Social Science - Anthropology - Cultural & Social

When freedom came to enslaved Africans who toiled on rice plantations in lower Berkeley County, South Carolina, many remained to farm the land and raise their families in settlements near the plantation gates. Four generations later, their descendants have shared for the first time...

A comprehensive, yet entertaining look at China's history through a modern lens. For millennia, China was the largest and richest nation on earth. Two centuries ago, however, its economy sank into a depression from which it had not fully recovered--until now. China's modern resurgence...

This fascinating history tells the story of the people of Japan, from ancient teenage priest-queens to teeming hordes of salarymen, a nation that once sought to conquer China, yet also shut itself away for two centuries in self-imposed seclusion. First revealed to Westerners in...

Exploring Korean history from its ancient roots to the present day, A Brief History of Korea is the story of a people with a rich and united culture that has become two Koreas in modern times--one isolated and secretive and the other among the...

A fascinating story of national resilience and pride through centuries of colonial rule, World War II, independence, dictatorship, People Power, and the global diaspora of Filipinos! A Brief History of the Philippines tells the sweeping story of a nation whose past is filled with...

A classic of Japanese history, this book is the preeminent work on the history of Japan. Newly revised and updated, A History of Japan is a single-volume, comprehensive account of Japan's history. Starting in ancient Japan during its early pre-history period, A History of...

"As majestic in its scope as the country it celebrates. [Johnson's] theme is the men and women, prominent and unknown, whose energy, vision, courage and confidence shaped a great nation. It is a compelling antidote to those who regard the future with pessimism."-- Henry...

A History of the Yoruba People is a comprehensive exploration of the founding and growth of one of the most influential groups in Africa. With a population of nearly 40 million spread across Western Africa - and diaspora communities in Europe, the Caribbean, Latin...

For more than a quarter of a century, Ildefonso, a Mexican Indian, lived in total isolation, set apart from the rest of the world. He wasn't a political prisoner or a social recluse, he was simply born deaf and had never been taught even...

A Medieval Life offers a biography of one woman, a portrait of her world, and an introduction to historical method. A Medieval Life offers a biography of one woman, a portrait of her world, and an introduction to historical method. Written in a clear...

"In Member of the Club. [Graham writes of] heartbreaking ironies and contradictions, indignities and betrayals in the life of an upper-class black man." --Philadelphia InquirerInformed and driven by his experience as an upper-middle-class African American man who lives and works in a predominately white...

This instant New York Times bestselling political book is "an essential companion for anyone who suspects that politics is in fact for everyone, and that the time to put skin in the game is right now" (Dahlia Lithwick, New York Times bestselling author)--from viral...

As long as we have been human, we have been mythmakers. In A Short History of Myth, Karen Armstrong holds up the mirror of mythology to show us the history of ourselves, and embarks on a journey that begins at a Neanderthal graveside and...

A sweeping analysis uncovers the causes of--and solutions to--one of the most daunting public health challenges facing the world today: antibiotic resistance exploding in India. The discovery of antibiotics was one of the most significant medical breakthroughs of the twentieth century, dramatically increasing human...

In Acid Dreams, Martin Lee and Bruce Shalin have written the history of a time still only dimly understood. The events they recount and the facts they uncover supply an important missing piece of the puzzle of a crucial decade in our recent past.Few...

A new understanding of how our bodies work, how to keep them healthy, and how our biological diversity unites us rather than divides us How does the body work--and why does it seem to work so differently for each of us? Why do we...

This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about...

A deeply compelling exploration of the death industry and the people--morticians, detectives, crime scene cleaners, embalmers, executioners--who work in it and what led them there. We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a...

America's Unholy Ghosts examines the DNA of the ideologies that shape our nation, ideologies that are as American as apple pie but that too often justify and perpetuate racist ideas and racial inequalities. MLK challenged us to investigate the "ideational roots of race hate"...

An eye-opening investigation into ancestry and origins in the Middle East that synthesizes thousands of years of genetic history in the region to question what it means to be indigenous to any land "Ancestors transcends geography to launch an eye-opening inquiry into the relationship...