Philosophy and social sciences Books

Perhaps no philosopher is more of a conundrum than Nietzsche, the solitary rebel, poet, wayfarer, anti-revolutionary Aufklarer and theorist of aristocratic radicalism. His accusers identify in his 'superman' the origins of Nazism, and thus issue an...

The fascinating origin story of Wilson Duff, the pioneering BC anthropologist and museologist remembered for his contributions to research on First Nations cultures of the Northwest Coast. Wilson Duff was born in 1925 in the city of Vancouver and his...

An influential thinker's fascinating reflections and meditations on reacclimating to his native Senegal as a young academic after years of study abroad The call to morning prayer. A group run at daybreak along the Corniche in Dakar. A young woman...

In 1905, after suffering a relapse and spending a few months at The Hartford Retreat, Clifford Whittingham Beers elected to write a book about his experiences living with mental illness and being subject to cruel treatment and physical abuse while being...

A quirky memoir of the aesthete responsible for creating culture icons such as WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing and bringing the concept of wabi-sabi into Western aesthetic discourse.

Derek Parfit (1942-2017) is the most famous philosopher most people have never heard of. Widely regarded as one of the greatest moral thinkers of the past hundred years, Parfit was anything but a public intellectual. Yet his ideas have shaped the way...

An original, unified reconstruction of Mill's moral and political philosophy-one that finally reveals its consistency and full powerFew thinkers have been as influential as John Stuart Mill, whose philosophy has arguably defined Utilitarian ethics and...

From the celebrated author of American Philosophy: A Love Story and Hiking with Nietzsche, a compelling introduction to the life-affirming philosophy of William James.In 1895, William James, the father of American philosophy, delivered a lecture entitled...

Invaluable wisdom on living a good life from one of the Enlightenment's greatest philosophersDavid Hume (17111776) is perhaps best known for his ideas about cause and effect and his criticisms of religion, but he is rarely thought of as a...

The brilliant but turbulent life of a public intellectual who transformed the social sciencesRobert Bellah (19272013) was one of the most influential social scientists of the twentieth century. Trained as a sociologist, he crossed disciplinary boundaries...

A colorful, comprehensive, and authoritative account of Machiavelli's life and thoughtThis is a colorful, comprehensive, and authoritative introduction to the life and work of the Florentine statesman, writer, and political philosopher Niccolo...

Hanley shows how Smith set forth a vision of the worthy life that is uniquely suited to people today. Full of invaluable insights on topics ranging from happiness and moderation to love and friendship, Our Great Purpose enables modern readers to see...

Edmund Burke (1730-97) lived during one of the most extraordinary periods of world history. He grappled with the significance of the British Empire in India, fought for reconciliation with the American colonies, and was a vocal critic of national policy...

In 1831, at the age of twenty-five, Alexis de Tocqueville made his fateful journey to America, where he observed the thrilling reality of a functioning democracy. From that moment onward, the French aristocrat would dedicate his life as a writer and...

In 1960 Timothy Leary was not yet famous - or infamous - and Allen Ginsberg was both. Leary, eager to expand his experiments at the Harvard Psilocybin Project to include accomplished artists and writers, knew that Ginsberg held the key to bohemia's elite...

Celebrating the groundbreaking life’s work of Stanislav Grof, MD, pioneer in psychedelic research and transpersonal psychology • Features an extended interview with Stan Grof, exploring in great depth the full arc of his lifelong research in his own...

Elie Wiesel's harrowing first-hand account of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust, Night is translated by Marion Wiesel with a preface by Elie Wiesel in Penguin Modern Classics. Born into a Jewish ghetto in Hungary, as a child, Elie Wiesel was...