Magritte
by Siegfried Gohr

SFMOMA / paperback
original price: $24.95
our price: $13.99

The enigmatic images of the great Surrealist Rene Magritte (1898-1967) are so powerful that they seem to define a completely new reality, where everyday objects and familiar situations are transformed in unexpected ways. Magritte's visual ideas are astounding in their variety and originality, and creative people ranging from philosophers to advertising executives have found inspiration in his work. This collection of key paintings is particularly notable because the paintings have been selected to show Magritte's influence on the art of the latter half of the twentieth century, especially pop and Conceptual art. An essay by art historian Siegfried Gohr explores some of the major themes in Magritte's work, while more than sixty color plates tantalize the viewer.

Jersey Rain: Poems
by Robert Pinsky

Farrar Straus Giroux / hardcover
original price: $21.00
our price: $5.99

Jersey Rain, at once masterly and intimate, marks a fresh, lyrical stage of Robert Pinsky's work. The poems "Samurai Song," "ABC," "Ode to Meaning," "To Television," "The Green Piano," and others have already attracted a wide readership. Now, assembled in this book, they become part of a larger, fugue-like meditation on the themes of a life guided by Hermes: deity of music and deception, escort of the dead, inventor of instruments, the brilliant messenger and trickster of heaven.

Remembered Voices
by Douglas John Hall

Westminster John Knox Press / paperback
original price: $18.00
our price: $5.99

Douglas John Hall demonstrates the continuing relevance of several of this century's greatest theologians, Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Emil Brunner, H. Richard Niebuhr, and Suzanne de Dietrich, suggesting that their neo-orthodox roots have much more in common than is traditionally acknowledged. Suitable for classroom use and individual study, Remembered Voices is a highly accessible introduction to twentieth century theologians.

Currents of Inquiry: Readings for Academic Writing
By Nancy Morrow and Marlene Clarke

Mayfield / paperback
original price: $25.00
our price: $6.99

Currents of Inquiry is designed to help you develop the critical reading and writing skills that you will need as a college student. The readings included are challenging, yet they examine the questions of our everyday lives; for example, what kinds of education should colleges and universities provide, and to what standards should students be held? What happens when a worker wants to do a good job and be a good parent? Do men and women use technology differently? How effective is our jury system? The texts included here are drawn from larger conversations occurring in different academic and social contexts. By developing your ability to read critically and to write effectively, you are preparing to make your own significant contributions to these conversations.

Barchester Towers
by Anthony Trollope

Everyman's Library / hardcover
original price: $16.00
our price: $9.99

Anthony Trollope was well aware that the seemingly parochial power struggles that determine the action of Barchester Towers; struggles whose comic possibilities he exploits to hilarious effect; actually went to the heart of mid-Victorian English society, and had, in other times and other guises, led to civil war and constitutional upheaval. That awareness heightens the comedy and intensifies the drama in this magnificent novel and it transforms the story of a fight for dominance among the clergy and dependants of a great English cathedral into something fundamental and universal.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers
by Christopher Cokinos

Tarcher/Putnam / hardcover
original price: $24.95
our price: $6.99

There was a time when massive flocks of Passenger Pigeons blotted out the sun, and bright green Carolina Parakeets were so numerous that they looked, "like an atmosphere of gems." But these birds; as well as the Labrador Duck, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the Heath hen, and the Great Auk; now live only as tantalizing but hazy legends. Driven by a desire to understand how and why this came to be, Christopher Cokinos embarked on ten years of extraordinary detective work. Traveling from Bird rock in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Louisiana's tangled bayous in search of those who stalked these birds and those who tried to save them, he discovered strange stories and glorious quests, tales of scientific heroism and political stupidity, of inconceivable apathy and equally astonishing personal devotion.

For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today
by Jedediah Purdy

Vintage Books USA / paperback
original price: $12.00
our price: $5.99

Arguing for renewed attention to "common things", Purdy gives a ringing and heartfelt plea for commitment to--and faith in--American civic and political life. This paper edition includes a new afterword.

Publisher Comments

Drawing on a wide range of sources -- from Thoreau to Seinfeld -- Jedediah Purdy contemplates the irony in popular culture, the breakdown of our political processes, and the moral and legal dilemmas posed by technological advances. In these and other discussions, he lures us away from disbelief and detachment toward a sincere devotion to the healing and betterment of society.

Homeschooled in West Virginia, Purdy went to study at Harvard; this dual experience fuels his lucid and often unsettling observations. His thinking is fresh, his tone civil, his criticism constructive. What he suggests is that we can hope for a sound society if we work for it: each of us is responsible for the common good and for holding the integrity of common things. This is an engaging, honest, and bracing reminder of what it is that we value in our society, and of our responsibility to preserve it.

The Great Disruption
by Francis Fukuyama

Free Press/hardcover
original price: $26.00
our price: $6.99

The Great Disruption begins by observing that over the past thirty years, the United States and other developed countries have undergone a profound transformation from industrial to information societies; knowledge has replaced mass production as the basis of wealth, power, and social interaction. At the same time, Western societies have endured increasing levels of crime, massive changes in fertility and family structure, decreasing levels of trust, and the triumph of individualism over community. Just as the Industrial Revolution brought about momentous changes in society's moral values, a similar Great Disruption in our own time has caused profound changes in our social structure.

Drawing on the latest sociological data and new theoretical models from fields as diverse as economics and biology, Fukuyama reveals that even though the old order has broken apart, a new social order is already taking shape. Part of human nature, he shows, is the fact that we are all biologically hard wired to forge bonds with one another, creating social cohesion in new and adaptive forms, not only in our neighborhoods but also in our business organizations and family structures. Indeed, he suggests, the Great Disruption of the 1960s and 1970s may be giving way to a Great Reconstruction, as Western society weaves a new fabric of social and moral values appropriate to the changed realities of the postindustrial world.

Readings in Urban Theory
Edited by Susan Fainstein and Scott Campbell

Blackwell / paperback
original price: $40.95
our price: $12.99

This volume addresses a set of questions concerning the interaction of economy, culture, politics, policy, and space within the United States and the United Kingdom. It contains unabridged selections from recent works by a group of authors who have dramatically trnasformed the field of urban theory. Although there are important differences among the writers represented, they largely share a common paradigm of political-economic analysis. The readings deal with the changing urban and regional systems, its social impacts, the effect of publicly sponsored redevelopment programs, and the cultural meanings of spatial relations. This book will be of interest to planners, policy-makers, students and instructors of planning, geographers, and anyone who wishes to understand the urban and regional context in which they live and work if they are to be effective.

Bin Laden: the Man Who Declared War on America
by Yossef Bodansky

Forum / paperback
original price: $17.95
our price: $5.99

Here is a comprehensive account of the rise of bin Laden. In meticulous detail, world-renowned terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky uncovers the events in bin Laden life that turned the once-promising engineering student into a cold-blooded leader of radical Islam. In the process, Bodansky reveals a chilling story that is as current as today headlines but as ancient as the Crusades--a story that transcends bin Laden and any other single man. This book is a sobering wake-up call.

My First Encyclopedia
by Carol Watson

Dorling Kindersley / hardcover
original price: $16.95
our price: $7.99

An entertaining picture book designed to help young children satisfy their growing curiosity and prepare them for wider learning in the first years of formal school. Arranged in themes that move from the familiar to the challenging, each spread features detailed, realistic artwork and imaginative, full-color photos that virtually leap off the page. Full-color illustrations.

Moonboy
by Carolyn Garcia

Beyond Words Publishing / hardcover
original price: $15.95
our price: $4.99

The son of the Man in the Moon has no one to play with, so he goes down to Earth to make some friends in this story about overcoming differences and forging friendships. Full color.

Publisher Comments

The Man in the Moon is so busy pulling the earth's tides that he has no time to play with his son, Moon Boy, who travels to Earth in search of playmates. When he lands in Poppygold, he carefully observes the customs of the people and then imitates them. But most people are suspicious of the round-faced visitor with the strange doors in his chest. Only Ed Bread is intrigued enough to find out what is really inside Moon Boy, and the two bond over their shared hopes and dreams. Charming and whimsical, the vivid illustrations help make Moon Boy a memorable read.