Asian Families, the RAND Book, and Science Fiction
New books and scholarship from Stanford University Press, University of Minnesota, and MIT Press.
The Plan to Sell Texas to Great Britain
Stephen Pearl Andrews, a lawyer, Houston socialite, and abolitionist, concocted a plan to free Texas' slaves—with a hint of treason.
The Great Seaweed Invasion
In the Caribbean, sargassum deposits have grown to unprecedented sizes, obscuring the sand and turning nearshore waters into seething sargassum soup.
The Case for Lowering the Voting Age
If the standard we hold for who can vote is the consent of the governed, why shouldn’t children be included?
The Man behind the “New Man”
Otto Weininger's only book, Sex & Character, is a misogynist, anti-Semitic screed masquerading as philosophy. Yet it was enormously influential in fin-de-siècle Vienna.
Sociophysics and Econophysics, the Future of Social Science?
Can empirical data about human behavior make the “soft” sciences more like the “hard” ones? New interdisciplinary fields are voting yes.
Autism Education, “Silent Sam,” and Regulating TV
New books and scholarship from UNC Press, The University of Texas Press, and Oxford University Press.
Casa Luis Barragán, Sacred Space of Mexican Modernism
A tour of the Mexican modernist architect Luis Barragán’s house and studio reveals a surprise with a touch of the divine.
Maroon Societies, Down Syndrome, and Food Justice
New books and scholarship from academic publishers.
Martha Nussbaum: Overcoming Fear, Embracing Democracy
The American philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s new book, The Monarchy of Fear, examines the politics of primal fear in the 2016 election.