Top 5 Picks from the Year-End Sale
Through the end of the year, all 2014 titles and select gift books available at a discount.
SUP is celebrating another fantastic year of publishing with a Year-End Sale. Now through December, all 2014 titles are 30% off while a handful of gift books—photography albums, popular interest titles and the like—are 50% off. Over 100 titles are on offer for the holiday season—which you can browse in full here—so whether you’re shopping for yourself or someone else, there’s a lot to choose from, from treatises on leadership to crash courses in Derrida. Gathered below we’ve culled a Top 5 list spotlighting some of this year’s favorites to jump start your browsing.
Sale Price: $28.00
UPDATE: SOLD-OUT
For the Photographer or, alternately, the Yosemite Enthusiast:
Carleton Watkins: The Stanford Albums ⇨
Though he failed miserably at prospecting, Carleton Watkins, a 19th century frontiersman, struck gold when he took up the fledgling art of photography. He led mules laden with bulky camera equipment across miles of rocky terrain to document breathtaking landscapes of the as-yet untrammeled American West. His images capture adolescent San Francisco, rugged Oregon, the Pacific coastline, and Yosemite Valley as they appeared in the late 1800s. All of these photos feature in this large, lavish album, but it is his Yosemite collection that earned Watkins world renown. His images of the pristine waters and sheer cliffs of this California valley convinced Congress and President Lincoln to preserve the land from commercial development, giving us the national park that millions flock to annually today. Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as the “art book bargain of the year”, Carleton Watkins: The Stanford Albums reveals, through stunning photography, a window into the 19th century American sublime.
Sale Price: $17.47
For the Econ Student or, alternately, The Simpsons Super Fan:
Homer Economicus:
The Simpsons and Economics ⇨
Economics is not, for a variety of reasons, an easy subject to learn—luckily The Simpsons provides a veritable fount of insight into the field, as well as humor. In Homer Economicus, economists illustrate the foundational principles of economics through the antics of the yellow denizens of Springfield, citing episodes from the much-beloved animated series to reveal the underpinnings of economic theory in practice. In May, New York Magazine placed the book right at the intersection of “brilliant” and “highbrow” on its weekly approval matrix and one Amazon reviewer noted that for those looking to learn enough of economics to “speak about it intelligently and vote prudently, this is a great book.” As the book demonstrates, The Simpsons’ pride of place as one of our most widely viewed and beloved sitcoms, makes it an excellent reference point for beginners seeking to understand economic theory, complementing abstract principles with memorable—if improbable—examples.
Sale Price: $16.07
For the Sociologist or, alternately, the Aspiring Tequila Aficionado:
¡Tequila! Distilling the Spirit of Mexico ⇨
In 2006 UNESCO declared the tequila-producing region of western Jalisco a protected cultural site—on par with the pyramids of Egypt—a designation that not only signaled tequila’s symbolic import for Mexico, but also catapulted it to an artifact of global importance. In ¡Tequila! Distilling the Spirit of Mexico, author Marie Sarita Gaytán traces tequila’s trajectory from a common, relatively uncelebrated spirit to the intoxicant of near mythic proportions that it is today. Digging into turn-of-the-century narcocorridos, American propaganda, and black-and-white midcentury films, Gaytán reveals how tequila came to hold such symbolic importance for the Western world at large, and for Mexico in particular. Think you already know all there is to know about Mexico’s national spirit? Take a shot at the tequila quiz to find out.
Sale Price: $10.47
For the Constitution Buff or, alternately, the Nostalgic Patriot:
Over 60 years ago SUP published what quickly became a definitive (and lively) illustrated guide to the U.S. Constitution; a book of enduring charm entitled Your Rugged Constitution. Moving methodically from Preamble through the Amendments, this book offers a line-by-line 50s-era exegesis of the founding document. Throughout, the book is populated with illustrations, which according to one editor form the “beating heart of the book.” These blue and black-ink line drawings convey everything from the inner-workings of the bicameral legislature to the rudiments of patent law, featuring a colorful cast of powdered wig-wearing Framers alongside pinstriped businessmen—a Jetsons-esque maid-robot even makes a cameo (take a peak at the book’s illustrations here). The text aims to serve a new generation of readers interested in the American system of government, but also offers a reference point for how perspectives on the Constitution have unfolded over time.
Sale Price: $20.97
For the Philosopher or, alternately, the Adam Smith Acolyte
Adam Smith gave us the Wealth of Nations and in it, the metaphor heard ’round the world: the invisible hand. Though his magnum opus on markets and their mechanisms has enshrined him as a watershed figure in the world of economic theory, there’s much more to Smith’s corpus than most realize. The Other Adam Smith offers a more holistic reading of the famed thinker: In it we meet not just Smith the economist, but Smith the philosopher, Smith the literary critic, Smith the historian, and Smith the anthropologist. Hailed as the first reading of Smith of its kind, it connects Smith’s thought with some of the most vibrant and contentious debates of the 20th and 21st centuries.
