"In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, home appliances, motor vehicles, air travel, air conditioning, and television transformed households and work…
Dawkins and Hitchens have convinced many western intellectuals that secularism is the way forward. But most people don't read their books before deciding whether to be religious. Instead, they inherit their faith from their parents, who often innoculate them against the elegant …
"How--and why--do we focus on those individuals we come to call stars? How does stardom both reflect and mask the person behind it? How have the image of stardom and our stars' images changed over the past hundred years? What does celebrity mean if people can become famous simpl…
Examines what would happen if the United States no longer held a position of global leadership.
"Through a series of ... portraits of iconic modern Chinese leaders and thinkers, two of today's foremost specialists on China provide a panoramic narrative of this country's rise to preeminence that is at once analytical and personal. How did a nation, after a long and painful …
"The Global Journalist in the 21st Century systematically assesses the demographics, education, socialization, professional attitudes and working conditions of journalists in various countries around the world. This book updates the original Global Journalist (1998) volume with …
'Hyper-real religions' are innovative religions and spirituality that mix elements of religious tradition with popular culture. Through various case studies, this book studies the on and off-line religious/spiritual consumption of these narratives through a social scientific app…
The early 1990s saw a dramatic rise of optimism in philosophy in Russia, a rise marked by the triumphant return of Russian religious philosophy, the founding of new independent philosophy journals, and the introduction of academic freedom following nearly 75 years of Soviet rule…
"While rumors of the imminent death of the novel are everywhere, this book shows how some of our most significant twenty-first century writers mobilize the idea of the end of the novel to reimagine the ethics and politics of literature. Writers like J.M. Coetzee, Teju Cole, and …
"From the acclaimed writer and thinker--whose award-winning books include both fiction and non-fiction--a dazzlingly original plunge into the drama of philosophy, revealing its hidden but essential role in today's debates on love, religion, politics, and science. Imagine that Pl…
"This new volume in the Author Chronologies series traces the daily activities of the Nobel Prize winning author and playwright Harold Pinter [1930-2008]. It is based upon published and unpublished materials and discussion with his close friends, and is the most detailed chronol…
