What We Are Reading Today: America in the World

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Updated 26 October 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: America in the World

Authors: Jeffrey A. Engel, Mark Atwood Lawrence, Andrew Preston

How should America wield its power beyond its borders? Should it follow grand principles or act on narrow self-interest? 
Should it work in concert with other nations or avoid entangling alliances? 
“America in the World” captures the voices and viewpoints of some of the most provocative, eloquent, and influential people who participated in these and other momentous debates. 
Now fully revised and updated, this anthology brings together primary texts spanning a century and a half of US foreign relations, illuminating how Americans have been arguing about the nation’s role in the world since its emergence as a world power in the late 19th century.
It features more than 250 primary-source documents, reflecting a range of views. The book includes two new chapters on the Trump years and the return of great power rivalries under Biden. It shares the perspectives of presidents, secretaries and generals as well as those of poets, songwriters, clergy, columnists, and novelists. 


What We Are Reading Today: Laws of the Land

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Updated 09 January 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: Laws of the Land

  • Employing archives from Mainland China and Taiwan that have only recently become available, this is the first book to document fengshui’s invocations in Chinese law during the Qing dynasty

Author: Tristan G. Brow

Today the term fengshui, which literally means “wind and water,” is recognized around the world. Yet few know exactly what it means, let alone its fascinating history. In “Laws of the Land,” Tristan Brown tells the story of the important roles — especially legal ones — played by fengshui in Chinese society during China’s last imperial dynasty, the Manchu Qing (1644–1912).

Employing archives from Mainland China and Taiwan that have only recently become available, this is the first book to document fengshui’s invocations in Chinese law during the Qing dynasty.