Lecture

America’s relationship with alcohol is a fraught and inconsistent one. While many other nations and cultures have stable attitudes toward drinking, the American perspective on alcohol has been volatile, vacillating wildly from the gallon-a-day beer rations on the Mayflower to nationwide prohibition and back again. Why are Americans so ambivalent about alcohol? What can we learn about the past and the American character through these extreme fluctuations between alcoholism and sobriety across the

The Roman gladiator has long been a figure of fascination. Portrayed frequently in fine art and popular culture alike, the gladiator is both a real part of history and a legend of a romanticized past. We know that these men entertained Roman audiences by fighting in dangerous and often deadly games. But who were the gladiators? What were their lives like? And why do they continue to have such a strong hold on our imagination, centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire?

Imaginative play is a crucial part of growing up. It has a major impact on cognitive, emotional, and intellectual development. It’s also a joyous activity that gifts us with some of our fondest and most resilient childhood memories. Toys and games have long been a part of childhood, but the 20th century saw the rise of an entire industry devoted to the business of play, one that would constantly evolve over the years to reflect the rapid changes of the 20th and 21st centuries.

What if you could defuse tension and create accord in even the most volatile situations - just by changing the way you spoke? Over the past 35 years, Marshall Rosenberg has done just that, peacefully resolving conflicts in families, schools, businesses, and governments in 30 countries all over the world. On Nonviolent Communication, this renowned peacemaker presents his complete system for speaking our deepest truths, addressing our unrecognized needs and emotions, and honoring those same concer

The brain is marvelous and mysterious. Because of physical processes we do not fully understand, we can see color, hear music, love our partners, remember the past, and dream about the future. We can breathe, digest, regulate blood sugar, and pump blood throughout our bodies without consciously thinking about those things. But the brain plays a key role in pain, disease progression, fitness, and physical wellness. Our expectations, unique social circumstances, life stress, current mindsets, and

Though perhaps less well-known today than the great empires that surrounded them, the historic peoples of Central Asia—such as the Scythians, the Sogdians, the Xiongnu nomads of Mongolia, the Turkic peoples, and many others—produced cultures of major significance.In the 24 lectures of Crossroads of Civilization: A History of Central Asia, taught by Professor Eren Tasar of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, you will embark on a wide-ranging journey into the majestic landscapes, step

For the past 2,500 years, we’ve heard about the Persian Empire as a decadent civilization run by despots, the villains who lost the Battle of Marathon and supplied the fodder for bad guys in literature and film. But it turns out this image is inaccurate. As recent scholarship shows, the Persian Empire was arguably the world’s first global power- a diverse, multicultural empire with flourishing businesses and people on the move. The key is to look at the Persian Empire from the Persian’s perspect

¡Hola, future Spanish speaker! Ready to rocket from zero to hero in just 60 días? Buckle up for “Spanish in 60 Days” - your turbo-charged ticket to Spanish mastery! This power-packed trio of audiobooks is your secret weapon to linguistic domination. “Spanish Language Lessons For Beginners” lets you crush the basics while you sleep or zoom down the highway. “Conversational Spanish for Beginners” equips you to spark up convos that’ll make locals think you’re one of them. And “Spanish Short Stories

For an accurate picture of how the political, social, and religious structure of present-day Europe came to be - and even why we’re speaking English today - studying the key events between the years 500 and 1500 is of critical import. These 24 gripping lectures deliver an unparalleled look at these moments that profoundly changed the arc of history, and they weave the era’s vast array of disparate events into an interconnected tapestry that illuminates why nothing exists in a vacuum.

The Western literary canon has come to epitomize the official—and sometimes controversial—list of works that every educated person should know. Among its more than 3,000 works are the Odyssey, Beowulf, Hamlet, and War and Peace—all of which have stood the test of time to become essential aspects of Western culture and our reading lives. Even if you haven’t read some of them, you’ve undoubtedly heard of them—their mere titles are synonymous with greatness.