Free Press / Social science

Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street

by Neil Barofsky

In this riveting account of the mishandling of the TARP bailout fund, a former federal prosecutor offers behind-the-scenes proof of the corrupt ways Washington officials serve the interests of Wall Street.

In...

Free Will

by Sam Harris

A BELIEF IN FREE WILL touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse...

The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change

by Annie Leonard

We have a problem with Stuff. With just 5 percent of the world’s population, we’re consuming 30 percent of the world’s resources and creating 30 percent of the world’s waste. If everyone consumed at...

Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche

by Ethan Watters

It is well known that American culture is a dominant force at home and abroad; our exportation of everything from movies to junk food is a well-documented phenomenon. But is it possible America's most troubling...

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion

by Gregory Boyle

How do you fight despair and learn to meet the world with a loving heart? How do you overcome shame? Stay faithful in spite of failure? No matter where people live or what their circumstances may be, everyone...

The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values

by Sam Harris

Sam Harris’s first book, The End of Faith, ignited a worldwide debate about the validity of religion. In the aftermath, Harris discovered that most people—from religious fundamentalists to nonbelieving scientists—agree...

Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives

by Robert Draper

When the Tea Party Came to Town demonstrates Robert Draper’s uncanny ability to ferret out news-making tidbits and provides us with the first look at this game-changing Congress—sure to be a classic work....

Learning From Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies

by Robert S. Weiss

Learning From Strangers is the definitive work on qualitative research interviewing. It draws on Robert Weiss's thirty years of experience in interviewing and teaching others how to do it. The most effective...

Counting On Kindness

by Wendy Lustbader

Seattle mental health counselor Lustbader here compells attention to and sympathy for those who must rely on caregivers for their needs. Stories are related by patients themselves. From incapacitated men and...

From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents

by David Gress

A Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise,

by Virginia Postrel

Today we have greater wealth, health, opportunity, and choice than at any time in history. Yet a chorus of intellectuals and politicians laments our current condition -- as slaves to technology, coarsened by...

Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women

by Rebecca Traister

REBECCA TRAISTER, whose coverage of the 2008 presidential election for Salon confirmed her to be a gifted cultural observer, offers a startling appraisal of what the campaign meant for all of us. Though the...

SuperCooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed

by Martin Nowak & Roger Highfield

EVOLUTION IS OFTEN PRESENTED AS A STRICTLY COMPETITIVE ENDEAVOR. This point of view has had serious implications for the way we see the mechanics of both science and culture. But scientists have long wondered...

The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment That Redefined the Supreme Court

by John W. Dean

The explosive, never-before-revealed story of how William Rehnquist became a Supreme Court Justice, told by the man responsible for his candidacy.

Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage

by Douglas Waller

He was one of America’s most exciting and secretive generals—the man Franklin Roosevelt made his top spy in World War II. A mythic figure whose legacy is still intensely debated, “Wild Bill” Donovan...

Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future

by Will Bunch

In this provocative new book, award-winning political journalist Will Bunch unravels the story of how a right-wing cabal hijacked the mixed legacy of Ronald Reagan, a personally popular but hugely divisive 1980s...

Forest Gate

by Peter Akinti

A shattering, poetic and raw first novel set among young Somalian refugees in the slums of London -- beginning with a double suicide and ending with a rebirth.

In a community where poverty is kept close and...

The Return: Russia's Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev

by Daniel Treisman

Russia has long been a source of puzzlement— and sometimes alarm—for Western observers. Since shaking off communism two decades ago, the country has seemed wobbly at best, thoroughly corrupt and threatening...

Fallout

by Catherine Collins & Douglas Frantz

FOR MORE THAN A QUARTER OF A CENTURY, while the Central Intelligence Agency turned a dismissive eye, a globe-straddling network run by Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan sold the equipment and expertise to make...

Here's Looking at Euclid: A Surprising Excursion Through the Astonishing World of Math

by Alex Bellos

Too often math gets a bad rap, characterized as dry and difficult. But, Alex Bellos says, "math can be inspiring and brilliantly creative. Mathematical thought is one of the great achievements of the human race,...