Modern World Nations

Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 by a United Nations mandate, the Middle East has been a flashpoint of conflict between the world's only Jewish state and the Palestinians, who lost their land because of the UN partition. This ready-reference volume explores the culture, geography, economy, and government of the state of Israel.

Since Fidel Castro staged a coup and assumed power of Cuba in 1959, the United States has been obsessed with this small island nation, only 90 miles south of the Florida Keys. But because of the country's isolation, the island and its people have remained a mystery. This revised edition of Cuba takes listeners through the country's storied history, its people, and what the future holds for this island nation.

Do constitutions still matter when the world is splitting apart? In an era of deepening political and social division, Constitutional Crossroads dissects how ten diverse nations confront the existential pressures testing their foundational frameworks. This volume goes beyond mere political narrative, using a rigorous comparative lens to examine real-world crises across the globe. Inside this vital analysis, explore: The United States – navigating explosive polarization and electoral strains. Britain – struggling with unwritten norms during the seismic shock of Brexit. Global Patterns ...

The English East India Company was the mother of the modern multinational. Its trading empire encircled the globe, importing Asian luxuries such as spices, textiles, and teas. But it also conquered much of India with its private army and broke open China's markets with opium. The Company's practices shocked its contemporaries and still reverberate today.

Written in the tradition of historians like Stacy Schiff and Amanda Foreman who find modern lessons in ancient history, this provocative narrative explores the lives of five remarkable pharaohs who ruled Egypt with absolute power, shining a new light on the country's 3,000-year empire and its meaning today.

The English East India Company was the mother of the modern multinational. Its trading empire encircled the globe, importing Asian luxuries such as spices, textiles and teas. But it also conquered much of India with its private army and broke open China's markets with opium. The Company’s practices shocked its contemporaries and still reverberate today. This expanded edition explores how the four forces of scale, technology, finance and regulation drove its spectacular rise and fall.

What if the future of America depended not on politicians, but on artists? Tito of Athens is a failed musician and disgraced actor who refuses to accept a broken system. After a haunting encounter with the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, he sets out across America with two fellow musicians, chasing a radical idea: that creativity, not power, can save a nation. In Nashville, they meet Josette Baker, a magnetic singer whose music ignites something extraordinary. Together, they form Musafire, turning concerts into movements and audiences into believers. As their influence spreads, so does the ...

Thomas Jefferson claimed it to be the wisest and most perfect political system ever yet devised by the wit of man. Montesquieu said it was the most beautiful system ever created. That system is the Anglo-Saxon model. It is the only political/economic system that has a 500 year track record of bringing freedom and prosperity to every society that embraces it. More significantly, it ended the 10,000 year cycle that kept the common man in a state of poverty and servitude. It was at the heart of the Dutch Golden Age, made Britain the leader of the largest empire known to man, is at the ...

The winning goal came in the 106th minute. The system behind it took years to build. A championship is often remembered through one player, one goal, and one unforgettable celebration. But what had to be true before the ball reached Ferran Torres at the decisive moment? The 106th Minute tells the story of how Spain transformed extraordinary talent into a coordinated system capable of surviving the most demanding tournament in international soccer. Beginning with a frustrating opening draw and ending with an extra-time victory over Argentina, the book traces the hidden structure behind the ...

Bloomsbury presents The Home We Build Together: Recreating Society by Jonathan Sacks, read by Daniel Epstein. Rabbi Sacks' thesis on the future of British society and the dangers facing liberal democracy. With a new foreword by Daniel Finkelstein. Arguing that global communications have...

From exile to empire, how did Australia transform from a remote penal colony into one of the world’s most prosperous nations? Australia’s journey is unlike any other. Once a place of hardship and punishment for convicts sent from Britain, it has become a global power known for its vibrant multicultural society, economic strength, and enviable quality of life. Yet, this transformation was neither easy nor straightforward—it was a story of struggle, resilience, and determination. Exiled to Empire: The Untold Story of Australia’s Growth takes readers on a sweeping exploration of the ...

This fascinating three-thousand-year history of the census traces the making of the modern survey and explores its political power in the age of big data and surveillance. In April 2020, the United States will embark on what has been called "the largest peacetime mobilization in American...

Brought to you by Penguin. ‘The history of the twentieth century was dominated by the struggle against totalitarian systems of state power. The twenty-first will no doubt be marked by a struggle to curtail excessive corporate power.’ This landmark work of reportage exposed how a handful of...

Bloomsbury presents How to Think Like an Artist by Catherine Daunt, read by Olivia Darnley. An illuminating guide to history’s most influential and inspiring artists – from Leonardo da Vinci to Frida Kahlo – and how they can teach us to see the world more clearly. How did the greatest...

Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around the world, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in the...

'Glenny does the sort of history I wish I had been taught at school' Jemima Lewis, The Telegraph Former BBC Central European correspondent Misha Glenny investigates the borders, stories and people of nine countries worldwide, and asks how they acquired the shape and character they have today...

In the spirit of American cultural prophecy—from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Rebecca Solnit—acclaimed writer Casey Gerald offers a groundbreaking work of joyous dissent and stunning vision, a survival guide to a society in crisis. “Somehow Casey Gerald has pulled off the most urgently political...

FINALIST FOR THE 2021 PULITZER PRIZE FOR POETRY “An undisputed literary event.” —NPR “History—with its construction and its destruction—is at the heart of In the Lateness of the World. . . . In [it] one feels the poet cresting a wave—a new wave that will crash onto new lands and...

Cecil Rhodes and Shaquille O'Neal; Mozart and Peter Sellers; Duke Ellington and the Duke of Wellington; Benjamin Franklin and Rudyard Kipling. These Masons, and many others, people the pages of The Craft, but even more compelling is the overarching narrative of Freemasonry itself. As a set of...

A forgotten empire reborn in a single generation. In 1853, Japan had no railways, factories, or foreign alliances. By 1877, it had a modern army, telegraphs, steamships, and the will to stand equal among the world’s great powers. The Last Samurai Nation tells the dramatic true story of that transformation — the Meiji Revolution that ended the samurai age and created modern Japan. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, letters, and diaries, we reconstruct the pivotal years between Commodore Perry’s “Black Ships” and Saigō Takamori’s final stand at Shiroyama. Through vivid, cinematic ...