Politik

For nearly ten years, Ben Rhodes was at the centre of the Obama Administration - first as a speechwriter, then a policymaker, and finally a multi-purpose aide and close collaborator. Rhodes puts us in the room at the most tense and poignant moments in recent history: starting every morning with Obama in the Daily Briefing;

A different kind of politics for a new kind of society - beyond work, scarcity and capitalism

Exploring how neoliberalism has discovered the productive force of the psycheByung-Chul Han, a star of German philosophy, continues his passionate critique of neoliberalism, trenchantly describing a regime of technological domination that, in contrast to Foucault's biopower, has discovered the productive force of the psyche. In the course of discussing all the facets of neoliberal psychopolitics fueling our contemporary crisis of freedom, Han elaborates an analytical framework that provides an original theory of Big Data and a lucid phenomenology of emotion. But this provocative essay proposes counter models too, presenting a wealth of ideas and surprising alternatives at every turn.

From India to Turkey, from Poland to the United States, authoritarian populists have seized power. Two core components of liberal democracy individual rights and the popular will are at war, putting democracy itself at risk. In plain language, Yascha Mounk describes how we got here, where we need to go, and why there is little time left to waste.

Has liberalism failed because it has succeeded?

In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklins life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, Americas best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richards Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nations alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklins amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.

In his major New York Times bestseller, Jimmy Carter looks back from ninety years of age.

History does not repeat, but it does instruct. European history shows us that societies can break, democracies can fall, ethics can collapse, and people can find themselves in unimaginable circumstances. Today, we are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to totalitarianism in the twentieth century. This book deals with this topic.

The definitive translation of Plato's Republic, the most influential text in the history of Western philosophyLong regarded as the most accurate rendering of Plato's Republic that has yet been published, this widely acclaimed translation by Allan Bloom was the first to take a strictly literal approach. In addition to the annotated text, there is also a rich and valuable essay -- as well as indices -- which will enable readers to better understand the heart of Plato's intention.

A beautiful collector' s edition of Aurum' s popular title, The Lost World of Bletchley Park, newly redesigned and featuring removable facsimile documents.

A top cybersecurity journalist tells the story behind the virus that sabotaged Iran's nuclear efforts and shows how its existence has ushered in a new age of warfare-one in which a digital attack can have the same destructive capability as a megaton bomb. "Immensely enjoyable . . . Zetter turns a complicated and technical cyber story into an engrossing whodunit."-The Washington Post The virus now known as Stuxnet was unlike any other piece of malware built before: Rather than simply hijacking targeted computers or stealing information from them, it proved that a piece of code could escape the digital realm and wreak actual, physical destruction-in this case, on an Iranian nuclear facility. In these pages, journalist Kim Zetter tells the whole story behind the world's first cyberweapon, covering its genesis in the corridors of the White House and its effects in Iran-and telling the spectacular, unlikely tale of the security geeks who managed to unravel a top secret sabotage campaign years in the making. But Countdown to Zero Day also ranges beyond Stuxnet itself, exploring the history of cyberwarfare and its future, showing us what might happen should our infrastructure be targeted by a Stuxnet-style attack, and ultimately, providing a portrait of a world at the edge of a new kind of war.

With simple prose and straightforward logic, this book offers lessons for managers and business leaders. It is suitable reading for anyone in the realm of business or politics.

Critically and textually up-to-date, this new edition of the classic translation (Samuel Moore, 1888) features an introduction and notes by the eminent Marx scholar David McLellan, prefaces written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels subsequent to the original 1848 publication, and corrections of errors made in earlier versions. Regarded as one of the most influential political tracts ever written, The Communist Manifesto serves as the foundation document of the Marxist movement. This summary of the Marxist vision is an incisive account of the world-view Marx and Engels had evolved during their hectic intellectual and political collaboration of the previous few years.

Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of John Rawls's view, much of the extensive literature on his theory refers to the first edition. This reissue makes it once again available for scholars and serious students of Rawls's work.

Netanyahu became prime minister in the aftermath of one of Israel's biggest tragedies, the assassination of Yizhak Rabin, and will likely end his career as prime minister responsible for the biggest scandal in the nation's history; October 7th 2023. This book takes the reader on a riveting journey through the period, examining the most important events as well as the impact Netanyahu has had on Israel as the longest serving prime minister. A political genius who became his own worst enemy, doing anything to cling on to power to the detriment of his nation's well-being. Under Netanyahu's leadership, Israel's economy flourished in certain periods, and the Jewish state normalised ties with Arab nations. But he also paved the way for the most extreme politicians ever seen in the Knesset, and has divided the country more than any other leader. He also played an instrumental role in strengthening Israel's religious character, allowing the ultra-orthodox to live in a parallel society with fewer societal obligations than the rest of the country. Confino relies on interviews with the most important people from the years 1996- 2024 and offers the reader a rare look behind the scenes.

** THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ** A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR **'Visionary ... buy or borrow this book, read it, take it to heart' OBSERVER'Everyone who cares about freedom should read this book' ANNE APPLEBAUM'Passionate, intimate, compelling - a clarion call' PHILIPPE SANDSA brilliant exploration of freedom - what it is, how it's been misunderstood, and why it's our only chance for survival from the acclaimed, bestselling author of On Tyranny Freedom is our great commitment, but we have lost sight of what it means - leading us into crisis. Too many of us look at freedom as the absence of state power: we think we're free if we can do and say as we please. But true freedom isn't so much freedom from, as freedom to - the freedom to thrive, to take risks for futures we choose by working together. Freedom is the value that makes all other values possible.Drawing on the work of philosophers and political dissidents, conversations with contemporary thinkers and his own experiences, Snyder identifies the practices and attitudes that will allow us to design a government in which we and future generations can flourish. Intimate yet ambitious, this book forges a new consensus rooted in a politics of abundance, generosity and grace.On Tyranny inspired millions around the world to fight for freedom; On Freedom helps us see exactly what we're fighting for. It is a thrilling intellectual journey and a tour de force of political philosophy.'In these hard times for liberty, On Freedom makes the case that freedom, once explored and understood, is the way forward' PRESIDENT ZELENSKY*New York Times bestseller list, 6 Oct 24*.

When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world's youngest billionaire and crypto's Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?In Going Infinite Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking readers into the mind of Bankman-Fried, whose rise and fall offers an education in high-frequency trading, cryptocurrencies, philanthropy, bankruptcy, and the justice system. Both psychological portrait and financial roller-coaster ride, Going Infinite is Michael Lewis at the top of his game, tracing the mind-bending trajectory of a character who never liked the rules and was allowed to live by his own-until it all came undone.

There is no green energy. Nor pink, nor black. Nor clean nor dirty, for that matter. In this intelligent, eye-opening and witty bestseller, an eminent climate scientist takes a graphic novelist on a journey to understand the profound changes that our planet is experiencing. The scientist, Jean-Marc Jancovici, explains the workings of superpowers and history; oil and climate; ecology, economics and energy flows. He describes, in short, the world we live in today-a world whose future is deeply uncertain. The artist, Christophe Blain, intently listens and draws.As the pair come face to face with global warming, they - along with Mother Nature, Iron Man and Popeye, among others - create a picture of what the solution to our predicament actually looks like. It's not just about switching to renewable energy sources, they show. It's about rethinking everything: our energy supply, our economies and our whole world. We're left with a vision of the future in which nuclear power, food, education, housing, transport and communities - in other words all of us - work together to create a world without end.

"A spellbinding work of history that reads like a Cold War spy thriller-about the US-sanctioned plot to assassinate the democratically elected leader of the newly independent Congo"--

'A characteristically radical re-reading of history that places the social and political experiments of pirates at the heart of the European Enlightenment. A brilliant companion volume to the best-selling Dawn of Everything' Amitav GhoshThe Enlightenment did not begin in Europe. Its true origins lie thousands of miles away on the island of Madagascar, in the late seventeenth century, when it was home to several thousand pirates. This was the Golden Age of Piracy, a period of violent buccaneering and rollicking legends - but it was also, argues anthropologist David Graeber, a brief window of radical democracy, as the pirate settlers attempted to apply the egalitarian principles of their ships to a new society on land.For Graeber, Madagascar's lost pirate utopia represents some of the first stirrings of Enlightenment political thought. In this jewel of a book, he offers a way to 'decolonize the Enlightenment', demonstrating how this mixed community experimented with an alternative vision of human freedom, far from that being formulated in the salons and coffee houses of Europe. Its actors were Malagasy women, merchants and traders, philosopher kings and escaped slaves, exploring ideas that were ultimately to be put into practice by Western revolutionary regimes a century later.Pirate Enlightenment playfully dismantles the central myths of the Enlightenment. In their place comes a story about the magic, sea battles, purloined princesses, manhunts, make-believe kingdoms, fraudulent ambassadors, spies, jewel thieves, poisoners and devil worship that lie at the origins of modern freedom.

One of the great historians of our age asks: how far can a single leader alter the course of history?The modern era saw the emergence of individuals who had command over a terrifying array of instruments of control, persuasion and death. Whole societies were re-shaped and wars fought, often with a merciless contempt for the most basic norms. At the summit of these societies were leaders whose personalities had somehow given them the ability to do whatever they wished.Ian Kershaw's new book is a compelling, lucid and challenging attempt to understand these rulers, whether operating on the widest stage (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini) or with a more national impact (Tito, Franco). What was it about these leaders and the times they lived in that allowed them such untrammelled and murderous power? And what brought that era to an end? In a contrasting group of profiles, from Churchill to de Gaulle, Adenauer to Gorbachev, and Thatcher to Kohl, Kershaw uses his exceptional skills to think through how other, strikingly different figures wielded power.