Books published by Stanford University Press

In launching modern economics, Adam Smith paved the way for laissez-faire capitalism, Marxism, and contemporary social science. This book scrutinizes Smith's disparagement of politics and religion to illuminate the subtlety of his rhetoric, the depth of his thought, and the ultimate shortcomings of his project.

The institutional features and the past and future role of the state should be a central concern of contemporary sociological and political theory, but until now they have been sadly neglected. Lately, in particular, the state''s increasing involvement in the management of industrial and industrializing societies has made it even more important to understand its past development, its current activities, and the related trends in its structure and in its relation to the larger society.As a contribution to this task, Gianfranco Poggi reviews the main phases in the institutional history of the modern state. Restating a typology elaborated, among others by Max Weber, he outlines first the feudal system of rule, then the late-medieval Ständestaat and the absolutist state. Next the book discusses the nineteenth-century constitutional state, seen as the most accomplished embodiment of the modern, Western state. Finally, it points out the major developments which have occurred since the end of the last century in the relationship between the state and society, and identifies the threat these pose to the persistence of Western political values. Throughout, the discussion draws upon an impressive body of literature on the modern state (much of it not available in English) from the fields of history, law, and the social sciences.

This book is a vivid account of life in Moscow, "the most Russian of Russian cities," in the year 1903, a year before Russia's disastrous war with Japan and two years before the momentous Revolution of 1905. Though the undercurrents of social change were running swiftly, the surface stability of the Tsarist regime show no indication of the turmoil ahead.The author, who is perhaps best known for his biography Tolstoy, describes Russian life through the eyes of a fictional young Englishman visiting a prosperous Russian merchant family. All facets of Moscow life are covered, from entertainment and night life to family life and the devotions of the Orthodox. We learn about Russia's factory workers and peasants, its soldiers and lawyers, its priests and its city officials, its Tsar and his entourage: what they do and what they wear, what they think and what they dream. Concluding chapters take our visitor to the famous fair at Nizhny-Novgorod, which was held every year from July 15 to September 10, and on a boat trip down the Volga.

Mr. Whiting has written that rare book - one free from political inference concerning a political act. China's decision is viewed against the background of the problems and complexities of a fledgling Communist government and the book is as close an inside view as is possible to obtain without access to Red Chinese government sources. The decision to enter North Korea by the leaders of the Chinese government marked China as a real force in international relations, one that she had ceased to be. Naturally it was fraught with serious after effects: close affiliation with Russia; crystallization of the strict Marxist position; a death struggle with the West; and most important, China's role as the image of the Saviour in the East against historical "foreign domination". Whiting also handles other offshoots of China's entering the Korean war, for example, the concept of limited war. This is a capable work, penetrating, and with a feel for the Realpolitik of China's decisions. It is certain to raise many questions among serious students of world Communism. (Kirkus Reviews)

The figure of the New Woman, soon to become a major signpost of Chinese modernity, was in the process of being formed at the turn of the 20th century. This book shows how the construction of the New Woman was influenced by the fictional and translational representation of a range of Western female icons, including the French Revolutionary figure Madame Roland and Dumas's "Dame aux camelias."

This collection brings together diverse analyses of women in Japan-including department store elevator girls, tour bus guides, airline stewardesses, soldiers, soccer players, beauty queens, and educators-who have been intimately involved in the practices and professions of modernity.

Rather than envision themselves as agents of state-sponsored repression, the royal book censors of eighteenth-century France wished, through their reports and decisions, to guide the literary traffic of the Enlightenment and expand public awareness of progressive thought.

Drawing upon the insights of several disciplines, this work focuses on the structural and experiential dynamics of interpersonal and collective apologetic discourse as means of tempering antagonisms and resolving conflicts in contemporary Western society.

State-of-the-art reinterpretations of the reasons for Japan's decision to surrender, by distinguished historians of differing national perspectives and differing views.

"Professor Fehrenbacher has prepared a splendid introduction and notes to a documentary portrait of Lincoln through his speeches and writings. . . . Eminently useful and admirable book which teachers and students at nearly all levels will appreciate."--Kliatt"This compendium of letters, speeches and public papers of Mr. Lincoln, put together by one of the outstanding Lincoln scholars in our nation, constitutes only one tenth of all Mr. Lincoln's published works. Yet, Professor Fehrenbacher has chosen those which are really monumental. . . . Professor Fehrenbacher's introduction and head notes for each selection are alone worth the price of the book."--Hobbies

What can reason (or more broadly, thinking) do for us and what can't it do? This book explores the nature and limits of human reason, comparing and evaluating the major theoretical frameworks that have been erected to explain reasoning processes. It discusses the interaction of thinking and emotion in the choice of our actions.

This volume looks both back and ahead to focus on what has been lost and what has been achieved two decades after the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

This work critically examines standard assumptions of transitional justice through the lens of survivors' standpoints, and argues for more responsive and place-based approaches to social reconstruction after mass violence and egregious human rights violations.

The history of one of the most important and dramatic episodes in modern science, recounted from the novel vantage point of the dawn of the information age and its impact on representations of nature, heredity, and society.

In this book, Blanchot forcefully distinguishes his critical project from the major intellectual currents of his day, surrealism and existentialism.

On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama stood before the Illinois capital building and announced his potentially historic presidential bid. The next day, he was in Iowa Falls, campaigning. He was far from the first - Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain and Mitt Romney were already swarming the Hawkeye State. Why Iowa? This book shows why.

This third volume of The Zohar: Pritzker Edition completes the Zohar's commentary on the book of Genesis.

By examining literary allusion in Isaiah 40-66, the author illuminates the changes that led to the demise of biblical prophecy and the rise of hermeneutically based religions in the post-biblical era.

Since the discovery over one hundred years ago of a body of Mesopotamian poetry preserved on clay tablets, what has come to be known as the Epic of Gilgamesh has been considered a masterpiece of ancient literature. This title presents the Epic to the general reader in a clear narrative.

Presents an account about the Cold War. This work provides insights into the mixture of insecurity, ignorance, and ambition that drove the rivalry between the two sides. It concludes that bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end was a far greater challenge than just 'being tough with the Soviets'.

Arguing that the life and work of Sun Yat-sen have been distorted by both myth and demythification, the author provides a fresh overall evaluation of the man and the events that turned an adventurer into the founder of the Chinese Republic and the leader of a great nationalist movement.

Agnotology-the study of how ignorance is produced and maintained-introduces a new and much-needed perspective for scholars across all fields of research, including the humanities and social sciences, business organization, and environmental policy and the law.

This text concerns organizational justice, which is the study of people's perception of fairness in organizations. The volume's contributors, all acknowledged leaders in this burgeoning field, present theoretical positions, clarify existing paradigms, and identify future areas of application.

This work explores how external constraints affect organizations and provides insights for designing and managing organizations to mitigate these constraints. All organizations are dependent on the environment for their survival.

Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) is not only the greatest poet that California (and indeed the American West) has produced, but a major poet of the 20th century who occupies a prominent place in the tradition of American prophetic poetry. This is a selection of his work.

Please see the Zohar Home Page for ancillary materials, including the publication schedule, press release, Aramaic text, questions, and answers.

This Atlas is principally based on the Brush Foundation Study of Human Growth and Development, conceived in 1929 by Professor T. Wingate Todd of Western Reserve University School of Medicine. This intensive study collected data on the maturation of human anatomy through the meticulous X-raying of a series of research subjects enrolled in the study as juvenilesΓÇösome as young as three monthsΓÇöand thereafter routinely weighed and measured at three-month to one-year intervals, depending on their age.This Atlas utilizes not only the X-ray films to which Todd had access but, also, those which were obtained in the six years subsequent to Todd''s publication of his Atlas of Skeletal Maturation of the Hand. The X-ray standards in the present volume are, therefore, the first to be based exclusively on the research of the Brush Foundation Study.

In "The Open", contemporary Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben considers the ways in which the "human" has been thought of as either a distinct and superior type of animal, or a kind of being that is essentially different from animal altogether.

For the second edition of this work, James Watson has added a new chapter on "McDonald's as Political Target," as well as reflections on the dark side of globalism.