Higher Worlds

Oscar Wilde's first play confronts the hypocrisy of public "morality" compared with genuine, private kindness. The reasons for its continued popularity are not difficult to identify: the play's witty dialogue contains many of Wilde's most quoted aphorisms, its stylish setting provides opportunities for elegant presentation, and its cast of memorable characters play out a story which is genuinely moving. This new audio production brings together a full cast worthy of Wilde's creative genius.

As we enter the dawn of a new "post-prohibition" era, the stigma surrounding cannabis use is fading, and the conversation about what it means to get high is changing. When it comes to being a respectful, thoughtful, and responsible consumer of pot, there is a lot you need to know. In Higher Etiquette, Lizzie Post - great-great granddaughter of Emily Post and co-president of America's most respected etiquette brand - explores and celebrates the wide world of legalized weed.

Former middle school teacher and teachers' advocate Taylor Mali struck a chord with his passionate response to a man at a dinner party who asked him what kind of salary teachers make - a poetic rant that has been seen and forwarded millions of times on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Based on the poem that inspired a movement, What Teachers Make is Mali's sharp, funny, reflective, critical call to arms about the joys of teaching and why teachers are so vital to America today.

For the first time, the era's Muslim voices can be heard fully, and their accounts challenge narratives of the Crusades that have been subsequently accepted in the West and the East. Their different understandings of jihad, the often-friendly relations between Muslims and Crusaders, the widespread inter-Arab warfare and near indifference to the invaders' religious beliefs may well surprise listeners. Given today's worldwide political and religious conflicts, interest in the Crusades is greater than ever.

This educational drama captures the experiences of a young World War I soldier who was touched, inspired, and changed forever by war poetry. Through vivid readings and recollections, we examine the work of 16 poets.

For The Real World of College, Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner analyzed in-depth interviews with more than 2,000 students, alumni, faculty, administrators, parents, trustees, and others, which were conducted at ten institutions. Their findings challenged characterizations in the media: students are not preoccupied by political correctness, free speech, or even the cost of college. They are most concerned about their GPA and their resumes; they see jobs and earning potential as more important than learning. Given this reality for students, has higher education lost its way?

In the indulgence of their egotistical ambitions and reckless whims, kings, conquerors and dictators have frequently presented a spectacle, sometimes comic but more often tragic in its results, that the authors have tried to bring back to life in this book. Here are living biographies of twenty famous rulers including: King Solomon, Caesar, Ivan the Terrible and more.

Arguing first that what might be termed a morally good action is one that increases the general sum of happiness in the world, Mill then says that general principles of justice should be based on this idea. Therefore, in life, there is no conflict between what is just and what is morally right. Mill published Utilitarianism toward the end of a lifetime spent as a moral philosopher, political activist, and social reformer.

Albert Hourani's 1991 work, A History of the Arab Peoples, is unsurpassed as an overview of Arab history, from the rise of Islam to the late 20th century. Going far beyond the political history that had generally characterized previous examinations, Hourani integrates a wide range of scholarship to provide a deep analysis of social, cultural, and economic structures. His interest in the everyday lives of Arab people and his desire to understand what united - rather than divided - many different nationalities gives listeners a new and vital perspective on the region.

Having witnessed some negative effects of democratic revolutions in his native France, Tocqueville visited America in 1831 to see what a functioning republic looked like. His main concerns were that democracy could make people too dependent on the state and that minority voices might not be heard - a problem he termed "the Tyranny of the Majority". By examining America thoroughly, Tocqueville hoped to show how a democratic system could avoid these pitfalls.

Austrian-born economist Friedrich Hayek's 1944 work, The Road to Serfdom, analyzes the ways in which excessive government planning can erode democracy. Published while World War II still raged, the work draws influential parallels between the totalitarianism of both socialism and Nazism and increasing control exerted by Western democracies.

Islam by Cynthia Eller, Ph.D. (Montclair State University), is a compact, illuminating summary of one of the world's major religions traditions.

Chapters include: The Life of Mohammed, Islamic Texts, Major Tenets of Islam, Islamic Religious Practices, History of Islam, Sufism, Islamic Resurgence, Islam Around the World, Women & Islam.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is a world-renowned scholar, professor of history and geography at Queen Mary, University of London, and a member of the Faculty of Modern History of Oxford University. The Americas, part of the acclaimed Modern Library Chronicles series, offers an intriguing history of the world's western hemisphere.

In his 1807 work Phenomenology of Spirit, G. W. F. Hegel introduced the world to his philosophical system. His most influential work - and the culmination of the German Idealist movement begun in the late 18th century as a response to the works of Immanuel Kant - the book remains one of the undisputed classics of Western thought.

Higher education is at an impasse. Black Lives Matter and #MeToo show that racism and sexism remain pervasive on campus, while student and faculty movements fight to reverse increased tuition, student debt, corporatization, and adjunctification. Commentators typically frame these issues as crises for an otherwise optimal mode of intellectual and professional development. Eli Meyerhoff instead sees this impasse as inherent to universities. The predominant mode of study, education, must be deromanticized in order to recognize it as a colonial-capitalist institution.

Feeling feverish, tired, or achy? Listening to Gina Kolata's engrossing account of the 1918 Influenza epidemic is sure to give you the chills. A gripping work of science writing, Flu addresses the prospects for a great epidemic recurring, and considers what can be done to prevent it.

In the summer of 2014, renowned American Indian studies professor Steven Salaita had his appointment to a tenured professorship revoked by the board of trustees of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Salaita's employment was terminated in response to his public tweets criticizing the Israeli government's summer assault on Gaza. Salaita's firing generated a huge public outcry, with thousands petitioning for his reinstatement, and more than 5,000 scholars pledging to boycott UIUC.

From the acclaimed Modern Library Chronicles comes an exploration of a promising theory that when put to practice wreaked havoc on the world. An expert on communism, Richard Pipes follows the history of the Soviet Union from the 1917 revolution to the Cold War, and finally, to its deterioration and collapse.

Here Sitomer shares modern methods for keeping students engaged in the “boring” classroom. It’s understandable how school comes second to adolescents dealing with weighty issues in everyday life. That is why it’s necessary to teach teens how to get involved in their education and take responsibility for it.

The work of academics can matter and be influential on a public level, but the path to becoming a public intellectual, influential policy advisor, valued community resource, or go-to person on an issue is not one that most scholars are trained for. The Public Professor offers scholars ways to use their ideas, research, and knowledge to change the world.