Machiavelli scholar paints a complex picture of the circumstances that shaped the man whose name became synonymous with political cunning. The term “Machiavellian” has... Read More

Prague’s surrealist legacy, forgotten amid twentieth century totalitarianism, is revived and detailed in an impressive narrative. "Prague: Capital of the Twentieth Century"... Read More

This meandering tour through centuries of Western history finds that political civility is a fragile creature. “Commerce is a cure for the most destructive prejudices,”... Read More

Approachable guide to the science of our solar system is an enthusiastic love letter to the stars. In the preface of The Milky Way: An Insider’s Guide, William Waller... Read More

As seen through the author’s eyes, war distorts and reconfigures everything it touches—bodies, minds, values, fraternal and romantic relationships, local and national... Read More

Limits haunt the pages of "The Visioneers" and the minds of its titular scientists. In the 1970s, when the visioneers’ narrative begins, the world was facing the idea of a... Read More

What do earth, fire, air, and water have to do with effective thinking? Everything, according to mathematics professors Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird. In "The 5 Elements... Read More

Packed with over seventy experiments, "The Ultimate Book of Saturday Science" explores “principles and phenomena … in engineering, physics, and chemistry.” With... Read More

Nature’s Compass: The Mystery of Animal Navigation begins, ironically, with a haunting scene from the human world: a September 1621 shipwreck. Ferdinando deVerar and the crew... Read More

No less than the history of the world—beginning 100,000 years ago and extending through 2010—is presented in The New Atlas of World History: Global Events at a Glance, using... Read More

The seventies has recently been the subject of several good books, including this one, that show that the decade was much more complex than the failed presidencies of Nixon,... Read More

Adam Smith’s disciples, many of whom are free-market economists, believe that greedy individuals behave in ways that maximize the benefit to society. Competitive markets... Read More