An “arresting . . . bracing and affecting volume” (Booklist) that “brims with curiosity and cosmopolitanism” (Publishers Weekly), Color Me English was hailed in the Guardian as one of the best books of 2011 by Blake Morrison. This compilation of essays...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Antifragile is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. The other...

More than a century before Alan Greenspan coined the phrase "irrational exuberance" to describe the speculative bubble inflating technology stocks, Charles Mackay was recording the history of "tulipomania," a speculative madness surrounding the value of...

The past, present, and future role of global migrationThroughout history, migrants have fueled the engine of human progress. Their movement has sparked innovation, spread ideas, relieved poverty, and laid the foundations for a global economy. In a world...

What determines the flow of labor and capital in this new global information economy? Who has the capacity to coordinate this new system, to create some measure of order? What happens to territoriality and sovereignty, two fundamental principles of the...

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is a history of popular folly by Charles Mackay. The book chronicles its targets in three parts: "National Delusions," "Peculiar Follies," and "Philosophical Delusions." Learn why intelligent...

Human Development and Political Violence presents an innovative approach to research and practice with young people growing up in the context of political violence. Based on developmental theory, this book explains and illustrates how children and youth...

First there was downtown. Then there were suburbs. Then there were malls. Then Americans launched the most sweeping change in 100 years in how they live, work, and play. The Edge City.

Propounding his “small ball theory” of sports literature, George Plimpton proposed that “the smaller the ball, the more formidable the literature.” Of course he had the relatively small baseball in mind, because its literature is formidable—vast and...

The New York Times bestseller that explains how groundbreaking scientific discoveries can help each of us achieve our personal bestEvery week, Gretchen Reynolds single-handedly influences how millions of Americans work out. In her popular New York Times...

Revealing the human side of economic lifeOver the past three decades, economic sociology has been revealing how culture shapes economic life even while economic facts affect social relationships. This work has transformed the field into a flourishing and...

“In pursuing the mental side of endurance, Jurek uncovers the most important secrets any runner can learn.”—Amby Burfoot, author of The Runner’s Guide to the Meaning of LifeFor nearly two decades, Scott Jurek has been a dominant force—and darling—in the...

"A fascinating study in the better angels of our nature."—George Packer, The New YorkerA New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceHistory has produced many specimens of the banality of evil, but what about its flip side, what impels ordinary people to...

Eye-opening and thoroughly engaging, this is an indispensible look at American urban/suburban society and its future. In The Great Inversion, Alan Ehrenhalt, one of our leading urbanologists, reveals how the roles of America’s cities and suburbs are...

"Astonishing . . . Moving . . . One of the best books ever written about a sport."*Walter ClemonsNewsweek"A PENETRATING, FASCINATING AND REMARKABLY SUSPENSEFUL NARRATIVE."*David GuyChicago TribuneIn The Amateurs, David Halberstam once again displays the...

In the same way that Michael Pollan’s slim bestseller Food Rules brought a gust of common sense to the everyday activity of eating, Just Ride is a revelation. Forget the ultralight, uncomfortable bikes, flashy jerseys, clunky shoes that clip onto tiny...

The Bike-Owner's Handbook is a manual of basic bicycle upkeep, taking you step-by-step through the essentials of puncture repair, brake and gear adjustment and cleaning and maintenance. Engaging illustrations, luxurious photography and QR codes linking...

Paul Goodman’s Growing Up Absurd was a runaway best seller when it was first published in 1960, and it became one of the defining texts of the New Left. Goodman was a writer and thinker who broke every mold and did it brilliantly—he was a novelist, poet,...

In an era when people live longer and want (or need) to work past the traditional retirement age, the Vita Needle Company of Needham, Massachusetts, provides inspiration and important lessons about the value of older workers. Vita Needle is a...