Public Philosophy

From the award-winning author of The Entrepreneurial State and Mission Economy, an inspiring call to solve our deepest challenges—from inequality to climate change—by embracing a radical new approach to economics and the economy. Whether it’s the water crisis, widespread poverty, or the...

In this, his most influential work, legal theorist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt argues that liberalism’s basis in individual rights cannot provide a reasonable justification for sacrificing oneself for the state—a critique as cogent today as when it first appeared. George...

In Modern Social Imaginaries, Taylor continues his recent reflections on the theme of multiple modernities. To account for the differences among modernities, Taylor sets out his idea of the social imaginary, a broad understanding of the way a given people imagine their collective social life. Retelling the history of Western modernity, Taylor traces the development of a distinct social imaginary.

Written in the intense political and intellectual tumult of the early years of the Weimar Republic, Political Theology develops the distinctive theory of sovereignty that made Carl Schmitt one of the most significant and controversial political theorists of the twentieth century. Focusing on the...

Jürgen Habermas Explained: Communicative Action, Public Sphere, Discourse Ethics, Modernity, Democracy, and the Struggle for Rational Society is a clear, engaging, and in-depth guide to one of the most important philosophers of the modern era. Designed for beginners and curious readers alike, this book breaks down Habermas’s complex ideas into accessible language while preserving the depth and power of his thinking. Whether you are a student of philosophy, political theory, sociology, or simply someone interested in how communication shapes our world, this book provides a comprehensive ...

Aubrey Clayton traces the history of how statistics went astray, beginning with the groundbreaking work of the 17th-century mathematician Jacob Bernoulli and winding through gambling, astronomy, and genetics. Clayton recounts the feuds among rival schools of statistics, exploring the surprisingly human problems that gave rise to the discipline and the all-too-human shortcomings that derailed it.

The Sane Society is a continuation and extension of the brilliant psychiatric concepts Erich Fromm first formulated in Escape from Freedom; it is also, in many ways, an answer to Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents. Fromm examines man’s escape into over conformity and the danger of robotism in contemporary industrial society: Modern humanity has, he maintains, been alienated from the world of their own creation. Here Fromm offers a complete and systematic exploration of his “humanistic psychoanalysis.”

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD A sweeping narrative history of the U.S. government’s broken compact with its Muslim citizens, culminating in the post-9/11 era of mass surveillance and increased violence—from an award-winning New York Times Magazine journalist. “A deeply...

This program is read by the author. Do you want to change the course of your life? Do you want to be the best? The best manager, the best athlete, the best artist, the best speaker, the best parent? In There’s No Plan B for Your A-Game, former pro athlete, playwright, and acclaimed leadership...

The transgender movement has hit breakneck speed. In the space of a year, it’s gone from something that most Americans had never heard of to a cause claiming the mantle of civil rights. But can a boy truly be “trapped” in a girl’s body? Can modern medicine really “reassign” sex? Is sex something “assigned” in the first place? What’s the loving response to a friend or child experiencing a gender-identity conflict? What should our law say on these issues? When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment provides thoughtful answers to all of these questions.

El profesor de filosofía más famoso del mundo analiza los peligros a los que se enfrenta la democracia.

Horace Mann was the founder of the free public school movement in Massachusetts then America and, by inference, the whole world. This was his great mission, which he accomplished.

What makes an argument persuasive? Why do some speakers command trust while others fail? How can emotion change judgment—and how can language turn an idea into something an audience cannot ignore? More than two thousand years ago, Aristotle approached these questions systematically. The result was Rhetoric, one of the foundational works on persuasion, argument, communication, and human psychology. This modern prose adaptation from The Lyceum Press condenses Aristotle’s complete three-book structure into clear, accessible language while preserving the central ideas of the original work. ...

Bloomsbury presents How to be a conservative by Roger Scruton, read by Kris Dyer. Roger Scruton’s How to be a Conservative presents the case for modern conservatism not in the terms of an elegy but rather as a practical example of how to live as a conservative despite the pressures to live...

Baltimore City Public Schools is one of America’s largest and most funded school systems. Yet, historically, it is among the lowest performing. In 2024, despite a $1.7 billion budget, just 10% of students tested proficient in math. Investigative journalist Chris Papst follows the money to uncover why students continue to fail within a school system that’s failing Baltimore. Failure Factory shines a critical light on America’s public education system by exposing what’s really happening inside classrooms and behind administrative doors.

Saving Schools traces the story of the rise, decline, and potential resurrection of American public schools through the lives and ideas of six mission-driven reformers: Horace Mann, John Dewey, Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Shanker, William Bennett, and James Coleman. Yet schools did not become the efficient, egalitarian, and high-quality educational institutions these reformers envisioned. Indeed, the unintended consequences of their legacies shaped today's flawed educational system.

Despite being immensely popular - and immensely lucrative - education is grossly overrated. In this explosive book, Bryan Caplan argues that the primary function of education is not to enhance students' skill but to certify their intelligence, work ethic, and conformity - in other words, to signal the qualities of a good employee.

Justice for the Greatest Number: Utilitarianism in Law explores one of the most influential and controversial philosophies ever applied to legal systems. From the groundbreaking theories of Jeremy Bentham to the refinements of John Stuart Mill, utilitarianism has shaped debates about justice, punishment, human rights, and public policy for more than two centuries. This book examines how the principle of maximizing happiness for the greatest number has transformed criminal law, civil law, constitutional interpretation, and modern policymaking, while also addressing the criticisms and ...

A true story of perseverance, unity, and hope, The Kindness of Color follows two immigrant families facing separate battles with racism in WWII-era Southern California. Unexpectedly, their paths intertwine, ultimately paving the way for the landmark court case Mendez, et. al v. Westminster and the desegregation of California public schools seven years before Brown v. Board of Education. In the face of discrimination, the Mendez and Munemitsu families are sustained by the acts of kindness extended to them by friends and strangers as they navigate their journeys toward justice.

Why is the Atlantic slowly filling with crude petroleum, threatening a millions-of-years-old ecological balance? Why did traders at prominent banks take high-risk gambles with the money entrusted to them by hundreds of thousands of clients around the world, expanding and leveraging their investments to the point that failure led to a global financial crisis that left millions of people jobless and hundreds of cities economically devastated?