Philosophy

There have been claims that meaninglessness has become epidemic in the contemporary world. One perceived consequence of this is that people increasingly turn against both society and the political establishment with little concern for the content (or...

Melancholic and introspective, ironical and apolitical, the urban cynic is a myth of our time. A casualty of modernization? Or a product of postmodernism? In this original and provocative book, Timothy Bewes undertakes a descent into the modern cynical...

Why do we care more about winning than about playing by the rules? Integrity - all of us are in favor of it, but nobody seems to know how to make sure that we get it. From presidential candidates to crusading journalists to the lords of collegiate...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Hair, a primary marker of our mammalian nature, is an extraordinary indicator of economic and social standing, political orientation, religious...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. How did the skateboard go from a fad like the hula-hoop to an Olympic sport? Writer and skateboarder Jonathan Russell Clark's Skateboard answers...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Recipe reveals the surprising lessons that recipes teach, in addition to the obvious instructions on how to prepare a dish or perform a process...

This book is a cry from the heart to see the emergence of a new kind of people - The Reformers. They are 'young' (in age and at heart), they are full of creative energy and passion. They are tired of the status quo, tired of the state of their nations...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. What is silence? In a series of short meditations, novelist and playwright John Biguenet considers silence as a servant of power, as a lie, as a...

A pithy and readable challenge to the concept of human rightsWhat are the origins of human rights? This question, rarely asked before the end of the Cold War, has in recent years become a major focus of historical and ideological strife. In this sequence...

A clear-eyed warning about the increasingly destructive influence of America's "shame industrial complex" in the age of social media and hyperpartisan politics--from the New York Times bestselling author of Weapons of Math Destruction Shame is a powerful...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Hope, as Emily Dickinson famously wrote, is the thing with feathers. Erik Anderson, on the other hand, regards our obsession with birds as too...

"One of our true superstars of nonfiction" (David Foster Wallace), Lewis Hyde offers a playful and inspiring defense of forgetfulness by exploring the healing effect it can have on the human psyche. We live in a culture that prizes memory--how much we...