Following Chaucer: Offices of the Active Life explores three representative figures—the royal woman, the poet, and the merchant—in relation to the concept of “office,” which Cicero linked to the health of the republic, but Chaucer to that of the common good. Not usually conjoined to the term “office,” these three figures, situated in the active life, were not firmly mapped onto the body politic, which was used to figure a relational and ordered social body ruled by the king, the h...

In pursuing how fourteenth-century English texts engage with philosophical, intellectual, and theological questions, the work of Denise N. Baker has powerfully shaped the field of medieval studies. This collection honors Baker’s legacy as a scholar and teacher by taking a fresh approach to the most salient literary, mystical, and devotional works written in late medieval England. The contributors examine a variety of foundational texts ranging from Piers Plowman and The Canterbury Tales to...

August 18, 2020, marked the centennial of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 1920, women wearing yellow roses stood shoulder to shoulder in Tennessee, awaiting the roll call of men who would cast their votes for or against a woman’s right to a voice in government.Though this movement won rights for some women—an achievement to be acknowledged and celebrated—the struggle did not end there. Due to states’ laws and prohibitive policies, ...

New York Times BestsellerFeatured in the critically acclaimed documentary RBG"It was beyond my wildest imagination that I would one day become the 'Notorious RBG." — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2019She was a fierce dissenter with a serious collar game. A legendary, self-described “flaming feminist litigator” who made the world more equal. And an intergenerational icon affectionately known as the Notor...

The New York Times BestsellerIn her own words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg offers an intimate look at her life and career, through an extraordinary series of conversations with the head of the National Constitution Center.This remarkable book presents a unique portrait of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, drawing on more than twenty years of conversations with Jeffrey Rosen, starting in the 1990s and continuing through the Trum...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A vivid portrait of the unsung American women from 1776 to today who changed the course of history in their fight for freedom and helped shape a more perfect union“This terrific book reveals the central, though often hidden role that women have played at every stage of our country’s history.”—Doris Kearns GoodwinOver a decades-long, distinguished career, award-winning journalist Norah O’Donnell has made ...

**"Jill Lepore is unquestionably one of America’s best historians; it’s fair to say she’s one of its best writers too." —Jonathan Russell Clark, Los Angeles TimesBest Books of 2023: New Yorker, TIMEA book to be read and kept for posterity, The Deadline is the art of the essay at its best.**Few, if any, historians have brought such insight, wisdom, and empathy to public discourse as Jill Lepore. Arriving at The New Yorker in 2005, ...

“A literary experience unlike any I’ve had in recent memory . . . a blueprint for this moment and the next, for where Black folks have been and where they might be going.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)What does it mean to be Black and alive right now?Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham have brought together this collection of work—images, photos, essays, memes, dialogues, recipes, tweets, poetry, and more—to...

From a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author and poet comes a galvanizing meditation on the power of art and culture to illuminate America's unresolved problem with race.*Named a Most Anticipated Title of 2022 by TIME magazine, New York Times, Bustle, and more*In the midst of civil unrest in the summer of 2020 and following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Ar...

An acclaimed expert illuminates the distinctive role that white women play in perpetuating racism, and how they can work to fight itIn a nation deeply divided by race, the “Karens” of the world are easy to villainize. But in Nice White Ladies, Jessie Daniels addresses the unintended complicity of even well-meaning white women. She reveals how their everyday choices harm communities of color. White mothers, still expected to be the primary parents, too often uncriti...

**A PBS NewsHour Best Book of the YearA Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year in NonfictionWinner of the 2022 Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss AwardA brilliant scholar imparts the lessons bequeathed by the Black community and its remarkable artists and thinkers.**Farah Jasmine Griffin has taken to her heart the phrase "read until you understand," a line her father, who died when she was nine, wrote in a note to her. She has made it central to...

"The centuries-long attack on Black history represents a strike against our very worth, brilliance, and value. We’re ready to fight back. And when we fight, we win." —Colin KaepernickSince its founding as a discipline, Black Studies has been under relentless attack by social and political forces seeking to discredit and neutralize it. Our History Has Always Been Contraband was born out of an urgent need to respond to the latest threat: efforts to remove content from an AP ...