Thomas Mann

A sanitorium in the Swiss Alps reflects the societal ills of pre-twentieth-century Europe, and a young marine engineer rises from his life of anonymity to become a pivotal character in a story about how a human's environment affects self identity. In this dizzyingly rich novel of ideas, Mann uses a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps, a community devoted exclusively to sickness, as a microcosm for Europe, which in the years before 1914 was already exhibiting...

Hyperpartisanship has gridlocked the American government. Congress' approval ratings are at record lows, and both Democrats and Republicans are disgusted by the government's inability to get anything done. In It's Even Worse Than It Looks, Congressional scholars Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein present a grim picture of how party polarization and tribal politics have led Congress—and the United States—to the brink of institutional failure.In...

Illustrated selection and study of graveyard epitaphs.

The focal point of this collection of tombstone inscriptions is colonial, pioneer, and frontier American attitudes toward death by misadventure. Gathered from all over America, these epitaphs candidly reveal much of American life in bygone times, particularly its occupational hazards.

Three of Washington's premier political scholar-journalists explain why the Trump presidency poses a threat to the nation and discusses how the citizen activism it has inspired can lead to democratic renewal.

A charming romance develops between a boy with one eye and an overweight girl, though when she loses her weight after going to college, their relationship is tested in devastating ways they never dreamed would happen. *"What seems like an ordinary teenage comedy about cliques and bullying on the surface is actually a modestly perceptive and touching glimpse into the ways in which we transition from adolescence into adulthood." - Todd Jorgenson, **Cinemalogue***...