The philosophy of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius can be found in a collection of personal writings known as the Meditations. These reflect the influence of Stoicism and, in particular, the philosophy of Epictetus, the Stoic. The Meditations may be read as a series of practical philosophical exercises, following Epictetus' three topics of study, designed to digest and put into practice philosophical theory. Central to these exercises is a concern...

Bestselling author and Sundance award-winning director Questlove harnesses his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and his deep curiosity about history to examine America over the past fifty years. Choosing one essential track from each year, Questlove unpacks each song's significance, revealing the pivotal role that American music plays around issues of race, gender, politics, and identity. Whether he is exploring how Black identity reshaped...

The “fascinating” #1 New York Times bestseller that awakened the world to the destruction of American Indians in the nineteenth-century West (The Wall Street Journal).
First published in 1970, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee generated shockwaves with its frank and heartbreaking depiction of the systematic annihilation of American Indian tribes across the western frontier. In this nonfiction account, Dee...

From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility--a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel. With his breakout debut novel, Rules of Civility, Amor Towles established himself as a master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction, bringing late 1930s Manhattan to life with splendid atmosphere and a flawless command of style. Readers and critics were enchanted; as NPR commented, "Towles...

"The beauty and levity that Perry and Gabriele have captured in this book are what I think will help it to become a standard text for general audiences for years to come....The Bright Ages is a rare thing—a nuanced historical work that almost anyone can enjoy reading."—Slate

"Incandescent and ultimately intoxicating." —The Boston Globe

A lively and magisterial popular history

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Nick Offerman reminds listeners and viewers of what they love about America. Both Nick and his character, Ron Swanson, are known for their humor and patriotism in equal measure. Now with a second book that humorously highlights twenty-one figures from our nation's history, Nick presents his personal pantheon of 'great Americans.'

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z, a mesmerizing story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's...

"Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough tells the story of how the Northwest Territory was settled by dauntless pioneers, including Massachusetts minister Manasseh Cutler; Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam; Cutler's son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent figure in American science. Drawn from a rare collection of diaries and letters by the key figures,...

Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is not only an epic of the Napoleonic wars but also a philosophical study and a celebration of the Russian spirit.