Other books that might interest you

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  Black Flag Down -...

  Liam Byrne

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  The West is facing a terror threat unprecedented since the Cold War: a revolution in the accessibility of violence as ISIS, al Qaeda and their allies set out to build a 21st-century theocracy of seventh-century values, stretching from Portugal to Pakistan.
  We need to dramatically step up the fightback - yet we're at risk of plunging into our enemies' trap of divide and rule. At home, we risk becoming a suspicious society, scarred by Islamophobia, where British Muslims fear being seen as the enemy within. Online, we're fighting extremist recruiters on the digital battlefront with one hand tied behind our back. And in the Middle East, we lack the strategy or grand coalition needed to isolate and undermine our enemy in the battle of ideas.
  From Iraq to the streets of inner-city Birmingham, Liam Byrne MP brings together two years of fresh research with young British Muslims, frank interviews with intelligence and police officers, and frontline reports from the Middle East to answer the critical question: how do we defeat the new empire of intolerance? In this timely examination of the rise of ISIS, Byrne offers bold new answers for handling one of the biggest challenges of our time: bringing down the black flag of extremism.

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  Finding George Orwell in Burma

  Emma Larkin

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  Over the years the American writer Emma Larkin has spent traveling in Burma, she has come to know all too well the many ways this police state can be described as  "Orwellian." The life of the mind exists in a state of siege in Burma, and it long has. The connection between George Orwell and Burma is not simply metaphorical, of course; Orwell's mother was born in Burma, and he was shaped by his experiences there as a young man working for the British Imperial Police. Both his first novel, Burmese Days, and the novel he left unfinished upon his death were set in Burma. And then there is the place of Orwell's work in Burma today: Larkin found it a commonplace observation in Burma that Orwell did not write one book about the country but three-the other two being Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. When Larkin quietly asked one Burmeseman if he knew the work of George Orwell, he stared blankly for a moment and then said, "Ah, you mean the prophet."Finding George Orwell in Burma is the story of the year Larkin spent traveling across this shuttered police state using the life and work of Orwell as her guide. Traveling from Mandalay and Rangoon to poor delta backwaters and up to the old hill-station towns in the mountains of Burma's far north, Larkin visits the places Orwell worked and lived and the places his books live still. She brings to vivid life a country and a people cut off from the rest of the world, and from one another, by the ruling military junta and its network of spies and informers. Orwell's spoor leads Larkin to strange, ghostly traces of the British colonial presence and to people who have found ways to bolster their minds against the state's all-pervasive propaganda. Orwell's moral clarity, hatred of injustice, and observant gaze serve as the author's compass in a less tangible sense too: they are qualities that also suffuse this, her own powerful reckoning with one of the world's least free countries.

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  Fighting With Allies - America...

  Robin Renwick

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  It was Winston Churchill who, in his speech at Fulton, Missouri, advocated a 'special relationship between the British Commonwealth ... and the United States ... the continuance of intimate relationships between our military advisers, leading to the common study of potential dangers'.
  Through the eyes of Churchill, Roosevelt and their successors, Robin Renwick traces the development of the Anglo-American relationship since the desperate summer of 1940, and the part it played in shaping the post-war world.
  Detecting once again a whiff of the 1930s in the air, he concludes that, as one of the ties that binds Europe and North America, the relationship remains an important one, and not only to Britain and the United States.
  There are many on both sides of the Atlantic who will think that the world would have been poorer without it. Its future will depend on learning the lessons of military overstretch in Iraq and Afghanistan and resolving the mismatch between Britain's desire to play a role in world affairs and the resources allocated to doing so.

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  Read & Riot - A Pussy Riot Guide...

  Nadya Tolokonnikova

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  From artist, activist, and Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, a guerilla guide to radical protest and joyful political resistance. 
  The face of modern protest is wearing a brightly colored ski mask. 
  Nadya Tolokonnikova, founding member of the Russian activist group Pussy Riot, is a creative activist, professional protestor, brazen feminist, shocking visual artist, and force to be reckoned with. Her spontaneous, explosive approach to political action has involved jumping over barbed wire, kissing police officers, giving guerilla performances in crowded subway cars, and going on a hunger strike to protest the abuse of prisoners. She's been horse-whipped by police in Sochi, temporarily blinded when officers threw green paint in her eyes, and monitored by the Russian government. But what made Nadya an activist icon overnight happened on February 21, 2012, when she was arrested for performing an anti-Putin protest song in a Moscow church. 
  She was sent to a Russian prison for 18 months and emerged as an international symbol of radical resistance, as calls to "Free Pussy Riot" resounded around the world. With her emblematic ski mask, black lipstick, and unwavering bravery, Nadya has become an emissary of hope and optimism despite overwhelming and ugly political corruption. 
  Read & Riot is structured around Nadya's ten rules for revolution (Be a pirate! Make your government shit its pants! Take back the joy!) and illustrated throughout with stunning examples from her extraordinary life and the philosophies of other revolutionary rebels throughout history. Rooted in action and going beyond the typical "call your senator" guidelines, Read & Riot gives us a refreshing model for civil disobedience, and encourages our right to question every status quo and make political action exciting—even joyful.

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  No One Man Should Have All That...

  Amos Barshad

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  In this exploration of shadowy, behind-the-scenes operators, “each portrait provides an incisive dissection of the acquisition and maintenance of power” (The Nation). 
   
  Journalist Amos Barshad has long been fascinated by the powerful. But not by elected officials or natural leaders—he’s interested in the dark figures who wield power from the shadows. And, as Barshad shows in No One Man Should Have All That Power, these master manipulators are not confined to political backrooms. They can be found anywhere—from Hollywood to drug cartels, recording studios, or the NFL. 
   
  In this wide-ranging, insightful exploration of the phenomenon, Barshad takes readers into the lives of more than a dozen notorious figures, starting with Grigori Rasputin himself. The Russian mystic drank, danced, and healed his way into a position of power behind the last of the tsars. 
   
  Based on interviews with well-known personalities like Scooter Braun (Justin Bieber’s manager), Alex Guerrero (Tom Brady’s trainer), and Sam Nunberg (Trump’s former aide) and original reporting on figures like Nicaragua’s powerful first lady Rosario Murillo and the Tijuana cartel boss known as “Narcomami,” Barshad investigates a variety of modern-day Raputins. He explores how they got there, how they wielded control, and what lessons we can take from them, including how to spot Rasputins in the wild.

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  Leo Strauss and the Problem of...

  Michael P. Zuckert, Catherine H....

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  This critical study of the influential political theorist dispels popular myths and reveals the inner logic of his varied and notoriously complex writings. 
   
  Political theorist Leo Strauss was unexpectedly thrust into the media spotlight for his alleged influence on neoconservative politics. With The Truth about Leo Strauss, Michael and Catherine Zuckert challenged the many claims and speculations about this complex thinker. Now, with Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy, they offer a more comprehensive interpretation of Strauss’s thought, using the many manifestations of the “problem of political philosophy” as their touchstone. 
   
  Strauss, they argue, sought to restore political philosophy to its original Socratic form. 
   
  This is demonstrated through his critique of positivism and historicism, two intellectual currents that undermined his Socratic project. The authors also explore Strauss’s interpretation of both ancient and modern political philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, and Locke. Finally, they examine Strauss’s thought in the context of the twentieth century, when his chief interlocutors were Schmitt, Husserl, Heidegger, and Nietzsche. 
   
  Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy is the most in-depth treatment of this often misunderstood thinker, examining his ideas across his long career. It reveals Strauss’s overall intellectual project: to decode how ancient and modern theory attempted to solve the problem of political philosophy. And it shows why Strauss considered the ancient solution both philosophically and politically superior.

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