Collection: Politics

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Who are the immensely wealthy right-wing ideologues shaping the fate of America today? From the bestselling author of The Dark Side, an electrifying work of investigative journalism that uncovers the agenda of this powerful group.

In her new preface, Jane Mayer discusses the results of the most recent election and Donald Trump's victory, and how, despite much discussion to the contrary, this was a huge victory for the billionaires who have been pouring money in the American political system.

Why is America living in an age of profound and widening economic inequality? Why have even modest attempts to address climate change been defeated again and again? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? In a riveting and indelible feat of reporting, Jane Mayer illuminates the history of an elite cadre of plutocrats--headed by the Kochs, the Scaifes, the Olins, and the Bradleys--who have bankrolled a systematic plan to fundamentally alter the American political system. Mayer traces a byzantine trail of billions of dollars spent by the network, revealing a staggering conglomeration of think tanks, academic institutions, media groups, courthouses, and government allies that have fallen under their sphere of influence. Drawing from hundreds of exclusive interviews, as well as extensive scrutiny of public records, private papers, and court proceedings, Mayer provides vivid portraits of the secretive figures behind the new American oligarchy and a searing look at the carefully concealed agendas steering the nation. Dark Money is an essential book for anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.

National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
LA Times Book Prize Finalist
PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Finalist
Shortlisted for the Lukas Prize

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD - The prescient founder of The Free Press delivers an urgent wake-up call to all Americans exposing the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in this country--and explains what we can do to defeat it.

"A praiseworthy and concise brief against modern-day anti-Semitism."--The New York Times

On October 27, 2018, eleven Jews were gunned down as they prayed at their synagogue in Pittsburgh. It was the deadliest attack on Jews in American history.

For most Americans, the massacre at Tree of Life, the synagogue where Bari Weiss became a bat mitzvah, came as a shock. But anti-Semitism is the oldest hatred, commonplace across the Middle East and on the rise for years in Europe. So that terrible morning in Pittsburgh, as well as the continued surge of hate crimes against Jews in cities and towns across the country, raise a question Americans cannot avoid: Could it happen here?

This book is Weiss's answer.

Like many, Weiss long believed this country could escape the rising tide of anti-Semitism. With its promise of free speech and religion, its insistence that all people are created equal, its tolerance for difference, and its emphasis on shared ideals rather than bloodlines, America has been, even with all its flaws, a new Jerusalem for the Jewish people. But now the luckiest Jews in history are beginning to face a three-headed dragon known all too well to Jews of other times and places: the physical fear of violent assault, the moral fear of ideological vilification, and the political fear of resurgent fascism and populism.

No longer the exclusive province of the far right, the far left, and assorted religious bigots, anti-Semitism now finds a home in identity politics as well as the reaction against identity politics, in the renewal of America First isolationism and the rise of one-world socialism, and in the spread of Islamist ideas into unlikely places. A hatred that was, until recently, reliably taboo is migrating toward the mainstream, amplified by social media and a culture of conspiracy that threatens us all.

Weiss is one of our most provocative writers, and her cri de coeur makes a powerful case for renewing Jewish and American values in this uncertain moment. Not just for the sake of America's Jews, but for the sake of America.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR. From an eminent international security scholar, an urgent examination of the conditions that could produce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and China--and how it might be prevented.

China and the United States are heading toward a war neither wants. The reason is Thucydides's Trap: when a rising power threatens to displace a ruling one, violence is the likeliest result. Over the past five hundred years, these conditions have occurred sixteen times; war broke out in twelve.

At the time of publication, an unstoppable China approached an immovable America, and both Xi Jinping and Donald Trump promised to make their countries "great again," the seventeenth case was looking grim--it still is. A trade conflict, cyberattack, Korean crisis, or accident at sea could easily spark a major war.

In Destined for War, eminent Harvard scholar Graham Allison masterfully blends history and current events to explain the timeless machinery of Thucydides's Trap--and to explore the painful steps that might prevent disaster today.

SHORT-LISTED FOR THE 2018 LIONEL GELBER PRIZE
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: FINANCIAL TIMES * THE TIMES (LONDON)* AMAZON

"Allison is one of the keenest observers of international affairs around." -- President Joe Biden

"[A] must-read book in both Washington and Beijing." -- Boston Globe

"[Full of] wide-ranging, erudite case studies that span human history . . . [A] fine book."-- New York Times Book Review

A warrior's handbook that provides a conceptual overview of all relevant topics of small unit tactics every Special Forces soldier ought to be familiar with to be effective on the battlefield. It seeks to define the course of study for the sound development of Special Forces soldiers so as to avoid the Scylla of mere academia and the Charybdis of pure pragmatism, and to preserve the heritage, lineage, and legacy of the United States of America's most often misunderstood and unsung heroes, the fighting men of Special Forces. The handbook is categorized into five functional areas: HISTORY, DOCTRINE, PLANNING, OPERATIONS, and COMMON SKILLS. The handbook contains history of the regiment because it accentuates the why of planning and operations. If a fool learns by experience alone, then the wise man certainly can profit from the experience of fools. This expression attributed to Otto Von Bismarck, highlights an especially important truth in the study of war, namely, learning from history, especially the failures of others. Professional warriors have always placed a high premium on it, for it yields the laurels of victory. The desired end state for this systematic arrangement of knowledge is to serve as an institutional rudder for the Special Forces Community by laying a solid foundation during the initial Phases of the Special Forces Qualification Course. We're also hopeful this 10th anniversary edition of the warrior's handbook will prove indispensable for ODAs as a quick GO-TO reference when deployed overseas training and teaching warriors abroad.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - "How did our democracy go wrong? This extraordinary document ... is Applebaum's answer." --Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian explains, with electrifying clarity, why elites in democracies around the world are turning toward nationalism and authoritarianism.

From the United States and Britain to continental Europe and beyond, liberal democracy is under siege, while authoritarianism is on the rise. In Twilight of Democracy, Anne Applebaum, an award-winning historian of Soviet atrocities who was one of the first American journalists to raise an alarm about antidemocratic trends in the West, explains the lure of nationalism and autocracy. In this captivating essay, she contends that political systems with radically simple beliefs are inherently appealing, especially when they benefit the loyal to the exclusion of everyone else. Elegantly written and urgently argued, Twilight of Democracy is a brilliant dissection of a world-shaking shift and a stirring glimpse of the road back to democratic values.

A radically new understanding of and practical approach to climate change by noted environmentalist Paul Hawken, creator of the New York Times bestseller Drawdown

Regeneration offers a visionary new approach to climate change, one that weaves justice, climate, biodiversity, equity, and human dignity into a seamless tapestry of action, policy, and transformation that can end the climate crisis in one generation. It is the first book to describe and define the burgeoning regeneration movement spreading rapidly throughout the world.

Regeneration describes how an inclusive movement can engage the majority of humanity to save the world from the threat of global warming, with climate solutions that directly serve our children, the poor, and the excluded. This means we must address current human needs, not future existential threats, real as they are, with initiatives that include but go well beyond solar, electric vehicles, and tree planting to include such solutions as the fifteen-minute city, bioregions, azolla fern, food localization, fire ecology, decommodification, forests as farms, and the number one solution for the world: electrifying everything.

Paul Hawken and the nonprofit Regeneration Organization are launching a series of initiatives to accompany the book, including a streaming video series, curriculum, podcasts, teaching videos, and climate action software. Regeneration is the inspiring and necessary guide to inform the rapidly spreading climate movement.

"...to be revisited again and again...The candy-colored pages and straightforward stories are hard to resist..." -The New York Times

"...diverse collection of iconic figures...vibrantly illustrated...beautifully crafted volume..." -Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"...exuberant...exquisitely designed...a launching point for more discoveries." -School Library Journal, Starred Review

"A luminous and diverse tribute to black movers and shakers across the centuries." -Publishers Weekly

Meet 52 icons of color from the past and present in this celebration of inspirational achievement--a collection of stories about changemakers to encourage, inspire, and empower the next generation of changemakers. Jamia Wilson has carefully curated this range of black icons and the book is stylishly brought together by Andrea Pippins' colorful and celebratory illustrations.

Written in the spirit of Nina Simone's song "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," this vibrant book is a perfect introduction to both historic and present-day icons and heroes. Meet figureheads, leaders, and pioneers such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Rosa Parks, as well as cultural trailblazers and athletes like Stevie Wonder, Oprah Winfrey, and Serena Williams.

All children deserve to see themselves represented positively in the books they read. Highlighting the talent and contributions of black leaders and changemakers from around the world, readers of all backgrounds will be empowered to discover what they too can achieve. Strong, courageous, talented, and diverse, these extraordinary men and women's achievements will inspire a new generation to chase their dream...whatever it may be.

The 52 icons: Mary Seacole, Matthew Henson, Ava Duvernay, Bessie Coleman, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Cathy Freeman, George Washington Carver, Malorie Blackman, Harriet Tubman, Mo Farah, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jesse Owens, Beyonce Knowles, Solange Knowles, Katherine Johnson, Josephine Baker, Kofi Annan, Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, Brian Lara, Madam C.J. Walker, Yannick Noah, Maurice Ashley, Alexandre Duma, Martin Luther King, Jr., Maya Angelou, Nina Simone, Simone Biles, Stevie Wonder, Esperanza Spalding, Sidney Poitier, Oprah Winfrey, Pele, Nelson Mandela, Louis Armstrong, Rosa Parks, Naomi Campbell, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Muhammad Ali, Shirley Chisholm, Steve McQueen, Zadie Smith, Usain Bolt, Wangari Maathai, Mae Jemison, W.E.B. Du Bois, Nicola Adams, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Misty Copeland.

If you like this book, check out Young, Gifted and Black Too, for 52 more inspiring icons! For younger readers, Baby Young Gifted and Black is perfect to introduce litte ones to these trailblazers who changed the world.

If you like this book, check out Step Into Your Power and Big Ideas for Young Thinkers, by the same author-illustrator team.

With shocking revelations that made headlines in papers across the country, Pulitzer-Prize-winner Tim Weiner gets at the truth behind the CIA and uncovers here why nearly every CIA Director has left the agency in worse shape than when he found it; and how these profound failures jeopardize our national security.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NOW A NETFLIX FILM STARRING COLIN FIRTH - The "brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining" (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker) true story of the most successful--and certainly the strangest--deception carried out in World War II, from the acclaimed author of The Spy and the Traitor

"Pure catnip to fans of World War II thrillers and a lot of fun for everyone else."--Joseph Kanon, The Washington Post Book World

Near the end of World War II, two British naval officers came up with a brilliant and slightly mad scheme to mislead the Nazi armies about where the Allies would attack southern Europe. To carry out the plan, they would have to rely on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man.

Ben Macintyre's dazzling, critically acclaimed bestseller chronicles the extraordinary story of what happened after British officials planted this dead body--outfitted in a British military uniform with a briefcase containing false intelligence documents--in Nazi territory, and how this secret mission fooled Hitler into changing military positioning, paving the way for the Allies' drive to victory.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES

For more than a century, no US adversary or coalition of adversaries - not Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, or the Soviet Union - has ever reached sixty percent of US GDP. China is the sole exception, and it is fast emerging into a global superpower that could rival, if not eclipse, the United States. What does China want, does it have a grand strategy to achieve it, and what should the United States do about it?

In The Long Game, Rush Doshi draws from a rich base of Chinese primary sources, including decades worth of party documents, leaked materials, memoirs by party leaders, and a careful analysis of China's conduct to provide a history of China's grand strategy since the end of the Cold War. Taking readers behind the Party's closed doors, he uncovers Beijing's long, methodical game to displace America from its hegemonic position in both the East Asia regional and global orders through three sequential "strategies of displacement." Beginning in the 1980s, China focused for two decades on "hiding capabilities and biding time." After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, it became more assertive regionally, following a policy of "actively accomplishing something." Finally, in the aftermath populist elections of 2016, China shifted to an even more aggressive strategy for undermining US hegemony, adopting the phrase "great changes unseen in century." After charting how China's long game has evolved, Doshi offers a comprehensive yet asymmetric plan for an effective US response. Ironically, his proposed approach takes a page from Beijing's own strategic playbook to undermine China's ambitions and strengthen American order without competing dollar-for-dollar, ship-for-ship, or loan-for-loan.

A joyful, inspiring picture book that introduces readers to eleven young people from around the world who didn't wait until they were grown to speak up about things that matter to them and change the world for the better, from an award-winning author and New York Times best-selling illustrator.

From climate activist Greta Thunberg to anti-bullying advocate Jaylen Arnold to peace activist Bana Alabed and more, these short profiles of young people and their causes will inspire readers to think about what matters most to them. An author's note, Actions to Make a Difference, and additional resources are also included, providing a roadmap for any kid who wants to make change and help others too.

For the first time, a Rohingya speaks up to expose the persecution facing his people

"I am three years old and will have to grow up with the hostility of others. I am already an outlaw in my own country, an outlaw in the world. I am three years old, and don't yet know that I am stateless."

Habiburahman was born in 1979 and raised in a small village in western Burma. When he was three years old, the country's military leader declared that his people, the Rohingya, were not one of the 135 recognized ethnic groups that formed the eight "national races". He was left stateless in his own country.

Since 1982, millions of Rohingya have had to flee their homes as a result of extreme prejudice and persecution. In 2016 and 2017, the government intensified the process of ethnic cleansing, and over 700,000 Rohingya people were forced to cross the border into Bangladesh.

Here, for the first time, a Rohingya speaks up to expose the truth behind this global humanitarian crisis. Through the eyes of a child, we learn about the historic persecution of the Rohingya people and witness the violence Habiburahman endured throughout his life until he escaped the country in 2000.

First, They Erased Our Name is an urgent, moving memoir about what it feels like to be repressed in one's own country and a refugee in others. It gives voice to the voiceless.

Collectively known as the United States Bill of Rights, these first ten amendments to the United States Constitution limit the powers of the federal government and protect the rights of all citizens, residents and visitors on United States territory. Introduced in 1789 in the First United States Congress by James Madison, these amendments came into effect on December 15, 1791, when ratified by three-fourths of the states. This document plays a central role in American law and remains to this day a symbol of the freedoms and culture of this nation. In this beautiful gift edition, the text of the Bill of Rights is set alongside a history of the amendments, thus placing the document in its historical context.

The Black Woods chronicles the history of Black pioneers in New York's northern wilderness. From the late 1840s into the 1860s, they migrated to the Adirondacks to build farms and to vote. On their new-worked land, they could meet the $250 property requirement New York's constitution imposed on Black voters in 1821, and claim the rights of citizenship.

Three thousand Black New Yorkers were gifted with 120,000 acres of Adirondack land by Gerrit Smith, an upstate abolitionist and heir to an immense land fortune. Smith's suffrage-seeking plan was endorsed by Frederick Douglass and most leading Black abolitionists. The antislavery reformer John Brown was such an advocate that in 1849 he moved his family to Timbuctoo, a new Black Adirondack settlement in the woods.

Smith's plan was prescient, anticipating Black suffrage reform, affirmative action, environmental distributive justice, and community-based racial equity more than a century before these were points of public policy. But when the response to Smith's offer fell radically short of his high hopes, Smith's zeal cooled. Timbuctoo, Freemen's Home, Blacksville and other settlements were forgotten. History would marginalize this Black community for 150 years.

In The Black Woods, Amy Godine recovers a robust history of Black pioneers who carved from the wilderness a future for their families and their civic rights. Her immersive story returns the Black pioneers and their descendants to their rightful place at the center of this history. With stirring accounts of racial justice, and no shortage of heroes, The Black Woods amplifies the unique significance of the Adirondacks in the American imagination.

"On the Move explains how we got here and where we're headed. It's crucial guide to the world we are creating." --Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky and The Sixth Extinction

A vivid, journalistic account of how climate change will make American life as we know it unfeasible.

Humanity is on the precipice of a great climate migration, and Americans will not be spared. Tens of millions of people are likely to be driven from the places they call home. Poorer communities will be left behind, while growth will surge in the cities and regions most attractive to climate refugees. America will be changed utterly.

Abrahm Lustgarten's On the Move is the definitive account of what this massive population shift might look like. As he shows, the United States will be rendered unrecognizable by four unstoppable forces: wildfires in the West; frequent flooding in coastal regions; extreme heat and humidity in the South; and droughts that will make farming all but impossible across much of the nation.

Reporting from the front lines of climate migration, Lustgarten explains how a pattern of shortsighted policies encouraged millions to settle in vulnerable parts of the country, and introduces us to homeowners in California, insurance customers in Florida, and ranchers in Colorado who are being forced to make the agonizing choice of when, not whether, to leave. Employing the most current climate data and predictive models, he shows how America's population will be squeezed northward into a shrinking triangle of land stretching from Tennessee to Maine to the Great Lakes. The places many of us now call home are at risk, and On the Move reveals how we'll deal with the consequences.

Internationally acclaimed novelist Amos Oz grew up in war-torn Jerusalem, where as a boy he witnessed firsthand the poisonous consequences of fanaticism. In two concise, powerful essays, the award-winning author offers unique insight into the true nature of extremism and proposes a reasoned and respectful approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He also comments on related issues--the Gaza pullout, Yasser Arafat's death, and the war in Iraq--in an extended interview at the end of the book.

The brilliant clarity of these essays, coupled with Oz's ironic sense of humor in illuminating the serious, breathes new life into this old debate. Oz argues that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a war of religion or cultures or traditions, but rather a real estate dispute--one that will be resolved not by greater understanding, but by painful compromise.

Fresh, insightful, and inspiring, How to Cure a Fanatic brings a new voice of sanity to the cacophony on Israeli-Palestinian relations--a voice no one can afford to ignore.