Gems are objects of wealth, icons of beauty, and emblems of the very best of everything. They are kept as signs of prestige or power. Given as tokens of love and affection, they also come in a kaleidoscopic array of hues and can be either mineral or...

Walter Laqueur has been writing and teaching for over six decades, primarily in the fields of twentieth century history and politics, always as a shrewd and thoughtful generalist in an age of specialization. In this engaging memoir, Laqueur focuses o...

Who gets to say what counts as contemporary art? Artists, critics, curators, gallerists, auctioneers, collectors, or the public? Revealing how all of these groups have shaped today's multifaceted definition, Terry Smith brilliantly shows that an hist...

"Jewish stories", writes Adam Biro, "resemble every people's stories". Yet at the same time there is no better way to understand the soul, history, millennial suffering, or, crucially, the joys of the Jewish people than through such tales – "There's...

The Great Plains were once among the greatest grasslands on the planet. But as the United States and Canada grew westward, the Plains were plowed up, fenced in, overgrazed, and otherwise degraded. Today, this fragmented landscape is the most endanger...

"Chance Aesthetics" embraces the role played by chance in modernist art from the beginning of the twentieth century through the early 1970s. Published to accompany a major exhibition at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, this volume brings together...

Ever since children have learned to read, there has been children's literature. Children's Literature charts the makings of the Western literary imagination from "Aesop's fables to Mother Goose", from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" to "Peter Pan"...

From its beginning in 1854 as a traditional German shul to its current status as the largest Reform synagogue in New England, Temple Israel has been an important force in Boston and American Jewish life. The congregation's ongoing efforts to adapt to...

"The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion" offers both parents and professionals access to the best scholarship from all areas of child studies in a remarkable one-volume reference. Bringing together contemporary research on children and childhood from...

Sinclair Lewis, celebrated author of "Babbitt and Main Street", wrote more than twenty novels in the course of his prolific career, most of which went through several editions over the years. This is the definitive descriptive bibliography of the Lew...