Oxford Professor Margaret MacMillan Reveals How War Has Shaped Human History

Contributed by Margaret MacMillan, author of War: How Conflict Shaped Us Let me start with what my book is not about. It is not a history of war, although it contains many historical examples. Nor is it, unlike the many books that line the shelves of libraries or bookshops, devoted to a particular campaign or

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Sir Ken Robinson: 1950 – 2020

Viking/Penguin shares the sad news of the passing of Sir Ken Robinson, internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation, and human potential, and author of such bestselling books as The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, Creative Schools,  and You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education. Robinson died on Friday,

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Cornell Professor Kate Manne on the Pursuit of Gender Justice

Contributed by Kate Manne, author of Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women CW: This post contains descriptions of misogynistic and sexual violence On Friday May 23, 2014, I was an assistant professor just finishing up my first year of teaching at Cornell University. Scrolling through my Facebook feed, I saw reports of a horrible crime

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Riverhead Recommends: Black Voices and Stories

Founded in 1994, Riverhead Books publishes bestselling literary fiction and quality nonfiction. Throughout its history, Riverhead has been dedicated to publishing extraordinary groundbreaking, unique writers including Danielle Evans, Danzy Senna, and James McBride. Collected here are some works from Black writers published by Riverhead. Their stories articulate the Black experience in America and give voice

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A Monthly Update from Penguin Classics

Because what you read matters. Subscribe to the Penguin Classics Newsletter here. Black Lives Matter. Black Voices Matter. Black Stories Matter. This month we’re sharing a few of the works by Black authors we have been learning from lately. Let us know on social media the Black voices and stories you’re reading this month (we’re @PenguinClassics everywhere). Nonfiction—History: The

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Bryan Washington Wins the 2020 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize

Bryan Washington has been named the 2020 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize winner for his story collection LOT. In LOT, Washington explores his hometown of Houston—a sprawling, diverse microcosm of America—where the son of a black mother and a Latino father is coming of age. He’s working at his family’s restaurant, weathering his brother’s blows,

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Penguin Presents Classics in African American Literature

Because what you read matters. Subscribe to the Penguin Classics Newsletter here. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Presented here are some

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Teaching The World: A Webinar with Richard Haass

On behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), we invite you to participate in a CFR Educators Webinar via Zoom on Tuesday, May 19, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (ET). CFR President Richard N. Haass will lead the discussion on The World: A Brief Introduction, his new book designed to provide readers with

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Colson Whitehead has won his second Pulitzer Prize for THE NICKEL BOYS

Colson Whitehead has won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, The Nickel Boys. This is his second Pulitzer Prize (his novel The Underground Railroad won in 2017) and he is only the fourth writer—alongside Booth Tarkington, William Faulkner, and John Updike—to win two Pulitzer Prizes each in the Fiction category. Winner, ALA Alex Award Winner,

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International Jazz Day 2020

During these increasingly uncertain times, people are turning more to the arts to try and alleviate stress and cope with the world around them. While music generally has the ability to reduce anxiety and fight depression, certain genres such as jazz have also acted historically to promote peace, dialogue among cultures, and respect for human rights

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A Holocaust Survivor’s Perspective on Isolation

In 1942, 22 year-old Franci Rabinek arrived at Terezin, a concentration camp and ghetto 40 miles north of her home in Prague. It would be the beginning of her three-year journey through four different camps. Her memoir, Franci’s War, offers her intense, candid account of those dark years before her liberation in 1945. Before that,

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The Secret History of Coffee

Coffee is an indispensable part of daily life for billions of people around the world—one of the most valuable commodities in the history of global capitalism, the leading source of the world’s most popular drug, and perhaps the most widespread word on the planet. Augustine Sedgewick’s Coffeeland tells the hidden and surprising story of how this

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