We're partnering with the Emerson Colonial Theatre for a live, in-person event and book signing with iconic humorist Fran Lebowitz this Thursday, December 2nd. In a cultural landscape filled with endless pundits and talking heads, Lebowitz stands out as one of our most insightful social commentators. We'll be on-site selling copies of The Fran Lebowitz Reader, which collects her two bestsellers of the 1970s into a single volume of essays. Tickets are still available, and the author will be signing books for those in attendance at the event. (View the venue's safety protocols and requirements here.)

Today is Small Business Saturday, a nationwide celebration of locally owned, independent businesses. Thank you for shopping small! Your purchases at Harvard Book Store and harvard.com support our store, our staff, and our community. 

In an Opinion Guest Essay for The New York Times earlier this month, Margaret Renkl wrote a beautiful piece called "Forget Amazon. The Best Gifts Are Closer Than You Think," with some particularly resonant words for us during this challenging holiday season. "The current supply-chain disruptions are giving us a taste of what will happen if Amazon manages to drive all the local shops out of business and leaves us at the mercy of a logistics system that was fragile even before the pandemic. If we want these dear local places to survive, we have to spend money there, during the holidays more than ever."

And hey, here's a nice thing to keep in mind while you are shopping at your local bookstore this weekend. When you spend at least $15 at an independent bookstore any time between Wednesday, November 24th and Tuesday, November 30th, you’ll get to choose one of the year’s bestselling audiobooks as a free gift from our partners at Libro.fm. Learn more here.

Monday, November 29, 7:00PM ET

Kevin Birmingham—the award-winning, bestselling author of The Most Dangerous Book—discusses The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece, the deeply researched and immersive tale of how Dostoevsky came to write Crime and Punishment. He will be joined in conversation by Matthew Pearl, author of The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America. Online via Zoom. Learn more.

Tuesday, November 30, 7:00PM ET

Robert Gross—the award-winning, bestselling author of The Minutemen and Their World—discusses The Transcendentalists and Their World. Joining in conversation is Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life. Online via Zoom. Learn more.

Tuesday, November 30, 7:00PM ET

Celebrated essayist, translator, and short story master Lydia Davis discusses her latest essay collection, Essays Two: On Proust, Translation, Foreign Languages, and the City of Arles. Joining in conversation is award-winning critic Parul Sehgal. Tickets required; all tickets include a hardcover copy of Essays Two. Online via Zoom. Learn more.

Wednesday, December 1, 5:00PM ET

Marine biologist Helen Scales—author of Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells—discusses The Brilliant Abyss: Exploring the Majestic Hidden Life of the Deep Ocean, and the Looming Threat That Imperils It. Joining in conversation is Kristina Gjerde, Senior High Seas Advisor to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Global Marine and Polar Programme. Online via Zoom. Learn more.

Thursday, December 2, 12:00PM ET

Stanford University professors Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami, and Jeremy M. Weinstein discuss their co-authored book, System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How to Reboot It. Online via Zoom. Learn more.

Thursday, December 2, 7:00PM ET

Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman—author of The Three Lives of James Madison and Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices—discusses The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America. Online via Zoom. Learn more.

Find recent publications from Cambridge University Press in our Publisher Focus window this week, with new scholarly writing on religion, economics, history, and environmental sustainability. Browse them all here on harvard.com.

In case you missed it, check out our latest "New This Week" newsletter, and come browse our virtual New Arrivals shelves for all the very latest new books, updated every Tuesday. Our Holiday Hundred recommended gift ideas selections are 20% off for Frequent Buyer Card members through the end of the year. And on a monthly basis, members of our Signed First Edition Club receive a new book of great literary merit, selected by our staff.