Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains, and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and ani...
We think we know civil war when we see it. Yet ideas of what it is, and isn't, have a long and contested history. Defining the term is acutely political, for ideas about what makes a war "civi...
A lively, expansive history of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations and the momentous changes they set in motion This fast-paced survey of Western civilization's transition from the Middle Ages...
In this combative, controversial book, Terry Eagleton takes issue with the prejudice that Marxism is dead and done with. Taking ten of the most common objections to Marxism – that it leads to...
Ten years after its first publication, Michael Reid's best-selling survey of the state of contemporary Latin America has been wholly updated to reflect the new realities of the "Forgotten Cont...
Change is no stranger to us in the twenty-first century. All of us must constantly adjust to an evolving world, to transformation and innovation. But for many thousands of creative artists, a torre...
Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero – these are the names history associates with the early Roman Empire. Yet, not a single one of these emperors was the blood son of his predece...
A lively, inviting account of the history of economics, told through events from ancient to modern times and the ideas of great thinkers in the field. What causes poverty? Are economic crises inevi...
Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward quest...
A pioneering exploration of the differences between the brain's right and left hemispheres and their effects on society, history, and culture-"one of the few contemporary works deserving class...
"A fascinating study of the relationship between music and visual art in a variety of media from around the world!The Art of Music« is a handsomely illustrated and rich interdiscip...
An exploration of the abandoned tributaries of London's vast and vital transportation network through breathtaking images and unexpected storiesHidden London is a lavishly illustrated history of di...
A visually dazzling tour of 20th-century fashion, spotlighting the leading designers and dominant styles of the past 100 years!An authoritative and visually stunning look at the fashion of th...
"Throughout the Middle Ages crusading was justified by religious ideology, but the resulting military campaigns were fueled by concrete objectives: land, resources, power, reputation. Crusader...
"Mescaline became a popular sensation in the mid-twentieth century through Aldous Huxley's ""The Doors of Perception"", after which the word ""psychedelic"&q...
"This kaleidoscopic book covers almost 3,000 years of Arab history and shines a light on the footloose Arab peoples and tribes who conquered lands and disseminated their language and culture o...
In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, the 26-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. Amazingly, he completed the task...
For curious readers young and old, a rich and colorful history of religion from humanity's earliest days to our own contentious times In an era of hardening religious attitudes and explosive religi...
A political, social, and cultural battle is currently raging in the Middle East. On one side are the Islamists, those who believe Islam should be the region's primary identity. In opposition are na...
In December 2013, David Satter became the first American journalist to be expelled from Russia since the Cold War. The Moscow Times said it was not surprising he was expelled, "it was surprisi...