Melville House: 350 books

“I did remember: Whenever we moved our troops, advanced or retreated, we had written ‘your turn,’ usually just ‘Y.T.,’ to confirm that we’d made our final decision . . . Looking at the letters now, I felt something in the world change forever.”   Ukraine, 1984. The Soviet Union is creaking...

A wickedly funny and satisfyingly highbrow black comedy about the collapse of Western academic institutions under the weight of neoliberal economics and crushing, widespread idiocy. Lars and W., the two preposterous philosophical anti-heroes of Spurious and Dogma—called “Uproarious”...

Holly moved to Brighton to escape. But now she's here, sitting on a bench, listening to the sea sway... what is she supposed to do next? How is she supposed to fill the void Sam left when he died? She had thought she'd want to be on her own. Wrecked. Stranded. But after she meets Frank, the tide begins...

About This Book "No amount of wisdom could possibly make sense of the mysterious verdict which God intended through this duel." A new translation of a key work by one of European literature’s most important early writers. One of the few novellas written by the master...

Brigands, convents under siege, a prince who’d do Machiavelli proud . . . This adventurous novella from a writer famous for far longer works is a singular take on love and war in Renaissance Italy.  Claiming to be translating from sixteenth-century manuscripts, Stendhal tells the story...

“Probably the best novel ever written about sport.” —The Times (UK) He was a real-life, working-class hero known as the “British Muhammad Ali”—because he had a big mouth and wasn’t afraid to use it. But Brian Clough wasn’t a boxer, he was a soccer coach, known for taking...

Can we prevent another financial crisis? We can! Break Up the Banks! is a sensible, actionable, and totally accessible call to arms from an acclaimed financial journalist It’s been eight years since the financial crisis, but has anyone taken real action to prevent the next one? Former Economist...

Now in paperback, the updated and expanded edition: David Graeber’s “fresh . . . fascinating . . . thought-provoking . . . and exceedingly timely” (Financial Times) history of debt Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: he shows...

A tenured prof. breaks ranks to reveal what's wrong with American higher education and how it affects you. Professors can be underpaid. Marginalized. Over-reviewed. But one fact remains: The success of your education depends on them. Part industry expose and part call for a return to engaged...

Liberals worldwide invoke Scandinavia as a promised land of equality, while most conservatives fear it as a hotbed of liberty-threatening socialism. But the left and right can usually agree on one thing: that the Nordic system is impossible to replicate elsewhere. The US and UK are too big, or too...

The brilliant intellect and candor of Anthony Bourdain is on full display in this collection of interviews from throughout his remarkable career, including interviews with Neil Degrasse Tyson and Trevor Noah Anthony Bourdain always downplayed his skills as a chef (many disagreed). But despite...

The dramatic expose of how the University of Oregon sold its soul to Nike, and what that means for the future of our public institutions and our society. **A New York Post Best Book of the Year** In the mid-1990s, facing severe cuts to its public funding, the University of Oregon—like...

Back from the dead: the first ever zombie story Before there was Dracula, there was The Castle in Transylvania. In its first new translation in over 100 years, this is the first book to set a gothic horror story, featuring people who may or may not be dead, in Transylvania. In a remote...

A riveting novel of political intrigue, set on the Left Bank of Paris From France’s leading political crime writer comes a novel that delves into the country’s radical political movements on both the left and the right, in the wake of a brutal attack. When André Sloga, an apparently...