Books published by Harvard University Press

Dialogues in the Dark traces how Chinese readers and scholars since the Han dynasty have variously interpreted the ancient poem "Heavenly Questions" (Tianwen), an enigmatic work attributed to Qu Yuan (fl. ca. 300 BCE). Nicholas Morrow Williams analyzes how the poem's meaning evolved in different time periods and provides three new translations.

After centuries of enmity, why did Europe's Catholics and Protestants reconcile? Udi Greenberg argues that modern Christian cooperation arose not from tolerance but from fears of socialism, feminism, and Afro-Asian liberation movements. In seeking to preserve Christian life, these former rivals forged a lasting alliance that remade the continent.

Drawing on centuries of data, Julia Cagé and Thomas Piketty place today's French politics in historical context. France is divided among bourgeois and distinct urban and rural working-class blocs-historically, an unstable structure. The authors show how inequality breeds tripartite competition and argue for the greater potential of two-way rivalry.

The fiery debate over funding Jay Treaty sets political stage, and austic exchanges between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans row as rumors surface of George Washington's impending retirement. This title spans the period from July 1795 to the eve of John Adams' inauguration, with growing partisan divide to election playing a central role.