . [It] teaches a lesson about midlife: it’s sometimes best to go with the flow."--Joshua Rothman, New Yorker
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2017
eBook available
The Great Leveler
Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
Walter Scheidel
"Walter Scheidel’s The Great Leveler is a smartly argued book. As you may be able to tell from the title, Mr. Scheidel makes the case that throughout history, inequality has led only to terrible things (think pandemics and wars). For anybody who has ever debated issues related to inequality and their broader meaning, this book provides more than just a powerful thought experiment."--Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2017
eBook available
Books released during the week of August 17, 2018
The Beautifull Cassandra
Jane Austen
Afterword by Claudia L. Johnson
Artwork by Leon Steinmetz
“This is a wonderful book. Jane Austen’s juvenilia is captivating, Leon Steinmetz’s illustrations are absolutely gorgeous, and Claudia L. Johnson’s afterword is excellent.”—Jenny Davidson, author of Reading Jane Austen
Paperback | 2018
eBook available
Canids of the World
Wolves, Wild Dogs, Foxes, Jackals, Coyotes, and Their Relatives
José R. Castelló
Foreword by Claudio Sillero-Zubiri
This stunningly illustrated and easy-to-use field guide covers every species of the world’s canids, from the Gray Wolf of North America to the dholes of Asia, from African jackals to the South American Bush Dog. It features more than 150 superb color plates depicting every kind of canid and detailed facing-page species accounts that describe key identification features, morphology, distribution, subspeciation, habitat, and conservation status in the wild.
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
The Cash Ceiling
Why Only the Rich Run for Office--and What We Can Do about It
Nicholas Carnes
"[A] detailed but very accessible study. . . . Carnes deserves credit for focusing attention on an under-the-radar issue."--Publishers Weekly
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
A Crisis of Beliefs
Investor Psychology and Financial Fragility
Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer
“This brilliant book builds on a psychological idea to offer both an alternative to rational expectations and an interpretation of the financial crisis. It will be a milestone in the history of behavioral economics.”—Daniel Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Darwin's Unfinished Symphony
How Culture Made the Human Mind
Kevin N. Laland
"Brilliant."—Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem Post
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2017
eBook available
Ernst Kantorowicz:
A Life
Robert E. Lerner
"A richly illuminating study . . . [and] a timely meditation on the vicissitudes of abstract, purist ideals under the pressure of savage real-world events."--George Prochnik, New York Times Book Review
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2017
eBook available
Exile, Statelessness, and Migration
Playing Chess with History from Hannah Arendt to Isaiah Berlin
Seyla Benhabib
“Examining key aspects of German-Jewish thought in the twentieth century, this incisive and lucid book traces affinities and difference in the lives and work of intellectuals confronting the pressures of exile, statelessness, and migration. I learned a great deal about this generation of thinkers and about ways we need to consider the political challenges of our time. A pleasure to read.”—Andreas Huyssen, Columbia University
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2009
eBook available
Halakhah
The Rabbinic Idea of Law
Chaim N. Saiman
“Chaim Saiman has written a genuinely enthralling book about a concept central to rabbinic Judaism: the study of Jewish law, not only as a guide to life but as ongoing encounter with the divine. A superb, much-needed, and enlightening work.”—Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Live Long and Evolve
What Star Trek Can Teach Us about Evolution, Genetics, and Life on Other Worlds
Mohamed A. F. Noor
“I played Ensign Harry Kim on Star Trek Voyager and started out in college as a biology major, so this book resonates with me in a unique way. In Live Long and Evolve, Mohamed Noor draws upon his extensive knowledge of Star Trek to help explain the nuances of evolutionary biology with a style that is both informative and entertaining.”—Garrett Wang
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Out of Many Faiths
Religious Diversity and the American Promise
Eboo Patel
"Building on his prowess as an interfaith pioneer in American colleges, Patel offers a vision of pluralism that aims to guard against religious preference and particularism, advances everyday ethics, and invites Americans of many religious persuasions into civic participation. . . . Readers will be rewarded with Patel’s rich perspective on religious diversity in America as he champions the strength of its civic identity and the possibility of religious pluralism in the years to come."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki:
An Epic of Ancient India, Volume VII
Uttarakāṇḍa
Introduction, Translation, and Annotation by Robert P. Goldman & Sally J. Sutherland Goldman
The seventh and final book of the monumental Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, the Uttarakāṇḍa, brings the epic saga to a close with an account of the dramatic events of King Rāma's millennia-long reign. It opens with a colorful history of the demonic race of the rākṣasas and the violent career of Rāma’s villainous foe Rāvaṇa, and later recounts Rāma’s grateful discharge of his allies in the great war at Lankā as well as his romantic reunion with his wife Sītā.
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2016
eBook available
Rimsky-Korsakov and His World
Edited by Marina Frolova-Walker
During his lifetime, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) was a composer whose work had great influence not only in his native Russia but also internationally. While he remains well-known in Russia—where many of his fifteen operas and various orchestral pieces are still in the standard repertoire—very little of his work is performed in the West today beyond Scheherezade and arrangements of The Flight of the Bumblebee. In Western writings, he appears mainly in the context of the Mighty Handful, a group of five Russian composers to which he belonged at the outset of his career. Rimsky-Korsakov and His World finally gives the composer center stage and due attention.
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
The Story of Hebrew
Lewis Glinert
"Elegant. . . . The Story of Hebrew covers a great deal of ground in a readable style, studded with stories and quotations that make clear how astonishing it is that out of the fossil DNA of this sacred language, a new creation has arisen."--David Wolpe, Weekly Standard
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2017
eBook available
Timefulness
How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World
Marcia Bjornerud
“Bjornerud gives lyrical voice to the rocks that tell the story of our wondrous planet. Engaging and eloquent, Timefulness reminds us that the present is only a link between past and future, a reality too often forgotten in the modern world’s obsession with the here and now.”—Ruth DeFries, author of The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Who Fights for Reputation
The Psychology of Leaders in International Conflict
Keren Yarhi-Milo
“Who Fights for Reputation is a compelling and significant contribution to one of the most lively debates in security studies: whether and how individual leaders shake loose from system- and state-level constraints to shape international outcomes.”—Peter Feaver, Duke University
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available
Books released during the week of August 10, 2018
The Cognitive Challenge of War
Prussia 1806
Peter Paret
"Peter Paret's small book is masterfully constructed. He has set out to 'consider specific events' without losing sight of the general issues they exemplify."--Thomas Rid, Weekly Standard
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2009
eBook available
Hezbollah
A Short History | Updated and Expanded Third Edition
Augustus Richard Norton
"In this remarkably thorough, articulate portrait of Hezbollah, Norton . . . analyzes how the organization was formed, how it evolved and its current role in Lebanese politics."--Publishers Weekly
Paperback | 2018
eBook available
Hitler's American Model
The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
James Q. Whitman
"Hitler's American Model is a breathtaking excavation of America's shameful contribution to Hitler's genocidal policies. This book is a profound testament to what the past can teach us about the present and is more timely than Whitman could possibly have imagined when he began this remarkable excursion into our nation's original sin and its surprising European legacy. A brilliant page-turner."—Laurence H. Tribe, Harvard Law School
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2017
eBook available
Longing for the Lost Caliphate
A Transregional History
Mona Hassan
"After a brief review of the institution of the caliphate, this exceptional monograph explores how Muslims viewed the caliphate after the Mongol destruction of the Abbasid caliphate. . . . The role of the caliph in the Ottoman Empire has also been underappreciated. Hassan explores this role but focuses her attention on how the dismissal of the caliphate in 1924 with the rise of Ataturk and Kemalism affected Muslims not only in Turkey but also in other parts of the Muslim world. She concludes her book with an examination of current movements that seek to restore the caliphate, such as ISIS and Hizb al-Tahrir."--Choice
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2017
eBook available
Optimal Transport Methods in Economics
Alfred Galichon
"As the author develops it, the theory is almost always very clear. The approach that Galichon has developed, based on linear programming, is receiving increased attention from economists and mathematicians in spite of its obvious complexity. . . . [A] clear and succinct analysis and discussion."--Choice
Paperback | 2018
Hardcover | 2016
eBook available
Preventing Palestine
A Political History from Camp David to Oslo
Seth Anziska
For seventy years Israel has existed as a state, and for forty years it has honored a peace treaty with Egypt that is widely viewed as a triumph of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East. Yet the Palestinians—the would-be beneficiaries of a vision for a comprehensive regional settlement that led to the Camp David Accords in 1978—remain stateless to this day. How and why Palestinian statelessness persists are the central questions of Seth Anziska’s groundbreaking book, which explores the complex legacy of the agreement brokered by President Jimmy Carter.
Hardcover | 2018
eBook available