Founded in 1956, Penn State University Press publishes rigorously reviewed, high-quality works of scholarship and books of regional and contemporary interest, with a focus on the humanities and social sciences. The publishing arm of the Pennsylvania State University and a division of the Penn State University Libraries, the Press promotes the advance of scholarship by disseminating knowledge—new information, interpretations, methods of analysis—widely in books, journals, and digital publications.
Scholarly publishing has faced monumental challenges over the past few decades. The Press takes its place among those institutions moving the enterprise forward. Its innovative projects continue to identify and embrace the technological advances and business models that ensure scholarly publishing will remain feasible, and widely accessible, well into the future.
A narrative history of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Explores the court's notable decisions and why they matter in the broader context of Pennsylvania and American law and history.
Phantoms of Time and Time of Phantoms: Aby Warburg's History of Art
The Surviving Image, originally published in French in 2002, is the result of Georges Didi-Huberman's extensive research into the life and work of foundational art historian Aby Warburg. Warburg envisioned an art history that drew from anthropology, psychoanalysis, and philosophy in order to understand the life of ......
Phantoms of Time and Time of Phantoms: Aby Warburg's History of Art
Originally published in French in 2002, examines the life and work of art historian Aby Warburg. Demonstrates the complexity and importance of Warburg’s ideas, addressing broader questions regarding art historians’ conceptions of time, memory, symbols, and the relationship between art and the rational and irrational forces of the ......
New Perspectives on Settlement and Cultural Identity
In the thirty-five years since the publication of Barry Kent’s seminal book, Susquehanna’s Indians, new and novel technologies, interpretive perspectives, and archaeological data have led to a reassessment of many aspects of Susquehannock life. This book presents these developments, bringing the study of the Susquehannocks into ......
Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms
This pioneering work that first appeared in 1972 in German was the first to compare the conceptual world of a biblical book with ancient Near Eastern iconography. Eisenbrauns’ English edition of Keel’s classic work provides the 21st century schoÆ’lar with his groundbreaking methodology. Generously illustrated with ......
During the past century, numerous books and articles have appeared on the verbal system of Semitic languages. Thanks to the discovery of Ugaritic texts, Akkadian tablets, Canaanite letters found at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, our understanding of the phonology, morphology, and syntax of ......
Edition of texts from the Nuzi temple archives with analysis of individuals involved and in-depth presentation of seal impressions. Analysis of economic cuneiform documents from 2nd-millennium BC Nuzi. Business relationships and processes are explored. Seal impressions are drawn and analyzed. Includes photos, transliteration, translation, and ......
Reprinted from its 1918 edition, The Tale of a Plain Man by Alexis Stone details the memories of Pennsylvania's turn-of-the-century state governor. During the Civil War, the adolescent Stone ran off to enlist in the volunteer army beginning a military career, which he then followed into private education, law practice, and public ......
The Poor Man of Nippur is a short tale of 160 lines, telling how a poor man wronged by the governor of his city, Nippur, cunningly takes revenge on his abuser and wrongdoer. The story is told in a sympathetic and humorous way, making it captivating and entertaining reading even by modern standards, and it is of exceptional literary ......