"From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity's creation and evolution--a #1 international bestseller--that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be "human." One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one--homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most...

Figures such as Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar loom large in our imaginations, but they were themselves fascinated by what had preceded them. This book is an authoratative history and an attempt to show how our own changing values and interests have shaped our feelings about an era which is by some measures very remote.

Civilization and Its Discontents is one of the last of Freud's books, written in the decade before his death and first published in German in 1929. It is, considered his most brilliant work. In it, he states his views on the broad question of man's place in the world. It seeks to answer several questions fundamental to human society and its organization: What influences led to the creation of civilization? Why and how did it come to be? What determines...

"The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid overview of European civilisation, describing its birth from an unlikely mixture of classical learning, Christianity and German warrior culture. Over the centuries, this unstable blend produced highly distinctive characters - pious knights and belligerent popes, romantics spouting folklore and revolutionaries imitating Rome - and its coming apart provided the dynamic of European history in modern...

Social psychologist Erich Fromm's seminal exploration of the profound ills of modern society, and how best to overcome them One of Fromm's main interests was to analyze social systems and their impact on the mental health of the individual. In this study, he reaches further and asks: "Can a society be sick?" He finds that it can, arguing that Western culture is immersed in a "pathology of normalcy" that affects the mental health of individuals.  ...

Before returning to America after spending twenty years in Britain, the author decided to tour his second home and presents a look at England's quirks and its endearing qualities.