This is one of those questions that we rarely ask, unless we feel that something is already amiss. Most of the time, what holds society together is probably something we do not actively think about, like...
In a magazine illustration based on a painting by Louis Katzenstein, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm sit and listen to the folk tales told by Dorothea Viehmann, an inn-keeper’s daughter who knew a wealth of...
Sex, gender, and sexuality. What sense have different people, institutions, and the state made of these terms since the late nineteenth century? To the medical doctors, scientists, social reformers, and...
A central function of the state is to provide insurance against the vagaries of life and markets, such as accidents, ill health, old age, or unemployment. Collectively, these mandatory risk pooling arrangements...
My co-authors and I were having our first meeting with Sara Epperson, Yale’s Director of Digital Education, to discuss our proposal to record a Coursera online class based on our then-upcoming textbook...
How do Western persons who believe in the reality of the individual self make sense of the Buddhist idea of no-self? How have experiences of travel in Buddhist cultures helped them to do this? How have...
When we use the phrase, “the final word on the subject,” we are denoting more than just authoritative writing. An author (wordplay intended) who pens the “final word” on some topic or puzzle is...
Reading the changing platforms of Eighteenth Century Collections Online. In Old Books and Digital Publishing: Eighteenth Century Collections Online, I analysed the various interfaces to Gale’s Eighteenth...
I have the great honor of inaugurating a new series on World Literature at Cambridge University Press. Long, long ago, before I ever dreamed of writing such a book, I was introduced to the debates on...
Professor Rodney H. Jones, the co-author of Introducing Language and Society, talks to us about inspiration, challenges for students, and the ‘next big thing’ in sociolinguistics. ...
One of the many flaws of mainstream economics is its systemic allergy to competing paradigms. My book Macroeconomics: An Introduction (2021) treats this problem by providing readers not only with an alternative...
This book is about survival, resilience, and community building; it tells the story of rural communities on the islands of Lemnos and Thasos in the Northern Aegean and narrates their experiences in dealing...