A psychologist explores how materialism and consumerism undermine our quality of life—and offers ideas for how we can change.In The High Price of Materialism, Tim Kasser offers a scientific explanation of how our contemporary culture of consumerism and materialism affects our everyday happiness and psychological health. Other writers have shown that once we have sufficient food, shelter, and clothing, further material gains do little to improve our well-be...

PAPERBACK ORIGINAL From the bestselling cartoonist of The Cartoon History of the Universe comes an explosive graphic takedown of capitalismBestselling “overeducated cartoonist” Larry Gonick has delighted readers for years with sharp, digestible, and funny accounts of everything from the history of the universe to the intricacies of calculus. Now Gonick teams up with psychologist and scholar Tim Kasser to create an accessible and pointed cartoon guide to ho...

Since John Lennon composed Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds in early 1967, fans and music critics alike have argued over the meaning of the song. Is it about drugs? Is it just a lyrical response to a drawing given Lennon by his 4-year-old son Julian? Is there some deeper meaning? Professor Tim Kasser goes beyond speculative explanations by applying innovative psychological methods to the song's lyrics and music. He deeply analyzes the song's linguistic structure, its basic theme, and...

Since John Lennon composed Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds in early 1967, fans and music critics alike have argued over the meaning of the song. Is it about drugs? Is it just a lyrical response to a drawing given Lennon by his 4-year-old son Julian? Is there some deeper meaning? Professor Tim Kasser goes beyond speculative explanations by applying innovative psychological methods to the song's lyrics and music. He deeply analyzes the song's linguistic structure, its basic theme, and...

**"By turns moving, evenhanded and lyrical in its evocation of time and place."—**Seattle TimesIn this rigorously researched and incisively written account, historian and journalist Cassandra Tate challenges generations of received wisdom about the 1847 killing of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and eleven others at their Presbyterian mission on Cayuse land near present-day Walla Walla.Far from a simple story of martyrdom and savagery, the Whitman inci...

The legendary social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author meditates on ideas of mental health and normalcy in contemporary society.At the beginning of the 1950s, Erich Fromm increasingly questioned whether people in contemporary industrial society were mentally healthy. Eventually the topic of various lectures, Fromm's new social psychoanalytic approach enabled him to further develop the psychoanalytic method into a comprehensive critique of t...

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY ESQUIRE, THE IRISH TIMES AND THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT**SHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZEA provocative history of men who were worshipped as gods that illuminates the connection between power and religion and the role of divinity in a secular age**Ever since 1492, when Christopher Columbus made landfall in the New World and was hailed as a heavenly being, the accidental god h...

"Witty [and] provocative" essays on how AI might change us by the New York Times –bestselling author of Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? ( Kirkus Reviews ).When we create non-biological life-forms, will we do so in our image? Or will we accept the once-in-a-species opportunity to remake ourselves in their image? What do love, carin...

A breakout bestseller in Italy, now available for American readers for the first time, Genesis: The Story of How Everything Began is a short, humanistic tour of the origins of the universe, earth, and life—drawing on the latest discoveries in physics to explain the seven most significant moments in the creation of the cosmos.Curiosity and wonderment about the origins of the universe are at the heart of our...

**An invaluable guide to understanding how the internet has broken our brains—and what we can do to fix it."Vivid and unforgettable.” ―Jonathan Haidt, New York Times bestselling author of The Righteous Mind**The original internet was not designed to make us upset, distracted, confused, and outraged. But something unexpected happened at the turn of the last decade, when a handful of small features were quietly launched at social media companies with little ...

This examination of six usurper kings of England, and the people and circumstances surrounding them, is "a masterpiece of academic scholarship" ( Midwest Book Review).In the Middle Ages, England had to contend with a string of usurpers who disrupted the British monarchy—and ultimately changed the course of European history by deposing England's reigning kings and seizing power for themselves. Some of the most infamous usurper kings to come out of medieval ...

This “delicious, suspenseful . . . and cleverly written romp through a dramatic and forgotten moment in American history” reveals how Lincoln manipulated the media during the Civil War—shining new light on the current ‘fake news’ crisis (Elizabeth Gilbert)In 1864, during the bloodiest days of the Civil War, two newspapers published a call, allegedly authored by President Lincoln, for the immediate conscription of 400,000 more Union soldiers. New York streets erupte...