Carl Schmitt is one of the most influential German thinkers of the 20th century, whose works on friend and enemy, legality and legitimacy, dictatorship, and political theology are read today by everyone from conservative theologians to radical political thinkers. In his private life, Schmitt was haunted by his wild anti-Semitism, self-destructive and compulsive sexuality, and deep-seated resentment against bourgeois life. He made his way to the top of the academic discipline of law through his exceptional intellectual prowess. He broke with his Jewish friends, joined the Nazi Party in May 1933 and lent a helping hand to Hitler, becoming deeply entangled with the regime. After the war, he became a key figure in the intellectual scene of postwar Germany. Reinhard Mehring’s outstanding biography—the most comprehensive work on the life and work of Carl Schmitt—is based on thorough research using new sources previously unavailable, Mehring portrays Schmitt as a Shakespearean figure at the center of the German catastrophe. To purchase this title and receive a 20% discount off the retail price, click here, and enter promotion code PY616 at checkout.

What do we know about Hegel? What do we know about Marx? What do we know about democracy and totalitarianism? Communism and psychoanalysis? What do we know that isn't a platitude that we've heard a thousand times? Through his brilliant reading of Hegel, Slavoj Zizek - one of the most provocative and widely-read thinkers of our time - dynamites every cliché and undermines every conviction in order to clear the ground for new ways of answering these questions. We had made Hegel into the theorist of abstraction and reaction, but by reading Hegel with Lacan, Zizek unveils a Hegel of the concrete and of revolution. This early and dazzlingly original work by Zizek offers a unique insight into the ideas which have since become hallmarks of his mature thought. It will be of great interest to anyone interested in critical theory, philosophy and contemporary social thought. To purchase this title and receive a 20% discount off the retail price, click here, and enter promotion code PY616 at checkout.

The political history of the 20th can be viewed as the history of democracy’s struggle against its external enemies: fascism and communism. Some think that democracy now faces new enemies: Islamic fundamentalism, religious extremism and international terrorism. Todorov disagrees: the biggest threat to democracy today is democracy itself. He argues that certain democratic values have been distorted and pushed to an extreme. In the name of “democracy” and “human rights”, the U.S. and some European countries have embarked on a crusade to enlighten foreign populations through the use of force. Yet this mission to “help” others led to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, large-scale destruction, loss of life and a moral crisis. Todorov argues that the real democratic ideal is to be found in the delicate, ever-changing balance between competing principles, popular sovereignty, freedom and progress. To purchase this title and receive a 20% discount off the retail price, click here, and enter promotion code PY616 at checkout.

Completing his acclaimed trilogy on the history of Israel, Leslie Stein brings readers right up to contemporary events in Israel since the Six-Day War. Stein vividly chronicles Israel's wars and military engagements, but also incorporates fascinating assessments of Israel’s economic development, the PLO and Palestinian Authority, Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, and extremist Jewish movements—conveying clearly a sense of the diversity and complexity of modern Israel. Wide-ranging and judicious, Stein's cogent and compellingly readable account of Israel’s recent past will engage students and general readers alike. To purchase this title and receive a 20% discount off the retail price, click here, and enter promotion code PY616 at checkout.

Sitting in a prison cell in the autumn of 1944, Hans Fallada sums up his life under the National Socialist dictatorship. Under conditions of close confinement, in constant fear of discovery, he writes himself free from the nightmare of the Nazi years. His provocative memoirs were thought for many years to have been lost. They are published here in English for the first time. He writes about spying and denunciation, the threat to his livelihood and his literary work, and about the fate of many friends and contemporaries. His notes, constantly exposed to the gaze of the prison wardens, become a kind of secret code. He finally succeeds in smuggling the manuscript out of the prison, although it remained unpublished for half a century. These revealing memoirs by one of the best-known German writers of the 20th century will be of great interest to all readers of modern literature. To purchase this title and receive a 20% discount off the retail price, click here, and enter promotion code PY616 at checkout.

In a world of unprecedented technological change, it is easy to forget that a major source of global wealth is, literally, right under our noses. Coffee is one of the most valuable South American exports, generating billions of dollars in profits each year, even while the majority of the world’s 25 million coffee families live in relative poverty. But who is responsible for such vast inequality? Many analysts point to the coffee market itself, and seek to "correct" it through fair trade, organic and sustainable coffee, and corporate social responsibility. Against this consensus, Gavin Fridell provocatively argues that state action continues to be central to the everyday operations of the coffee industry. Combining rich history with incisive analysis, Fridell challenges the notion that injustice in the industry can be solved "one sip at a time." He points to the centrality of coffee statecraft both for preserving the status quo and initiating meaningful changes to the coffee industry. To purchase this title and receive a 20% discount off the retail price, click here, and enter promotion code PY616 at checkout.