"Ecstasy, witchcraft, bewilderment-these ten loving vignettes on scandalous corners of Russian culture, by one of our most seasoned cultural critics, are a tribute to imperishable art even in our catastrophic time." -Caryl Emerson, Professor Emerita of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University In terms of literature, music, and film, it would be hard to outdo the sheer genius and creativity of Russia. These things constitute the soul of the nation, and it is this that Morris B...

Neurotic Beauty is a remarkable reevaluation of Japan’s role in the modern world.It includes a new assessment of the events leading up to the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, and of the potential role of Japanese philosophy in creating a dynamicapproach to human nature and our understanding of reality. The book also shows theinterrelatedness of various facets of Japanese history and society, including psychological orientation, pop culture, and Japan’s vibrant cra...

In Dark Ages America, the pundit Morris Berman argues that the nation has entered a dangerous phase in its historical development from which there is no return.As the corporate-consumerist juggernaut that now defines the nation rolls on, the very factors that once propelled America to greatness—extreme individualism, territorial and economic expansion, and the pursuit of material wealth—are, paradoxically, the nails in our collective coffin. Within a few d...

“Ecstasy, witchcraft, bewilderment—these ten loving vignettes on scandalous corners of Russian culture, by one of our most seasoned cultural critics, are a tribute to imperishable art even in our catastrophic time.” (Caryl Emerson, professor emerita of Slavic languages and literatures, Princeton University)In terms of literature, music, and film, it would be hard to outdo the sheer genius and creativity of Russia. These things constitute the soul of the nation, and it is this that ...

This brilliant work of reportage on the Mumbai slum called Annawadi, and the true-life stories of some of its inhabitants, is a powerful and unforgettable account of the impact of corruption, inequality, globalization and religion in an Indian megacity. It is written in luminous prose, with a narrative pace that grips the reader from beginning to end.

Japan is arguably today's most successful industrial economy, combining almost unprecedented affluence with social stability and apparent harmony. Japanese goods and cultural products are consumed all over the world, ranging from animated movies and computer games all the way through to cars, semiconductors, and management techniques. In many ways, Japan is an icon of the modern world, and yet it remains something of an enigma to many, who see it as a confusing montage of the alien and the...

"A series of astute academic essays on the forging of postwar Japan" from the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and Bancroft Prize ( Kirkus Reviews).Remembering and reconstructing the past inevitably involves forgetting—and nowhere more so than in the complex relationship between the United States and Japan since the end of World War II. In this provocative and probing series of essays, John W. Dower—one of our leading historians of postwa...

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Chris Hedges makes a forceful case that liberal institutions have failed Americans by ceding power to self-serving and elitist corporations**“Uncompromising. . . . Hedges indicts the press, the Church, the arts, labor unions, universities, and the Democratic Party for failing to protect the middle and lower classes.” —**The New YorkerHistory has shown time and time again that when the liberal class...

Deep in lost history, did high civilizations and advanced knowledge thrive? The ancient Vedic literatures of India describe a worldwide civilization that flourished at a time when modern historians insist that humans like us existed simply as hunter-gatherers. This Vedic civilization, centered in India, employed technologies based on a scientific under­standing of the physical elements and forces we know today, as well as more subtle conscious elements. Devamrita Swami, who h...

**A searing and provocative critique of American empire and modern warfare from a Pulitzer Prize–winning war correspondent, and one of the leading moral voices of our age“Here, Hedges shows why his journalism won awards, as he takes us to places few dare to go.” —Kirkus**The World As It Is collects the best of Hedges’s essays originally published by Truthdig, the Webby Award–winning progressive news website. Hedges draws on two decades of experience report...

Winner of the Kobayashi Hideo Award, The Fall of Language in the Age of English lays bare the struggle to retain the brilliance of one's own language in this period of English-language dominance. Born in Tokyo but raised and educated in the United States, Minae Mizumura acknowledges the value of a universal language in the pursuit of knowledge yet also embraces the different ways of understanding offered by multiple tongues. She warns against losing this precious diversity.

Hopes and Prospects is Noam Chomsky's indispensable analysis of the world at present and a roadmap for the futureIn Hopes and Prospects, Noam Chomsky examines the challenges of our early twenty-first century. He explores obstacles and threats such as the widening gap between North and South America, US exceptionalism (which continues under Obama), the fiascos of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US-Israeli assault on Gaza and the recent financial bailouts...