History & Theory

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws....

From acclaimed columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot comes a searingly smart and bitingly hilarious retelling of American history that corrects the record and showcases the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans....

New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host Chris Hayes offers a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society

Discover the game-changing theory of the cycles of history and what past generations can teach us about living through times of upheaval—with deep insights into the roles that Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials have to play....

Twenty-five years ago, Neil Howe and the late William Strauss dazzled the world with a provocative new theory of American history. Looking back at the last 500 years, they’d uncovered a distinct pattern: modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting roughly 80 to 100 years....

In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein explodes the myth that America's cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation....

In this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times....

This classic, definitive account of totalitarianism traces the emergence of modern racism as an "ideological weapon for imperialism"....

In 1965, the US government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the 20th century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the USSR and inspiring copycat terror programs....

In this powerful, epic biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life-journey of John Adams....

In The End Is Always Near, Dan Carlin looks at questions and historical events that force us to consider what sounds like fantasy; that we might suffer the same fate that all previous eras did....

Andrew Jackson, his intimate circle of friends, and his tumultuous times are at the heart of this remarkable book about the man who rose from nothing to create the modern presidency....

In this monumental work of moral and political philosophy, Plato sought to answer some of the world's most formidable questions....

What happens when the President of the United States governs one Tweet at a time? When the elected leader of the free world may not have a firm grasp on the names of government agencies, much less an understanding of their intricate inner-workings? Find out....

At the height of the Cold War, JFK risked committing the greatest crime in human history....

This is a study of how intellectuals as a class affect modern societies by shaping the climate of opinion in which official policies develop, on issues ranging from economics to law to war and peace,,,,

James A. Garfield may have been the most extraordinary man ever elected president....

From one of the most admired international leaders comes a timely, considered, and personal look at the history and current resurgence of fascism today and the virulent threat it poses....

While the North prevailed in the Civil War, ending slavery and giving the country a "new birth of freedom," Heather Cox Richardson argues in this provocative work that democracy's blood-soaked victory was ephemeral....

The definitive history of the military's decades-long investigation into mental powers and phenomena....

Compelling and dramatic in the unimpeachable history it relates, White Rage will add an important new dimension to the national conversation about race in America....

What is fascism? By focusing on the concrete: what the fascists did rather than what they said, the esteemed historian Robert O. Paxton answers this question....

From one of our foremost public intellectuals, an essential reckoning with the war in Gaza that reframes our understanding of the ongoing conflict, its historical roots, and the fractured global response.

A Return to Common Sense is a concise, no-nonsense, dare we say fun, guide to how America works and a roadmap to reclaiming a government of, by, and for the people.

In How to Read the Constitution - and Why, legal expert and educator Kimberly Wehle spells out in clear, simple, and common-sense terms what is in the Constitution and most importantly, what it means....

When Richard Nixon battled for the presidency in 1968, he did so with the knowledge that, should he win, he would face the looming question of how to extract the United States from its disastrous war in Vietnam. It was on a beach that summer that Nixon disclosed to his chief aide, HR Haldeman, one of his most notorious, risky gambits: the madman theory. In On Nixon's Madness, Zachary Jonathan Jacobson examines the enigmatic president through this theory of Nixon's own invention.

An unusually sharp look at the way in which the U.S. press and experts have dealt with the crisis in the Middle East and Iran.

Government and market failures spur many citizens to practical action today. Around the globe people form renewable energy cooperatives, provide support for marginalized populations, and deliver alternative justice and care services. What motivates citizens to begin such practical problem-solving? How do they engage others? What knowledge do they generate? How do they interact with state and market actors? What risks and opportunities do they hold for contemporary democracy?

Journey to a World Led by Integrity In an era marked by political disillusionment, rampant corruption, and a growing distrust in leadership, "Beyond Tyranny: Creating a World Led by Integrity" emerges as a clarion call for change. This transformative eBook invites readers on a profound journey that challenges the very foundations of governance and explores the essential qualities of ethical leadership. A Vision for Authentic Leadership Imagine a world where leaders are universally respected for their wisdom and compassion—where the highest offices are filled not by those who seek power ...

The left views alienation as something to be resisted or overcome, but could it actually form the basis of our emancipation? In Embracing Alienation, Todd McGowan offers a completely different take on alienation, claiming that the effort to overcome it is not a radical response to the current state of things but a failure to see the constitutive power of alienation for all of us. Instead of trying to overcome alienation and accede to an unalienated existence, it argues, we should instead redeem alienation as an existential and political program.

Hoodie Economics draws on alternative intelligence sources to look at the patterns of money, ownership and reductive thinking that we have inherited, and how we have the potential to create a new (old) foundation of equality – relational economies instead of transactional ones, and networks that are truly social. Just as Jack Manning Bancroft sets out to reimagine economics, Hoodie Economics rethinks the economics book, inviting all listeners to find their own way through its narratives and to feel energised by its ideas.

Die Neunziger als Schlüsseljahrzehnt unserer Gegenwart und Zukunft. In den neunziger Jahren wurde die Welt geschaffen, in der wir immer noch leben - und die gerade krachend kollabiert. Dagegen setzt dieses Buch kämpferischen Optimismus. Ziel ist es, die Geschichte dieser Dekade zu nutzen, nicht zur Abrechnung, sondern zur Aufklärung. Denn darum geht es: Wir müssen wieder trainieren, in Alternativen zu denken. Wir müssen die Möglichkeiten erkennen, die in jedem Krisenmoment vorhanden sind. Wir müssen wieder an unsere Handlungsfähigkeit glauben, als Einzelne, in der Gemeinschaft, als Demokratie.

There is no political representation without performance. When politicians, protesters, and even celebrities appear in public, they make or constitute political representation by performing it, shaping how we view roles and institutions and imagine society.

Check 'learning the Constitution, its stories and its people’ off your list while feeding your political brain! As citizens of this great country, we should know all about our own national owners’ manual — The Constitution. Discover the history leading up to its creation, the struggles, the arguments and the “behind the scenes” perspective, all organized in a “walk through” format following the structure of the primary text.

Todd McGowan forges a new theory of capitalism as a system based on the production of more than what we need: pure excess. He argues that the promise of more wealth, more enjoyment, more opportunity, without requiring any sacrifice is the essence of capitalism. Previous socioeconomic systems set up some form of the social good as their focus. Capitalism, however, represents a revolutionary turn away from the good and the useful toward excessive growth, which now threatens the habitability of the planet.