Books published by Yale University Press

Exploring how the name of Liberty became synonymous with Aestheticism and the English Art Nouveau Movement, and its role in shaping contemporary late nineteenth and early twentieth century Artistic Dress. Liberty’s dress department opened in 1884, headed by Edward William Godwin, an architect with a multi-faceted career and an important figure in the Aesthetic Movement. Following the women’s rights movement of the 1840s, women fought against restrictive clothing such as tight-laced corsets, heavy petticoats and too tight shoes, which were harmful to their health and chose instead to dress in looser fitting dresses, coloured with natural dyes and ornamented with embroidery and needlework, otherwise known as Aesthetic dress. Liberty was at the forefront of Aestheticism with their recognisable soft drapeable silks, transparent textiles and fabrics imported from Central Asia and the Middle East. Their consumers were an eclectic mix of women who wanted to dress artistically and stand out from the crowd. Liberty was the chosen resort of the artistic shopper. With archival materials and previously unpublished pattern books, Anna Buruma navigates Liberty’s role in Artistic dress. Examining how their idiosyncratic fashions of Greek and Roman style evening dress and medieval tea gowns translated into late nineteenth and early twentieth century fashionable dress. Liberty sustained their popularity through good taste and willingness to expand into new markets. From their flourishing commitment to Aestheticism to becoming a trail-blazer for the Art Nouveau movement which would emerge from it, Artistic Dress at Liberty & Co: The Early Years is the go-to source for the early history of Liberty’s dress department.

A lively, accessible history of mathematics throughout the ages and across the globe

The remarkable history of the women who worked for Special Operations Executive across occupied Europe

A revelatory new account of the Second World War—and how bitter competition between the Allies would shape the postwar world

An insightful and beautifully illustrated new perspective on the role of Central European émigré artists, architects, and designers on American modernism

The gripping story of Indira Gandhi’s premiership—and the profound influence she had on India

How, for just over a century, Britain ensured it would not face another Napoleon Bonaparte—manipulating European powers while building a global maritime empire

A sweeping retelling of American religious history, showing how religion has enhanced and hindered human flourishing from the Ice Age to the Information Age

A thought-provoking account of the life and work of Franz Boas and his influential role in shaping modern anthropology   Franz Boas (1858–1942) is widely acknowledged for his pioneering work in the field of cultural anthropology. His rigorous studies of variations across societies were aimed at demonstrating that cultures and peoples were not shaped by biological predispositions. This book traces Boas’s life and intellectual passions from his roots in Germany and his move to the United States in 1884, partly in response to growing antisemitism in Germany, to his work with First Nations communities and his influential role as a teacher, mentor, and engaged activist who inspired an entire generation.   Drawing from Boas’s numerous but rarely read writings, Noga Arikha brings back to life the man and the ideas he developed about the complex interplay of mind and culture, biology and history, language and myth. She provides a comprehensive picture of the cultural contexts in which he worked, of his personal and professional relationships, and of his revolutionary approach to fieldwork. He was celebrated in his lifetime for the cultural relativism he developed and the arguments he marshaled against entrenched racialism, but his was a constant battle, and Arikha shows how urgently relevant his voice and legacy have become again today.

The first survey of Joe Overstreet, abstract painter of the Black Arts Movement and forecaster of Afrofuturism

An illuminating examination of the interconnectivity of women artists and activists in Great Britain from the Victorian era through the Second World War

The full story of Josephine Baker’s wartime and intelligence work in France and North Africa

A landmark survey of the wide-ranging practice of one of the twentieth century’s most innovative artists

The rise and fall of one of America’s first Black sports celebrities

The origins and evolution of Irish American identity, from colonial times through the twentieth century

An account of the emergence of creative nonfiction, written by the “godfather” of the genre

A journey through Europe’s old towns, exploring why we treasure them—but also what they hide about a continent’s fraught history  “[A] fascinating chronicle.”—Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal   Historic quarters in cities and towns across the middle of Europe were devastated during the Second World War—some, like those of Warsaw and Frankfurt, had to be rebuilt almost completely. They are now centers of peace and civility that attract millions of tourists, but the stories they tell about places, peoples, and nations are selective. They are never the whole story.   These old towns and their turbulent histories have been key sites in Europe’s ongoing theater of politics and war. Exploring seven old towns, from Frankfurt and Prague to Vilnius in Lithuania, the acclaimed writer Marek Kohn examines how they have been used since the Second World War to conceal political tensions and reinforce certain versions of history.   Uncovering hidden stories behind these old and old-seeming façades, Kohn offers us a new understanding of the politics of European history-making—showing how our visits to old towns could promote belonging over exclusion, and empathy over indifference.

A career-spanning examination of the work of Robert Bergman and its place within the history of American art

An exploration of contemporary African masquerade that reveals its cultural contexts, artistic innovations, and intersection with museum collection practices

The first full-scale history of Theoderic and the Goths in more than seventy-five years, tracing the transformation of a divided kingdom into a great power

From beloved Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, a newly discovered novella and five short stories of love, grief, and maternal longing