Montaigne's politics

authority and governance in the essais

Michel de Montaigne (1533-92) is principally known today as a literary figure - the inventor of the modern essay and the pioneer of autobiographical self-exploration who retired from politics in midlife to write his private, philosophical, and apolitical "Essais". But, as Biancamaria Fontana argues in "Montaigne ...

The fortunes of Apuleius & the golden ass

a study transmission and reception

This book traces the transmission and reception of one of the most influential novels in Western literature. "The Golden Ass", the only ancient Roman novel to survive in its entirety, tells of a young man changed into an ass by magic and his bawdy adventures ...

International political economy

an intellectual history

The field of international political economy gained prominence in the early 1970s - when the Arab oil embargo and other crises ended the postwar era of virtually unhindered economic growth in the United States and Europe - and today is an essential part of both political science ...

A brief history of the Late Ottoman Empire

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire straddled three continents and encompassed extraordinary ethnic and cultural diversity among the estimated thirty million people living within its borders. It was perhaps the most cosmopolitan state in the world - and possibly the most volatile ...

Digital dice

computational solutions to practical probability problems

Some probability problems are so difficult that they stump the smartest mathematicians. But even the hardest of these problems can often be solved with a computer and a Monte Carlo simulation, in which a random- number generator simulates a physical process, such as a million ...

Patent failure

how judges, bureaucrats, and lawyers put innovators at risk

In the last several years, business leaders, policymakers, and inventors have complained to the media and to Congress that today's patent system stifles innovation instead of fostering it. But like the infamous patent on the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, much of the cited ...

The fall and rise of the Islamic State

Perhaps no other Western writer has more deeply probed the bitter struggle in the Muslim world between the forces of religion and law and those of violence and lawlessness as Noah Feldman. His scholarship has defined the stakes in the Middle East today. Now, in ...

The presidency in the era of 24-hour news

"The Presidency in the Era of 24-Hour News" examines how changes in the news media since the golden age of television - when three major networks held a near monopoly on the news people saw in the United States - have altered the way presidents communicate with ...

Political hypocrisy

the mask of power, from Hobbes to Orwell and beyond

What kind of hypocrite should voters choose as their next leader? The question seems utterly cynical. But, as David Runciman suggests, it is actually much more cynical to pretend that politics can ever be completely sincere. The most dangerous form of political hypocrisy is to ...

Striking first

preemption and prevention in international conflict

Does the United States have the right to defend itself by striking first, or must it wait until an attack is in progress? Is the Bush Doctrine of aggressive preventive action a justified and legal recourse against threats posed by terrorists and rogue states? Tackling ...

Apocalypse

earthquakes, archaeology, and the wrath of god

What if Troy was not destroyed in the epic battle immortalized by Homer? What if many legendary cities of the ancient world did not meet their ends through war and conquest as archaeologists and historians believe, but in fact were laid waste by a force ...

Why?

what happens when people give reasons...and why

"Why?" is a book about the explanations we give and how we give them - a fascinating look at the way the reasons we offer every day are dictated by, and help constitute, social relationships. Written in an easy-to-read style by distinguished social historian Charles Tilly ...

Who owns antiquity?

museums and the battle over our ancient heritage

Whether antiquities should be returned to the countries where they were found is one of the most urgent and controversial issues in the art world today, and it has pitted museums, private collectors, and dealers against source countries, archaeologists, and academics. Maintaining that the acquisition ...

China's new confucianism

politics and everyday life in a changing society

What is it like to be a Westerner teaching political philosophy in an officially Marxist state? Why do Chinese sex workers sing karaoke with their customers? And why do some Communist Party cadres get promoted if they care for their elderly parents? In this entertaining ...

Credit and blame

In his eye-opening book "Why?", world-renowned social scientist Charles Tilly exposed some startling truths about the excuses people make and the reasons they give. Now he's back with further explorations into the complexities of human relationships, this time examining what's really going on ...

Innovation and inequality

how does technical progress affect workers?

Karl Marx predicted a world in which technical innovation would increasingly devalue and impoverish workers, but other economists thought the opposite, that it would lead to increased wages and living standards - and the economists were right. Yet in the last three decades, the market economy ...

The politics of precedent on the U.S. Supreme Court

"The Politics of Precedent on the U.S. Supreme Court" offers an insightful and provocative analysis of the Supreme Court's most important task - shaping the law. Thomas Hansford and James Spriggs analyze a key aspect of legal change: the Court's interpretation or treatment ...

Hedge funds

an analytic perspective

The hedge-fund industry has grown dramatically over the last two decades, with more than eight thousand funds now controlling close to two trillion dollars. Originally intended for the wealthy, these private investments have now attracted a much broader following that includes pension funds and retail ...

Information and learning in markets

the impact of market microestructure

The ways financial analysts, traders, and other specialists use information and learn from each other are of fundamental importance to understanding how markets work and prices are set. This graduate-level textbook analyzes how markets aggregate information and examines the impacts of specific market arrangements - or ...

Building a global bank

the transformation of Banco Santander

In 2004, Spain's Banco Santander purchased Britain's Abbey National Bank in a deal valued at fifteen billion dollars - an acquisition that made Santander one of the ten largest financial institutions in the world. Here, Mauro Guillen and Adrian Tschoegl tackle the question of ...

Territory, authority, rights

from medieval to global assemblages

Where does the nation-state end and globalization begin? In "Territory, Authority, Rights", one of the world's leading authorities on globalization shows how the national state made today's global era possible. Saskia Sassen argues that even while globalization is best understood as "denationalization," it ...

Evil incarnate

rumors of demonic conspiracy and satanic abuse in history

In the 1980s, America was gripped by widespread panics about Satanic cults. Conspiracy theories abounded about groups who were allegedly abusing children in day-care centers, impregnating girls for infant sacrifice, brainwashing adults, and even controlling the highest levels of government.As historian of religions David ...