American Philosophical Society Press

09/25/2025

"The Social Philosophers by Robert Nisbet is a tour de force through human history and philosophy." -Paul Mueller, in The Daily Economy this month.

Buy your copy of The Social Philosophers, with a new foreword by Luke Sheahan: https://www.pennpress.org/9781606180389/the-social-philosophers/ #:~:text=In%20this%20provocative%2C%20classic%2C%20absorbing,and%20community%20to%20be%20gained.

Self-governance isn't inherently individualistic. Communities are woven of a network of mediating institutions, overlapping and competing for social re ...

09/19/2025

Don't miss our distribution partner University of Pennsylvania Press's back to school sale through 9/30! There are fascinating APS Press titles in the sale collection for students, educators, and anyone interested in useful knowledge. Use code PENNSCHOOL25 at checkout to save!

https://www.pennpress.org/back-to-school-sale/

📕The Social Philosophers by Robert Nisbet (2025)

📕The Other Presidency by Patrick Spero (2024)

📕Tom Paine's Iron Bridge by Edward G. Gray (2024)

📕The Diplomacy of Independence by Thomas E. Chávez (2024)

📕Benjamin Franklin in American Thought & Culture by Nian-Sheng Huang (2024)

09/18/2025

Save 30% on this backlist gem with code APS30.

"It gradually became clear to me that the content of the Xajil chronicle must have come from two different genres of now-lost pictographic documents: a so-called pictographic history and a continuous-year annal. The change in format and content that had puzzled me so long ago could now be explained as a shift from one genre of pictographic history to another. The question became: how to prove it?" -Robert M. Hill III, from the introduction to Pictograph to Alphabet-and Back

Order your copy here: https://www.pennpress.org/9781606180242/pictograph-to-alphabet-and-back/

09/17/2025

On , we're reading a collection of essays we published on the Constitution that draws from a symposium the American Philosophical Society hosted in 1987. Buy your copy of A More Perfect Union, and use code APS30 to take 30% off the list price: https://www.pennpress.org/9781606180747/a-more-perfect-union/

And follow our Philadelphia neighbors at the National Constitution Center to continue celebrating this anniversary.

09/17/2025

TONIGHT! At 6:00 p.m. ET on 9/17, livestreaming and in person in Philadelphia, APS Press author Thomas E. Chávez will be in conversation with Gabriel Paquette, Gonzalo Quintero Saravia, and Richard Kagan (moderator).

Register online at https://www.amphilsoc.org/events/spain-benjamin-franklin-founding-fathers-and-war-american-independence to learn about the general partnership between Spain and the emerging United States during the revolutionary era; the Spanish contributions to the war for American Independence, and the relationship between Benjamin Franklin and Spain.

Purchase your copy of The Diplomacy of Independence edited by Thomas E. Chávez here: https://www.pennpress.org/9781606188972/the-diplomacy-of-independence/

09/02/2025

Out now! A brand new edition of The Social Philosophers: Community and Conflict in Western Thought by Robert Nisbet, with a new foreword by Luke Sheahan.

In this provocative, classic, absorbing work of social and intellectual history, Robert Nisbet advances the idea that Western social philosophy arose during the disintegration of the ancient Greek and Roman communities, and has been preoccupied ever since with the problem of community lost and community to be gained. He further contends that Western ideas of moral authority, freedom, consensus, and personality take on their distinctive character when viewed through the lens of humankind’s search for community.

Buy the book Daniel J. Mahoney called "a feast for the mind and a joy to read" at the link: https://www.pennpress.org/9781606180389/the-social-philosophers/

The book is pictured here in Washington Square Park in Philadelphia, which has served as a space for both community and conflict over the years.

08/25/2025

Thanks to everyone who joined us last Thursday at our publishing salon on book reviewing! Our insightful panelists got us thinking, talking, and laughing. Scroll through this post to see answers to our salon poll and a few books the panelists are currently reading. They are all writers themselves, and we hope you'll seek out their work.

Ben Yagoda
Paula Marantz Cohen
Damon Linker
Ann de Forest
Autumn Konopka
Kristen Brida

Our next salon will be in October. Keep an eye out here and on the APS calendar for details, or email [email protected] to be added to the mailing list.

08/18/2025

Browse the latest catalog from our distribution partner, Penn Press, and see exciting new APS Press titles like The Social Philosophers by Robert Nisbet with a new foreword by Luke Sheahan (September 2) and Imperfect Oracle by Cass Sunstein (October 14)

• Greater Philadelphia: A New History for the Twenty-First Century, a landmark book project celebrating Philadelphia’s role as the beating heart of the nation’s story. Volume 1, The Greater Philadelphia Region, digs into the interdependence between the city and its periphery across parts of t...

08/16/2025

Happy birthday to Clyde F. Barker, author of the 2024 book on the history of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. This book tells the story of Penn surgeons who played prominent roles in medical advances like anesthesia, antisepsis, heart surgery, X-rays, transplantation, cancer chemotherapy, intravenous nutrition, and gene therapy. The chapter on Barker's own eighteen-year tenure as Penn Surgery chairman was written by Ronald Fairman.

Buy your copy of Surgeons and Something More by Clyde F. Barker and Elizabeth D. Barker at the link, and take 30% off the list price with code APS30.
https://www.pennpress.org/9781606180204/surgeons-and-something-more/

08/13/2025

“I Too Leave Little Wrecks Upon You”: Robert Cushman Murphy’s Fish-Shape Paumanok (1964).

Check out this week’s featured blog from Jon Repetti! https://www.amphilsoc.org/news/i-too-leave-little-wrecks-upon-you-robert-cushman-murphys-fish-shape-paumanok-1964

08/12/2025

Out now! Alexander von Humboldt: Writings in English Parts I & II, Edited by Oliver Lubrich and Thomas Nehrlich.

These volumes present the 250 texts the “father of environmentalism” wrote in English, unabridged in their original form.

Buy the set of two and save! Individual volumes are $45, while the set is $75. Follow the link for details: https://www.pennpress.org/9781606180808/alexander-von-humboldt/

The books are pictured here in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, with the 1871 statue by Friedrich Drake.

08/07/2025

Talk book reviewing with us at our next publishing salon in Philadelphia!

Discussing the review process will be panelists who know it well: Kristen Brida, Paula Marantz Cohen, Ann de Forest, Autumn Konopka, Damon Linker, and Ben Yagoda.

Refreshments start at 5:30 p.m. on August 21st at the APS's historic Philosophical Hall, followed by the panel discussion and audience Q&A. Readers, writers, publishers, and anyone interested in book reviewing are invited to join us.

Register to attend (for free) at the link: http://bit.ly/40RR70P