Books in the Very Short Introductions series

Eminent biblical scholar Michael D. Coogan offers here a wide-ranging and stimulating exploration of the Old Testament, illuminating its importance as history, literature, and sacred text. He provides a marvelous overview of one of the great pillars of Western religion and culture, a book whose significance has endured for thousands of years and which remains vitally important today for Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide.

This book begins with the emergence of peoples in North America and traces their stories to the beginning of the early twenty-first century. The narrative rests on the premise that indigenous nations retain sovereign rights, and it explores the ways in which contests over those rights shaped their histories.

In this Very Short Introduction, Mark Maslin looks at all aspects of climate, from the physical and chemical factors that drive it and how climate differs from weather, to how climate has affected human settlements and the cyclic features of it. He ends with a look at climate change and our current approaches to solving it.

What is a family? What makes someone a parent? What rights should children have? In this Very Short Introduction Jonathan Herring provides an insight not only into what the law is, but why it is the way it is. It also looks at the future to consider what families will look like in the years ahead, and what new dilemmas the courts may face.

Familiar figures - missionaries, explorers, trappers, traders, prospectors, gunfighters, cowboys, and Indians - appear in these pages. So do renowned individuals such as Daniel Boone, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and John Wayne. But their stories contribute to a history of the American West that is longer, larger, and more complicated than we were once told.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa represent almost 18 per cent of the world economy, with their contribution to world growth having already exceeded 50 per cent. But what does the emergence of the BRICS mean for global politics? Andrew Cooper discusses the BRICS as a concept and its practice in global politics.

Shakespeare's tragedies contain an astonishing variety of suffering, from suicides and murders to dismemberments and grief. Stanley Wells considers how the bard's tragic plays drew on the literary and theatrical conventions of his time. Discussing the individual plays, he also explores why tragedy is regarded as a fit subject for entertainment.

In this Very Short introduction Paul Palmer looks at the structure and basic physics and chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere, comparing it to the atmospheres of other planets, particularly our neighbours, Venus and Mars. Palmer looks at the effects of pollutants and climate change, and what may happen to our atmosphere in the future.

Approached thematically to help students plot a memorable map of the issues, the ninth edition of this established text provides far-reaching, lucid coverage of the fundamentals and enriching learning features to develop critical thinking and high-level understanding.

This book uncovers the reality of organised crime, considering what is meant by the term 'organised', and discussing the different forms of activities organised crime engages in, from human trafficking to extortion. Offering a global perspective, from the Mafia to the Yakuza, it considers efforts to combat organised crime today.

Today Adam Smith, author of the Wealth of Nations, is associated with the promotion of self-interest and a defence of greed. Yet if Smith is actually read this is more a caricature than a faithful portrait. Berry offers a balanced and nuanced view of this seminal thinker, set against contemporary European history, politics, and philosophy.

Typography encompasses design for reading, whether in print or on screens, where a set of visual choices to do with font, layout, and print size are taken to enhance a written message. Paul Luna explores the fascinating history of our letters, considering why typographic decisions are taken, and their impact on our own words.

The tide is important to Earth's climate, the biological productivity of our seas, and our hunt for renewable energy sources. It is also thought to have played a role in the evolution of life on Earth. This book explains the nature and cause of the tide, its observation and prediction, unusual tides, and their relevance to us.

International relations affects everyone's lives: their security, economic well-being, rights and freedoms, and the environment they share. This book explores international relations' central concerns with the changing way that political authority is organized globally, and provides the theoretical tools to understand the dynamics of the field.

In American Military History: A Very Short Introduction, Joseph T. Glatthaar explores the relationship between America and its military from its origins in the thirteen colonies to today's ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

This book outlines the nature of contemporary marketing, considering how marketers function as an interface between customers and organisations. As globalisation creates increasing challenges to established marketing practices it shows how marketing efforts need to adapt continuously to allow an organisation to reach its intended market.

Simon Blackburn tackles the major moral questions surrounding birth, death, happiness, desire, and freedom, and considers how we should think about the meaning of life. This new edition highlights the importance of an understanding of approaches to ethics and its foundations, and how this relates to our modern world of eroding trust.

In its heyday in the late 1990s, neoliberalism emerged as the world's dominant economic paradigm. Since then the global financial crash of 2008 and the recent emergence of more nationalist ideologies have challenged neoliberal assumptions and systems. This book examines the origins, core claims, and global variations of neoliberalism.

Nicholas Cook explores the nature of music, how we think about it, its social and cultural dimensions, and its history. He discusses the many musical traditions across the world and the interactions between them. He also considers performance, how composers create music, and the position of music in today's globalized society.

This book provides an overview of the history of religion and war, and a framework for analysing it. Ranging from ancient history to modern day conflicts, and touching on both religiously incited violence and pacifism, it offers a nuanced view on these issues that have had such weight in the past, and which continue to shape our present and future.

This book provides an historical account of feminism, exploring its earliest roots and key issues such as voting rights and the liberation of the sixties. Margaret Walters brings the subject completely up to date by providing a global analysis of the situation of women, from Europe and the United States to Third World countries.

Ian Taylor explores contemporary African politics in all its diversity, revealing how state and society actually functions beyond the formal institutional facade. He examines why questions of underdevelopment, outside exploitation, misrule, and weak state structures are characteristic of so many Sub-Saharan states in particular.

Bence Nanay introduces aesthetics, a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of art, beauty, and taste. Looking beyond traditional artistic experiences, he defends the topic from accusations of elitism, and shows how more everyday experiences such as the pleasure in a soft fabric or falling leaves can become the subject of aesthetics.

Kathleen Taylor offers a clear guide to dementia, covering its history and its definition, different types and their symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, and the underlying science. She also explains why we still have no cure for dementia, and looks at current research which could soon change that.

Country Music: A Very Short Introduction presents a compelling overview of the music and its impact on American culture through its key artists and styles from the minstrel era to today. Truly the "voice of the people," country music illuminates our cultural story, from our nation's birth to today.

Emile Zola occupies a distinctive place in the great tradition of French realist fiction. Brian Nelson introduces this quintessential novelist of modernity, and explores his fascination with change, and the way he opened the novel up to new areas of representation: the realities of working-class life, class relations, and sexuality and the body.

Throughout our planet's history volcanoes have played a large role in shaping landscapes, the climate, and biological evolution. This book explains the fundamental mechanisms of volcanism, considering why volcanoes are essential for life on Earth, and how they interact with the Earth's other physical processes, and with human society.

Combines an account of some of the disciplines guiding principles and methodology with examples and illustrations of anthropologists. This book discusses about the anthropology's contributions to modern thought, and examines specific ways in which social and cultural anthropology have advanced our understanding of human society and culture.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) revolutionized the way in which we think about ourselves. From its beginnings as a theory of neurosis, Freud developed psycho-analysis into a general psychology which became widely accepted as the predominant mode of discussing personality and interpersonal relationships.