Books like Chicago by Dominic A. Pacyga

A captivating exploration of Christianity's growth and spread across the Roman Empire through quantitative data and groundbreaking insights from prominent historian Rodney Stark.

David Cannadine's unique history examines the British preoccupation with class and the different ways the British have thought about their own society. From the eighteenth through the twentieth century, he traces the different ways British society has been viewed, unveiling the different purposes each model has served. This is a social, intellectual and political history and a powerful account of how and why class has shaped British identity.

A compelling tale of one Muslim's journey from fundamentalism to returning to his roots, exploring the appeal of Islamic extremism to young Muslims in the West.

John McWhorter argues that the crisis in African‑American communities can only be healed through renewed dedication to achievement and integration, challenging pervasive victimhood and alienation in black culture.

A factual account of the thirteen pioneering women who secretly tested for NASA in 1961, faced rejection, yet went on to leave lasting legacies in aviation and gender equality.

Wide-ranging and provocative, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds offers an unprecedented account of the long-term cultural and political influences that Mexican Americans will have on the collective character of our nation.In considering the largest immigrant group in American history, Gregory Rodriguez examines the complexities of its heritage and of the racial and cultural synthesis--mestizaje--that has defined the Mexican people since the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Rodriguez deftly delineates the effects of mestizaje throughout the centuries, traces the northern movement of this "mongrelization," explores the emergence of a new Mexican American identity in the 1930s, and analyzes the birth and death of the Chicano movement. Vis-a-vis the present era of Mexican American confidence, he persuasively argues that the rapidly expanding Mexican American integration in to the mainstream is changing not only how Americans think about race but how we envision our nation.Deeply informative--as historically sound as it is anecdotally rich, brilliantly reasoned, and highly though provoking--Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds is a major contribution to the discussion of the cultural and political future of the United States.From the Hardcover edition.

An authoritative guide to women who mastered seduction and regained power over men, inspired by The New York Times reviewer's statement about the book being a 'road map to restoring feminine sexual power' with a 'glossy, steam-heated analysis' and 'smarts, imagination, courage, and killer charm'.

Celebrated as a courtesan and poet, and as a woman of great intelligence and wit, Tullia d'Aragona (1510–56) entered the debate about the morality of love that engaged the best and most famous male intellects of sixteenth-century Italy. First published in Venice in 1547, but never before published in English, Dialogue on the Infinity of Love casts a woman rather than a man as the main disputant on the ethics of love. Sexually liberated and financially independent, Tullia d'Aragona dared to argue that the only moral form of love between woman and man is one that recognizes both the sensual and the spiritual needs of humankind. Declaring sexual drives to be fundamentally irrepressible and blameless, she challenged the Platonic and religious orthodoxy of her time, which condemned all forms of sensual experience, denied the rationality of women, and relegated femininity to the realm of physicality and sin. Human beings, she argued, consist of body and soul, sense and intellect, and honorable love must be based on this real nature. By exposing the intrinsic misogyny of prevailing theories of love, Aragona vindicates all women, proposing a morality of love that restores them to intellectual and sexual parity with men. Through Aragona's sharp reasoning, her sense of irony and humor, and her renowned linguistic skill, a rare picture unfolds of an intelligent and thoughtful woman fighting sixteenth-century stereotypes of women and sexuality.

Explores how 'hip' evolved from underground culture to a global cultural touchstone, charting its influence on music, fashion, gender, race, and mainstream commerce over the twentieth century.

An engaging guide to the enduring fashion staples of women's clothing history, featuring ten iconic pieces and their significance.

A collection of stories of barrier-breaking pioneers in various fields, celebrating the triumphs of those who overcame adversity.

A sociologist’s decade-long study of New York City’s sanitation workers uncovers the human, historical and operational forces that shape the city’s garbage system.