Books published by Yale University Press

This engaging book is a welcome guide to the most successful and loved ballets seen on the stage today. Dance writer and critic Zoe Anderson focuses on 140 ballets, a core international repertory that encompasses works from the ethereal world of romantic ballet to the edgy, muscular works of modern choreographers. She provides a wealth of facts and insights, including information familiar only to dance world insiders, and considers such recent works as Alexei Ramansky's Shostakovich Trilogy and Christopher Wheeldon's The Winter's Tale as well as older ballets once forgotten but now returned to the repertory, such as Sylvia. To enhance enjoyment of each ballet, Anderson also offers tips on what to look for during a performance. Each chapter introduces a period of ballet history and provides an overview of innovations and advancement in the art form. In the individual entries that follow, Anderson includes essential facts about each ballet's themes, plot, composers, choreographers, dance style, and music. The author also addresses the circumstances of each ballet's creation and its effect in the theater, and she recounts anecdotes that illuminate performance history and reception. Reliable, accessible, and fully up to date, this book will delight anyone who attends the ballet, participates in ballet, or simply loves ballet and wants to know much more about it.

What do Americans think of when they think of the hamburger? A robust, succulent spheroid of fresh ground beef, the birthright of red-blooded citizens? Or a Styrofoam-shrouded Big Mac, mass-produced to industrial specifications and served by wage slaves to an obese, brainwashed population? Is it cooking or commodity? An icon of freedom or the quintessence of conformity?This fast-paced and entertaining book unfolds the immense significance of the hamburger as an American icon. Josh Ozersky shows how the history of the burger is entwined with American business and culture and, unexpectedly, how the burgers story is in many ways the story of the country that invented (and reinvented) it.Spanning the years from the nineteenth century with its waves of European immigrants to our own era of globalization, the book recounts how German hamburg steak evolved into hamburgers for the rising class of urban factory workers and how the innovations of the White Castle System and the McDonalds Corporation turned the burger into the Model T of fast food. The hamburger played an important role in Americas transformation into a mobile, suburban culture, and today, Americas favorite sandwich is nothing short of an irrepressible economic and cultural force. How this all happened, and why, is a remarkable story, told here with insight, humor, and gusto.

Henry IV (1399-1413), the son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, seized the English throne at the age of thirty-two from his cousin Richard II and held it until his death, aged forty-five, when he was succeeded by his son, Henry V. This comprehensive and nuanced biography restores to his rightful place a king often overlooked in favor of his illustrious progeny. A Henry faced the usual problems of usurpers: foreign wars, rebellions, and plots, as well as the ambitions and demands of the Lancastrian retainers who had helped him win the throne. By 1406 his rule was broadly established, and although he became ill shortly after this and never fully recovered, he retained ultimate power until his death. Using a wide variety of previously untapped archival materials, Chris Given-Wilson reveals a cultured, extravagant, and skeptical monarch who crushed opposition ruthlessly but never quite succeeded in satisfying the expectations of his own supporters.

This sensitive picture of the constant and circumspect struggle waged by peasants materially and ideologically against their oppressors shows that techniques of evasion and resistance may represent the most significant and effective means of class struggle in the long run."e;A major contribution to peasant studies, Malaysian studies, and the literature on revolutions and class consciousness."e;--Benedict R. Anderson, Cornell University"e;The book is a splendid achievement. Because Scott listens closely to the villagers of Malaysia, he enormously expands our understanding of popular ideology and therefore of popular politics. And because he is also a brilliant analyst, he draws upon this concrete experience to develop a new critique of classical theories of ideology."e;Frances Fox Piven, Graduate Center of the City University of New YorkAn impressive work which may well become a classic.Terence J. Byres, Times Literary SupplementA highly readable, contextually sensitive, theoretically astute ethnography of a moral system in change. Weapons of the Weak is a brilliant book, combining a sure feel for the subjective side of struggle with a deft handling of economic and political trends.John R. Bown, Journal of Peasant StudiesA splendid book, a worthy addition to the classic studies of Malay society and of the peasantry at large. Combines the readability of Akenfield or Pig Earth with an accessible and illuminating theoretical commentary.A.F. Robertson, Times Higher Education SupplementNo one who wants to understand peasant society, in or out of Southeast Asia, or theories of change, should fail to read [this book].Daniel S. Lev, Journal of Asian StudiesA moving account of the poors refusal to accept the terms of their subordination. Disposes of the belief that theoretical sophistication and intelligible prose are somehow at odds.Ramachandra Guha, Economic and Political WeeklyA seminally important commentary on the state of peasant studies and the global literature. This enormously rich work in Asian and comparative studies is an essential contribution to participatory development theory and practice.Guy Gran, World DevelopmentJames C. Scott is professor of political science at Yale University.

Historians have never resolved a central mystery of the Russian Revolution: How did the Bolsheviks, despite facing a world of enemies andleaving nothing but economic ruin in their path, manage to stay in power through five long years of civil war? In this penetrating book, Sean McMeekin draws on previously undiscovered materials from the Soviet Ministry of Finance and other European and American archives to expose some of the darkest secrets of Russias early days of communism. Building on one archival revelation after another, the author reveals how the Bolsheviks financed their aggression through astonishingly extensive thievery. Their looting included everything from the cash savings of private citizens to gold, silver, diamonds, jewelry, icons, antiques, and artwork.By tracking illicit Soviet financial transactions across Europe, McMeekin shows how Lenins regime accomplished historys greatest heist between 1917 and 1922 and turned centuries of accumulated wealth into the sinews of class war. McMeekin also names names, introducing for the first time the compliant bankers, lawyers, and middlemen who, for a price, helped the Bolsheviks launder their loot, impoverish Russia, and impose their brutal will on millions.

This fascinating book explores Benjamin Franklins social and political thought. Although Franklin is often considered the first American, his intellectual world was cosmopolitan. An active participant in eighteenth-century Atlantic debates over the modern commercial republic, Franklin combined abstract analyses with practical proposals. Houston treats Franklin as shrewd, creative, and engageda lively thinker who joined both learned controversies and political conflicts at home and abroad.Drawing on meticulous archival research, Houston examines such tantalizing themes as trade and commerce, voluntary associations and civic militias, population growth and immigration policy, political union and electoral institutions, freedom and slavery. In each case, he shows how Franklin urged the improvement of self and society.Engagingly written and richly illustrated, this book provides a compelling portrait of Franklin, a fresh perspective on American identity, and a vital account of what it means to be practical.

In this original study, Moshe Idel, an eminent scholar of Jewish mysticism and thought, and the cognitive neuroscientist and neurologist Shahar Arzy combine their considerable expertise to explore the mysteries of the Kabbalah from an entirely new perspective: that of the human brain. In lieu of the theological, sociological, and psychoanalytic approaches that have generally dominated the study of ecstatic mystical experiences, the authors endeavor to decode the brain mechanisms underlying these phenomena. Arzy and Idel analyze first-person descriptions to explore the Kabbalistic techniques employed by most prominent Jewish mystics to effect bodily reduplications, dissociations, and other phenomena, and compare them with recent neurological observations and modern-day laboratory experiments. The resultant study offers readers a scientific, more brain-based understanding of how ecstatic Kabbalists achieved their most precious mystical experiences. The study further demonstrates how these Kabbalists have long functioned as pioneering investigators of the human self.

The 14,500 Polish army officers, police, gendarmes, and civilians taken prisoner by the Red Army when it invaded eastern Poland in September 1939 were held in three special NKVD camps andexecuted at three different sites in spring 1940, of which the one inKatyn Forestis the most famous. Another 7,300 prisoners held in NKVD jails in Ukraine and Belarus werealso shot at this time, although many others disappeared without trace.The murder of these Poles is among the most monstrous mass murders undertaken by any modern government.Three leading historians of the NKVDmassacres of Polish prisoners of war at Katyn, Kharkov, and Tvernow subsumed under Katynpresent 122 documents selected from the published Russian and Polish volumes coedited by Natalia S. Lebedeva and Wojciech Materski.The documents, with introductions and notes by Anna M. Cienciala,detail the Soviet killings, the elaborate cover-up, the admission of the truth, and the Katyn question in Soviet/RussianPolish relations up to the present.

This edition of Book III of Eutropiuss Breviarium ab urbe condita is designed to be a students first encounter with authentic, unabridged Latin prose. Written in a simple and direct style, the Breviarium covers the period of Roman history that students find the most interestingthe Second Punic War fought against Carthageand the original Latin text is supplemented with considerable learning support. Full annotations on every page, detailed commentary on grammar and syntax, and a glossary designed specifically for the text allow students to build both their confidence and their reading skills.The commentary in the back of the book is cross-referenced to the following commonly used textbooks:Wheelocks Latin, 6th EditionLatin: An Intensive Course by Moreland and FleischerEcce Romani II, 3rd EditionLatin for Americans, Level 2Jenneys Second Year LatinAllen and Greenoughs New Latin GrammarMacrons have been added to the entire text in accordance with the vowel quantities used in the Oxford Latin Dictionary. Additional resources include an unannotated version of the text for classroom use, supplementary passages in English from other ancient authors, and appendixes with a timeline of events and maps and battle plans.The text may be used in secondary schools and colleges as early as the first year of study. The copious translation help, notes, and cross-references also make it ideal for independent learners.

The uncovering in the mid-1700s of fossilized mastodon bones and teeth at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, signaled the beginning of a great American adventure. The West was opening up and unexplored lands beckoned. Unimagined paleontological treasures awaited discovery: strange horned mammals, birds with teeth, flying reptiles, gigantic fish, diminutive ancestors of horses and camels, and more than a hundred different kinds of dinosaurs. This exciting book tells the story of the grandest period of fossil discovery in American history, the years from 1750 to 1890.The volume begins with Thomas Jefferson, whose keen interest in the American mastodon led him to champion the study of fossil vertebrates. The book continues with vivid descriptions of the actual work of prospecting for fossils--a pick in one hand, a rifle in the other--and enthralling portraits of Joseph Leidy, Ferdinand Hayden, Edward Cope, and Othniel Marsh among other major figures in the development of the science of paleontology. Shedding new light on these scientists feuds and rivalries, on the connections between fossil studies in Europe and America, and on paleontologys contributions to Americas developing national identity, The Legacy of the Mastodon is itself a fabulous discovery for every reader to treasure.

Fyodor Dostoevsky completed his final novel The Brothers Karamazovin 1880. A work of universal appeal and significance, his exploration of good and evil immediately gained an international readership and today remains harrowingly alive in the face of our present day worries, paradoxes, and joys, observes Dostoevsky scholar Robin Feuer Miller. In this engaging and original book, she guides us through the complexities of Dostoevskys masterpiece, offering keen insights and a celebration of the authors unparalleled powers of imagination.Millers critical companion to The Brothers Karamazov explores the novels structure, themes, characters, and artistic strategies while illuminating its myriad philosophical and narrative riddles. She discusses the historical significance of the book and its initial reception, and in a new preface discusses the latest scholarship on Dostoevsky and the novel that crowned his career.