"Though his new book deals with many kinds of incivility, Dr. Forni has devoted a sizeable chunk of it to workplace and high-tech rudeness . . . his approach to incivility is rooted in his academic career researching and teaching Italian literature. Some fundamentals of good behavior, he says, go back hundreds of years."—The Wall Street Journal

"The English translation of Security, Territory and Population is a major event not only for Anglophone readers of Foucault’s work, but for all those concerned with understanding our present social and political condition. These lectures show that the trenchant analysis of biopower, 'power over life,' which Foucault had begun in the first volume of the History of Sexuality and which he pursues here in terms of technologies of security, led him to a decisively deeper and more radical formulation of his guiding problematic—what he called 'the government of the self and others'—the issue that would serve as the basis for all his subsequent work. Security, Territory and Population might thus properly be called the ‘missing link’ that reveals the underlying unity of Foucault’s later thought . . . Burchell’s translation is meticulous, supple, and attentive to the nuances of Foucault’s fluid lecture style. We all stand in his debt."—Kevin Thompson, Book Review Editor, Continental Philosophy Review, Department of Philosophy, DePaul University

"Is the 'self' capable of reaching the truth when only equipped with knowledge? Or can it attain the truth without a 'long labor of ascesis?' Why is the concept of the 'care of the self' neglected by Western thought despite its vital role in constructing the concept of 'know yourself?' These ethical questions and more are elegantly discussed in Foucault's third volume of lectures from the Collège de France."—Sadiq Alkoriji, Tomball Library, Harris County, Texas, Library Journal

"Frayn . . . has a healthy respect for the power of external reality to constrain our world-making. Indeed, what makes The Human Touch so rewarding is the subtlety and humor with which he examines 'the great mutual balancing act.' There may be something godlike in the way we 'bring into their various forms of existence all the receding ontological planes of the world we inhabit,' but we are also at the mercy of that world's whims. A brick to the head and the whole show comes to an end."—Jim Holt, The New York Times

"First, think a beginner's guide to philosophy . . . Next, imagine a fantasy novel—something like a modern-day version of Through the Looking Glass. Meld these disparate genres, and what do you get? Well, what you get is an improbable international bestseller . . . [A] tour de force."—Time

"This powerful and brilliant book is an essential guide to the new Millennium. Straw Dogs challenges all our assumptions about what it is to be human, and convincingly shows that most of them are delusions."—J.G. Ballard

"Philip Gura has given us the most comprehensive and concise overview of Transcendentalism to appear in fifty years. By carefully re-historicizing the movement, in all its diversity, he provides the term 'Transcendentalistism' with much needed definition. An important book on a subject indispensable for study of the American mind."—John McWilliams, Professor, Middlebury College

“Hoffman examines this philosophically fraught subject in unpretentious, clear chapters: asking how time affects our bodies, our minds, our cultures, and, finally, how time has accelerated and changed with the advent of the concept of 'immediacy'—or, as she puts it, 'what pace and density of stimulus we need in order to feel that something ‘interesting’ is happening.'”—Benjamin Moser, Harper’s

“Soul of a Citizen has been a powerful resource to get thousands of students involved in their communities, giving them the opportunity to apply their learning in meaningful ways.  This updated edition is both timely and exceptionally useful to campuses that want to reclaim higher education’s central role in educating responsible, democratic citizens.”—Carol Geary Schneider, President, American Association of Colleges and Universities 

"No sociologist alive is a sharper philosopher than Steven Lukes. He has been making mincemeat of academic distinctions for decades, bringing a razor mind and an eye for significance to all manner of vexing questions about power, individualism, rationality, human rights, identity, and now, in this masterful little volume, moral relativism. He reads like an omnivore, writes like a dream, and has both the reason and the courage to say that some positions are right and others wrong."—Todd Gitlin, author of Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms our Lives

"The volume compiles writings not previously available in English alongside fresh translations of his better-known works. This is all very nice, but if you're like me, the first thing you want to know when perusing any Marinetti edition is, 'Is the essay about sculpted meat included?' Happily it is."—Philadelphia Weekly

“I can't imagine a better guide to 17th-century philosophical thought. Aimed at the general public, The Best of All Possible Worlds is written simply and clearly, without condescension, flashiness or over-simplification. But it's a demanding book nonetheless, and you need to pay attention. You'll be amply rewarded if you do.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

"In a lively survey that ranges from Rome's Stoics and Epicureans to Enlightenment thinkers like Hobbes, Hume and especially Rousseau, the authors deftly sketch the tension between the proponents of a mutually dependent society and those who champion the idea of blunt self-interest. They deliver us to the modern world where they conclude, with no small amount of regret, that 'we are all Hobbesians, convinced that self-interest is our ruling principle.'"—Harvey Freedenberg, Shelf Awareness

“Giordano Bruno: Philosopher/Heretic gives some support to the view of Bruno as a visionary of and martyr to science, but Rowland . . . knows too much about him and his times to accept that simple picture. Rather, she tells the story of a bright, thin-skinned, rebellious and inquisitive young man from outside Naples who became a precocious Dominican priest, had some original thoughts, wrote some interesting treatises and long poems, and pretty quickly got in trouble with the authorities.”—Marc Kaufman, The Washington Post

“Michael J. Sandel is one of this generation’s most important philosophers because he combines a relentlessly inquiring spirit with a profound commitment to the idea of a common good. Justice is Sandel at his finest: no matter what your views are, his delightful style will draw you in, and he’ll then force you to rethink your assumptions and challenge you to question accepted ways of thinking. But Sandel does not leave you marooned on an island of skepticism. He calls us to a better way of doing politics, and a more enriching way of living our lives.”—E. J. Dionne, Jr.

"George Thompson's new translation is a gift to teachers, students and seekers. The prose is lucid, lively, and admirably literal. The key metaphors are skillfully rendered, the core teachings precisely delineated; most important, the philosophical and spiritual radiance of the original shines through."—Carol Zaleski, Professor of World Religions, Smith College

"Žižek's book addresses in a really powerful way the human condition as we find ourselves in it today: as inheritors of the legacy of 9/11, global capitalism, the war on terror, etc. As a teacher I strive to bring my students into contact with philosophical texts that speak this directly to their lives and experiences so that they can begin to realize, as I once did, that philosophy is not a dead science, but a living art which is profoundly and frighteningly relevant—capable of transforming their understanding of themselves and their world. Žižek's book accomplishes all this and more. For this reason, I recommend his work to all young students of philosophy as essential reading."—Drew Dalton, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, St. Anselm College

“This compact, meaty volume ought to be on the reading list of every candidate for national office in November's elections. In an age of cant and baloney, Andrew Bacevich offers a bracing slap of reality. The Limits of Power is gracefully written and easy to read . . . chockablock with provocative ideas and stern judgments. Bacevich's brand of intellectual assuredness is rare in today's public debates. Many of our talking heads and commentators are cocksure, of course, but few combine confidence with knowledge and deep thought the way Bacevich does here. His big argument is elegant and powerful.”—The Washington Post

"This is a great book—flawed, impossible, infuriating, and moving . . . but he has accomplished in this extraordinary book something finer than mere polemic. En route to his last painful discovery, Barthes takes the reader on an exquisitely rendered, lyrical journey into the heart of his own life and the medium he came to love, a medium that flirts constantly with the 'intractable reality' of the human condition."—Douglas Davis, Newsweek