A critique of intellectuals explains an important social phenomenon--how the thinkers of a society mold that society by shaping public opinion, which in turn affects the development of official policy.

When President Theodore Roosevelt welcomed the country's most visible Black man, Booker T. Washington, into his circle of counselors in 1901, the two confronted a shocking and violent wave of racist outrage. In the previous decade, Jim Crow laws had legalized discrimination in the South, eroding social and economic gains for former slaves. Lynching was on the rise, and Black Americans faced new barriers to voting. Slavery had been abolished, but if...

In this book the author transports readers to the dawn of the Renaissance and chronicles the life of an intrepid book lover who rescued the Roman philosophical text On the Nature of Things from certain oblivion. In this work he has crafted both a work of history and a story of discovery, in which one manuscript, plucked from a thousand years of neglect, changed the course of human thought and made possible the world as we know it. Nearly six hundred...

Everyone reads success books, but few succeed. Why? Jon Levy, behavioral scientist and founder of the private community of Nobel Laureates, celebrities, and executives called 'The Influencers,' decided to find the answer. This book reveals the surprising formula that listeners can use to create exceptional levels of success.

"From the author of 1491--the best-selling study of the pre-Columbian Americas--a deeply engaging new history that explores the most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs. More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed totally different suites of plants and animals. Columbus's voyages brought them back together--and marked the beginning...

Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People was first published in 1936, decades before cell phones, email and social networking changed the way we interact with each other. While technology may have changed, Carnegie's lessons on communication and leadership remain just as relevant now as they ever were. Now for the first time, these powerful lessons are given a face-lift and made to apply directly in the fast, computer-driven age that...

In 1946, as London emerges from the shadow of World War II, author Juliet Ashton is having a terrible time finding inspiration for her next book. Then she receives a letter from Guernsey Island, and learns of a unique book club formed on the spur of the moment as an alibi to protect its members from arrest by the occupying Germans during the war. Captivated, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds there will change her life forever.

The author of the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" and "Isabel Dalhousie" series reflects on the influence that Auden's poetry has had on his life, promotes the importance of the poet's work, and explores some of its major themes.

Examination of World War I and the major events of the war. Discussion of how the war led to the shaping of a new world, to strategies of warfare and to methods of peacemaking. Identifies key figures and their influence.