The Cold War roots of liberalism’s present crisis “[A] daring new book.”—Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post “A fascinating and combative intellectual history.”—Gideon Rachman, Financial Times By the middle of the twentieth century, many liberals looked glumly at the world modernity had brought about, with its devastating wars, rising totalitarianism, and permanent nuclear terror. They concluded that, far from offering a solution to these problems, the ideals of the Enlightenment, including emancipation and equality, had instead created them. The historian of political thought Samuel Moyn argues that the liberal intellectuals of the Cold War era—among them Isaiah Berlin, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Karl Popper, Judith Shklar, and Lionel Trilling—transformed liberalism but left a disastrous legacy for our time. In his iconoclastic style, Moyn outlines how Cold War liberals redefined the ideals of their movement and renounced the moral core of the Enlightenment for a more dangerous philosophy: preserving individual liberty at all costs. In denouncing this stance, as well as the recent nostalgia for Cold War liberalism as a means to counter illiberal values, Moyn presents a timely call for a new emancipatory and egalitarian liberal philosophy—a path to undoing the damage of the Cold War and to ensuring the survival of liberalism.

Why liberalism is all you need to lead a good, fun, worthy, and rewarding life—and how you can become a better and happier person by taking your liberal beliefs more seriously Where do you get your values and sensibilities from? If you grew up in a Western democracy, the answer is probably liberalism. Conservatives are right about one thing: liberalism is the ideology of our times, as omnipresent as religion once was. Yet, as Alexandre Lefebvre argues in Liberalism as a Way of Life , many of us are liberal without fully realizing it—or grasping what it means. Misled into thinking that liberalism is confined to politics, we fail to recognize that it’s the water we swim in, saturating every area of public and private life, shaping our psychological and spiritual outlooks, and influencing our moral and aesthetic values—our sense of what is right, wrong, good, bad, funny, worthwhile, and more. This eye-opening book shows how so many of us are liberal to the core, why liberalism provides the basis for a good life, and how we can make our lives better and happier by becoming more aware of, and more committed to, the beliefs we already hold. A lively, engaging, and uplifting guide to living well, the liberal way, Liberalism as a Way of Life is filled with examples from television, movies, stand-up comedy, and social media—from Parks and Recreation and The Good Place to the Borat movies and Hannah Gadsby. Along the way, you’ll also learn about seventeen benefits of being a liberal—including generosity, humor, cheer, gratitude, tolerance, and peace of mind—and practical exercises to increase these rewards. You’re probably already waist-deep in the waters of liberalism. Liberalism as a Way of Life invites you to dive in.

We are entering a brave new world, thanks to AI. We must shape this future to the advantage of everyone, and not just a select few. Thinking with Machines: The Brave New World of AI tells the story of AI from its very beginnings through the eyes of Vasant Dhar, currently Robert A Miller Professor at the Stern School of Business, and Professor of Data Science at New York University. Professor Dhar lived through the invention of AI algorithms and their various permutations until today. He brought AI to Wall Street in the 90s and was the first to teach AI at NYU Stern. Through his story and the lessons that it reveals, we learn about AI’s progress and reversals, its promises and dangers, and what we need to address before the machine gets away from us. Thinking with Machines is essential reading for AI enthusiasts and learners at all levels seeking knowledge on the greatest technological advancement of our time.