Are we alone in the universe? It is a captivating question, but one that historically eluded proper scientific investigation. The new discipline of astrobiology changes the game, introducing rigor to the quest for extraterrestrial life. Life in the Cosmos surveys the field, showing how cutting-edge research is closing in on the answers "out there."

John Geometres's Life of the Virgin Mary, a work of outstanding theological sophistication animated by deeply felt devotion to the Mother of God, remains largely unknown today. This new edition of the Byzantine Greek text and the first complete translation in a modern language presents a masterpiece of early Marian writing to new audiences.

Exploring themes that preoccupied Albert Camus--absurdity, silence, revolt, fidelity, and moderation--Robert Zaretsky portrays a moralist who refused to be fooled by the nobler names we assign to our actions, and who pushed himself, and those about him, to challenge the status quo. For Camus, rebellion against injustice is the human condition.

The Lifting Gales of Spring tells the stories of the eighty students from Australia who attended Harvard University, from the first student to enroll at Harvard Medical School in 1876, before Australia was a country, through the end of World War II.

Our legal system is committed to the idea that private markets and the law of contracts that supports them are the primary institutions for allocating goods and services in a modern economy. Yet the market paradigm, this book argues, leaves substantial room for challenge.

Kalidasa’s The Lineage of the Raghus, or Raghuva?sa, belongs to the literary tradition of mahakavya, or court poem. It recounts the lives of ancient kings—such as Dilipa, Raghu, and Rama—who ruled from the capital city of Ayodhya. This volume presents a new edition of the Sanskrit text in the Devanagari script alongside a fresh English translation.

Liner Notes for the Revolution offers a startling new perspective on Black women musicians from Bessie Smith to Beyonce. Informed by the overlooked contributions of women who wrote about the blues, rock, and pop, Daphne A. Brooks argues that acclaimed entertainers have also been radical intellectuals, challenging the culture industry to catch up.

Electronic eavesdropping once provoked protest and outrage. Now it is a mundane fact of life. How did we get here? The Listeners traces the spies and scandal mongers, confidence artists and security experts, police and presidents who made the wiretap a defining technology of American history.

The comedies of Plautus, who brilliantly adapted Greek plays for Roman audiences c. 205-184 BCE, are the earliest Latin works to survive complete and cornerstones of the European theatrical tradition from Shakespeare and Moliere to modern times. Twenty-one of his plays are extant.

Though we have other distinguishing characteristics (bipedalism, relative hairlessness, etc.), the brain and the behavior it produces are what truly set us apart from the other apes and primates. How this three-pound organ composed of water, fat, and protein turned a mammal species into the dominant animal on earth is the story Allen tells.

It isn’t easy being small. Dusenbery uses straightforward physics to demonstrate the constraints on the size, shape, and behavior of tiny organisms. While recounting the historical development of the basic concepts, he unearths a corner of microbiology rich in history, and full of lessons about how science does or does not progress.