Modern Library

The library of Ashurbanipal, Assyria’s last great king, held an astonishing collection at the forefront of knowledge in its day, from ancient traditions in religion and literature to the latest developments in magic and medicine. When the Assyrian empire fell, the library burned to the ground, and its contents, clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing, lay buried for thousands of years until a team of Victorian archaeologists discovered the remnants in modern-day Iraq. The clay had baked and hardened; the very fire that consumed the library had helped its texts to survive for millennia.

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From and Extra Life, a new look at the power and legacy of great ideas. In this illustrated history, Steven Johnson explores the history of innovation over centuries, tracing facets of modern life (refrigeration, clocks...

Discover the hidden wisdom that shaped early Christianity with this comprehensive collection of ancient texts translated into clear, accessible modern English. This definitive edition brings together the most important Gnostic writings ever discovered, including the complete texts from the renowned Nag Hammadi Library. Unlike academic translations filled with archaic language, this collection presents these profound teachings in contemporary English that speaks directly to modern readers. What's Inside: The Gospel of Thomas - Jesus's secret sayings and hidden wisdom The Gospel of Mary - The...

The American Revolution signalled a great change in the course of world history and progress. From this colonial revolt sprouted ideals of liberty and democracy, and all the aspirations and ambitions of a new people. In this work, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon S. Wood discusses the character and consequences of the revolution, grounding the events and ideas that shaped the American consciousness.

A new holiday story set in the Scottish Highlands to warm booklovers’ hearts by Jenny Colgan, New York Times bestselling author of Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop. Mirren Sutherland stumbled into a career as an antiquarian book hunter after finding a priceless antique book in her great...

When seventeen-year-old Valerie Russell runs away to New York City, she’s trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, she takes up with a gang of squatters who live in the city’s labyrinthine subway system. But there’s something eerily beguiling about...

Discover how twelve centuries of Japanese art hold the keys to understanding everything from Zen mindfulness to your iPhone’s sleek design. What You Should Know About Japanese Art History invites you on a captivating journey from the Heian court’s gilded screens (794) to Meiji Japan’s revolutionary collision of ink and oil (1912). Imagine walking beside noblewomen composing waka poetry in vermilion-lit palaces, where Yamato-e scrolls captured love’s fleeting beauty. Feel the spiritual intensity of Kamakura’s lifelike Buddhas—carved for samurai seeking solace—and lose yourself ...

A deeply dark academia novel from USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw, perfect for fans of A Deadly Education and An Education in Malice who are hungry for something more diabolical. This program is read by Audie and Earphones Award–winning narrator Natalie Naudus. The Hellebore...

Best-selling author and renowned religious scholar Karen Armstrong presents a concise and articulate history of Islam, the world's fastest-growing faith. Beginning with the Prophet Muhammad's flight from Medina and concluding with an examination of modern Islamic practices and concerns, Armstrong delivers an unbiased overview. She contends that no religion is more feared and misunderstood by the Western world as Islam, and firmly challenges the notion that these two civilizations are on a collision course.

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE The “exhilarating” (The Boston Globe) story of the legendary Random House founder, whose seemingly charmed life at the apogee of the American Century afforded him a front-row seat to literary and cultural history in the making “[A] big...

The much-acclaimed BookTok sensation from Olivie Blake, The Atlas Six is now newly revised, edited with additional content, and available on audio for the first time. The tag #theatlassix already has millions of views on TikTok A dark academic debut fantasy with an established cult...

Deep down, most people think that happiness comes from having or doing something. Here, in Alan Watts’s groundbreaking third book (originally published in 1940), he offers a more challenging thesis: authentic happiness comes from embracing life as a whole in all its contradictions and paradoxes, an attitude that Watts calls the “way of acceptance.” Drawing on Eastern philosophy, Western mysticism, and analytic psychology, Watts demonstrates that happiness comes from accepting both the outer world around us and the inner world inside us,

First published in 1910, Wallace D. Wattles’ The Science of Getting Rich presents a step-by-step “Certain Way of Thinking” rooted in the Hindu-inflected idea that One is All, and All is One. It argues for creating—not competing—giving more use-value than you take in cash, holding a definite vision, practicing gratitude, and taking efficient daily action. The book preceded—and helped shape—later landmarks like Think and Grow Rich and inspired The Secret.

In this fascinating work, winner of the Wolfson Prize for History Mark Mazower uncovers the history of the Balkans with detail and clarity. He explores the reasons for current conflicts and examines the Balkans as a religious, cultural, and economic melting pot for Europe and Asia. Through Robert O'Keefe's articulate narration, listeners will be absorbed by this rich world.

LA Times Book Award winner and expert on the past and present Japan, Ian Buruma examines the transformation of a country. Following Japan's history from its opening to the West in 1853 to its hosting of the 1964 Olympics, Buruma focuses on how figures such as Commodore Matthew Perry, Douglas MacArthur, and Emperor Mitsushito helped shape this complex country.

Lawrence M. Friedman is Professor of Law at Stanford University and author of 23 books about law and legal history. Hailed as American law's greatest living historian, Friedman traces the evolution of America's legal system from the colonial period to the present. A Modern Library Chronicle, this book is concise, insightful, and graced with wit.

From the acclaimed Modern Library Chronicles comes an exploration of a promising theory that when put to practice wreaked havoc on the world. An expert on communism, Richard Pipes follows the history of the Soviet Union from the 1917 revolution to the Cold War, and finally, to its deterioration and collapse.

The star of her school’s running team, Sadako is lively and athletic…until the dizzy spells start. Then she must face the hardest race of her life—the race against time. Based on a true story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes celebrates the courage that makes one young woman a...

This program features multicast narration. "This audiobook...is fully realized by a talented ensemble of narrators." —AudioFile on The Atlas Six The Atlas Complex marks the much-anticipated, heart-shattering conclusion in Olivie Blake's trilogy that began with the New York Times bestselling...

Selected by Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the century, this "absolutely delightful" novel (New York Times) movingly and comically chronicles the breakdown of a marriage and the disintegration of English society in the years after World War I. After seven years of marriage, the...