NYRB CLASSICS ORIGINAL: Simone Weil’s searing argument against partisan politics will speak to modern U.S. citizens who are fed up with Congressional infighting and legislative deadlock.“One of the most brilliant and original minds of 20th-century France.” —The New York TimesSimone Weil—philosopher, activist, mystic—is one of the most uncompromising of modern spiritual masters. In “On the Abolition of All Political Parties” she cha...

One of the Washington Post's 50 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024The bestselling author of Other Minds shows how we and our ancestors have reinvented our planet.If the history of the Earth were compressed down to a year, our species would arise in the last thirty minutes or so of the final hour. But life itself is not such a late arrival: It has existed on Earth for something like 3.7 billion years—most of our planet’s history...

A captivating exploration of how underwater animals tap into sound to survive, and a clarion call for humans to address the ways we invade these critical soundscapes—from an award-winning science writer“Sing Like Fish is that rare book that makes you see the world differently.”—Mark Kurlansky, New York Times bestselling author of Salt and CodLONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE ...

In this beautiful story of adventure and survival from the New York Times bestselling author of Room, three men vow to leave the world behind them as they set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them.In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks—young Trian and old Cormac—he rows down the river Shannon ...

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice SelectionOne of President Bill Clinton’s “Best Things I’ve Read This Year”From the acclaimed historian and New Yorker writer comes this urgent manifesto on the dilemma of nationalism and the erosion of liberalism in the twenty-first century.At a time of much despair over the future of liberal democracy, Jill Lepore makes a stirring case for the nation in This America

From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 yearsWhat does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore? In this book—against a background of today’s “sculpture wars”—Mary Beard tells the story of how for more than ...

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZEA new and eye-opening interpretation of the meaning of the frontier, from early westward expansion to Trump’s border wall.Ever since this nation’s inception, the idea of an open and ever-expanding frontier has been central to American identity. Symbolizing a future of endless promise, it was the foundation of the United States’ belief in itself as an exceptional nation – democratic, individualistic, forward-looki...

A New York Times bestsellerA USA Today bestsellerThe long-hidden diary of a young Polish woman's life during the Holocaust, translated for the first time into EnglishRenia Spiegel was born in 1924 to an upper-middle class Jewish family living in southeastern Poland, near what was at that time the border with Romania. At the start of 1939 Renia began a diary. "I just want a friend. I want somebody to talk to about my everyday worries a...

An all-new anthology of weird tales inspired by the strangeness of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland stories.Since their first publication in the mid-19th century, Lewis Carroll's Alice books— Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and *Through the Looking-Glass—*have delighted generations of readers with their imaginative wordplay, social satire, mathematical puzzles, and hallucinogenic atmosphere. In Mad Hatters and March Hares, renowned anthologist...

We are living in a world where “alternative facts” replace actual facts—and where feelings have more weight than evidence. But how did we get here?In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Lee McIntyre traces the development of the post-truth phenomenon from science denial through the rise of “fake news,” from our psychological blind spots to the public's retreat into “information silos.”What, exactly, is post-truth? Is it wishful thinking...

This classic work of comparative history explores why some countries have developed as democracies—and others as fascist or communist dictatorships.Originally published in 1966, this classic text is a comparative survey of some of what Barrington Moore considers the major and most indicative world economies as they evolved out of pre-modern political systems into industrialism. But Moore is not ultimately concerned with explaining economic development so much as ex...

**"A world-class intellectual. . . . [Colin Woodard’s] research can help Americans rediscover their common identity in spite of all the attempts to divide them." —Garry Kasparov"A powerful paradigm for understanding the defining hot button issues of contemporary America and the action we can take to bridge our cultural divisions and save the republic." —The Next Big Idea Club“A lucid exercise in political geography with tremendous—and disturbing—explanatory power.” —Kir...