"The beauty and symmetry of the natural world come alive in this inspired collaboration between acclaimed nature photographer William Neill and San Francisco's famous hands-on science museum, the Exploratorium. Exquisite, full-color photographs unveil the secret blueprints of nature often overlooked by the casual observer: the spiral forms that appear in seashells, spiderwebs, and the heart of a daisy; the hexagons found in honeycombs and cracking...

Myths are based on faith more than on fact, yet myths underlie all human societies; they are our substitute for instinct. Using this approach, University of Chicago historian McNeill (Plagues and People, etc.) here looks at "living myth systems," such as liberalism and Marxism, as well as dead myths, such as Nazism. He warns that the electoral process, and the "democratic myths" behind it, are in danger of being made irrelevant by powerful private-interest...

In Keeping Together in Time one of the most widely read and respected historians in America pursues the possibility that coordinated rhythmic movement - and the shared feelings it evokes - has been a powerful force in holding human groups together. As he has done for historical phenomena as diverse as warfare, plague, and the pursuit of power, William McNeill brings a dazzling breadth and depth of knowledge to his study of dance and drill in human...

A concise account of the development of the Western civlization beginning with the ancient culture of the Nile. "The Rise of the West, winner of the National Book Award for history in 1964, is famous for its ambitious scope and intellectual rigor. In it, McNeil challenges the Spengler-Toynbee view that a number of separate civilizations pursued essentially independent careers, and argues instead that human cultures interacted at every stage of their...

"A great stone bridge built three centuries ago in the heart of the Balkans by a Grand Vezir of the Ottoman Empire dominates the setting of Ivo Andric's novel. Spanning generations, nationalities, and creeds, the bridge stands witness to the countless lives played out upon it: to Radisav, the workman, who tries to hinder its construction and is impaled alive on its highest point; to the lovely Fata, who throws herself from its parapet to escape a...