W.W. Norton Company

"Outside" magazine's editor and contributor, Hampton Sides, rollicks through the questions readers ask about the world around them in the magazine's "The Wild File". Why do worms writhe on the surface after a storm? What good are goose-pimples? Is is true that a great fright can cause your hair to turn grey suddenly? Are elephants really afraid of...

Why socialism has failed to play a significant role in the United States - the most developed capitalist industrial society and hence, ostensibly, fertile ground for socialism - has been a critical question of American history and political development. This study surveys the various explanations for this phenomenon of American political...

Every so often, a startling book emerges that gives voice to a new or previously unexamined societal trend. Alan M. Dershowitz's provocative new work, "Preemption", is just such a book, chronicling a paradigm shift in America's approach to controlling destructive conduct. As he reveals, America is moving - whether in its manner of fighting crime or...

Frustrated by the ivory tower of academic economics and convinced that economics is far too important to leave people in the dark, Paul Krugman started writing short articles aiming to make the issues accessible for non-specialists and to burst the nonsensical balloons being floated by the left and right alike. This collection brings together a...

Science tells us that an oil crisis is inevitable. Why and when? And what will our future look like without our favourite fuel? Our rate of oil discovery has reached its peak and will never be exceeded; rather, it is certain to decline#8212;perhaps rapidly#8212;forever forward. Meanwhile, over the past century, we have developed lifestyles firmly...

In her eye-opening look at how America's social policy has been hijacked by a rhetoric of extremes, Theda Skocpol examines a problem also pertinent to European government. Politicians and advocates argue over programmes for the very poor or tax cuts for the very rich, worrying over the costs of providing for the elderly and pushing programmes that...