An award-winning author argues for the necessity of cultural critics and intellectuals to American democracy This incisive collection of essays investigates the moral imagination of modernism and our intellectual and political inheritance. George...

The New York Times film critic shows why we need criticism now more than everFew could explain, let alone seek out, a career in criticism. Yet what A.O. Scott shows in Better Living Through Criticism is that we are, in fact, all critics: because critical...

Selected pieces on nature, history, politics, and urban culture from a master of the nonfiction narrative. Writing on subjects as divergent as the mega-fires that burned the grasslands of the Great Plains in 2018, the tragic secret life of the...

A gorgeous memoir about the sudden end to a seemingly happy marriage—an aching, love-filled, and transcendent account of surviving betrayal and discovering joy“Riveting . . . examines the very nature of intimacy.”—Joyce Carol OatesIt was a great love...

A defense of individual judgment as the core of humanistic study Why do some works of art and thought speak to us for generations while the vast majority are quickly forgotten? What insights do we gain from our experience of exceptional literature,...

A major new look at Africa's influence on European culture and how colonization remade Africa in the image of a medieval Europe. Virgil. Chaucer. Petrarch. These names resonate with many as cornerstones of European culture. Yet, in Atlas's Bones, D...

"Enchanting, unexpected and razor-sharp. Jeanette Winterson and Shahrazad are the perfect co-pilots to take us into new worlds on the wings of old stories."--Kamila Shamsie, award-winning author of Home Fire I can change the story because I am the story...

Here is a kaleidoscopic analysis of Jewish humor as seen through Funnyman, a little-known super-heroic invention by the creators of Superman. Included are complete comic-book stories and daily and Sunday newspaper panels from Jerry Siegel and Joe...

This unique anthology presents the important historical essays on tragedy, ranging from antiquity to the present, divided into historical periods and arranged chronologically. Across its span, it traces the development of theories and philosophies of...

A best-selling author and world-renowned bibliophile meditates on his vast personal library and champions the vital role of all libraries. "The author brings a fresh hopefulness to the enterprise of books and reading. Vintage Manguel--a pleasure for...