Other books that might interest you

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  Common Sense

  Thomas Paine

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  The explosive essay that sparked a revolution.
  
  When Common Sense hit the streets in 1776, it ignited the American colonies like never before. With bold, plain-spoken language, Thomas Paine challenged the authority of the British monarchy and made the urgent case for American independence. More than just a political argument, this short but powerful work gave everyday people the words to demand freedom—and the courage to fight for it.
  
  Radical, rebellious, and razor-sharp, Common Sense remains a landmark of political writing. Its message still resonates today: real change begins when ordinary people dare to speak truth to power.

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  Working Together to Restore...

  Margaret J. Wheatley

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  In this 2025 interview with Justine Willis Toms, Wheatley discusses the importance of creating "islands of sanity" in disruptive times to restore and awaken the human spirit. She emphasizes the need to face reality, understand the current landscape, and contribute meaningfully. Wheatley outlines five stages for solving complex problems: cooling (listening), enrichment (understanding diverse perspectives), magnetizing (inviting missing voices), compassionate destruction (letting go of old patterns), and pattern language (creating healthy groups). She advocates for conscious communities based on shared values and human qualities, and stresses the importance of being present, curious, and grateful. 
  Margaret J Wheatley, Ph.D. is an internationally acclaimed writer, speaker, and teacher. She began caring about the world's peoples in 1966 as a Peace Corps volunteer in postwar Korea. She is cofounder and President Emerita of The Berkana Institute, a charitable foundation that works with people around the world to strengthen their communities using the wisdom and wealth already present in their people, traditions, and environment. She is a guide in leading people back to understanding who we are as humans, being able to create the conditions for our basic qualities of generosity, contribution, community, and love. She is a grand contributor in creating an Island of Sanity in the midst of wildly disruptive seas.   
  Her books include: 
  Leadership and the New Science (Berrett-Kohler 1998) 
  Turning To One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope in the Future (Berrett-Kohler 2009) 
  Perseverance (Berrett-Kohler 2010)  
  Restoring Sanity: Practices to Awaken Generosity, Creativity & Kindness in Ourselves and Our Organizations (Berrett Kohler 2024) 
  Opening to the World As It Is: Poems of Experience (Berkana Publications 2024)

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  One Bright Moon

  Andrew Kwong

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  Winner of the 2021 Michael Crouch Award, debut category of the National Biography Award: From famine to freedom, how a young boy fled Chairman Mao's China to a new life in Australia 
    
  Andrew Kwong was only seven when he witnessed his first execution. The grim scene left him sleepless, anxious and doubtful about his commitment as a revolutionary in Mao's New China. Yet he knew if he devoted himself to the Party and its Chairman he would be saved. That's what his teacher told him. 
  Months later, it was his own father on trial. This time the sentence was banishment to a re-education camp, not death. It left the family tainted, despised, and with few means of survival during the terrible years of persecution and famine known as the Great Leap Forward. Even after his father returned, things remained desperate. Escape seemed the only solution, and it would be twelve-year-old Andrew who undertook the perilous journey first. 
  This is the poignant, resonant story of a young boy's awakening – to survival, education, fulfilment, and eventually to a new life of freedom. 
  PRAISE 
  'An incredibly powerful book' Benjamin Law 
  '[A] moving family saga, shot through with yearning and hard-won joy' Fiona Capp, Sydney Morning Herald 
  'This book will live on in your heart long after you've read the last page' Vicki Laveau-Harvie, author of The Erratics 
  'Heart-breaking, honest, personal, Andrew Kwong's moving journey from oppression to freedom is inspiring' Susanne Gervay, OAM, author 
  'A work of startling clarity ... reminiscent of Angela's Ashes' South China Morning Post Magazine 
  'Deeply moving ... The unique perspective of a child ... places One Bright Moon in the vicinity of Night, Elie Wiesel's pathbreaking memoir of his early life prior to and of his time in German concentration camps' Meenakshi Bharat, IIC Quarterly 
  'A few pages into this compelling memoir proves it was written by a master storyteller' Sharon Rundle, Australian Book Review 
  'A profoundly moving and spellbinding story that perfectly illuminates the terror of the times and the irrepressible yearning for something better' Carol Major, author and writing mentor 
  'One Bright Moon is extraordinary writing that encapsulates long-term hunger as a background feature of daily life in Mao's New China. In the foreground are images of adults and children populating the world of the pre-teenage boy with a photographic memory who would later write of them. The book is rich archival material for the study of China's social history' Mabel Lee, PhD FAHA, writer and translator 
  'Reading this memoir is a healing experience' Devika Brendon, author and editor

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  Wake Up and Reclaim Your...

  Richard Forer

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  Wake Up and Reclaim Your Humanity: Essays on the Tragedy of Israel-Palestine 
  Written and Narrated by Richard Forer 
  Published by Audiobook Publishing Services 
  Explore the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict through a powerful lens of transformation and truth. In Wake Up and Reclaim Your Humanity, author and narrator Richard Forer—once a passionate supporter of Israel—shares his remarkable spiritual awakening that redefined his identity and opened his eyes to the shared humanity between Israelis and Palestinians. 
  Through deeply personal essays, Forer challenges long-held narratives and confronts the existential fears and divisions that fuel the ongoing tragedy in the Middle East. This audiobook takes listeners on a journey from division to compassion, from confusion to clarity—revealing the deeper causes of suffering and offering a bold path toward justice, equality, and inner peace. 
  Whether you're searching for books on the Israel-Palestine conflict, interfaith understanding, or human rights advocacy, this groundbreaking commentary offers a unique perspective rooted in compassion, history, and truth. Perfect for listeners seeking clarity in a world of polarized narratives, Wake Up and Reclaim Your Humanity is a timely and transformative guide to healing one of the world’s most enduring struggles.

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  Democracy Under Fire - Donald...

  Lawrence R. Jacobs

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  Before Trump even ran for President, his disdain for the rules, procedures, and norms of American democracy and the US Constitution was well-known and led prominent Republicans to repudiate him as "unfit" for the GOP nomination. Given the clear-eyed assessment of candidate Trump, why did the Republican Party nominate him as its presidential candidate in 2016 and then stand by him during the next four years? 
   
   
   
  Much of the attention paid to Trump's rise to power has focused on his corrosive personality and divisive style of governing. But he alone is not the problem. The vulnerability is much broader and deeper. The ascendance of Trump is the culmination of nearly 250 years of political reforms that gradually ceded party nominations to small cliques of ideologically-motivated party activists, interest groups, and donors. 
   
   
   
  In Democracy under Fire, Lawrence Jacobs provides a highly engaging history of political reforms since the late-eighteenth century that over time dangerously weakened democracy, widened political inequality as well as racial disparities, and rewarded toxic political polarization. Jacobs's searing indictment of political reformers concludes with recommendations to restrain the unbridled ambition of politicians who thrive on division and instead generate broad citizen engagement with tangible policy making.

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  Cage Eleven - Prison Writings...

  Gerry Adams

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  Long before he became President of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams was a civil rights activist who took part in sit-ins, marches and protests in Northern Ireland. Along with hundreds of other men, Adams was interned on the Maidstone prison ship and in Long Kesh prison – without charge or trial – during the 1970s for his political activities. Women were interned also, in Armagh Women's Prison. Cage Eleven is his own account – sometimes passionate, often humorous – of life in Long Kesh. Written while Adams was a prisoner, the pieces were smuggled out for publication.
  This updated edition includes a new introduction and sketches drawn in Cage Eleven by another prisoner at the time, Danny Devenny.
  'Offers a unique insight into … the experience of internment … an unrivalled representation of the resilience and humour that were as much a part of the life of the political prisoner as the adherence to a set of political ideals.' Irish Herald

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