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Exotic India is as near as the voice answering an 800 number for one dollar an hour. Communist China is as close as the nearest Wal-Mart, its shelves full of goods made in Chinese factories. But India and China are vastly different nations, with opposing economic and political strategies - strategies we must understand to survive in the new global economy. The Elephant and the Dragon explains how these nations have spurred a new "gold rush", and what this will mean for the rest of the world.

Here is a visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith have combined with the public sphere's degradation to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason. Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason explains, we have precious little time to waste.

Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive for best performance in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. His stories of diligence and ingenuity take us to battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, to labor and delivery rooms in Boston, to a polio outbreak in India, and to malpractice courtrooms around the country. He discusses the ethical dilemmas of doctors' participation in lethal injections, examines the influence of money on medicine, and recounts the astoundingly contentious history of hand washing.

Because They Hate is a political wake-up call. Brigitte Gabriel, who lost her childhood to militant Islam, warns that the United States is threatened by fundamentalist Islamic theology in the same way that Lebanon was - that radical Islam will stop at nothing short of domination of all non-Muslim countries. Fiercely articulate and committed, Gabriel both tells her own story and outlines the history, social movements, and religious divisions that have led to this critical historical conflict.