"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." The Art of War by Sun Tzu is one of the most influential works of military strategy and philosophical wisdom ever written. Over 2,500 years old, this Chinese classic has guided generals, CEOs, athletes, and thinkers through...

A lively, inviting account of the history of economics, told through events from ancient to modern times and through the ideas of great thinkers in the field “A whistle-stop introduction to the great works and thinkers of each age, this is a clear and accessible primer.”ーLaura Garmeson, Financial Times What causes ...

I sitt förord skriver Ragnar Östberg helt ödmjukt: "Det är icke omöjligt; att dessa anteckningar kunna väcka ett visst intresse, ackompanjerade som de äro av bilder, vilka ofta tillåta läsaren att bortse från texten. Denna börjar och slutar med en arkitektsspurt. Mellan dessa båda moment försiggå de händelser inom a...

What is justice? What is the best way to live? Can an ideal society exist? In The Republic, the philosopher Plato presents a powerful conversation between Socrates and his disciples as they explore the meaning of justice, the role of education, the nature of reality, and the qualities of an ideal ruler. Written arou...

A Sociology of Awkwardness shows how awkward feelings are the outcome of social interactions going wrong. Combing insights from cultural sociology and the sociologies of interactions and emotions, this book develops the first comprehensive sociology of awkwardness. It provides an understanding of how people define, ...

Piano Makers in Russia in the Nineteenth Century is a richly detailed thematic study of the history of the piano in Russian society from its beginnings with the European artisans who settled in St. Petersburg in the early decades of the century through the transition to Russian-owned family firms. The piano played a...

What does it mean to be cast outーnot just from society, but from your own conscience? In An Outcast of the Islands, Joseph Conrad explores the moral descent of Peter Willems, a corrupt European trader who flees to a remote Southeast Asian village after being disgraced. There, he finds a fragile peaceーuntil lust, a...

Brazil owes a significant portion of its social and cultural heritage of several West and Central African cultures. Due to his intensive knowledge of the African culture renown ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik has studied the presence of African culture phenomena in several research trips in Brazil. His insights and ...

This volume examines the higher-level discussions convened at Wilton Park, the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office’s policy forum, since its inception in 1946. Originally a ‘re-education’ camp after World War II in the principles and practice of democracy, Wilton Park has evolved into a first-class inte...

When historians discuss the great European empires of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Sweden is sometimes not included in their conversations. Despite this omission, Sweden amassed a wealthy, prosperous empire during these years. Their territory spanned several regions of Europe and even included colonies ...

The original international woman of mystery, Mata Hari is maligned as a spy and a traitor. Having seduced a number of the most powerful men in Europe, she was accused of spying for both Allied and Central Powers during the First World War. Mata Hari's biography tells a different story. From her remarkable transforma...

Istanbul, through the mind of its most celebrated writer Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 'A declaration of love.' Sunday Times 'A fascinating read for anyone who has even the slightest acquaintance with this fabled bridge between east and west.' The Economist 'An irresistibly seductive book' Jan Morris, Gua...

Subhas Chandra Bose was a revolutionary who sought Indian independence, but as many would contend, he ended up on the wrong side of history. In order to shake off the British yoke, Bose enlisted aid from Germany and Japan during World War II. This has led some to roundly condemn Bose as nothing more than a fascist c...

The political theories of Lenin have long outlived him, and have even gone on to outlive the Marxist state he help to found; the Soviet Union. The name Lenin still reverberates around the world, and yet "Lenin" is not even his real name. He was born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, the name Lenin was just the word he used t...

A fascinating analysis of the evolution of religion from the internationally renowned evolutionary psychologist When did humans develop spiritual thought? What is religion's evolutionary purpose? And in our increasingly secular world, why has it endured? Every society in the history of humanity has lived with religi...

Les choses aujourd'hui banales ne l'ont pas toujours été. De l'alimentation à l'habitat, la vie de nos ancêtres était conditionnée par les excès ou les insuffisances de la nature, et les objets qu'ils utilisaient chaque jour passaient d'une génération à l'autre, sans que nul ne songe à en acquérir de nouveaux. C'est...