How Democracies Die
This courageous book questions the state of American liberal democracy. Putting democracies that failed or survived under the microscope, Levitsky and Ziblatt then apply their analysis to the contemporary United States. Looking at how democracy is endangered, they provide a road map for how the United States can be truly exceptional as a multiracial democracy.…
The Third Revolution: Xi JinPing and the New Chinese State
The Chinese state is back, if it ever went away. In her incisive examination of the changes that Ji Jinping has made to the way the Chinese state functions, Elizabeth C. Economy traces the impact on Chinese domestic markets and on foreign policy. This is a compelling analysis of a new China that is asserting…
No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria
Rania Abouzeid’s remarkable book is a powerful account of the everyday lives of Syrian protestors, killers and their victims. She draws on five years of clandestine reporting from Assad’s prisons, ISIS strongholds and rebel meetings. A deeply moving personal narrative, it highlights the dilemmas of different actors caught in a spiral of violence. NoTurning Back…
The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
The sinister philosophy underlying Russian authoritarianism, the torturous drive for freedom in Ukraine, and the manipulation of U.S. elections are the subjects of this brilliant and original book that combines history, philosophy and astute contemporary political analysis. Snyder has connected the dots, explaining how Russian goals – the undermining of the European Union and NATO,…
Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World
The global financial crisis of 2007-2009 undermined global capitalism, exposed the failures of banks to manage their risks, almost broke the Eurozone and played a role in the Ukrainian conflict, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump. In a bold work of extraordinary range and ambition, Adam Tooze has written the standard work on the…