In the best Hippocratic tradition, the author loves both his art and his fellow men—intensely enough to publish this superbly produced, lavishly illustrated volume on medicine and its presentation in history and art. “Perspectives”... Read More

Sir Gregor MacGregor (1786?1845), con man extraordinaire, was known for his “intemperate and unusual enjoyments.” Denied these, he might have made his name as a military officer, a liberator of Spain’s New World colonial... Read More

“I have to state that Philology, both Comparative and special, has been my favourite pursuit,” said James Murray. Never before or since has an army of amateurs produced so vast and professional a product as the OED, the Mount Everest... Read More

And now for something completely different … an in-your-face début roman noir (très noir). This multitalented author’s novel The Resurrection of Thomas Lear was a Faulkner Prize for Fiction semi-finalist; his Life and Times of the... Read More

This sexy book could well have been titled The History of Erotic Advertising. The author, advertising professor at the University of Alabama, explores with zest, acuity, and almost suppressed humor the two higher truths of western... Read More

Publishing data show that Americans willingly buy books about how to get, have, and do sex, particularly when the text is engagingly illustrated. In addition, video rental and website data indicate that for millions of Americans, images... Read More

Though the media goes to town on each new drink or drug craze as though it were unique in human history, large-scale destructive binges are nothing new, and neither is governmental response via largely unworkable and often... Read More

For the thrill-seeker, murder doesn’t always measure up to expectations. We can hope for a power-crazy ex-commando indulging in a dramatic axe assault but may get a flat-footed meter-reader wielding a poisoned muffin. In fact, love and... Read More