Dear Reader, We’re trying something new with our blog: new look, new themes, and as always, new books. Whether you’re a bookseller, university professor, bibliophile, art fanatic, media blogger, publishing savant, or a general reader, there is something here for everyone. Be sure to let us know what you think
Saleem Ali, author of Treasures of the Earth, appeared today on WBUR/NPR’s Here and Now to talk about his timely book, now available in paper. You can listen Here and Now.
Anis Shivani has put together another feature on small presses for the Huffington Post; this time, he highlights the work of university presses and their contributions to the publishing scene, including noteworthy recent and upcoming projects from Yale University Press. The previous feature is here.
On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment was officially ratified, bringing fruition to the women’s suffrage movement and acting as a platform for modern day feminism. Since that time, commonly known as feminism’s first wave, women’s rights movements have progressed. During the early 1900s, suffrage was a primary concern of
In November 2008, California voters approved Proposition 8, a decision that had a considerable impact on the same-sex marriage debate. Though the proposition had passed with 52% of the vote, its constitutionality was challenged in a 2009 case brought by two gay couples.The case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, argued that Proposition
This past month, on July 16, in the middle of the night, Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, along with aides, soldiers, a television crew, and forensics experts gathered to exhume Simón Bolívar. Simón Bolívar helped free six countries from the Spanish Empire, rendering him the hero of most of Latin America.
This Sunday, August 1, the internationally acclaimed journalist and author Ahmed Rashid appeared as a featured guest on ABC News This Week. In a roundtable discussion with George Will, Donna Brazile and Paul Krugman, Rashid discussed the significance and concerns behind the recent exposure of information on the Afghanistan war
This morning The Wall Street Journal ran a very positive review of Joel Mokyr’s “The Enlightened Economy”, a wedding of economics and intellectual history that examines the “Industrial Enlightenment” of 17th century Britain. Reviewer Trevor Butterworth applauds Mokyr’s book for its “densely packed but gratifyingly lucid prose” in explaining Britain’s
In 2013 a new edition of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) will be published, and the American Psychiatric Association has already begun to prepare it. A number of mental health professionals are warning that the expanded diagnoses are leading to a world in which almost no
Saleem H. Ali, author of Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed and a Sustainable Future, asks this simple question in his preface: “Would the world be a better place if human societies were somehow able to curb their desires for material goods?” and proceeds to offer his own perspective. He