In November 1919, newspapers around the world alerted readers to a sensational new theory of the universe: Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Coming at a time of social, political, and economic upheaval, Einstein's theory quickly became a rich c...

"Not writing is always a relief and sometimes a pleasure. Writing about what cannot be written, by contrast, is the devil's own job". In this unusual text, a blend of essay, fiction, and literary genealogy, South African novelist Ivan Vladislavic e...

With "The Lucretian Renaissance", Gerard Passannante offers a radical rethinking of a familiar narrative: the rise of materialism in early modern Europe. Passannante begins by taking up the ancient philosophical notion that the world is composed of t...

Annemarie Schwarzenbach – journalist, novelist, antifascist, archaeologist, and traveler – has become a European cult figure for bohemian free spirits since the rediscovery of her works in the late 1980s. "Lyric Novella" is her story of a young man's...

Like the creation myths they supersede, the revelations of science are seared into our collective imagination through storytelling. From Archimedes' bath to Newton's apple, vivid accounts of scientific discovery help us understand the principles behi...

The consolidation of law and the development of legal writing during Spain's Golden Age not only helped that country become a modern state but also affected its great literature. In this fascinating book, Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria explores the work...

One hundred years after his death, Tolstoy still inspires controversy with his notoriously complex narrative strategies. This book explores how and why Tolstoy has mystified interpreters and offers a look at his most famous works of fiction.

This compelling collection advocates for an alternative view of deaf people's literacy, one that emphasizes recent shifts in Deaf cultural identity rather than a student's past educational context as determined by the dominant hearing society. Divide...

In "Letters of Introduction" Kevin Jackson invents a new genre, the Alphabet Essay, providing a playful A to Z of cultural heroes and legends, from William Blake to Marguerite Yourcenar, from Albion to Zen. Here, Kevin Jackson promises, we will enco...

There have been many dictionaries explaining to laymen the technical terms of sailing. None of them, until now, has systematically set out to explore their etymology and evolution. "The Language of Sailing" demonstrates how many of the English and Am...