Higher Worlds

After Tripoli declared war on the United States in 1801, Barbary pirates captured 300 U.S. sailors and marines. President Jefferson sent navy squadrons to the Mediterranean, but he also authorized a secret mission to overthrow the government of Tripoli. He chose an unlikely diplomat, William Eaton, to lead the mission, but before Eaton departed, Jefferson grew wary of the affair and withdrew his support.

Since the 19th century, people have claimed that the prosperity enjoyed by the First World was the result of its devotion to unconstrained economic freedoms. In his 2003 book Kicking Away the Ladder, South Korean economist Ha-Joon Chang claims this was not the case and that, in fact, First World economic success was due to exactly the kinds of state intervention that traditional economic thinking consistently opposes today.

In a time when divisiveness and disinformation dominate our conversations, Eric J. Miller offers a refreshing path forward—one rooted in time-honored, spiritually-centered practices. In Allied We Can Find Common Ground, Miller draws on principles of self-awareness, compassion, and mindfulness, showing how higher-level leaders can use these ancient values to forge connections in today's fractured world.

Why our current system of higher education is financially and morally unsustainable and how to address the crisis with the creative implementation of digital technologies. For too long, our system of higher education has been defined by scarcity: scarcity in enrollment, scarcity in instruction, and scarcity in credentials. In addition to failing students professionally, this system has exacerbated social injustice and socioeconomic stratification across the globe.

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.

First published in 1651, Leviathan drove important discussions about where kings get their authority to rule and what those kings must, in turn, do for their people. This is known as the "social contract". Thomas Hobbes wrote the book while exiled from his native England following the English Civil War that unseated King Charles I. In the face of England's radical - if temporary - rejection of its monarchy, Hobbes wanted to explain why it was important to have a strong central government, which in his time meant having a sovereign at its head.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wrought global devastation. Unbridled violence, vitriol, racism, distrust, and anger are pervasive. The world is in serious need of love, repair, and healing. And so are all of us as individuals. There has never been a better time than right now to seize the life you truly crave, be your greatest self, and share that positivity with others in order to make the world a more loving and positive place.

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.

After the Berlin Wall fell, a group of Christian colleges in the US seized the opportunity to begin strategic faculty and student exchanges with universities inside the Soviet Union. They could not have foreseen the doors that would open next. During a 1990 visit to Russia, John Bernbaum and his colleagues received a surprising invitation from a Russian government official: come help build a faith-based university in Moscow. Thus, after 70 years of fierce religious persecution under communism, the Russian-American Christian University (RACU) was born.

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?

Knowing that you are "a spiritual being having a human experience" is eye opening and inspiring, but can it tangibly transform your life? Pioneering healer Aleya Dao does more than say yes to this question - she shows you how, with stories and practices that are as potent and fresh as a morning cup of coffee or tea. By turning to your inner world, you can work with the limitless energies that create your outer world, making strides you never thought possible.

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.

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.

For over 50 years scholars and philosophers alike have attempted to make some sense of the Third Reich and its "Final Solution" campaign. Historian Robert Wistrich takes listeners on a guided tour through the death camps and meticulously details the events that led to this horrific tragedy and the lasting repercussions it had on the world community.

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.