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<b>#1聽<i>New York Times</i>聽Bestseller 鈥⒙?lt;b>A historian of fascism offers a guide for surviving and resisting America's turn towards authoritarianism.</b><br /></b><br />The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.<br /><br /><i>On Tyranny</i>聽is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.<br /><br /><b>"Mr. Snyder is a rising public intellectual unafraid to make bold connections between past and present." 鈥?lt;i>The New York Times</i></b>
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<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER 鈥⒙?lt;b>The celebrated author of聽<i>Double Cross</i>聽and聽<i>Rogue Heroes</i>聽returns with his greatest spy story yet, a thrilling聽<i>Americans</i>-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War.</b><br /><br />鈥淭he best true spy story I have ever read.鈥濃€擩OHN LE CARR脡<br /></b><br /> If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States's nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war. Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievsky's name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain's obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky: the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames, the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets.聽<br /><br /> Unfolding the delicious three-way gamesmanship between America, Britain, and the Soviet Union, and culminating in the gripping cinematic beat-by-beat of Gordievsky's nail-biting escape from Moscow in 1985, Ben Macintyre's latest may be his best yet. Like the greatest novels of John le Carr茅, it brings readers deep into a world of treachery and betrayal, where the lines bleed between the personal and the professional, and one man's hatred of communism had the power to change the future of nations.
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<b>鈥淪uperb 鈥?A vivid and richly detailed story 鈥?worth reading by everyone.鈥?</b>-<b><i>The New York Times Book Review</i></b><br /><b><br /></b><b>From the</b><b> bestselling </b><b>author of <i>Return of a King</i>, the story of how the East India Company took over large swaths of Asia, and the devastating results of the corporation running a country.</b><br /><b><br /></b>In August 1765, the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and set up, in his place, a government run by English traders who collected taxes through means of a private army. <br /><br />The creation of this new government marked the moment that the East India Company ceased to be a conventional company and became something much more unusual: an international corporation transformed into an aggressive colonial power. Over the course of the next 47 years, the company's reach grew until almost all of India south of Delhi was effectively ruled from a boardroom in the city of London.<br /><br /><i>The Anarchy</i> tells one of history's most remarkable stories: how the Mughal Empire-which dominated world trade and manufacturing and possessed almost unlimited resources-fell apart and was replaced by a multinational corporation based thousands of miles overseas, and answerable to shareholders, most of whom had never even seen India and no idea about the country whose wealth was providing their dividends. Using previously untapped sources, Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before and provides a portrait of the devastating results from the abuse of corporate power.
The World in 1776
by
Marshall B. Davidson
Language
English
Pages
414
Publication Date
June 14, 2015
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One-third of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were not of English stock. Eight were first-generation immigrants. It was in recognition of the mixed European background of so many Americans that John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson proposed that the seal of the United States bear the national emblems of France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Scotland, and England, thus "pointing out the countries from which these States have been peopled."<br /><br />Many came, as Thomas Paine stated, in search of asylum. But they also came with an intent to preserve and refresh aspects of life in their homelands.<br /><br />In 1776, Europe boasted a rich civilization, alive with dynamic ideas, flourishing arts, and promising concepts in science. The foundations of industry and business were established, and social reforms were being undertaken, which Europeans took with them as they colonized and traded. They had come in contact with Eastern civilizations, above all, China. Here, from award-winning historian Marshall B. Davidson, is the story of the world of 1776.
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<b>#1 <i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLER </b>鈥⒙?lt;b>In<i> Sapiens, </i>he explored our past. In <i>Homo Deus, </i>he looked to our future<i>. </i>Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today鈥檚 most pressing issues.</b><br /><br /><b>鈥淔ascinating . . . a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the twenty-first century.鈥濃€擝ill Gates,聽<i>The New York Times Book Review</i></b><br /><br /><b>NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY <i>FINANCIAL TIMES </i>AND聽<b>PAMELA PAUL, KQED聽</b></b><br /><br /> How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children? <br /><br />Yuval Noah Harari鈥檚 <i>21 Lessons for the 21st Century</i> is a probing and visionary investigation into today鈥檚 most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.<br /><br /> In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis?<br /><br /> Harari鈥檚 unique ability to make sense of where we have come from and where we are going has captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Here he invites us to consider values, meaning, and personal engagement in a world full of noise and uncertainty. When we are deluged with irrelevant information, clarity is power. Presenting complex contemporary challenges clearly and accessibly, <i>21 Lessons for the 21st Century</i> is essential reading.<br /><b><br />鈥淚f there were such a thing as聽a required instruction manual for politicians and thought leaders, Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari鈥檚聽<i>21 Lessons for the 21st Century</i>聽would deserve serious consideration. In this collection of聽provocative聽essays, Harari . . .聽tackles a daunting array of issues, endeavoring to answer a persistent question: 鈥榃hat is happening in the world today, and what is the deep meaning of these events?鈥欌€濃€?lt;i>BookPage聽</i>(top pick)</b>
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Ten years after the publication of his Services Sp茅ciaux (1935-1945), Paillole took up his pen once again in order to shed further light on the critical role that the French Secret Service played in the infiltration of German agencies. In this first English edition of The Spy in Hitler鈥檚 Inner Circle, Paillole brings us to the very heart of the world of espionage and counterintelligence, providing unique insight into the key figures that led to the decoding of the Enigma machine at Bletchley and the ultimate collapse of Hitler鈥檚 Third Reich, most notably through Hans-Thilo Schmidt, France鈥檚 German spy embedded in the very heart of the Third Reich. In compelling narrative style Paillole details how Schmidt delivered intelligence to France right from the source of the German Cipher Office. Schmidt, who鈥檚 brother Rudolf occupied one of the highest postings in the Third Reich, commander of 2nd Panzer Army in Russia, created an intelligence network between France, Poland and England, and successfully transmitted crucial details about Hitler鈥檚 strategic plans. From information about Germany鈥檚 rearmament and the reoccupation of the Rhineland, to fundamental technical intelligence about the Enigma machine, Schmidt鈥檚 contributions are key to the Allied victory in the intelligence war, despite the fact that France largely ignored his communications. Revealed here are the most secret aspects of the 鈥榮ecret war,鈥?the 鈥榳ar of numbers.鈥?By way of Hans-Thilo Schmidt Paillole sheds further light on the interaction of secret agents working inside the German government, bringing attention to the cooperation between the French, English and Polish agencies surrounding the challenges of decoding the Enigma machine. We learn the innermost details of the roles that men such as Gustave Bertrand, Rudolphe Lemoine, and Richard Sorge played in this dramatic history and ultimately the pivotal role that Bletchley鈥檚 Alan Turing was able to perform as a result. Paillole brings renewed focus onto one of the most important espionage affairs of the war and sheds new light on already existent Anglo-Saxon and Polish historiography, revealing new aspects of the participation of Enigma during the decisive phases of the Second World War: the Battle of France, the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, the Battle of Libya and the Battle of Normandy.
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<p><strong>"Hugely enjoyable, magnificently researched, and deeply absorbing." 鈥擩ason Goodwin, <em>New York Times Book Review</em></strong></p><br /><p>At midnight, December 31, 1925, citizens of the newly proclaimed Turkish Republic celebrated the New Year. For the first time ever, they had agreed to use a nationally unified calendar and clock.</p><br /><p>Yet in Istanbul鈥攁n ancient crossroads and Turkey's largest city鈥攑eople were looking toward an uncertain future. Never purely Turkish, Istanbul was home to generations of Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, as well as Muslims. It welcomed White Russian nobles ousted by the Russian Revolution, Bolshevik assassins on the trail of the exiled Leon Trotsky, German professors, British diplomats, and American entrepreneurs鈥攁 multicultural panoply of performers and poets, do-gooders and ne鈥檈r-do-wells. During the Second World War, thousands of Jews fleeing occupied Europe found passage through Istanbul, some with the help of the future Pope John XXIII. At the Pera Palace, Istanbul's most luxurious hotel, so many spies mingled in the lobby that the manager posted a sign asking them to relinquish their seats to paying guests.</p><br /><p>In beguiling prose and rich character portraits, Charles King brings to life a remarkable era when a storied city stumbled into the modern world and reshaped the meaning of cosmopolitanism.</p>
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<b>From the author of聽<i>On Tyranny</i>聽comes a stunning new chronicle of the rise of authoritarianism from Russia to Europe and America.</b><br /><br /><b>鈥淎 brilliant analysis of our time.鈥濃€擪arl Ove Knausgaard, <i>The New Yorker</i></b><br /><br />With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy seemed final. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. This faith was misplaced. Authoritarianism returned to Russia, as Putin found fascist ideas that could be used to justify rule by the wealthy. In the 2010s, it has spread from east to west, aided by Russian warfare in Ukraine and cyberwar in Europe and the United States.聽 <br /><br />Russia found allies among nationalists, oligarchs, and radicals everywhere, and its drive to dissolve Western institutions, states, and values found resonance within the West itself.聽 The rise of populism, the British vote against the EU, and the election of Donald Trump were all Russian goals, but their achievement reveals the vulnerability of Western societies.<br /><br />In this forceful and unsparing work of contemporary history, based on vast research as well as personal reporting, Snyder goes beyond the headlines to expose the true nature of the threat to democracy and law. To understand the challenge is to see, and perhaps renew, the fundamental political virtues offered by tradition and demanded by the future. By revealing the stark choices before us--between equality or oligarchy, individuality or totality, truth and falsehood--Snyder restores our understanding of the basis of our way of life, offering a way forward in a time of terrible uncertainty.
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<b><i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER</b><br /> <br /><b>Journalist Adam Higginbotham鈥檚 definitive, years-in-the-making account of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster鈥攁nd a powerful investigation into how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the twentieth century鈥檚 greatest disasters.</b><br /><br />Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering history鈥檚 worst nuclear disaster. In the thirty years since then, Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers its citizens and the entire world. But the real story of the accident, clouded from the beginning by secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation, has long remained in dispute.<br /> <br />Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham has written a harrowing and compelling narrative which brings the disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand. The result is a masterful nonfiction thriller, and the definitive account of an event that changed history: a story that is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth.<br /> <br /><i>Midnight in Chernobyl </i>is an indelible portrait of one of the great disasters of the twentieth century, of human resilience and ingenuity, and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will鈥攍essons which, in the face of climate change and other threats, remain not just vital but necessary.
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<p><strong>NATIONAL BESTSELLER</strong></p><p><strong>NPR Best Book of 2017 </strong></p><p><strong>鈥淣ot all superheroes wear capes, and Elizebeth Smith Friedman should be the subject of a future Wonder Woman movie.鈥?鈥斅?lt;em>The New York Times</em></strong></p><p>Joining the ranks of <em>Hidden Figures</em> and In the Garden of Beasts, the incredible true story of the greatest codebreaking duo that ever lived, an American woman and her husband who invented the modern science of cryptology together and used it to confront the evils of their time, solving puzzles that unmasked Nazi spies and helped win World War II.</p><p>In 1916, at the height of World War I, brilliant Shakespeare expert Elizebeth Smith went to work for an eccentric tycoon on his estate outside Chicago. The tycoon had close ties to the U.S. government, and he soon asked Elizebeth to apply her language skills to an exciting new venture: code-breaking. There she met the man who would become her husband, groundbreaking cryptologist William Friedman. Though she and Friedman are in many ways the "Adam and Eve" of the NSA, Elizebeth鈥檚 story, incredibly, has never been told.</p><p>In <em>The Woman Who Smashed Codes</em>, Jason Fagone chronicles the life of this extraordinary woman, who played an integral role in our nation鈥檚 history for forty years. After World War I, Smith used her talents to catch gangsters and smugglers during Prohibition, then accepted a covert mission to discover and expose Nazi spy rings that were spreading like wildfire across South America, advancing ever closer to the United States. As World War II raged, Elizebeth fought a highly classified battle of wits against Hitler鈥檚 Reich, cracking multiple versions of the Enigma machine used by German spies. Meanwhile, inside an Army vault in Washington, William worked furiously to break Purple, the Japanese version of Enigma鈥攁nd eventually succeeded, at a terrible cost to his personal life.</p><p>Fagone unveils America鈥檚 code-breaking history through the prism of Smith鈥檚 life, bringing into focus the unforgettable events and colorful personalities that would help shape modern intelligence. Blending the lively pace and compelling detail that are the hallmarks of Erik Larson鈥檚 bestsellers with the atmosphere and intensity of <em>The Imitation Game, The Woman Who Smashed Codes</em> is page-turning popular history at its finest.</p>