About the Publisher
W.W. Norton & Company has been independent since its founding in 1923, when Warder and Polly Norton first published lectures delivered at the People's Institute, the adult education division of New York's Cooper Union. They expanded their programme beyond the Institute, publishing books by celebrated academics from America and abroad. By mid-century, the two major pillars of Norton's publishing programme - trade books and college texts - were firmly established. The Norton family transferred control of the company to its employees and today - with a staff of four hundred and a comparable number of trade, college and professional titles published each year - W.W. Norton & Company stands as the largest and oldest publishing house owned wholly by its employees.
