History & Society

Beautiful Thing offers first-hand insight into Bombay's sex industry and traces the author's experiences with a charismatic teenage exotic dancer whose independence was challenged by an ambitious politician's campaign of false morality.

People Who Eat Darkness looks at the disappearance and murder of Lucie Blackman in Tokyo, following every step of the investigation and offering a grim portrait of her suspected killer.

Alice Kaplan takes readers into the lives, hopes and ambitions of three young women who would become American icons, tracing their paths to Paris and tracking the discoveries, intellectual adventures, friendships and loves that they found there. For Jacqueline Kennedy, Susan Sontag and Angela Davis, France was far from a passing fancy; rather, the year abroad would influence them for the rest of their lives.

Early in 1944, American, British and Canadian soldiers gathered in Southern England and prepared to invade Nazi-occupied Europe. It was hard to hide the largest invasion force in history, so Great Britain instead tried to deceive the Germans into believing that the D-Day attacks would be anywhere but Normandy. As Ben MacIntyre explains, a sophisticated operation of deception began, in which extraordinary spies — including untrustworthy double agents, West End set designers and at least one pigeon handler — successfully fooled the Germans and saved thousands of lives.

When Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492, his journey prompted the exchange of not only information but also food, animals, insects, plants and viruses between the continents. Charles C. Mann documents the lesser-known consequences of Columbus' voyage to the New World.

The search for the origins of the universe extends beyond God and the Big Bang theory; a philosopher explores the bizarre possibilities inspired by physicists, theologians, mathematicians and even novelists.

A preadolescent runaway describes the violence and trauma that marked her early life before the unexpected kindness of a teacher helped her get off the streets. She went on to pursue a master's degree and now dedicates herself to helping other at-risk youth.

Janie Hampton remembers the 1948 London Olympics, which took place in a city still recovering from World War II and cost less than one-one hundredth of a percent of London 2012's budget.

From the voice of the London Underground to that of a West End rickshaw driver, Craig Taylor paints a vivid portrait of 21st-century London.

The author of London: The Biography presents a chronicle of London's underground network of rivers, labyrinths and chambers and how they have been used in various time periods, from sewers and amphitheaters to crypts and tube stations.

The Paris correspondent and author of the award-winning Persian Mirrors reveals the role of seduction in French culture while explaining how crucial the game of seduction is to understanding France, identifying it as a key ideology that shapes how the French conduct business, politics and relationships.

Richard Slotkin's book describes the political challenges faced by President Lincoln during the summer after the Emancipation Proclamation, including his conflicts with General George McClellan, that ultimately gave General Robert E. Lee his best opportunity to win the war.

Combines ethnographic research with personal stories to provide a portrait of the daily lives of people who defy or violate the rules and conventions of the social norms regarding body modification, piercings and tattoos.

Journalist Andrew Blum journeys inside the Internet's physical infrastructure to uncover the buildings and compounds where our data are stored and transmitted. He explains how the Internet is not a single entity; instead, data centers, Internet exchange points and fiber-optic cables combine to form what most people take for granted as the "cloud." Along the way, Blum documents the spaces most vital to the Internet as we know it — from the room in L.A. where the Internet came to life to the buildings in the Pacific Northwest where Google, Microsoft and Facebook have built huge data centers.

Explores the latest beliefs about why people tell stories and what stories reveal about human nature, offering insights into such related topics as universal themes and what it means to have a storytelling brain.

A memoir by a bomb-disposal veteran of the Iraq War traces his three tours of duty in the Middle East and his team's daily life-threatening efforts to stop roadside bombers, sharing additional coverage of the challenges he faced while reacclimating to civilian life. 75,000 first printing.