A major new collection from "arguably the most important intellectual alive" ( The New York Times). Noam Chomsky is universally accepted as one of the preeminent public intellectuals of the modern era. Over the past thirty years, broadly diverse audiences have gathered to attend his sold-out lectures. Now, in Understanding Power, Peter Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assembled the best of Chomsky's recent talks on the past, present, and future of the politics of power.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is your map through this maze of modern life. Here Dr. Steven Novella and friends will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies, and conspiracy theories - from anti-vaccines to homeopathy, UFO sightings to N-rays. You'll learn the difference between science and pseudoscience, essential critical thinking skills, ways to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy co-worker of yours, and how to combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments, and superstitious thinking.

What is masculinity? Ask ten men and you'll get ten vague, conflicting answers. Unlike any book of its kind, The Way of Men offers a simple, straightforward answer - without getting bogged down in religion, morality, or politics. It's a guide for understanding who men have been and the challenges men face today. The Way of Men captures the silent, stifling rage of men everywhere who find themselves at odds with the overregulated, overcivilized, politically correct modern world.

In Why We’re Polarized, Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics.

In SPQR, world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even 2,000 years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.

The book that changed the consciousness of a country - and the world. Landmark, groundbreaking, classic - these adjectives barely describe the earthshaking and long-lasting effects of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. This is the book that defined "the problem that has no name", that launched the Second Wave of the feminist movement, and has been awakening women and men with its insights into social relations, which still remain fresh, ever since.

We are familiar with maps that outline all 50 states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an "empire", exercising power around the world. But what about the actual territories - the islands, atolls, and archipelagos - this country has governed and inhabited? In How to Hide an Empire, author Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light.

North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn't confront or assimilate into an "American" or "Canadian" culture, but rather into one of the 11 distinct regional ones that spread over the continent each staking out mutually exclusive territory. In American Nations, Colin Woodard leads us on a journey through the history of our fractured continent....

This riveting narrative explores the lives of six remarkable female pharaohs, from Hatshepsut to Cleopatra - women who ruled with real power - and shines a piercing light on our own perceptions of women in power today. Female rulers are a rare phenomenon - but thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, women reigned supreme. But throughout human history, women in positions of power were more often used as political pawns in a male-dominated society. What was so special about ancient Egypt that provided women this kind of access to the highest political office?

This paradigm-shattering book provides an even-handed, science-based understanding of who women are, both on and off the pill. It will change the way that women think about their hormones and how they view themselves. It also serves as a rallying cry for women to demand more information from science about how their bodies and brains work and to advocate for better research. This book will help women make more informed decisions about their health, whether they're on the pill or off of it.

The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.

In Coming Apart, Charles Murray explores the formation of American classes that are different in kind from anything we have ever known, focusing on whites as a way of driving home the fact that the trends he describes do not break along lines of race or ethnicity.

American history was driven by clashes between those interested in preserving social order and those more interested in pursuing their own desires---the "respectable" versus the "degenerate", the moral versus the immoral. The more that "bad" people existed, resisted, and won, the greater was our common good. In A Renegade History of the United States, Russell introduces us to the origins of our nation's identity as we have never known them before.

In this, his magnum opus, the world’s best known skeptic and critical thinker Dr. Michael Shermer—founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and perennial monthly columnist (“Skeptic”) for Scientific American—presents his comprehensive theory on how beliefs are born, formed, nourished, reinforced, challenged, changed, and extinguished.

Robert Tombs' momentous The English and Their History is both a startlingly fresh and a uniquely inclusive account of the people who have a claim to be the oldest nation in the world. The English first came into existence as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. They have lasted as a recognizable entity ever since, and their defining national institutions can be traced back to the earliest years of their history.

It’s not news that women have been denied the same educational and institutional opportunities, resources, and access as men, and that science’s history is often told through the stories of great men, with a few great women making an appearance here and there. But that approach misses the big picture. The history of science isn’t complete without women.

The 16th century was a time of immense change across the globe. For many historians, it marks a massive shift in the way the world operated; it is often considered the beginning of modernity. We may regard the 16th century as the time of Shakespeare and the conquistadors, but women also played a powerful role in many of the major events around the world. In 10 Women Who Ruled the Renaissance, you will explore the lives of 10 extraordinary women who exemplified the spirit of the 1500s - an era dominated by adventure, discovery, and cross-cultural exchange.

We’ve been celebrating Earth Day for 50 years, but even the most ardent activists of today would have a hard time picturing the intensity and excitement the first Earth Day in 1970 brought. Before then, no one used the phrase “environmental movement”. But that first Earth Day sparked an unprecedented conversation about pollution, wilderness protection, sprawl, and more. Join Adam Rome, professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Buffalo, as he uncovers the motivation for, and the lasting impact of, a national day devoted to environmental awareness.

From Halloween costumes to patriotic parades to belly-busting meals, every holiday tradition tells a unique story—one encoded in symbols and layered meanings that stretch back over the centuries. In 19 lectures, professional storyteller Dr. Hannah B. Harvey takes listeners through the seasons and investigates the surprising stories behind seemingly odd holiday traditions.

In The Culture of Knighthood and Medieval Romance, join scholar of medieval literature Larissa Tracy for a fascinating dive into the deeper context of narratives about knights and their world. Her Audible Original takes you through the evolution of knighthood and courtly literature, dispelling prevalent myths about chivalry and romance with an eye to revealing just how textured and complex these ideas actually were.

In George Orwell: The Man and the Mind Behind 1984, Professor Michael Shelden will show you how 1984 presents a plausible reality of thought control and totalitarian power that feels contemporary even as it reflects its own time.

In C. S. Lewis: Writer, Scholar, Seeker, Dr. Sørina Higgins will take you on a fascinating expedition through the life and work of this influential author, examining the crucial events and relationships that shaped his personal, literary, and spiritual journeys.

What is power and who is allowed to wield it? Why is female power so rare and, often, so feared? What can the women who gained power in the ancient world teach us about the contemporary world and our modern ideas of gender, authority, and equality? Listeners will explore these and other questions as you travel back to the ancient world and uncover the stories of remarkable women who overcame a host of barriers to wield power in a male-dominated world.

By the time of his death on July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant was an icon in the historical memory of the United States. Just a few decades later, however, constant criticism of his military and political leadership had tarnished his reputation. Today’s historians have a far more balanced assessment of Grant as a Union Army general and an American president—and that appraisal is at the heart of Understanding Ulysses S. Grant: Portrait of a Warrior.

Malcolm X. Marcus Garvey. Charles Hamilton Houston. Diane Nash. For every well-known figure of the Civil Rights Movement, there are dozens of lesser-known, yet no less significant, activists who helped advance America’s social views and helped shape race relations in this country. Most listeners have only skimmed the surface of these deeply complex, influential, and world-changing figures. Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries of The Ohio State University delves into their stories, presenting an intimate study of the men and women who led half a century of social change.

In The Enduring Genius of Frederick Law Olmsted, you’ll learn about the iconic landscape architect’s incredible life—and ponder his incredible legacy. You’ll explore his work as a designer of some breathtaking natural landscapes (as well as some of the painful failures he had to endure along the way). You’ll also consider Olmsted’s efforts to address the momentous challenges of his century, including the Civil War, and the vital role he played in the most transformative period in American history.

Numbers. Like the alphabet, they’re one of the most elementary of concepts learned and memorized at a young age; but outside of figuring out tips and taxes, you probably haven’t given much thought to them since then. To a mathematician, every number has its own unique properties and personality - and when studied, played with, and manipulated, numbers can actually be tons of fun.

From its inception, hip-hop has challenged ideas about morality, religion, and truth. Genuinely, it’s a philosophical genre. Both philosophers and hip-hop artists think about God, death, and justice, among other things. But rarely do members of these two groups talk to one another about these issues. This is a shame, given that both hip-hop and philosophy have a rich history in deep thinking and have produced exemplary thinkers.

Who wrote Great Expectations? That’s easy: Charles Dickens. Who’s the author of Beloved? Toni Morrison, of course. Now how about the Old Testament? You’d think for a book as widely known, studied, and distributed as the Bible, the question of authorship would have been sorted out by now. But the question is more complex (and fascinating) than it seems. Why? Because asking it is to challenge everything we might assume about the Bible’s identity as a book, about what “writing” and “authorship” really mean, and about how a written text could become sacred.

In Lan Dong’s Audible Original, The History of the Superhero, examine the roots of the superhero dynamic that’s overtaking popular culture. Encompassing both Marvel Comics’ and DC Comics’ pantheon of extraordinary heroes, these eight lectures explore how superhero comics came to be, how famous characters (and their exploits) evolved in response to social and cultural changes, how superhero cinematic universes have become an integral (and highly lucrative) part of film history, and why superheroes of all types are likely here to stay.