Tato série se zabývá zásadním významem literatury a čtení v dnešním světě, přičemž kriticky zkoumá stav literární výuky na akademické půdě. Každá kniha představuje polemický pohled na to, jak jsou tradiční literární hodnoty zpochybňovány jak zevnitř, tak zvenčí. V době ekonomické nejistoty a technologických změn se série snaží o obnovení a zdůraznění smyslu a přínosu literárního čtení pro myšlení.
Tim Parks celebrates ten years of living in Italy with this account of the delights and foibles of Italian life. With an Italian wife and family, he is able to introduce the reader to a gallery of characters. Tim Parks won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Betty Trask Award for Tongues of Flame and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for Loving Roger.
Michael Levenson considers how the humanities exist beyond the walls of universities and take place in daily life- in book clubs, public libraries, museums, and historical re-enactments. He poses questions about amateurs versus professionals, what constitutes expertise, and the recent backlash against political elites.
Reading and the Reader defends the value of reading serious literature, investigating the role of the reader in the human search for meaning outside as well as inside of books.
Medical Humanities comprises disciplines as diverse as literature, the visual and performing arts, the history of medicine, and bioethics. Josie Billington examines the value that literature adds to medical education in health training and practice, and defends the power of the arts as a remedial force.
Rick Rylance addresses the debate over the public value of literary studies, from antiquity to the present day. He offers an account of the foundational issue of "the public good" and explores the disciplinary integrity of literary study.