Popular Culture

A New York Times bestseller and enduring classic, All About Love is the acclaimed first volume in feminist icon bell hooks' ""Love Song to the Nation"" trilogy. All About Love reveals what causes a polarized society, and how to heal the divisions that cause suffering. Here is the truth about...

Something has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did...

In The 50th Law, hip hop and pop culture icon 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) joins forces with Robert Greene, bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, to write a “bible” for success in life and work based on a single principle: fear nothing. With stories from 50 Cent's life on the streets...

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Could this be the best book on football ever?” —Tyler Cowen "Another masterwork from one of our greatest minds.” —Esquire “[An] essential playoff-season read.” —People A hilarious but nonetheless groundbreaking contribution to the argument...

In The Culting of America, cult survivor, military veteran, and bestselling author of Uncultured Daniella Mestyanek Young delivers a gripping investigation into the invisible systems of control shaping our lives.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A kaleidoscopic history of the Grateful Dead that explores the American counterculture through the life of iconoclastic frontman Jerry Garcia, and his merry band “By writing this book, Jim Newton informs the rest of the world what Deadheads have known for years: that...

A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book Named one of the Best Books of the Year by TIME, NPR, Elle, and The Boston Globe “Searing… rigorously researched but never stuffy… Gilbert has compiled perhaps the first comprehensive examination of turn-of-the-millennium mainstream...

For the past twenty-five years, no one has been better at revealing secrets than Oprah Winfrey. On what is arguably the most influ¬ential show in television history, she has gotten her guests—often the biggest celebrities in the world—to bare their love lives, explore their painful pasts...

The legendary bestseller that encouraged millions of readers to look at the hidden side of everything Which is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? What do real estate agents and the KKK have in common? These may not sound like typical...

An exuberant, behind-the-scenes look at the designers and the company that brought us Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, and so much more “Keza MacDonald pulls back the curtain on the Nintendo dream factory.” —Walt Williams, author of Significant Zero What magical mushroom could have turned an...

A no-nonsense and helpful guide on how to cope with a slew of mental-health issues that are hell-bent on ruining the lives of millions of people worldwide....

One of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of the Year Winner of the James Beard Award Author of #1 New York Times Bestsellers In Defense of Food and Food Rules What should we have for dinner? Ten years ago, Michael Pollan confronted us with this seemingly simple question and, with...

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The ultimate story of the Scream movie franchise, featuring interviews from more than eighty key players and an in-depth exploration of the creation and legacy of the films that revived a dying genre In Your Favorite Scary Movie, entertainment journalist Ashley...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Now fully revised and updated, this evidence-based, user-friendly guide presents a 30-day digital detox plan that will help you set boundaries with your phone and live a more joyful and fulfilling life. “If you are a human being and you own a smartphone, you need this...

Tom Wolfe's classic The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, an unflinching portrait of Ken Kesey, his Merry Pranksters, LSD, and the 1960s, ushered in an era of New Journalism and defined a generation....

NATIONAL BESTSELLER! “Convincing and illuminating.” —The Atlantic A compelling, intelligent, and timely exploration of the horror genre from one of Columbia University’s most popular professors, shedding light on how classic horror films demonstrate larger cultural attitudes about...

The groundbreaking bestseller from iconic behavioral psychologist Dan Ariely, now the inspiration for the Fall 2023 NBC show The Irrational “A marvelous book that is both thought provoking and highly entertaining, ranging from the power of placebos to the pleasures of Pepsi. Ariely unmasks the...

First published in 1966, Hell’s Angels is Thompson’s up-close and personal look at the infamous motorcycle gang during the time when its moniker was most feared....

Ken Ivy pulls a square's coat on the unwritten rules that took him from the ghetto streets to the executive suites. Ken's lessons will serve any person in any interaction....

From a New York Times media correspondent, a dishy history of the Condé Nast magazine empire, home of Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and more, focusing on its glitzy heyday from the 1980s through the 2000s. For decades, Condé Nast and its glittering magazines defined how to live the good...

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE A sweeping chronicle of four tumultuous years in 1980s New York that changed the city forever—and anticipated the forces that would soon divide the nation—from the bestselling author of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning “A...

It ain’t easy getting your shit together, but this book is the solution. And Tabitha Brown says, “you can trust him.” MJ Harris has got a lot of “best friends”—over five million to be exact. His hilarious, straightforward, raw advice has made him the go-to person across social media...

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A fascinating and enlightening deep dive into the infamous Disney Adult community from the woman behind the popular website The Disney Food Blog. Disney Adults are grown-ups who derive singular, almost obsessive, joy from all things Disney. They devote countless...

2024 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, Winner 2023 New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year, Long-listed 2023 New York Magazine Best Books of the Year, Long-listed 2023 Audible.com Best of the Year, Long-listed 2023 The Guardian (UK) Best Books of the Year, Long-listed 2023 Slate Best...

A Chicago Tribune Noteworthy Book A GoodReads Reader's Choice In One Summer Bill Bryson, one of our greatest and most beloved nonfiction writers, transports readers on a journey back to one amazing season in American life. The summer of 1927 began with one of the signature events of the...

A journey into the glittering, surreal heart of twenty-first century Russia, where even dictatorship is a reality show "A gripping and unsettling account." – Washington Post Professional killers with the souls of artists, would-be theater directors turned Kremlin puppet-masters, suicidal...

Top political strategist Maya Rupert reveals how, for people of color, being real comes at a cost and authenticity is a privilege the marginalized cannot afford—that is, unless we change the system that keeps sending us the bill. . . One of Maya Rupert’s earliest memories was learning how to...

An exuberant, behind-the-scenes look at the designers and the company that brought us Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, and so much more “Keza MacDonald pulls back the curtain on the Nintendo dream factory.” —Walt Williams, author of Significant Zero What magical mushroom could have turned an...

For fans of the witty and evocative writing of Anne Helen Petersen and Amanda Montell, a sharply clever exploration of what it means to be a “bad mom” by delving into the world of momfluencers, stage moms, trad wives, and more. We all have an idea what it means to be a good mom: little...

This is a book about ideas. Specifically, this is a book about the evolution of a certain set of ideas, and how these ideas have come to dominate every important discussion about race, gender, and identity today. Have you heard someone refer to language as literal violence, or say that science is sexist? Or declare that being obese is healthy, or that there is no such thing as biological sex? Or that valuing hard work, individualism, and even punctuality is evidence of white supremacy?

Brought to you by Penguin. A masterclass in telling stories - and how they shape our world - from the internationally renowned narrative expert To command narrative is to control a sometimes frightening power. What is it that turbocharges some tales, and how is it possible to harness that...

An audacious and inspiring debut social history that explores how entrepreneurial members of the tight-knit hardcore punk scene within the vibrant heart of Boston cashed in on one of baseball's greatest rivalries. For eighty-six years Boston Red Sox baseball fans lived in the shadow of their...

"By connecting our modern heroes to the archetypes of ancient myth, Peter Meineck's marvelous book bestows thrilling contemporary resonance upon those bygone legends." —Christopher Markus, coscreenwriter of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame What connects Dionysus, the ancient Greek...

Neurologist and neuroscientist Dr Paul Goldsmith reveals compassionate, practical insights on the evolutionary origins of our brain and how we can best use it to thrive in our daily lives. 'A fascinating exploration of how our ancient brains are mismatched for our modern ecosystem, and what we...

El escritor Julio Valdeón, que vivía en Nueva York en los años en que el movimiento woke empezó su imparable recorrido, analiza su historia y las persecuciones más implacables de los últimos años, en un intento de dar voz a los silenciados y calumniados. Hoy en día la polarización ha alcanzado cotas inusitadas. La sociedad se divide entre amigos y enemigos.

The Post-Pandemic Delusion: The Hyper-Self, Mass Hallucination, and the Global Spread of Nonsene "Nonsense is not truth. Hallucination is not reality. Science is not a conspiracy plan; it is the measure of human evolution. And, more importantly, knowledge has its roots in curiosity, not suggestibility. Nonsense is not what transitioned us from primordial monkeys to the engineers of the masterpieces of software that now hold the world's attention. Myths, negation, and self-inflicted ignorance are not the tools that built the technologies that have, ironically, been used to trap and atrophy ...

You didn’t notice it happening. No announcement. No official moment. No day the world voted to change. Life just slowly became… louder. At first it was helpful. You could find directions instantly. Call anyone anytime. Answer questions without wondering. But somewhere between convenience and constant connection, something subtle disappeared. We stopped waiting. We stopped wondering. We stopped being unreachable. And without realizing it — we stopped experiencing moments completely. This book isn’t anti-technology. It’s perspective. Because many of us lived in a rare time: We ...

Yeah Yeah Yeah is a landmark and addictive work that audaciously charts the entire story of pop music. Unlike other books, it comprehensively covers the genre's history, spanning from the advent of the music charts in the 1950s to the digital transition of the year 2000. It covers an astonishing range of artists, from Billy Fury and Roxy Music to TLC and Britney, including giants like Led Zeppelin and Donna Summer. This book will remind you exactly why you first fell in love with pop.

When humanity finally ventures beyond our solar system, we will face questions no civilization has ever answered. Will we find ourselves joining galactic federations, submitting to alien empires, or discovering that we are utterly alone? The answers will depend not just on what exists among the stars but on choices we haven't yet made and challenges we can barely imagine. This book dismantles the comfortable assumptions of science fiction to confront what interstellar civilization might actually require. The physics of light-speed communication delays, the inevitable cultural drift of ...

They come at night through locked doors and closed windows. They paralyze their victims, conduct invasive medical procedures, and suppress memories before returning people to their beds with only fragmented recollections and inexplicable scars. Thousands of ordinary people across seven decades have reported nearly identical encounters with beings that shouldn't exist—and their stories share details too specific and too consistent to dismiss as simple fantasy or mass delusion. This investigation moves beyond sensational storytelling to analyze the abduction phenomenon as both historical ...

There are very few modern hobbies that can honestly claim they have lived three distinct lives. Most begin as a craze, settle into a niche, and then either fade or become quietly institutional. The Pokémon Trading Card Game did something stranger and more enduring. It began as a children’s pastime, became a cultural flashpoint that adults argued about in staff rooms and school assemblies, then returned decades later as a booming adult obsession with its own economy, celebrities, and mythology. That alone would make it worth studying.

Public life now runs on outrage, accusation, and moral escalation. Speech is policed, standards are contested, and conflicts are framed through harm and victimhood. Matrisensus argues that these developments stem from a single, largely unrecognized transformation in our moral culture. Why has political disagreement become so hostile and absolute? Why do online debates escalate instantly into denunciation and public shaming? Why is free speech increasingly framed as harm? Why do institutions respond to conflict by managing feelings rather than enforcing standards? Why are social disputes so ...

In the age of comfort, a quiet collapse is happening inside people—not in governments, not in economies, but in the minds of ordinary adults who can no longer handle ordinary life. The Weak Generation tears apart the myths we hide behind and exposes why emotional weakness is rising while real resilience is disappearing.

Somewhere in the vastness of space, civilizations may exist that have solved problems humanity has barely begun to comprehend. They might be utopians who achieved lasting peace, warriors who view the cosmos as a battlefield, or ancient minds that watched our sun ignite billions of years ago. This book explores not whether they exist but what their existence would mean for us, and what contact with each type might demand of a species that has never faced anything like it. The scenarios examined here range from the hopeful to the terrifying. Nomadic civilizations wander between stars, ...

In today’s digital world, your attention is the most valuable currency—and Big Tech wants every second of it. Your favorite apps, social platforms, streaming services, and online stores aren’t just convenient tools; they are carefully engineered environments designed to influence your behavior, guide your choices, and keep you endlessly scrolling, tapping, reacting, and buying.