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Timur Kuran: Upcoming events in Princeton and NYC!

February 13, 2012 by

Timur Kuran, author of The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East, has two events coming up later this month in Princeton and NYC. Kuran, a professor of economics and political science at Duke University, published The Long Divergence in 2010.  Read an extract from the book’s first chapter here!

 

Tuesday, February 21, 2012: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

4:30 p.m in Jones 100 (campus map)

Free and open to the public

The Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia presents Timur Kuran:

“Structural Inefficiencies of Islamic Courts: Ottoman Justice and Its Implications for Modern Economic Life”

More information about the event here.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012: The American Turkish Society, New York, NY
6:30 – 8:00 PM
305 East 47th Street, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10017

Free for members, $25 for non-members

Register for the event here, or read the full announcement!

Filed Under: Economics, Events, Law, Middle Eastern Studies, Sample Chapters Online, Twitter

Walt Whitman Reading Room

May 31, 2011 by

Celebrate what would have been Walt Whitman’s 192nd birthday with the Princeton University Press today by reading a few of our favorite Whitman books:

Michael Robertson – Worshipping Walt: The Whitman Disciples
Read Chapter 1, here.

C.K. Williams – On Whitman
Read Chapter 1, here.

Helen Vendler – Invisible Listeners: Lyric Intimacy in Herbert, Whitman, and Ashbery
Read the Introduction, here.

Filed Under: American Literature, Princeton University Press, Sample Chapters Online, Twitter

Are You Happy Now?

January 19, 2011 by

Happiness today is not just a possibility or an option but a requirement and a duty. To fail to be happy is to fail utterly. Happiness has become a religion–one whose smiley-faced god looks down in rebuke upon everyone who hasn’t yet attained the blessed state of perpetual euphoria. How has a liberating principle of the Enlightenment–the right to pursue happiness–become the unavoidable and burdensome responsibility to be happy? How did we become unhappy about not being happy–and what might we do to escape this predicament? In Perpetual Euphoria, Pascal Bruckner takes up these questions with all his unconventional wit, force, and brilliance, arguing that we might be happier if we simply abandoned our mad pursuit of happiness.

A stimulating and entertaining meditation on the unhappiness at the heart of the modern cult of happiness, Perpetual Euphoria is a book for everyone who has ever bristled at the command to “be happy.”

Pascal Bruckner is the award-winning author of many books of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel Bitter Moon, which was made into a film by Roman Polanski. Bruckner’s nonfiction books include The Tyranny of Guilt (Princeton), The Temptation of Innocence, and The Tears of the White Man (Free Press).

We invite you to read the introduction online:
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i9269.pdf

Perpetual Euphoria:
On the Duty to Be Happy
By Pascal Bruckner
Translated by Steven Rendall

Filed Under: Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Sample Chapters Online Tagged With: , ,

The Most Comprehensive Collection of Einstein Quotes Ever Published

November 17, 2010 by

Here is the definitive new edition of the hugely popular collection of Einstein quotations that has sold tens of thousands of copies worldwide and been translated into twenty-five languages.

The Ultimate Quotable Einstein features 400 additional quotes, bringing the total to roughly 1,600 in all. This ultimate edition includes new sections–”On and to Children,” “On Race and Prejudice,” and “Einstein’s Verses: A Small Selection”–as well as a chronology of Einstein’s life and accomplishments, Freeman Dyson’s authoritative foreword, and new commentary by Alice Calaprice.

In The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, readers will also find quotes by others about Einstein along with quotes attributed to him. Every quotation in this informative and entertaining collection is fully documented, and Calaprice has carefully selected new photographs and cartoons to introduce each section.

We invite you to take a look at chapter one online:
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9268.pdf

“A happy man is too satisfied with the present to think too much about the future.”
–Einstein (age 17)

The Ultimate Quotable Einstein
Collected and edited by Alice Calaprice
With a foreword by Freeman Dyson

Filed Under: history of science, Physics, Reference, Sample Chapters Online Tagged With: , , , , ,

How and Why Animals Produce Group Behaviors

November 9, 2010 by

Fish travel in schools, birds migrate in flocks, honeybees swarm, and ants build trails. How and why do these collective behaviors occur? Exploring how coordinated group patterns emerge from individual interactions, Collective Animal Behavior reveals why animals produce group behaviors and examines their evolution across a range of species.

Collective Animal Behavior
By David J. T. Sumpter

We invite you to read chapter one online:
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9382.html

Filed Under: Biological Sciences, Cognitive Science, Mathematics, Sample Chapters Online

How Ordinary Citizens Band Together To Bring About Real Change

October 29, 2010 by

In an America where the rich and fortunate have free rein to do as they please, can the ideal of liberty and justice for all be anything but an empty slogan? Many Americans are doubtful, and have withdrawn into apathy and cynicism. But thousands of others are not ready to give up on democracy just yet. Working outside the notice of the national media, ordinary citizens across the nation are meeting in living rooms, church basements, synagogues, and schools to identify shared concerns, select and cultivate leaders, and take action. Their goal is to hold big government and big business accountable. In this important new book, Jeffrey Stout bears witness to the successes and failures of progressive grassroots organizing, and the daunting forces now arrayed against it.  Stout tells vivid stories of people fighting entrenched economic and political interests around the country.

Jeffrey Stout is professor of religion at Princeton University. His books include Ethics After Babel and Democracy and Tradition (both Princeton). He is past president of the American Academy of Religion and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

We invite you to read chapter one online:
Blessed Are the Organized: Grassroots Democracy in America
By Jeffrey Stout

If you’re attending #AAR2010, stop by our booth (no. 406) and say hello.

Filed Under: Political Science, Religion, Sample Chapters Online

First In-Depth Look at Bush’s Presidency by America’s Top Historians

October 14, 2010 by

The Presidency of George W. Bush brings together some of today’s top American historians to offer the first in-depth look at one of the most controversial U.S. presidencies. Emotions surrounding the Bush presidency continue to run high–conservatives steadfastly defend its achievements, liberals call it a disgrace. This book examines the successes as well as the failures, covering every major aspect of Bush’s two terms in office. It puts issues in broad historical context to reveal the forces that shaped and constrained Bush’s presidency–and the ways his presidency reshaped the nation.

The Presidency of George W. Bush features contributions by Mary L. Dudziak, Gary Gerstle, David Greenberg, Meg Jacobs, Michael Kazin, Kevin M. Kruse, Nelson Lichtenstein, Fredrik Logevall, Timothy Naftali, James T. Patterson, and the book’s editor, Julian E. Zelizer. Each chapter tackles some important aspect of Bush’s administration–such as presidential power, law, the war on terror, the Iraq invasion, economic policy, and religion–and helps readers understand why Bush made the decisions he did.

History will be the ultimate judge of Bush’s legacy, and the assessment begins with this book.

We invite you to read chapter one at:
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9302.pdf

The Presidency of George W. Bush:
A First Historical Assessment
Edited by Julian E. Zelizer

Filed Under: American History, Political Science, Sample Chapters Online

A Powerful New Argument for Reviving the Ideal of Racial Integration

October 11, 2010 by

More than forty years have passed since Congress, in response to the Civil Rights Movement, enacted sweeping antidiscrimination laws in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. As a signal achievement of that legacy, in 2008, Americans elected their first African American president. Some would argue that we have finally arrived at a postracial America, but The Imperative of Integration indicates otherwise. Elizabeth Anderson demonstrates that, despite progress toward racial equality, African Americans remain disadvantaged on virtually all measures of well-being. Segregation remains a key cause of these problems, and Anderson skillfully shows why racial integration is needed to address these issues. Weaving together extensive social science findings–in economics, sociology, and psychology–with political theory, this book provides a compelling argument for reviving the ideal of racial integration to overcome injustice and inequality, and to build a better democracy.

The Imperative of Integration
By Elizabeth Anderson
We invite you to read chapter one online:
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9354.html

Filed Under: Political Science, Political Theory, Sample Chapters Online, Sociology

Sweeping and Colorful Account of Egypt’s 5000-Year History

October 4, 2010 by

With the recent discovery of an ancient statue of King Amenhotep III (grandfather of King Tutankhamun),  you may want to learn more about Egypt’s fascinating history.  We invite you to read chapter one of Robert L. Tignor’s new book, Egypt: A Short History.

This is a sweeping, colorful, and concise narrative history of Egypt from the beginning of human settlement in the Nile River valley 5000 years ago to the present day. Accessible, authoritative, and richly illustrated, this is an ideal introduction and guide to Egypt’s long, brilliant, and complex history for general readers, tourists, and anyone else who wants a better understanding of this vibrant and fascinating country, one that has played a central role in world history for millennia–and that continues to do so today.

Respected historian Robert Tignor, who has lived in Egypt at different times over the course of five decades, covers all the major eras of the country’s ancient, modern, and recent history.  This book provides an indispensable key to Egypt in all its layers–ancient and modern, Greek and Roman, and Christian and Islamic.

Read chapter one online:
Egypt: A Short History
By Robert L. Tignor
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9274.html

Filed Under: Archaeology and Ancient History, History, Middle Eastern Studies, Sample Chapters Online

Lawyers and Fidelity to Law

September 28, 2010 by

Even lawyers who obey the law often seem to act unethically–interfering with the discovery of truth, subverting justice, and inflicting harm on innocent people. Standard arguments within legal ethics attempt to show why it is permissible to do something as a lawyer that it would be wrong to do as an ordinary person. But in the view of most critics these arguments fail to turn wrongs into rights. Even many lawyers think legal ethics is flawed because it does not accurately describe the considerable moral value of their work. In Lawyers and Fidelity to Law, Bradley Wendel introduces a new conception of legal ethics that addresses the concerns of lawyers and their critics alike.

W. Bradley Wendel is professor of law at Cornell Law School.

We invite you to read the introduction online at:
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9330.html

Lawyers and Fidelity to Law
By W. Bradley Wendel
Read the introduction online at:
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9330.html

Filed Under: Law, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Sample Chapters Online, Twitter

What does it mean to win or lose?

September 21, 2010 by

Most of us are taught from a young age to be winners and avoid being losers. But what does it mean to win or lose? And why do we care so much? Does winning make us happy? Winning undertakes an unprecedented investigation of winning and losing in American society, what we are really after as we struggle to win, our collective beliefs about winners and losers, and much more.

Francesco Duina argues that victory and loss are not endpoints or final destinations but gateways to something of immense importance to us: the affirmation of our place in the world. But Duina also shows that competition is unlikely to provide us with the answers we need. Winning and losing are artificial and logically flawed concepts that put us at odds with the world around us and, ultimately, ourselves. Duina explores the social and psychological effects of the language of competition in American culture.

Read chapter one online:
Winning:
Reflections on an American Obsession
By Francesco Duina
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9340.html

Filed Under: Anthropology, Cognitive Science, Sample Chapters Online, Sociology

What does the future hold for Republican foreign policy?

August 30, 2010 by

Hard Line traces the history of Republican Party foreign policy since World War II by focusing on the conservative leaders who shaped it. Colin Dueck closely examines the political careers and foreign-policy legacies of Robert Taft, Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. He shows how Republicans shifted away from isolationism in the years leading up to World War II and oscillated between realism and idealism during and after the cold war. Yet despite these changes, Dueck argues, conservative foreign policy has been characterized by a hawkish and intense American nationalism, and presidential leadership has been the driving force behind it.

What does the future hold for Republican foreign policy? Hard Line demonstrates that the answer depends on who becomes the next Republican president.

Hard Line:
The Republican Party and U.S. Foreign Policy since World War II
By Colin Dueck
Read the introduction online: http://bit.ly/cYEVIT

Filed Under: Political Science, Sample Chapters Online
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