"A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution-from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality-and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation. For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike--either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told,...

"In 2014, award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote about her frustration with the way that discussions of race and racism in Britain were being led by those who weren't affected by it. She posted a piece on her blog, entitled: 'Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race'. Her words hit a nerve. The post went viral and comments flooded in from others desperate to speak up about their own experiences. Galvanised by this clear hunger...

"In this dazzling feat of reportage, Hank Stuever gets at what's best and worst not just about Christmas but about us as Americans. Hilarious, insightful, compassionate, and hugely entertaining, Tinsel is a gift (holiday or otherwise) to anyone who loves great writing." -Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife and Prep "Insightful, funny/sad, filled with poetry and despair, who better than Hank Stuever to take on the Christmas Industrial Complex...

"With his international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of why civilizations rise and fall. Now, in his third book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how some nations successfully recover from crises while adopting selective changes--a coping mechanism more commonly associated with individuals recovering from personal crises. Diamond compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals--ranging...

"The fever was in the streets. On Saturday morning the crowd gathered early, not only inside Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox and the Yankees in their early workouts, but also outside the nearby Kenmore Hotel where the Yankees were known to be staying...When Charlie Silvera, a young catcher just brought up from the minors, saw the streets outside the hotel jammed with excited Boston fans, he felt like a Christian on his way to the Coliseum. It was,...

The author of The Dead Beat and This Book is Overdue! turns her piercing eye and charming wit to the real-life avatars of Indiana Jones-the archaeologists who sort through the muck and mire of swamps, ancient landfills, volcanic islands, and other dirty places to reclaim history for us all. Pompeii, Machu Picchu, the Valley of the Kings, the Parthenon-the names of these legendary archaeological sites conjure up romance and mystery. The news is full...

UPSTAIRS, an Edwardian home would have been a picture of elegance and calm, adorned with social gatherings and extravagantly envisioned dinner parties. DOWNSTAIRS, it was a hive of domestic activity, supported by a body of staff painstakingly devoted to ensuring the smooth running of the household. Brimming with family secrets, society scandal, and of course elaborate parties, dresses, and social customs, the world of an aristocratic Edwardian household...

A spirited history of the changes that transformed Europe during the 1,000-year span of the Middle Ages: "A dazzling race through a complex millennium."-Publishers Weekly The millennium between the breakup of the western Roman Empire and the Reformation was a long and hugely transformative period-one not easily chronicled within the scope of a few hundred pages. Yet distinguished historian Chris Wickham has taken up the challenge in this landmark...

Sarah Palin, the first female Republican Vice Presidential candidate, recounts her political experiences, her rapid rise on the national stage during the 2008 campaign, and the personal challenges she's faced including balancing her time as a working mother, recognizing the war's impact with her son serving combat in Iraq, having a child with a disability, and supporting her teenage daughter with an unplanned pregnancy.

"Plagues upon the Earth is a history of human civilization and the germs that have shaped its course. At every stage in our species' past, micro-organisms have had macro-effects on the development of human societies. Kyle Harper proposes the first history of human disease to make full use of a radical new source of evidence: pathogen genomes as a biological archive and window into prehistoric times. We can now begin to reconstruct the natural history...