The Knew York Times

by Sasha Issenberg

Journalist Sash Issenberg traces sushi's journey from Tokyo street snack to global delicacy, in this fascinating history. Issenberg examines not just the foodstuff itself, but the history, economics and businesses behind the famous fish recipes. It covers topics including the birth of modern sushi, the mysterious underworld of pirates and the tuna black market, Nobu Matsuhisa and what sushi chefs really do behind the bar. It jumps from Mediterranean docks to tuna-auctions to cargo holds to Shanghai streets, all the while making a surprising case against eating local.

by Jeff Singleton

Singleton examines the origins and implementation of the first federal welfare programs in the early 1930s. Based on his extensive research in the archives of federal welfare agencies, Singleton seeks to link the expansion and federalization of relief with recent efforts to reform "welfare."

by A. L. Dallapiccola

Hindu myths have been adapted over the centuries to incorporate new or revised characters, and they continue to play a central role in modern Indian life. Retold here in their colorful and dramatic splendor, the Hindu myths touch on the key narrative themes of creation, preservation, destruction, delusion, and the bestowal of grace.

by Ellen Seiter

Based on four years of experience teaching computers to 8-12 year olds, media scholar Ellen Seiter offers parents and educators practical advice on what children need to know about the Internet and when they need to know it. The Internet Playground argues that, contrary to the promises of technology boosters, teaching with computers is very difficult. Seiter points out that the Internet today resembles a mall more than it does a library. While children love to play online games, join fan communities, and use online chat and instant messaging, the Internet is also an appallingly aggressive marketer to children and, as this book passionately argues, an educational boondoggle.

by Neal Bascomb

With the intrigue of a detective story, "Hunting Eichmann" follows the Nazi as he escapes two American POW camps, hides in the mountains, and builds an anonymous life in Buenos Aires, before finally being captured and brought to trial.

by Jean Bodin

Contains four chapters from Jean Bodin's classic text "Six Livres de la Republique". These chapters form the core of the work, detailing Bodin's theory of sovereignty, which contended that the entire power of the state should be vested in a single individual or group.

by Karl Polanyi

In this classic work of economic history and social theory, Karl Polanyi analyzes the economic and social changes brought about by the "great transformation" of the Industrial Revolution. His analysis explains not only the deficiencies of the self-regulating market, but the potentially dire social consequences of untempered market capitalism. New introductory material reveals the renewed importance of Polanyi's seminal analysis in an era of globalization and free trade.

by David Fromkin

When war broke out in Europe in 1914, it surprised a European population enjoying the most beautiful summer in memory. For nearly a century since, historians have debated the causes of the war. Some have cited the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; others have concluded it was unavoidable. In Europe’s Last Summer, David Fromkin provides a different answer: hostilities were commenced deliberately. In a riveting re-creation of the run-up to war, Fromkin shows how German generals, seeing war as inevitable, manipulated events to precipitate a conflict waged on their own terms. Moving deftly between diplomats, generals, and rulers across Europe, he makes the complex diplomatic negotiations accessible and immediate. Examining the actions of individuals amid larger historical forces, this is a gripping historical narrative and a dramatic reassessment of a key moment in the twentieth-century.

by Gananath Obeyesekere

In this radical reexamination of the notion of cannibalism, Gananath Obeyesekere offers a fascinating and convincing argument that cannibalism is mostly "cannibal talk," a discourse on the Other engaged in by both indigenous peoples and colonial intruders that results in sometimes funny and sometimes deadly cultural misunderstandings. Turning his keen intelligence to Polynesian societies in the early periods of European contact and colonization, Obeyesekere deconstructs Western eyewitness accounts, carefully examining their origins and treating them as a species of fiction writing and seamen's yarns. Cannibalism is less a social or cultural fact than a mythic representation of European writing that reflects much more the realities of European societies and their fascination with the practice of cannibalism, he argues. And while very limited forms of cannibalism might have occurred in Polynesian societies, they were largely in connection with human sacrifice and carried out by a select community in well-defined sacramental rituals. Cannibal Talk considers how the colonial intrusion produced a complex self-fulfilling prophecy whereby the fantasy of cannibalism became a reality as natives on occasion began to eat both Europeans and their own enemies in acts of "conspicuous anthropophagy."

by Pippa Norris

The belief that religion was dying became the conventional wisdom in the social sciences during most of the 20th century. However, religion has not disappeared and is unlikely to do so, and the secularization thesis needs updating. This text develops a theory of secularization and existential security.

by Paul R. Krugman

A respected economist shares a collection of his columns from "The New York Times" that analyzes the course of the American economy, looking at the collapse of fiscal responsibility, corporate scandals, and how the nation can get back on track.

by Helen Thomas

White House journalist for more than five decades chronicles her work covering all of the presidents since John F. Kennedy. Shares personal reminiscences of the U.S. leaders as well as of the first ladies. Bestseller.

by Kevin Phillips

A survey of the role of America's financial sector in compromising the nation's global future examines the sources of rising debt, high mortgage rates, and increasing oil prices, making sobering predictions about the downfall of America as a world power.

by Max J. Skidmore

What exactly has Bill Clinton been doing since he left office? What can he expect to accomplish? What have his predecessors in his position done? Many presidents have had enormous impacts on the course of history after their terms ended, but not until After the White House by Max J. Skidmore has their role been examined. Thirty-two completed their terms. Four became presidential candidates again (one was even elected), two served in Congress, one abandoned his country to accept election to the Confederate Congress, one became Chief Justice, and one has the unique distinction of having his First Lady become a United States senator. Former presidents almost always remain influential, but their post-term activities have received little attention or scrutiny until now.