Nineteenth-century Brazil's constitutional monarchy credibly committed to repay sovereign debt, borrowing repeatedly in international and domestic capital markets without default. Yet it failed to lay the institutional foundations that private financ...

An excellent bottle of wine can be the spark that inspires a brainstorming session. Such was the case for Ian Tattersall and Rob DeSalle, scientists who frequently collaborate on book and museum exhibition projects. When the conversation turned to wi...

In the past, the brain was considered an autonomous organ, self-contained and completely separate from the body's immune system. But over the past twenty years, neuroimmunologist Michal Schwartz, together with her research team, not only has overturn...

In this landmark commentary, Craig R. Koester offers a comprehensive look at a powerful and controversial early Christian text, the biblical Book of Revelation. The author provides richly textured descriptions of the book's setting and language, maki...

The Wilton Diptych is a comprehensive account of one of England's greatest surviving medieval treasures, now in the collection of The National Gallery, London. The painting depicts King Richard II (1367-1400) being presented to the Virgin Mary and Ch...

"Irrational Judgments" examines the close friendship and significant exchange of ideas between Eva Hesse (1936-1970) and Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) in New York City during the 1960s. Taking its title from LeWitt's statement "Irrational judgments lead to...

From its origins in the 7th century, armor and weaponry were central to Islamic culture not only as a means of conquest and the spread of faith, but also as symbols of status, wealth, and power. More than 120 exceptional examples from the renowned co...

One hundred years after Austrian satirist Karl Kraus began writing his dramatic masterpiece, "The Last Days of Mankind" remains as powerfully relevant as the day it was first published. Kraus's play enacts the tragic trajectory of the First World War...

Should we worry about an increased risk of illness when using certain carpet cleaners? How do we assess the benefits of dietary supplements? What is meant by increased risk in the first place? Dr. Michael Bracken, a leader and innovator in the field...

Just a few years before the dawn of the digital age, Harvard psychologist Bert Kaplan set out to build the largest database of sociological information ever assembled. It was the mid-1950s, and social scientists were entranced by the human insights p...