The Enlightenment commitment to reason naturally gave rise to a belief in the perfectibility of man. Influenced by John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, many eighteenth-century writers argued that the proper education and upbringing--breeding--could make any man a member of the cultural elite. Yet e[...]

Three smart young women the scholarly Ruth, her poet roommate Lucy, and their exotic, provocative neighbor Anna are obsessed with games of all kinds. They ve devoted themselves to both the academic study of play and the design of games based on the secret history of the neighborhood around Columbia [...]