This classic remains one of Karl Popper's most wide-ranging and popular works, notable not only for its acute insight into the way scientific knowledge grows, but also for applying those insights to politics and to history.
If members of the History Book Club do not recognize the name Joy Hakim, grade school students know her as the grandmother who writes history. Hakim's widely acclaimed 10-volume A History of US has earned a place in classrooms across the nation. Now she aims to bring history into the nation's homes as well with a companion book for the upcoming PBS miniseries Freedom. She considers herself a storyteller, and indeed, she writes U.S. history from colonial times to the new millennium as the story of the march of liberty. As she recounts the struggles of women, workers, blacks, immigrants and other minorities to participate equally in American society and government, she reiterates the ideals of freedom of religion and speech, and the right to vote, to a fair trial and to education. Despite advertising claims that the book is "for families," Hakim seems to be writing for children. Young readers will like the personable characters, lively action and conversational style ("There's a whole lot more to this freedom s
First published in 1923, The Prospects of IndustrialCivilization is considered the most ambitious of BertrandRussell's works on modern society. It offers a rare glimpse intooften-ignored subtleties of his political thought and in it heargues that industrialism is a threat to human freedom, since it isfundamentally linked with nationalism. His proposal for onegovernment for the whole world as the ultimate solution, along withhis argument that the global village and prevailing politicaldemocracy should be its eventual results, is both provocative andthoroughly engaging.
To Shakespeare's contemporaries, Richard II was a balanceddramatisation of the central political and constitutional issue ofthe time, how to cope with an unjust ruler. But over the lastcentury or so, the play came to be regarded as the poetic fall of atragic hero. The Introduction to this edition provides a fullcontext for both the Shakespearean and the modern views of KingRichard's fall. For this updated edition the editor has added a newsection to the Introduction which takes account of the number ofimportant professional theatre productions and the large output ofscholarly criticism on the play which have appeared in recentyears. The Reading List has also been revised and augmented.
When one defines order as a sorting of priorities, it becomes beautifully clear as to what Foucault is doing here. With virtuoso showmanship, he weaves an intensely complex history of thought. He dips into literature, art, economics and even biology in The Order of Things, possibly one of the most significant, yet most overlooked, works of the twentieth century. Eclipsed by his later work on power and discourse, nonetheless it was The Order of Things that established Foucault's reputation as an intellectual giant. Pirouetting around the outer edge of language, Foucault unsettles the surface of literary writing. In describing the limitations of our usual taxonomies, he opens the door onto a whole new system of thought, one ripe with what he calls exotic charm. Intellectual pyrotechnics from the master of critical thinking, this book is crucial reading for those who wish to gain insight into that odd beast called Postmodernism, and a must for any fan of Foucault.
One of the world's most respectedsociologists updates his classic work on public views of popularand high culture. Is NYPD Blue a less valid form of artistic expression than aShakespearean drama? Who is to judge and by what standards? In this new edition of Herbert Gans's brilliantly conceived andclearly argued landmark work, he builds on his critique of theuniversality of high cultural standards. While conceding thatpopular and high culture have converged to some extent over thetwenty-five years since he wrote the book, Gans holds that thechoices of typical Ivy League graduates, not to mention Ph.D.s inliterature, are still very different from those of high schoolgraduates, as are the movie houses, television channels, museums,and other cultural institutions they frequent. This new edition benefits greatly from Gans's discussion of the"politicization" of culture over the last quarter-century. PopularCulture and High Culture is a must read for anyone interested inthe vicissitudes of tas
Did Eisenhower avoid a showdown with Stalin by not takingBerlin before the Soviets? What might have happened if JFK hadn'tbeen assassinated? This new volume in the widely praised seriespresents fascinating "what if..." scenarios by such prominenthistorians as: Robert Dallek, Caleb Carr, Antony Beevor, JohnLukacs, Jay Winick, Thomas Fleming, Tom Wicker, Theodore Rabb,Victor David Hansen, Cecelia Holland, Andrew Roberts, Ted Morgan,George Feifer, Robert L. O'Connell, Lawrence Malkin, and John F.Stacks. Included are two essential bonus essays reprinted from theoriginal New York Times bestseller What If? (tm)-DavidMcCullough imagines Washington's disastrous defeat at the Battle ofLong Island, and James McPherson envisions Lee's successfulinvasion of the North in 1862.
In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between twovenerable empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on,and one had vanished forever, while the other seemed almostfinished. Ruling in their place were the Arabs: an upheaval soprofound that it spelt, in effect, the end of the ancient world. InThe Shadow of the Sword, Tom Holland explores how this came about.Spanning Constantinople to the Arabian desert, and starring some ofthe most remarkable rulers who ever lived, he tells a story vividwith drama, horror and startling achievement.
The first true exploration of the myths and realities of thecontroversial Holocaust figure. Spy, businessman, bon vivant, Nazi Party member, RighteousGentile. This was Oskar Schindler, the controversial savior ofalmost 12,000 Jews during the Holocaust who struggled afterwards torebuild his life and gain international recognition for his wartimedeeds. Author David Crowe examines every phase of the subject'slife in this landmark biography, presenting a figure of mythicproportions that one prominent Schindler Jew described as "anextraordinary man in extraordinary times."
In his book, Smith fervently extolled the simple yet enlightened notion that individuals are fully capable of setting and regulating prices for their own goods and services. He argued passionately in favor of free trade, yet stood up for the little guy. The Wealth of Nations provided the first--and still the most eloquent--integrated de*ion of the workings of a market economy. The result of Smith’s efforts is a witty, highly readable work of genius filled with prescient theories that form the basis of a thriving capitalist system. This unabridged edition offers the modern reader a fresh look at a timeless and seminal work that revolutionized the way governments and individuals view the creation and dispersion of wealth--and that continues to influence our economy right up to the present day.
Undeniably one of Rome's most important historians, Tacituswas also one of its most gifted. The Agricola is both aportrait of Julius Agricola-the most famous governor of RomanBritain and Tacitus's respected father-in-law-and the first knowndetailed portrayal of the British Isles. In the Germania ,Tacitus focuses on the warlike German tribes beyond the Rhine,often comparing the behavior of "barbarian" peoples favorably withthe decadence and corruption of Imperial Rome.
