The very last book ever published by Maurice Girodias (apart from his own memoirs.) President Kissinger, from the short-lived Freeway Press, is a futuristic tale of what-might-be, as the great Henry leads us to one-world government through communism. Included in the mix are many of Kissinger's loves, revolutions in Africa, the Middle East, war with China, peace with the USSR, with all finally brought together under the blanket of the UN. Perhaps for its fictionalized accounts of "Kissinger...

As the 100th anniversary of World War I approaches, historian Margaret MacMillan compares current global tensions-rising nationalism, globalization’s economic pressures, sectarian strife, and the United States’ fading role as the world’s pre-eminent superpower-to the period preceding the Great War. In illuminating the years before 1914, MacMillan shows the many parallels between then and now, telling an urgent story for our time. THE BROOKINGS ESSAY: In the spirit of its commitment to high...

A major new book by New York Times bestselling author and geopolitical forecaster George Friedman (The Next 100 Years), with a bold thesis about coming events in Europe. This provocative work examines “flashpoints,” unique geopolitical hot spots where tensions have erupted throughout history, and where conflict is due to emerge again.“There is a temptation, when you are around George Friedman, to treat him like a Magic 8 Ball.” —The Ne...

  "Peter Worthington's journey through history has been Homeric. He writes the way journalists were meant to write, with immediacy, clarity and courage." ~ William F. Buckley Jr. Outspoken and colourful, legendary Canadian journalist Peter Worthington stirred controversy for nearly 60 years until his death in May, 2013. In this absorbing account of his career as a journalist, newspaper editor, and political activist, Worthington chal...

From the former secretary of state and bestselling author -- a sweeping look at the global struggle for democracy and why America must continue to support the cause of human freedom."This heartfelt and at times very moving book shows why democracy proponents are so committed to their work...Both supporters and skeptics of democracy promotion will come away from this book wiser and better informed." -- The New York TimesFrom the end of the Cold War ...

A work of memoir, history, and a call to action, the CBC Massey Lectures by internationally renowned UN prosecutor and scholar Payam Akhavan is a powerful and essential work on the major human rights struggles of our times.Renowned UN prosecutor and human rights scholar Payam Akhavan has encountered the grim realities of contemporary genocide throughout his life and career. He argues that deceptive utopias, political cynicism, and public apathy have given rise to m...

Celebrated for bringing a personal touch to history in her Pulitzer Prize–winning epic The Guns of August and other classic books, Barbara W. Tuchman reflects on world events and the historian’s craft in these perceptive, essential essays.From thoughtful pieces on the historian’s role to striking insights into America’s past and present to trenchant observations on the international scene, Barbara W. Tuchman looks at history in a unique way and draws lesso...

From the preeminent columnist, historian, and bestselling author writing at the top of his game comes an essential collection of writing on politics, economics, culture, religion, and more.Conrad Black is one of our best known writers, historians, and businessmen. This never-before-published collection of Conrad's finest journalism, selected from many of the most prestigious publications in the English-speaking world, spans his full career. Included here are Conrad...

From the former president of the Czech Republic comes this first-hand account of his years in office and the transition to democracy following the fall of Communism.A renowned playwright, Václav Havel became one of Czechoslovakia's most prominent dissidents under Communist rule – and the president after the Velvet Revolution, making him a key player in European politics. Here we see first-hand the challenges of creating a new government, tempered with Havel's revealing insights int...

For the past fifty years, The New York Review of Books has covered virtually every international revolution and movement of consequence by dispatching the world’s most brilliant writers to write eyewitness accounts. The New York Review Abroad not only brings together twenty-eight of the most riveting of these pieces but includes epilogues that update and reassess the political situation (by either the original authors or by Ian Buruma). Among the pieces included are:...

The great themes woven through John Lukacs's spirited, concise history of the twentieth century are inseparable from the author's own intellectual preoccupations: the fading of liberalism, the rise of populism and nationalism, the achievements and dangers of technology, the continuing democratization of the globe, and the limitations of knowledge.

Izzy Stone was a reporter, a radical, an idealist, a scholar and, it is clear, a writer whose insights have more than stood the test of time. More than fifteen years after his death, this collection of his work from I.F. Stone's Weekly and elsewhere is astonishing in its relevance to our age, addressing the clash between national security and individual liberty, the protection of minorities, economic fairness, social justice, and the American military abroad.The core of St...