Anthropology

Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing

New York Times Bestseller Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman’s work changes the national dialogue. Beyond their bestselling books, you know them from commentary and features in the New York Times, CNN, NPR, Time, Newsweek, Wired, New York, and more. E-mail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts are filled …

Learn more

The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (P.S.)

The Development of an Extraordinary SpeciesWe human beings share 98 percent of our genes with chimpanzees. Yet humans are the dominant species on the planet — having founded civilizations and religions, developed intricate and diverse forms of communication, learned science, built cities, and created breathtaking works of art — while chimps remain animals concerned primarily with the basic …

Learn more

Rethinking Narcissism: The Bad-and Surprising Good-About Feeling Special

Harvard Medical School psychologist and Huffington Post blogger Craig Malkin addresses the “narcissism epidemic,” by illuminating the spectrum of narcissism, identifying ways to control the trait, and explaining how too little of it may be a bad thing.”What is narcissism?” is one of the fastest rising searches on Google, and articles on the topic routinely go viral. Yet, …

Learn more

The Real Planet of the Apes: A New Story of Human Origins

Was Darwin wrong when he traced our origins to Africa? The Real Planet of the Apes makes the explosive claim that it was in Europe, not Africa, where apes evolved the most important hallmarks of our human lineage–such as dexterous hands and larger brains. In this compelling and accessible book, David Begun, one of the world’s leading paleoanthropologists, …

Learn more

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

From the author of the highly acclaimed heavy metal memoir, Fargo Rock City, comes another hilarious and discerning take on massively popular culture—set in Chuck Klosterman’s den and your own—covering everything from the effect of John Cusack flicks to the crucial role of breakfast cereal to the awesome power of the Dixie Chicks.Countless writers and artists have spoken …

Learn more

Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas

Like the bestselling Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, this book is a brilliant reinvention of the traditional atlas, one that provides a vivid, complex look at the multi-faceted nature of New Orleans, a city replete with contradictions. More than twenty essays assemble a chorus of vibrant voices, including geographers, scholars of sugar and bananas, the city’s remarkable …

Learn more

The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future

What do we want?In this groundbreaking collection, more than fifty cutting-edge voices, including Melissa Harris-Perry, Janet Mock, Sheila Heti, and Mia McKenzie, invite us to imagine a truly feminist world. An abortion provider reinvents birth control, Sheila Bapat envisions an economy that values domestic work, a teenage rock band dreams up a new way to make music, Katherine …

Learn more

Native American Ethnobotany

An extraordinary compilation of the plants used by North American native peoples for medicine, food, fiber, dye, and a host of other things. Anthropologist Daniel E. Moerman has devoted 25 years to the task of gathering together the accumulated ethnobotanical knowledge on more than 4000 plants. More than 44,000 uses for these plants by various tribes are documented …

Learn more