Showing titles in 21st Century

The election of 2008 shattered political barriers; illuminated undercurrents of race, gender, and class; and ignited an extraordinary battle among some of the most formidable rivals ever to seek the presidency: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. It was an election that played out against a backdrop of war, economic collapse, and deep pessimism about the future.

For 12 years, Katrina held all the "most horrible, most expensive" titles for US hurricanes. When the monster storm slammed into Mississippi's Gulf Coast in 2005, public health physician Dr. Robert Travnicek firmly faced the disaster. In Katrina, Mississippi: Voices from Ground Zero, Dr. Travnicek and other first responders reveal what really happened during Katrina: what they did to get ready, how they managed from inside the emergency operations centers in Hancock and Harrison Counties, and the catastrophic destruction they dealt with for several years to come.

The year 1989 brought the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. It was also the year that the economic theories of Reagan, Thatcher, and the Chicago School achieved global dominance. And it was these neoliberal ideas that largely determined the course of the political, economic, and social changes that transformed Europe over the next quarter century. This award-winning book provides the first comprehensive history of post-1989 Europe.

People have been climbing as long as they've existed, and for those who relish the challenge, nothing can top Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on the planet at over 29,000 feet. As Sir Edmund Hillary put it, "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

The enormous sense of optimism unleashed by the Arab Spring in 2011 soon gave way to widespread suffering and despair. Of the many popular uprisings against autocratic regimes, Tunisia's now stands alone as a beacon of hope for sustainable human rights progress. Challenging the widely shared pessimism among regional experts, Micheline Ishay charts bold and realistic pathways for human rights in a region beset by political repression, economic distress, sectarian conflict, a refugee crisis, and violence against women.

Barack Obama’s inspirational politics and personal mythology have overshadowed his fascinating history. Young Mr. Obama gives us the missing chapter: the portrait of the politician as a young leader, often too ambitious for his own good, but still equipped with a rare ability to inspire change. The route to the White House began on the streets of Chicago’s South Side. Edward McClelland, a veteran Chicago journalist, tells the real story of the first Black president’s political education in the capital of the African American political community.

The past is another country, the old saying goes. The same might be said of the future. But which country? For Europeans and Americans today, the answer is Russia.Today's Russia is an oligarchy propped up by illusions and repression. But it also represents the fulfilment of tendencies already present in the West. And if Moscow's drive to dissolve Western states and values succeeds, this could become our reality, too. In this visionary work of contemporary history, Timothy Snyder shows how Russia works within the West to destroy the West.

“An uncannily honest writer,” Amitav Ghosh has published firsthand accounts of pivotal world events in publications including the New York Times, Granta, and the New Yorker (The New York Times Book Review). This volume brings together the finest of these pieces, chronicling the turmoil of our times.

The casino was alive and well in Will Roger's time. It was called Wall Street then as well. But mainstream media allowed for the total exposure of the criminal greed of the Street. Bankers were determined not to allow that mistake to rain on their next financial orgy, so that Will Rogers would have had no voice in the days of the ponzi housing bubble and subsequent crash. Things are different now, and mainstreet is even more vulnerable than in the roaring twenties.

Operation Protective Edge, launched in early July 2014, was the third major Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip in six years. It was also the most deadly. By the conclusion of hostilities some seven weeks later, 2,200 of Gaza's population had been killed, and more than 10,000 injured. In this book, journalist Mohammed Omer, a resident of Gaza who lived through the terror of those days with his wife and then three-month-old son, provides a first-hand account of life on-the-ground during Israel's assault.

With medical mysteries, rising death tolls, and conspiracy theories beamed minute by minute through the vast web universe, the coronavirus pandemic has irrevocably altered societies around the world. In this sharp essay, world-renowned philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy interrogates the many meanings and metaphors we have assigned to the pandemic - and what they tell us about ourselves.

King Charles faces many challenges as he succeeds his mother to the throne. Despite his hard work and genuine concern for the disadvantaged, King Charles III has struggled in the past to overcome his unpopularity. After Diana’s death, his approval rating crashed to 4% and has been only rescued by his marriage to Camilla. In unearthing many secrets and dramas surrounding King Charles, Bower’s book, relies on the testimony from over 120 people employed or welcomed into the inner sanctum.

Este conflicto armado ocurrido entre 1936 y 1939 es uno de los enfrentamientos bélicos más importantes del siglo XX ya que significó la lucha entre facciones radicalmente opuestas: por un lado, el bando nacional fascista de derecha que representaba a la clase alta y por otro lado, el bando republicano rojo de izquierda apoyado por el movimiento obrero. Este dramático y destructivo hecho histórico marcaría el destino de España bajo el poder del dictador Francisco Franco.

Geography comes before history. Islands cannot have the same history as continental plains. The United Kingdom is a European country, but not the same kind of European country as Germany, Poland or Hungary. For most of the 150 centuries during which Britain has been inhabited it has been on the edge, culturally and literally, of mainland Europe.

There have been numerous books examining the 2008 financial crisis from either a US or European perspective. Tamim Bayoumi is the first to explain how the Euro crisis and US housing crash were, in fact, parasitically intertwined. Starting in the 1980s, Bayoumi outlines the cumulative policy errors that undermined the stability of both the European and US financial sectors, highlighting the catalytic role played by European mega banks that exploited lax regulation to expand into the US market and financed unsustainable bubbles on both continents.

It is the largest oil disaster in American history, and it could happen again. It is more than a story of ruined beaches, dead wildlife, corporate spin, political machinations, and financial fallout. It is a riveting human drama filled with people whose lives will forever be defined as "before" and "after the gulf oil disaster". Black Tide is the only book to tell this story through the perspective of people on all sides of the catastrophe.

La torre elevada narra la increíble historia de varios hombres cuyos destinos se entrecruzan y confluyen de forma dramática el 11 de septiembre de 2001. Con una precisión poco común, sustentada en más de quinientas entrevistas realizadas a lo largo de cinco años, nos describe el auge del fundamentalismo islámico, la creación de al-Qaeda y los errores cometidos por los confiados servicios de inteligencia que culminaron en el atentado de las Torres Gemelas.

In Italia i crimini di guerra commessi all’estero negli anni del fascismo costituiscono un trauma rimosso, mai affrontato. Non stiamo parlando di eventi isolati, ma di crimini diffusi e reiterati: rappresaglie, fucilazioni di ostaggi, impiccagioni, uso di armi chimiche, campi di concentramento, stragi di civili che hanno devastato intere regioni, in Africa e in Europa, per più di vent’anni.

Ao longo dos ensaios e dos fragmentos, o ouvinte perceberá que sou contra um mundo melhor, que sou cético e que carrego uma sensibilidade trágica, independentemente de minha vontade filosófica. E por quê? Porque o que nos humaniza é o fracasso, homens e mulheres muito felizes não são homens e mulheres. Tenho medo de pessoas muito felizes. A consciência trágica, seja ela cósmica, seja miserável, miúda e cotidiana, determina o horizonte onde se move o humano.

After the overwhelming horrors of the first half of the 20th century, described by Ian Kershaw in his previous book as having gone 'to hell and back', the years from 1950 to 2017 brought peace and relative prosperity to most of Europe. Enormous economic improvements transformed the continent. The catastrophic era of the world wars receded into an ever more distant past, though its long shadow continued to shape mentalities. Europe was now a divided continent, living under the nuclear threat in a period intermittently fraught with anxiety.