Originally published in 1979, Mark Twain as a Literary Comedian looks at how Mark Twain addressed social issues through humour. The Southwest provided the subject for much of Twain’s writing, but the roots of his style lay principally in north-eastern humour. In the mid-1800s the northern United States underwent social changes that reflected in the writing of the literary humourists like Twain. Sloane argues that he used humour to describe conditions in the emerging middle-class u...

"Examines our evolving mourning rituals, specifically in relationship to cemeteries . . . a levelheaded report on the death care industry." — Los Angeles Review of BooksIn modern society, we have professionalized our care for the dying and deceased in hospitals and hospices, churches and funeral homes, cemeteries and mausoleums to aid dazed and disoriented mourners. But these formal institutions can be alienating and cold, leaving people craving a more huma...

The Lucifer Priciple is a revolutionary work that explores the intricate relationships among genetics, human behavior, and culture to put forth the thesis that “evil” is a by-product of nature’s strategies for creation and that it is woven into our most basic biological fabric. Though this argument is not a new one—it has been brought forth by such great historical figures as St. Paul, Thomas Hobbes, and Raymond Dart—Howard Bloom here takes fresh data from a variety of sources and...

What do you do when you know your world is about to shatter around you? Do you run toward the change or try to hold on to the broken pieces so that everything doesn’t fall apart?I knew it was coming. We’d had time to ready ourselves, but nothing could have prepared us for the fall out. No one warned me our enemies would make me the pawn in their game. No one saw just how broken I would become.Now it’s up to me to pick up the broken pieces and wield them against the ones who...

A groundbreaking, comprehensive program for designing effective and socially equitable groups of all sizes—from businesses and social justice groups to global organizations.Whether you work in business or schools, volunteer in neighborhoods or church organizations, or are involved in social justice and activism, you understand the enormous power of groups to enact powerful and lasting change in the world. But how exactly do you design, build, and sustain effective ...

Finalist for the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction:New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni delivers another gripping legal thriller in his popular David Sloane series. The case? Defending the woman he loves against a charge of murder.A year after the devastating murder of his wife, attorney David Sloane has returned to Seattle after three months in Mexico. At a black-tie dinner where he's been persuaded to give the keynote address, Sloane r...

A study examining the connection between religious faith and human evolution."Thoughtful and provocative. . . . Wilson turns to religion, which, he claims, can be explained only by group selection. According to Wilson, a religion is the human equivalent of a pack of lions: by cooperating as a group, people attain benefits beyond their reach as individuals."― Times Literary Supplement , Book of the Year...

Is anything more terrifying than a dragon? Bat-winged nightmares swooping down from the sky to breathe fire and ice on the wretched humans below, kidnapping princesses, hoarding treasure, swallowing cows.Or not.In DRAGONESQUE, the latest fantastic anthology from Zombies Need Brains, you finally get to experience all that awfulness from the dragon’s point of view. And what if it isn’t necessarily that awful? What if the princess wants to be kidnapped, or the dragon is tired ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR ROBERT DUGONI RETURNS WITH HIS MOST EXHILARATING THRILLER TO DATE, A PULSE-POUNDING STORY OF CORPORATE GREED, ESPIONAGE, AND THE LENGTHS ONE MAN IS WILLING TO GO FOR JUSTICE.Bodily Harm opens with a big win for David Sloane and his new partner, Tom Pendergrass, in a malpractice case centered on the death of a young child. But on the heels of this seeming victory, an unlikely character—toy designer Kyle Horgan— comes forward to tel...

The benefits of altruism and empathy are obvious. These qualities are so highly regarded and embedded in both secular and religious societies that it seems almost heretical to suggest they can cause harm. Like most good things, however, altruism can be distorted or taken to an unhealthy extreme. Pathological Altruism presents a number of new, thought-provoking theses that explore a range of hurtful effects of altruism and empathy. Pathologies of empathy, for example, may trigger d...

New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni tackles hot-button issues in this riveting legal thriller featuring attorney David Sloane. When a widow asks Sloane to take her case against the military, Sloane knows it's a lost cause but can't turn her down, even if it puts his own life—and the lives of his family—in dire jeopardy.Just minutes after winning a $1.6 million wrongful-death verdict, attorney David Sloane confronts the one case that threatens t...

The whip-smart and funny authors of the essay collections Don't Get Too Comfortable (Rakoff) and I Was Told There'd Be Cake (Crosley) join up to examine our contemporary culture and the many ways life can go awry in New York City, as presented in their new books. Ira Glass (This American Life) will introduce the authors.