Books published by publisher Washington Square Press

Thor Heyerdahl, a biologist working in Marquesa, had heard of a mythical Polnesian hero, Kon-Tiki, who had migrated to the islands from the east, perhaps as far away as Peru. Further investigation by the Norwegian scientist led him to believe that the story of he migration of a people across thousands of miles of the Pacific was fact, not a myth. When his colleagues refused to accept his theory, Heyerdahl decided to prove its accuracy by duplicating the legendary voyage, limiting himself to a blasa log raft and taking along other intrepid adventurers. Kon-Tiki is the records of the extraordinary trip, a tale so filled with excitement, suspense, and outrageous daring that it has been called the greatest saga of the sea of our time.

Pearl S. Buck's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of a China that was -- now in a Contemporary Classics edition. Though more than sixty years have passed since this remarkable novel won the Pulitzer Prize, it has retained its popularity and become one of the great modern classics. "I can only write what I know, and I know nothing but China, having always lived there," wrote Pearl Buck. In The Good Earth she presents a graphic view of a China when the last emperor reigned and the vast political and social upheavals of the twentieth century were but distant rumblings for the ordinary people. This moving, classic story of the honest farmer Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-lan is must reading for those who would fully appreciate the sweeping changes that have occurred in the lives of the Chinese people during this century. Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck traces the whole cycle of life: its terrors, its passions, its ambitions and rewards. Her brilliant novel -- beloved by millions of readers -- is a universal tale of the destiny of man.

Critically acclaimed author Indu Sundaresan picks up where she left off in The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses, returning to seventeenth-century India as two princesses struggle for supremacy of their father’s kingdom. Trapped in the shadow of the magnificent tomb their grief-stricken father is building for his beloved deceased wife, the emperor’s daughters compete for everything: control over the imperial harem, their father’s affection, and the future of their country. They are forbidden to marry and instead choose to back different brothers in the fight for ultimate power over the throne. But only one of the sisters will succeed. With an enthusiasm for history and a flair for rich detail, Indu Sundaresan brings readers deep into the complicated lives of Indian women of the time period and highlights the profound history of one of the most celebrated works of architecture in the world, the Taj Mahal.

Carlos Castaneda, under the tutelage of don Juan, takes us through that moment of twilight, through that crack in the universe between daylight and dark into a world not merely other than our own, but of an entirely different order of reality. Anthropology has taught us that the world is differently defined in different places. Don Juan has shown us glimpses of the world of a Yaqui sorcerer and Castaneda presents it in such a way that enables us to apprehend it with a reality that is utterly different from our own.This is the special virtue of this work. Castaneda asserts that this world has its own inner logic. He explains it from inside, as it were-from within his own rich and intensely personal experiences while under don Juan's tutelage-rather than to examine it in terms of our logic. Through this experience, Castaneda leads us to understand that our own world is a cultural construct and from the perception of other worlds, we see our own for what it is.