In Banquet at Delmonico’s, Barry Werth draws readers inside the circle of intellectuals, scientists, politicians, businessmen, and clergymen who brought Charles Darwin’s controversial ideas to post-Civil-War America. Each chapter is dedicated to a crucial intellectual encounter, culminating with an exclusive farewell dinner held in English philosopher Herbert Spencer’s honor at the venerable New York restaurant Delmonico’s in 1882. In this thought-provoking and nuanced account, Werth firmly situates social Darwinism in the context of the Gilded Age. Banquet at Delmonico’s is social history at its finest.

Banquet at Delmonico's: The Gilded Age and the Triumph of Evolution in America

Biographies & Memoirs

Werth, Barry

Professionals & Academics

University of Chicago Press

In this provocative and unsettling look at the consequences of America's puritanical "need to punish," Barry Werth explores the tragic story of one of America's great literary minds whose life and career were shattered by the "Pink Scare." Newton Arvin (1900-1963) was one of America's most esteemed literary critics, admired by Edmund Wilson and Lillian Hellman, and mentor to Truman Capote. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and in 1951, won the National Book Award for his biography of Herman Melville. As a scholar and writer, Arvin focused on the secret, psychological drives of such American masters as Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and identified the witch-hunt mentality that lies deep in the American psyche. Born and raised in the constrained society of Protestant Indiana, Arvin was a social radical and an unproclaimed homosexual. He came through the Red Scare relatively unscathed, but when the national antismut campaign followed, his apartment in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he was a distinguished professor at Smith College, was searched and relatively mild homoerotic materials were confiscated. He was arrested for possession of pornography, accused in the press of being a leader of a "smut ring," and forced to choose between friendship and survival. After naming several men, he despaired at his own guilt and confusion, and banished himself to the state mental institution overlooking the Smith campus. From there public shame and the fear of his associates began to unravel his connections with the esteemed institutions that had been the cornerstones of his life. In The Scarlet Professor, Barry Werth probes into the virulence with which even the most marginal "sins" are pursued in the fever of America's recurring puritanical crusades. His insights into the tangle of political and moralistic fanaticism underlying America's social landscape provide a forthright and compelling perspective on the dangers of a society where the possibility of a "private life" no longer exists. But The Scarlet Professor is not just a political parable. It also a story of redemption.

The Scarlet Professor: Newton Arvin: A Literary Life Shattered by Scandal

Nan A. Talese

During his thirty-seven years at Smith College, Newton Arvin published groundbreaking studies of Hawthorne, Whitman, Melville, and Longfellow that stand today as models of scholarship and psychological acuity. He cultivated friendships with the likes of Edmund Wilson and Lillian Hellman and became mentor to Truman Capote. A social radical and closeted homosexual, the circumspect Arvin nevertheless survived McCarthyism. But in September 1960 his apartment was raided, and his cache of beefcake erotica was confiscated, plunging him into confusion and despair and provoking his panicked betrayal of several friends. An utterly absorbing chronicle, The Scarlet Professor deftly captures the essence of a conflicted man and offers a provocative and unsettling look at American moral fanaticism.

The Scarlet Professor: Newton Arvin: A Literary Life Shattered by Scandal (Stonewall Book Award Winner)

Arts & Literature

Anchor

A glorious, unparalleled view of the human body . . . Revolutionary computer images from the creator of From Conception to Birth reveal the wonders and complexities of every system in the male and female bodies. The human body is a marvel of engineering. From the muscular and skeletal systems of the hand working in concert to allow us to type, eat, and caress, to the circadian rhythms of the heart and digestive system keeping things moving despite our consciousness being elsewhere, our bodies are far more complex and awe inspiring than any man-made creation. Not since Andreas Vesalius’s On the Fabric of the Human Body, illustrated by the scholar in the mid-16th century, has there been a work examining human anatomy for both the scientific and lay communities. The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman is the ultimate illustrated look at the internal structures and processes that sustain us as living, thinking, social beings. Using the most advanced medical and computer technology—including body scans, ultrapowerful microscopes, and molecular surveillance tools—Alexander Tsiaras, founder of a widely acclaimed medical-imaging company, hones in on the body’s intricately constructed systems and isolates structures that have never been seen before. In more than 500 astonishing images, he dismantles each system, highlights the anatomical difference between men and women, and rebuilds the body from the molecular level on up. Barry Werth’s lyrical, informative text enhances the power of the images, providing an array of startling and fascinating facts. The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman is a milestone in science, art, and technology. As Werth writes in the Introduction, “For the first time we see the body not like something, or represented by human hands, or as a grainy negative or video, but very nearly as it is.”

The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman: The Marvel of the Human Body, Revealed

Science & Math

Tsiaras, Alexander

History & Philosophy

DOUBLEDAY

In 31 Days, Barry Werth takes readers inside the White House during the tumultuous days following Nixon’s resignation and the swearing-in of America’s “accidental president,” Gerald Ford. The congressional hearings, Nixon’s increasing paranoia, and, finally, the devastating revelations of the White House tapes had torn the country apart. Within the White House and the Republican Party, Nixon’s resignation produced new fissures and battle lines—and new opportunities for political advancement. Ford had to reassure the nation and the world that he would attend to the pressing issues of the day, from resolving the legal questions surrounding Nixon’s role in Watergate, to dealing with the wind down of the Vietnam War, the precarious state of détente with the Soviet Union, and the ongoing attempts to stabilize the Middle East. Within hours of Nixon’s departure from Washington, Ford began the all-important task of forming an inner circle of trusted advisers. In richly detailed scenes, Werth describes the often vicious sparring among two mutually distrustful staffs—Nixon’s and Ford’s vice presidential holdovers—and a transition team that included Donald Rumsfeld (then Nixon’s ambassador to NATO) and Rumsfeld’s former deputy, the thirty-three-year-old coolly efficient Richard Cheney. The first detailed account of the ruthless maneuvering and day-to-day politicking behind everything from the pardon of Nixon to why George H. W. Bush was passed over for the vice presidency, to the rise of a new cadre of Republican movers and shakers, 31 Days offers a compelling perspective on a fascinating but relatively unexamined period in American history and its impact on the present.

31 Days: The Crisis That Gave Us the Government We Have Today

History

Americas

Difficulties during the birth of their twins results in one twin's death and the other needing extensive medical care, leading a financially and emotionally troubled family to initiate a lawsuit that consumes seven years of their lives. Reprint.

Damages

Parenting & Relationships

Berkley Trade

This inside account of Vertex, a start-up pharmaceutical company, conveys the exciting drama being played out in the pioneering and enormously profitable field of drug research. Vertex is dedicated to designing--atom by atom--a new life-saving immunosuppr

Billion Dollar Molecule : The Quest for the Perfect Drug

Business & Money

Biography & History

Tandem Library

Join journalist Barry Werth as he pulls back the curtain on Vertex, a start-up pharmaceutical company, and witness firsthand the intense drama being played out in the pioneering and hugely profitable field of drug research. Founded by Joshua Boger, a dynamic Harvard- and Merck-trained scientific whiz kid, Vertex is dedicated to designing -- atom by atom -- both a new life-saving immunosuppressant drug, and a drug to combat the virus that causes AIDS. You will be hooked from start to finish, as you go from the labs, where obsessive, fiercely competitive scientists struggle for a breakthrough, to Wall Street, where the wheeling and dealing takes on a life of its own, as Boger courts investors and finally decides to take Vertex public. Here is a fascinating no-holds-barred account of the business of science, which includes an updated epilogue about the most recent developments in the quest for a drug to cure AIDS.

The Billion Dollar Molecule: One Company's Quest for the Perfect Drug

Simon&Schuster

An inside account of the start-up of a biotechnology company describes its struggle to bring a lifesaving drug to market, discussing the risky financing and profiling the venture capitalists involved. 30,000 first printing.

Billion Dollar Molecule: One Company's Quest for the Perfect Drug

Health, Fitness & Dieting

A look at a seven-year medical malpractice lawsuit explores a cycle of blame that shifts from doctor to midwife to hospital to insurance company

Women's Health

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Werth, Barry. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Werth, Barry

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Werth, Barry. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Banquet at Delmonico's: The Gilded Age and the Triumph of Evolution in America

The Scarlet Professor: Newton Arvin: A Literary Life Shattered by Scandal

The Scarlet Professor: Newton Arvin: A Literary Life Shattered by Scandal (Stonewall Book Award Winner)

The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman: The Marvel of the Human Body, Revealed

31 Days: The Crisis That Gave Us the Government We Have Today

Damages

Billion Dollar Molecule : The Quest for the Perfect Drug

The Billion Dollar Molecule: One Company's Quest for the Perfect Drug

Billion Dollar Molecule: One Company's Quest for the Perfect Drug

Damages