The Four Horsemen: The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution
At the dawn of the new atheist movement, the thinkers who became known as the four horsemen, the heralds of religion s unraveling Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett sat down together over cocktails What followed was a rigorous, pathbreaking, and enthralling
The Kingdom of Speech
The maestro storyteller and reporter provocatively argues that what we think we know about speech and human evolution is wrong Tom Wolfe, whose legend began in journalism, takes us on an eye opening journey that is sure to arouse widespread debate The Kingdom of Speech is a captivating,
Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth
The New York Times film critic shows why we need criticism now than ever Few could explain, let alone seek out, a career in criticism Yet what A.O Scott shows in Better Living Through Criticism is that we are, in fact, all critics because critical thinking informs almost every aspect of
The Origins of Creativity
In this profound and lyrical book, one of our most celebrated biologists offers a sweeping examination of the relationship between the humanities and the sciences what they offer to each other, how they can be united, and where they still fall short Both endeavours, Edward O Wilson reveals, have
The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics
From one of the country s most admired political thinkers, an urgent wake up call to American liberals to turn from the divisive politics of identity and develop a vision of our future that can persuade all citizens that they share a common destiny In The Once and Future Liberal, Mark Lilla offers
A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America
In his remarkable Men s Journal and controversial Fortune book written in a wry, amusing style The Guardian Bruce Cannon Gibney shows how America was hijacked by the Boomers, a generation whose reckless self indulgence degraded the foundations of American prosperity In A
Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us
We live in the age of the individual We are supposed to be slim, prosperous, happy, extroverted and popular This is our culture s image of the perfect self We see this person everywhere in advertising, in the press, all over social media We re told that to be this person you just have to
Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization
Roy Scranton lucidly articulates the depth of the climate crisis with an honesty that is all too rare, then calls for a reimagined humanism that will help us meet our stormy future with as much decency as we can muster While I don t share his conclusions about the potential for social movements to
The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power
A groundbreaking investigation of how and why, from the 18th century to the present day, American resistance to our ruling elites has vanished.From the American Revolution through the Civil Rights movement, Americans have long mobilized against political, social, and economic privilege Hierarchies
Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind
An engrossing dual biography and fascinating intellectual history that examines two of the greatest minds of European history Erasmus of Rotterdam and Martin Luther whose heated rivalry gave rise to two enduring, fundamental, and often colliding traditions of philosophical and religious thought.
Centuries of Change: Which Century Saw the Most Change and Why it Matters to Us
History s greatest tour guide is back And he s ringing the changes In a contest of change, which century from the past millennium would come up trumps Imagine the Black Death took on the female vote in a pub brawl, or the Industrial Revolution faced the internet in a medieval joust whose side