Books published by Yale University Press

The demand for spices in medieval Europe was extravagant and was reflected in the pursuit of fashion, the formation of taste, and the growth of luxury trade. It inspired geographical and commercial exploration ,as traders pursued such common spices as pepper and cinnamon and rarer aromatic products, including ambergris and musk. Ultimately, the spice quest led to imperial missions that were to change world history. This engaging book explores the demand for spices: why were they so popular, and why so expensive?  Paul Freedman surveys the history, geography, economics, and culinary tastes of the Middle Ages to uncover the surprisingly varied ways that spices were put to use--in elaborate medieval cuisine, in the treatment of disease, for the promotion of well-being, and to perfume important ceremonies of the Church. Spices became symbols of beauty, affluence, taste, and grace, Freedman shows, and their expense and fragrance drove the engines of commerce and conquest at the dawn of the modern era. 

Surveying three decades of the British painter Cecily Brown’s career, with its vibrant mixture of gestural expression, canonical and pop references, and subversive themes

An informative and entertaining account of how actions send signals that shape behaviors and how to design better incentives for better results in our life, our work, and our world

A unique illustrated exploration of the development of finance that combines data from every part of the world and covers five thousand years of history   From the emergence of money in the ancient world to today’s interconnected landscape of high-frequency trading and cryptocurrency, the story of finance has always taken place on an international stage. Finance is one of the most globalized and networked of human activities, and one of the most important social technologies ever invented.   This volume, the first visually based book dedicated to finance, uses graphics and maps to bring the complex and abstract world of finance down to earth, showing how geography is fundamental for understanding finance, and vice versa. It illuminates the people—including Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes—who have shaped our thinking about global finance; brings to life the ways that place-specific histories, laws, regulations, and institutions influence finance; shows how finance relates to innovation, globalization, and environmental change; and details how finance plays a key part in drawing the landscape of uneven development, inequality, and instability.   The Atlas of Finance, with word and image, will change the way you view both your money and your world.

A detailed study of the role and legacy of weaving at the legendary Black Mountain College

A searing testament to poetry's power to define and defy injustice, from iconic writer-activist Serhiy Zhadan

A copiously illustrated global history of magic books, from ancient papyri to pulp paperbacks

A fresh perspective on collaboration, collectivity, and conflict in the women's art movement of the 1970s

Now back in print, this seminal publication offers an unexpected discussion of cutting-edge fashion in the 1990s and its relation to deep cultural anxieties

David Gwyn traces the radical evolution of the early iron railway and the profound impact it had on human society. As railways began to wind their way across the world, Gwyn shows how they carved out the shape of a newly global economy?laying the foundations for today's globalized world.

Alexander the Great (356-323 B C E) precipitated immense historical change in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. This title traces Alexander's influence in ancient literature and folklore and in later literatures of east and west.

';A fascinating account of the gathering and dissemination of news from the end of the Middle Ages to the French Revolution' and the rise of the newspaper (Glenn Altschuler, The Huffington Post). Long before the invention of printing, let alone the daily newspaper, people wanted to stay informed. In the pre-industrial era, news was mostly shared through gossip, sermons, and proclamations. The age of print brought pamphlets, ballads, and the first news-sheets. In this groundbreaking history, renowned historian Andrew Pettegree tracks the evolution of news in ten countries over the course of four centuries, examining the impact of news media on contemporary events and the lives of an ever-more-informed public. The Invention of News sheds light on who controlled the news and who reported it; the use of news as a tool of political protest and religious reform; issues of privacy and titillation; the persistent need for news to be current and for journalists to be trustworthy; and people's changing sense of themselves and their communities as they experienced newly opened windows on the world. ';This expansive view of news and how it reached people will be fascinating to readers interested in communication and cultural history.' Library Journal (starred review)

This award-winning history of the Sioux in the 19th century ranges from its forced migration to the reservation to the Wounded Knee Massacre. First published in 1963, Robert M. Utley's classic study of the Sioux Nation was a landmark achievement in Native American historical research. The St. Louis Dispatch called it ';by far the best treatment of the complex and controversial relationship between the Sioux and their conquerors yet presented and should be must reading for serious students of Western Americana.' Today, it remains one of the most thorough and accurate depictions of the tragic violence that broke out near Wounded Knee Creek on December 29th, 1890. In the preface to this second edition, western historian Robert M. Utley reflects on the importance of his work and changing perspectives on Native American history. Acknowledging the inaccuracy of his own title, he points out that ';Wounded Knee did not represent the end of the Sioux tribesIt ended one era and open another in the lives of the Sioux people.' Winner of the Buffalo Award

An essential exploration of Nordic composers and musicians, and the distinctive culture that continues to shape them

The story of the diverse communities of Eastern Europe's borderlands in the centuries prior to World War II

The first account of the new Cold War-revealing how today's renewed era of global great power competition could threaten us all

An unparalleled reassessment of Pierre Bonnard, exploring his paintings, drawings, photography, and prints

A fascinating exploration of the natural history of scent and human perceptions of fragrance from the viewpoint of plant and pollinator

The first book to publish the entirety of Franz Kafka's graphic output, including more than 100 newly discovered drawings

The desire for dignity is universal and powerful. The author explains what the elements of dignity are, how to recognize dignity violations, how to respond when we are not treated with dignity, how dignity can restore a broken relationship, why leaders must understand the concept of dignity, and more.

A thrilling history of the dramatic siege of Acre in 1291, the bloody climax to the two hundred years of the Holy Land Crusades