Taking the most famous 'prophet' of recent times, David Koresh, as a starting point, this is an analytical look at the troubled history of charlatan messiahs around the world.
Recent exciting discoveries by independent researchers have dramatically challenged our understanding of ancient Egypt, raising profound questions about our past.
A New Yorker Best Book of the YearA Foreign Affairs Best Book of the YearAn Atlantic Best Book of the YearA Financial Times Best Politics Book of the YearHow a new breed of dictators holds power by manipulating information and faking democracyHitler, Stalin, and Mao ruled through violence, fear, and ideology.
Some men are born to greatness some men achieve greatness, and some men have greatness thrust upon them it is not the first of these three classes nor is it the last with whish this work has to do; it is the one which is the middle accord-ing to the poets classification but which is pre-eminently and for all time the first and foremost in every true estimate of their relative grand-eur.
A book that challenges everything you thought you knew about the online economyThe internet was supposed to fragment audiences and make media monopolies impossible.
The intriguingtales of the plants that have been used to heal andcure our bodies, brought to life with beautifully surreal illustrations from Alice Smith.
Along with Confederate flags, the men and women who recently gathered before the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts carried signs proclaiming “Heritage Not Hate.
When United Airlines workers reported a UFO at OHare Airport in November 2006, it was met with the typical denials and hush-up that usually accompany such sightings.
A major new biography of legendary art collector and philanthropist Isabella Stewart GardnerIsabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) assembled an extraordinary collection of art from diverse cultures and eras-and built a Venetian-style palazzo in Boston to share these exquisite treasures with the world.
Luminous essays on translation and self-translation by an award-winning writer and literary translatorTranslating Myself and Others is a collection of candid and disarmingly personal essays by Pulitzer Prizewinning author Jhumpa Lahiri, who reflects on her emerging identity as a translator as well as a writer in two languages.
Displayed on European stages from 1810 to 1815 as the Hottentot Venus, Sara Baartman was one of the most famous women of her day, and also one of the least known.
Mircea Eliade--one of the most renowned expositors of the psychology of religion, mythology, and magic--shows that myth and symbol constitute a mode of thought that not only came before that of discursive and logical reasoning, but is still an essential function of human consciousness.
In Quest of the Hero makes available for a new generation of readers two key works on hero myths: Otto Rank's Myth of the Birth of the Hero and the central section of Lord Raglan's The Hero.
During its first two years of publication, Philosophy & Public Affairs contributed to the public debate on abortion a set of remarkable and brilliant articles which examine the basic philosophical issues posed by this controversial subject: whether the fetus is a person, whether it has a right to life, whether a woman has a right to decide what happens in and to her body, whether there is an ethical connection between abortion and infanticide, whether there is any point after conception where it is possible to draw the line beyond which killing is impermissible.
An energetic new translation of an ancient Roman masterpiece about a failed coup led by a corrupt and charismatic politicianIn 63 BC, frustrated by his failure to be elected leader of the Roman Republic, the aristocrat Catiline tried to topple its elected government.
The striking fact that abortion was among the first issues raised, after 1989, by almost all of the newly formed governments of East Central Europe points to the significance of gender and reproduction in the postsocialist transformations.
A comprehensive history of censorship in modern BritainFor Victorian lawmakers and judges, the question of whether a book should be allowed to circulate freely depended on whether it was sold to readers whose mental and moral capacities were in doubt, by which they meant the increasingly literate and enfranchised working classes.
A collection of magical Italian folk and fairy tales-most in English for the first timeThe Pomegranates and Other Modern Italian Fairy Tales presents twenty magical stories published between 1875 and 1914, following Italy's political unification.
The Sanctuary of Eleusis, near Athens, was the center of a religious cult that endured for nearly two thousand years and whose initiates came from all parts of the civilized world.
A landmark work that demystifies the rich tradition of Indian art, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization analyzes key motifs found in legend, myth, and folklore taken directly from the Sanskrit.
A treasury of astonishing mythic marvels-and the surprising truths behind themAdrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights-glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth-embedded in myth, legends, and folklore.
A gripping and groundbreaking history of how ancient cultures developed and used biological, chemical, and other unconventional weapons of warFlamethrowers, poison gases, incendiary bombs, the large-scale spreading of disease: are these terrifying agents of warfare modern inventions?
The Origins and History of Consciousness draws on a full range of world mythology to show how individual consciousness undergoes the same archetypal stages of development as human consciousness as a whole.
Why colleges and universities live or die by free speechFree speech is under attack at colleges and universities today, as critics on and off campus challenge the value of freewheeling debate.
Murder, mutilation, cannibalism, infanticide, and incest: the darker side of classic fairy tales is the subject of this groundbreaking and intriguing study of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's Nursery and Household Tales.
A book that challenges everything you thought you knew about the online economyThe internet was supposed to fragment audiences and make media monopolies impossible.
