The American Philosophical Society (APS) is the oldest learned society in the United States, founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” In keeping with Franklin’s vision, the APS is currently relaunching its press, producing a new portfolio of publications that will promote and explore the dynamics of “useful knowledge” in today’s multidisciplinary context. The APS Press publishes scholarly books across the disciplines and has a rich backlist of more than 1,000 books, including many landmark works. They are an independent press with books produced and distributed by Penn Press.
The years 1945 to 2020, from the testing of the first atomic bomb to the rise of artificial intelligence, constitute the “American century,” which coincides with the rise and fall of the United States as a global power. Arnold Thackray’s pioneering expertise in the history of science provides a unique perspective from which to tell this story.
Imperfect Oracle is about both the promise and limits of artificial intelligence. The promise is that in important ways AI is a lot better than we are at making judgments, while its limits are evidenced by the fact that AI cannot always make accurate predictions—not today, not tomorrow, and not the day after, either.
The Social Philosophers argues that Western social philosophy emerged during the disintegration of the ancient Greek and Roman communities. Robert Nisbet contends that Western ideas of moral authority, freedom, consensus, and personality take on their distinctive character as aspects of humankind’s search for community.
This two-volume collection presents the 250 texts Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), known as the “father of environmentalism,” wrote in English, unabridged in their original form. Containing groundbreaking insights into tropical ecosystems, postcolonial societies, and the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, they remain relevant today.
This two-volume collection presents the 250 texts Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), known as the “father of environmentalism,” wrote in English, unabridged in their original form. Containing groundbreaking insights into tropical ecosystems, postcolonial societies, and the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, they remain relevant today.
This two-volume collection presents the 250 texts Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), known as the “father of environmentalism,” wrote in English, unabridged in their original form. Containing groundbreaking insights into tropical ecosystems, postcolonial societies, and the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, they remain relevant today.
Contributions by Patrick Spero, Michelle Craig McDonald, John Van Horne, David R. Brigham, Caroline O’Connell and Bayard Miller
Price: $29.95
ISBN: 9781606181225
Pub Date: June 2025
Format: Paperback
110 Pages
This book, based on an APS exhibition, focuses on the diverse lived experiences of Philadelphians before, during, and after the fight for independence. It includes a fully-illustrated checklist, three essays and two short project history statements, each offering a unique perspective on Philadelphia’s role in the American Revolution.
Jane Colden (1724–1760) was America’s first woman botanist. This richly illustrated account of her life and work examines Colden’s original writing, the correspondence of her father, Dr. Cadwallader Colden, and eighteenth-century botanic sources, and restores her legacy as one of the country’s great botanists.
A sweeping, thought-provoking exploration of how humans, as a species and as individuals, think about the world and themselves, How We Think takes the anthropological view about the human thought process, while focusing on what makes humans so different from each other although we are also universally so much alike.
Philadelphia, from the Revolution until at least the 1840s, was at once the most cosmopolitan and most racially embattled city in America. Thomas Sully’s superb portraits, which form the core of this story, include many of the men and women who made the city’s history in those decades.
