With democracy in decline, authoritarian governments are staging a comeback around the world.Over the past decade, illiberal powers have become emboldened and gained influence within the global arena. Leading authoritarian countries—including China, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela—have developed new tools and strategies to contain the spread of democracy and challenge the liberal international political order. Meanwhile, the advanced democracies have retr...

Explores how authoritarian regimes are deploying "sharp power" to undermine democracies from within by weaponizing universities, institutions, media, technology, and entertainment industries.The world's dictators are no longer content with shoring up control over their own populations—they are now exploiting the openness of the free world to spread disinformation, sow discord, and suppress dissent. In Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power, editors W...

It's totally refreshing to find a book written by a bloke for blokes about blokes in love. This book is well overdue and women all over the world should be celebrating. At last a bloke talking about "evolve-ya-bastard" to men. What is great is the question and answer format. So, it's relevant and contextual. I mean he's taken questions from people and answered them in as short a space of page as could be imagined. I don't think he could have said less, but in this case, less is more. The c...

It's 1699 in the coastal settlement of Fount Royal in the Carolinas when Rachel Howarth is sentenced to be hanged as a witch. She's been accused of murder, deviltry, and blasphemous sexual congress, and the beleaguered, God-fearing colonial village wants her dead. But Matthew Corbett, young clerk to the traveling magistrate summoned to Fount Royal to weigh the accusations, soon finds himself persuaded in favor of the beguiling young widow.Struck first by her beauty, Matthew believe...

You’d think there’d be a little more action for the only professional wizard listed in the Chicago phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn’t been able to dredge up any kind of work: magical, mundane, or menial.Just when it looks like he can’t afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise. There’s a brutally mutilated corpse, and monstrous animal markings at the scene. Not to mention that the killing took place on the nigh...

"If you come after the CIA’s most feared assassin, there’s one cardinal rule: Don’t miss.America is under attack. Thousands lie dead after simultaneous strikes across the country. The day will come to be known as Bloody Monday.Jason Trapp, codename ‘Hangman’, was a covert operative whose feats became the stuff of legend. He was the tip of the spear—the man his country unleashed when all hope was lost.Six months ago, someone sold him out. The Agency listed him as kil...

My name is Rylee and I was a Tracker.The final battle is over and The Blood of the Lost was spilled. In the aftermath, the humans still have mysteries they call upon me for. Except I can no longer Track, and my new abilities terrify me.A salvage is offered to me, and with it a chance to redeem myself. A missing girl, her brother desperate to find her. Simple and straightforward, this salvage should be a piece of cake - and a chance to learn some discipline ...

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson comes a rollicking, riveting tale set in the Cosmere universe–a standalone adventure perfect for fans of The Princess Bride.The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disast...

Just when John thinks things are finally calming down, the world never fails to throw a new twist his way.And the latest one is deadly.A distress call from Katrine has set John on a crash course with a band of vicious dimensional raiders led by a supreme mage who are already planning an invasion, while back home, the clock is ticking on the prophecy of the beast invasion that will wipe humans from the face of the world.Worse still, John’s mana is growing stronger, f...

"Some people are born boring. Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort.One fateful night – different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful – Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting...

Harry Dresden’s investigation of a grisly double murder pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago in the first dramatized audiobook in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series!As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far to...

"On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is... different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because sh...