Ephraim's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 06 Jun 2025 15:05:23 -0700 60 Ephraim's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing]]> 200090088 Experience the life story of Magatte Wade - the bold Senegalese entrepreneur and unflinching prosperity activist, determined to shape the destiny of her African homeland.

In this riveting memoir, Wade challenges Africans to redefine their narrative, casting aside imposed inferiority to reclaim their innate brilliance.

This is not a recounting of poverty and politics. It's an indictment of a world that views Africa as nothing more than a colonial chessboard, with charity acting as the block that keeps Africans stuck.

The surprising thing is that Africa’s problems are NOT due to colonialism, corruption, bad leadership, poor skills, or a lack of education. It’s something much bigger, and yet it’s only been visible to entrepreneursâ€� until now.

Join the movement for Africa's rightful place in the 21 fostering innovation, earning prosperity, and growing into an economic powerhouse. Wade's impassioned voice promises nothing less than the dawn of a new era, poised to reshape history, create prosperity and peace, and unleash Africa’s bright future.

]]> 242 Magatte Wade Ephraim 5 4.29 The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Means for Human Flourishing
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]]> <![CDATA[Every Cook Can Govern and What Is Happening Every Day: 1985 Conversations]]> 1061432 60 C.L.R. James 0961636203 Ephraim 4 3.74 1956 Every Cook Can Govern and What Is Happening Every Day: 1985 Conversations
author: C.L.R. James
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average rating: 3.74
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rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity]]> 24611829
In a blow-by-blow narrative of the tax battles within the Kennedy administration, the authors reveal how JFK assembled Keynesian advisors, only to reject their plans for loose money and big spending. Instead, Kennedy embraced ideas advanced by the non-Keynesians on his team of rivals and drew upon his own deep reading of history to opt for tax cuts and a recommitment to the gold standard.

Here we meet a fascinating cast of Kennedy Administration characters, especially Treasure Secretary Douglas Dillon, the token Republican in JFK's cabinet. Dillon's opponents, such as liberal economists Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow, and James Tobin, strove to stifle the push to bring down the high tax rates--including an astonishing 91% top rate on the wealthiest earners-- that were damaging the economy.

Once JFK became convinced of the power of tax cuts, he held his ground against the Keynesians. And as Kennedy made his case for the tax cut, the economy took off. After the assassination, Lyndon Johnson finally signed the tax-cut law in February 1964. The subsequent economic boom delivered the greatest prosperity the nation had ever seen.

This is an eye-opening look at one of the most important yet least understood episodes in American economic history. It shatters the argument that the Republicans who believe that cutting tax rates can result in more growth and more tax revenue have moved to the extreme right. Instead, it is the Democrats who have moved so far left as to have to disown John F. Kennedy's most successful policies.]]> 256 Lawrence Kudlow 1595231145 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.90 2015 JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity
author: Lawrence Kudlow
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average rating: 3.90
book published: 2015
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]]> <![CDATA[What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church]]> 201335312
In What it Means to Be Protestant, Gavin Ortlund draws from both his scholarly work in church history and his personal experience in ecumenical engagement to offer a powerful defense of the Protestant tradition. Retrieving classical Protestant texts and arguments, he exposes how many of the contemporary objections leveled against Protestants are rooted in caricature. Ultimately, he shows that historic Protestantism offers the best pathway to catholicity and historical rootedness for Christians today.??

In his characteristically charitable and irenic style, Ortlund demonstrates that the 16th century Reformation represented a genuine renewal of the gospel. This does not entail that Protestantism is without faults. But because it is built upon the principle of semper reformanda (always reforming), Protestantism is capable of reforming itself according to Scripture as the ultimate authority. This scholarly and yet accessible book breaks new ground in ecumenical theology and will be a staple text in the field for many years to come.]]> 288 Gavin Ortlund 0310156327 Ephraim 5 4.55 What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church
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]]> <![CDATA[The Art of Disagreeing: How to Keep Calm and Stay Friends in Hard Conversations (Christian book on disagreement, arguments, conflict resolution, disunity.)]]> 214959700
In this positive and practical book, Gavin Ortlund looks to the Scriptures to discover a way in which to disagree with others that leads to greater understanding, peace, and love—and that shows a watching world something of Jesus.

This is a much-needed book in a society that is losing the ability to disagree well. Whether over politics, religion, or culture, or the more everyday issues of normal life, points of view tend to be held with a polarizing intensity. Often we enter disagreements feeling that we have to win or we avoid them altogether.

Looking to Jesus� example of courage and kindness, readers will be given a framework for engaging in intense disagreements with a love that furthers instead of hinders relationships.

So, whether you tend to fight or flee, learn how to keep calm and stay friends—even when you don't agree.]]> 96 Gavin Ortlund 1802541403 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.36 The Art of Disagreeing: How to Keep Calm and Stay Friends in Hard Conversations (Christian book on disagreement, arguments, conflict resolution, disunity.)
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]]> <![CDATA[Retrieving Augustine's Doctrine of Creation: Ancient Wisdom for Current Controversy]]> 50923113 264 Gavin Ortlund 0830853243 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.40 Retrieving Augustine's Doctrine of Creation: Ancient Wisdom for Current Controversy
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]]> <![CDATA[Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't: The Beauty of Christian Theism]]> 57071784 240 Gavin Ortlund 1540964094 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.51 Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't: The Beauty of Christian Theism
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]]> <![CDATA[Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage]]> 52891104 163 Gavin Ortlund 1433567423 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.32 2020 Finding the Right Hills to Die on: The Case for Theological Triage
author: Gavin Ortlund
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]]> <![CDATA[The Priority of Christ: Toward a Postliberal Catholicism]]> 1215024
Barron's classical Catholic post-liberalism will be of interest to a broad audience including not only the academic community but also preachers and general readers interested in entering the dialogue between Catholicism and postliberalism.]]> 352 Robert Barron 158743198X Ephraim 0 to-read 4.35 2007 The Priority of Christ: Toward a Postliberal Catholicism
author: Robert Barron
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average rating: 4.35
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]]> <![CDATA[Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master]]> 2945975 192 Robert Barron 0824524969 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.41 1996 Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master
author: Robert Barron
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average rating: 4.41
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]]> Arguing Religion 42899625
Bishop Robert Barron, one of the leading Catholic figures in the world and among the most active on social media, has enjoyed thousands of fruitful religious arguments. In this book based on talks delivered at Facebook and Google, he explains why religion at its best opens up the searching mind, and how we all believer and unbeliever alike can share better discussions about God.]]> 159 Robert Barron 1943243379 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.28 2018 Arguing Religion
author: Robert Barron
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]]> <![CDATA[Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith]]> 11631101 Ìę
What is Catholicism? A 2,000-year-oldÌęliving tradition? A worldview? A way of life? A relationship? A mystery? In Catholicism Father Robert Barron examines all these questions and more, seeking to capture the body, heart and mind of the Catholic faith.

Starting from the essential foundation of Jesus Christ’s incarnation, life, and teaching, Father Barron moves through the defining elements of Catholicism â€� from sacraments, worship, and prayer, to Mary, the Apostles, and Saints, to grace, salvation, heaven, and hell â€� using his distinct and dynamic grasp of art, literature, architecture, personal stories, Scripture, theology, philosophy, and history to present the Church to the world.

Paired with his documentary film series of the same title, Catholicism is an intimate journey, capturing “The Catholic Thingâ€� in all its depth and beauty. Eclectic, unique, and inspiring, Father Barron brings the faith to life for a new generation, in a style that is both faithful to timeless truths, while simultaneously speaking in the language of contemporary life.

Includes over 100 black and white and color photos.]]> 279 Robert Barron 0307720519 Ephraim 5 4.48 2011 Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith
author: Robert Barron
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average rating: 4.48
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]]> <![CDATA[On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century]]> 33917107
On November 9th, millions of Americans woke up to the impossible: the election of Donald Trump as president. Against all predictions, one of the most-disliked presidential candidates in history had swept the electoral college, elevating a man with open contempt for democratic norms and institutions to the height of power.

Timothy Snyder is one of the most celebrated historians of the Holocaust. In his books Bloodlands and Black Earth, he has carefully dissected the events and values that enabled the rise of Hitler and Stalin and the execution of their catastrophic policies. With Twenty Lessons, Snyder draws from the darkest hours of the twentieth century to provide hope for the twenty-first. As he writes, “Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism and communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.â€�

Twenty Lessons is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.]]> 127 Timothy Snyder 0804190119 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.25 2017 On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
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]]> <![CDATA[The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America]]> 36217163 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the author of On Tyranny comes a stunning new chronicle of the rise of authoritarianism from Russia to Europe and America.

"A brilliant analysis of our time."--Karl Ove Knausgaard, The New Yorker

With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy seemed final. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. This faith was misplaced. Authoritarianism returned to Russia, as Putin found fascist ideas that could be used to justify rule by the wealthy. In the 2010s, it has spread from east to west, aided by Russian warfare in Ukraine and cyberwar in Europe and the United States.

Russia found allies among nationalists, oligarchs, and radicals everywhere, and its drive to dissolve Western institutions, states, and values found resonance within the West itself. The rise of populism, the British vote against the EU, and the election of Donald Trump were all Russian goals, but their achievement reveals the vulnerability of Western societies.

In this forceful and unsparing work of contemporary history, based on vast research as well as personal reporting, Snyder goes beyond the headlines to expose the true nature of the threat to democracy and law. To understand the challenge is to see, and perhaps renew, the fundamental political virtues offered by tradition and demanded by the future. By revealing the stark choices before us--between equality or oligarchy, individuality or totality, truth and falsehood--Snyder restores our understanding of the basis of our way of life, offering a way forward in a time of terrible uncertainty.]]> 359 Timothy Snyder 0525574468 Ephraim 5 4.33 2018 The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
author: Timothy Snyder
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.33
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]]> <![CDATA[The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace]]> 45046681 Two prominent Israeli liberals argue that for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to end with peace, Palestinians must come to terms with the fact that there will be no "right of return."

In 1948, seven hundred thousand Palestinians were forced out of their homes by the first Arab-Israeli War. More than seventy years later, most of their houses are long gone, but millions of their descendants are still registered as refugees, with many living in refugee camps. This group—unlike countless others that were displaced in the aftermath of World War II and other conflicts—has remained unsettled, demanding to settle in the state of Israel. Their belief in a "right of return" is one of the largest obstacles to successful diplomacy and lasting peace in the region.

In The War of Return, Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf—both liberal Israelis supportive of a two-state solution—reveal the origins of the idea of a right of return, and explain how UNRWA - the very agency charged with finding a solution for the refugees - gave in to Palestinian, Arab and international political pressure to create a permanent “refugeeâ€� problem. They argue that this Palestinian demand for a “right of returnâ€� has no legal or moral basis and make an impassioned plea for the US, the UN, and the EU to recognize this fact, for the good of Israelis and Palestinians alike.

A runaway bestseller in Israel, the first English translation of The War of Return is certain to spark lively debate throughout America and abroad.]]> 304 Adi Schwartz 1250252768 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.37 The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace
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]]> <![CDATA[Contemporary Left Antisemitism]]> 33157498
Weaving together theoretical discussion with case study narrative in an engaging and interesting way, this book is a global study which is essential reading for scholars working in sociology, politics, Middle East studies, Israel studies, Jewish studies, philosophy, anthropology, journalism and history, as well as anyone interested in current affairs and politics.]]> 336 David Hirsh 1138235318 Ephraim 5 currently-reading 4.16 2017 Contemporary Left Antisemitism
author: David Hirsh
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.16
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]]> On Freedom 203956715 A brilliant exploration of freedom—what it is, how it’s been misunderstood, and why it’s our only chance for survival—by the acclaimed Yale historian and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller On TyrannyTimothy Snyder has been called “the leading interpreter of our dark times.â€� As a historian, he has given us startling reinterpretations of political collapse and mass killing. As a public intellectual, he has turned that knowledge toward counsel and prediction, working against authoritarianism here and abroad. His book On Tyranny has inspired millions around the world to fight for freedom. Now, in this tour de force of political philosophy, he helps us see exactly what we’re fighting for.Freedom is the great American commitment, but as Snyder argues, we have lost sight of what it means—and this is leading us into crisis. Too many of us look at freedom as the absence of state We think we're free if we can do and say as we please, and protect ourselves from government overreach. But true freedom isn’t so much freedom from, as freedom to—the freedom to thrive, to take risks for futures we choose by working together. Freedom is the value that makes all other values possible.On Freedom takes us on a thrilling intellectual journey. Drawing on the work of philosophers and political dissidents, conversations with contemporary thinkers, and his own experiences coming of age in a time of American exceptionalism, Snyder identifies the practices and attitudes—the habits of mind—that will allow us to design a government in which we and future generations can flourish. We come to appreciate the importance of traditions (championed by the right) but also the role of institutions (the purview of the left). Intimate yet ambitious, this book helps forge a new consensus rooted in a politics of abundance, generosity, and grace.]]> 368 Timothy Snyder 0593728726 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.29 2024 On Freedom
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]]> <![CDATA[One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict]]> 6071743 256 Benny Morris 0300122810 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.50 One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict
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]]> The Cause of Hitler's Germany 20893486 Ìę
Self-sacrifice, Oriental mysticism, racial “truth,â€� the public good, doing one’s duty—these are among the seductive catchphrases that circulated in pre-Nazi Germany. Objectivist author and philosopher Leonard Peikoff was Ayn Rand’s long-time associate. In The Cause of Hitler’s Germanyâ€� previously published in The Ominous Parallelsâ€� Peikoff demonstrates how unreason and collectivism led the seemingly civilized German society to become a Nazi regime.]]> 352 Leonard Peikoff 0142181471 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.31 2014 The Cause of Hitler's Germany
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]]> Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal 669 Ìę
This edition includes two articles by Ayn Rand that did not appear in the hardcover edition: “The Wreckage of the Consensus,â€� which presents the Objectivistsâ€� views on Vietnam and the draft; and “Requiem for Man,â€� an answer to the Papal encyclical Progresso Populorum.]]> 340 Ayn Rand 0451147952 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.89 1946 Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
author: Ayn Rand
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]]> Anthem 667 Anthem is Ayn Rand's classic tale of a dystopian future of the great "We"—a world that deprives individuals of a name or independence—that anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

They existed only to serve the state. They were conceived in controlled Palaces of Mating. They died in the Home of the Useless. From cradle to grave, the crowd was one—the great WE.

In all that was left of humanity, there was only one man who dared to think, seek, and love. He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world, he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization, he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: He had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was a man alone. He had rediscovered the lost and holy word—I.

"I worship individuals for their highest possibilities as individuals, and I loathe humanity, for its failure to live up to these possibilities."
 —Ayn Rand]]> 105 Ayn Rand 0452281253 Ephraim 4 3.59 1938 Anthem
author: Ayn Rand
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average rating: 3.59
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]]> <![CDATA[Biracial Britain: A Different Way of Looking at Race]]> 50412190
Yet race is often discussed in a binary fashion. Being mixed-race is not treated as a unique identity, but rather as an offshoot of other make-ups. In our current polarised atmosphere, people of dual heritage encounter significant psychological pressure to pick a side: are you with us or them? But what if some don't want to choose? Or strongly identify with two, or even more, races? Should we still be expected to make a choice? Or is it time to develop a new understanding of identity that is better suited to our times?

A transformative exploration of 21st-century British identity, Biracial Britain will provide thoughtful and nuanced answers to the many questions concerning biracial identity. Through research and real-life stories, Adekoya will seek to explain what it truly means to be a mixed-race Briton.]]> 320 Remi Adekoya 1472133455 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.20 2002 Biracial Britain: A Different Way of Looking at Race
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average rating: 4.20
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]]> <![CDATA[It's Not About Whiteness, It's About Wealth: How the Economics of Race Really Work]]> 121628496 'Remi Adekoya is a welcome blast of unsentimental rigour into a race debate clogged up with emotion and moralism. His dissection of the economic underpinnings of the world's racial and national hierarchies will make uncomfortable reading for both liberals and conservatives' David Goodhart

'This terrifically illuminating book . . . offers a new way of understanding modern racial structures' i Newspaper

'This is a courageous and urgent intervention into one of the most important debates of our time - one in which we often seem curiously incurious about what would lead to genuine equality among groups. In clear and elegant prose Dr. Adekoya will shift the way you think about hierarchies of race' Thomas Chatterton Williams

'Remi brings a unique international perspective to the race debate, allowing the reader to understand complexities in the discussion that they won't have considered before' Katharine Birbalsingh

What really matters when it comes to race?

Western conversations on race and racism revolve around familiar themes; colonialism, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the ideology of white supremacism form the holy trinity of the race debate. But what if we are neglecting a key piece of the puzzle? Something that explains why a racial order persists today despite a moral consensus it should not.

In It's Not About Whiteness, It's About Wealth, Remi Adekoya persuasively argues that - in our capitalist world - it is socioeconomic realities which play the leading role in sustaining racial hierarchies in everyday life and in the global big picture, something regularly overlooked in the current debate. Financial power is what enables ultimate influence over events, environments, and people, and, as Adekoya expertly demonstrates, it is money more than anything else that maintains the racial pecking order. Exploring immigration, technology, media, group stereotypes, status perceptions and more, this book cleverly shows how wealth determines what's what in key domains of modern life, and how this affects racial dynamics across the globe.

An incisive, insightful and open investigation into the links between financial power and racial hierarchies, Adekoya sheds much needed light on the status and power imbalances shaping our world and reveals what needs to be done to combat them going forward.]]> 224 Remi Adekoya 1408716658 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.14 It's Not About Whiteness, It's About Wealth: How the Economics of Race Really Work
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]]> <![CDATA[Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism]]> 50155421 The Pulitzer Prize-winning author, professor, and historian offers an expert guide to understanding the appeal of the strongman as a leader and an explanation for why authoritarianism is back with a menacing twenty-first century twist.

Across the world today, from the Americas to Europe and beyond, liberal democracy is under siege while populism and nationalism are on the rise. In Twilight of Democracy, prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum offers an unexpected explanation: that there is a deep and inherent appeal to authoritarianism, to strongmen, and, especially, to one-party rule--that is, to political systems that benefit true believers, or loyal soldiers, or simply the friends and distant cousins of the Leader, to the exclusion of everyone else.

People, she argues, are not just ideological; they are also practical, pragmatic, opportunistic. They worry about their families, their houses, their careers. Some political systems offer them possibilities, and others don't. In particular, the modern authoritarian parties that have arisen within democracies today offer the possibility of success to people who do not thrive in the meritocratic, democratic, or free-market competition that determines access to wealth and power.

Drawing on reporting in Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, and Brazil; using historical examples including Stalinist central Europe and Nazi Germany; and investigating related phenomena: the modern conspiracy theory, nostalgia for a golden past, political polarization, and meritocracy and its discontents, Anne Applebaum brilliantly illuminates the seduction of totalitarian thinking and the eternal appeal of the one-party state.]]> 224 Anne Applebaum 0771005857 Ephraim 5 3.87 2020 Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
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]]> Gulag: A History 224379 The Gulag—the vast array of Soviet concentration camps—was a system of repression and punishment whose rationalized evil and institutionalized inhumanity were rivaled only by the Holocaust.

The Gulag entered the world's historical consciousness in 1972, with the publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's epic oral history of the Soviet camps, The Gulag Archipelago. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, dozens of memoirs and new studies covering aspects of that system have been published in Russia and the West. Using these new resources as well as her own original historical research, Anne Applebaum has now undertaken, for the first time, a fully documented history of the Soviet camp system, from its origins in the Russian Revolution to its collapse in the era of glasnost. It is an epic feat of investigation and moral reckoning that places the Gulag where it belongs: at the center of our understanding of the troubled history of the twentieth century.

Anne Applebaum first lays out the chronological history of the camps and the logic behind their creation, enlargement, and maintenance. The Gulag was first put in place in 1918 after the Russian Revolution. In 1929, Stalin personally decided to expand the camp system, both to use forced labor to accelerate Soviet industrialization and to exploit the natural resources of the country's barely habitable far northern regions. By the end of the 1930s, labor camps could be found in all twelve of the Soviet Union's time zones. The system continued to expand throughout the war years, reaching its height only in the early 1950s. From 1929 until the death of Stalin in 1953, some 18 million people passed through this massive system. Of these 18 million, it is estimated that 4.5 million never returned.

But the Gulag was not just an economic institution. It also became, over time, a country within a country, almost a separate civilization, with its own laws, customs, literature, folklore, slang, and morality. Topic by topic, Anne Applebaum also examines how life was lived within this shadow country: how prisoners worked, how they ate, where they lived, how they died, how they survived. She examines their guards and their jailers, the horrors of transportation in empty cattle cars, the strange nature of Soviet arrests and trials, the impact of World War II, the relations between different national and religious groups, and the escapes, as well as the extraordinary rebellions that took place in the 1950s. She concludes by examining the disturbing question why the Gulag has remained relatively obscure, in the historical memory of both the former Soviet Union and the West.

Gulag: A History will immediately be recognized as a landmark work of historical scholarship and an indelible contribution to the complex, ongoing, necessary quest for truth.]]> 677 Anne Applebaum 0767900561 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.27 2003 Gulag: A History
author: Anne Applebaum
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]]> <![CDATA[Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now]]> 18669183
In what is sure to be her most controversial book to date, Ayaan Hirsi Ali makes a powerful case that a religious Reformation is the only way to end the terrorism, sectarian warfare, and repression of women and minorities that each year claim thousands of lives throughout the Muslim world. With bracing candor, the brilliant, charismatic, and uncompromising author of the bestselling Infidel and Nomad argues that it is foolish to insist, as our leaders habitually do, that the violent acts of Islamic extremists can be divorced from the religious doctrine that inspires them. Instead we must confront the fact that they are driven by a political ideology embedded in Islam itself.

Today, Hirsi Ali argues, the world's 1.6 billion Muslims can be divided into a minority of extremists, a majority of observant but peaceable Muslims, and a few dissidents who risk their lives by questioning their own religion. But there is only one Islam, and as Hirsi Ali shows, there is no denying that some of its key teachings—not least the duty to wage holy war—inspire violence not just in the Muslim world but in the West as well.

For centuries it has seemed that Islam is immune to historical change. But Hirsi Ali is surprisingly optimistic. She has come to believe that a Muslim "Reformation"—a revision of Islamic doctrine aimed at reconciling the religion with modernity—is at hand, and may even already have begun.

Partly in response to the barbaric atrocities of Islamic State and Boko Haram, Muslims around the world have at last begun to speak out for religious reform. Meanwhile, events in the West, such as the shocking Charlie Hebdo massacre, have forced Western liberals to recognize that political Islam poses a mortal threat to free speech. Yet neither Muslim reformers nor Western liberals have so far been able to articulate a coherent program for a Muslim Reformation.

This is where Heretic comes in. Boldly challenging centuries of theological orthodoxy, Ayaan Hirsi Ali proposes five key amendments to Islamic doctrine that Muslims must make if they are to bring their religion out of the seventh century and into the twenty-first. She also calls upon the Western world to end its appeasement of radical Islamists—and to drop the bogus argument that those who stand up to them are guilty of "Islamophobia." It is the Muslim reformers who need our backing, she argues, not the opponents of free speech.

Interweaving her own experiences, historical analogies, and powerful examples from contemporary Muslim societies and cultures, Heretic is not so much a call to arms as a passionate plea for peaceful change and a new era of global tolerance. As jihadists kill thousands, from Nigeria to Syria to Pakistan, this book offers an answer to what is fast becoming the world's number one problem.]]> 288 Ayaan Hirsi Ali 006233395X Ephraim 5 4.11 2015 Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now
author: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
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]]> <![CDATA[Black and British: A Forgotten History]]> 32809816 Black and British, award-winning historian and broadcaster David Olusoga offers readers a rich and revealing exploration of the extraordinarily long relationship between the British Isles and the people of Africa. Drawing on new genetic and genealogical research, original records, expert testimony and contemporary interviews, Black and British reaches back to Roman Britain, the medieval imagination and Shakespeare's Othello.

It reveals that behind the South Sea Bubble was Britain's global slave-trading empire and that much of the great industrial boom of the nineteenth century was built on American slavery. It shows that Black Britons fought at Trafalgar and in the trenches of the First World War. Black British history can be read in stately homes, street names, statues and memorials across Britain and is woven into the cultural and economic histories of the nation.]]> 624 David Olusoga 1447299736 Ephraim 4 4.59 2016 Black and British: A Forgotten History
author: David Olusoga
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2016
rating: 4
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]]> Putinism: The Ideology 18942648 14 Anne Applebaum Ephraim 0 to-read 4.04 2013 Putinism: The Ideology
author: Anne Applebaum
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]]> Autocracy, Inc. 183932735 224 Anne Applebaum 0241627893 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.20 2024 Autocracy, Inc.
author: Anne Applebaum
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average rating: 4.20
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]]> <![CDATA[Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy]]> 41165050 250 Christopher A. Preble 1948647168 Ephraim 4 4.07 Peace, War, and Liberty: Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy
author: Christopher A. Preble
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]]> <![CDATA[From Aristocracy to Monarchy to Democracy: A Tale of Moral and Economic Folly and Decay]]> 23620172 51 Hans-Hermann Hoppe 1610166353 Ephraim 5 4.16 2014 From Aristocracy to Monarchy to Democracy: A Tale of Moral and Economic Folly and Decay
author: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.16
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]]> <![CDATA[Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World]]> 43885149 A "marvelous" (Economist) account of how the Christian Revolution forged the Western imagination.

Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus-was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. As Tom Holland demonstrates, our morals and ethics are not universal but are instead the fruits of a very distinctive civilization. Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed. From Babylon to the Beatles, Saint Michael to #MeToo, Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed the modern world.Ìę]]> 624 Tom Holland 0465093507 Ephraim 5 4.27 2019 Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World
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]]> The War on the West 58838847 An Instant New York Times Bestseller!

China has concentration camps now. Why do Westerners claim our sins are unique?

It is now in vogue to celebrate non-Western cultures and disparage Western ones. Some of this is a much-needed reckoning, but much of it fatally undermines the very things that created the greatest, most humane civilization in the world.

In The War on the West, Douglas Murray shows how many well-meaning people have been fooled by hypocritical and inconsistent anti-West rhetoric. After all, if we must discard the ideas of Kant, Hume, and Mill for their opinions on race, shouldn't we discard Marx, whose work is peppered with racial slurs and anti-Semitism? Embers of racism remain to be stamped out in America, but what about the raging racist inferno in the Middle East and Asia?

It's not just dishonest scholars who benefit from this intellectual fraud but hostile nations and human rights abusers hoping to distract from their own ongoing villainy. Dictators who slaughter their own people are happy to jump on the "America is a racist country" bandwagon and mimic the language of antiracism and "pro-justice" movements as PR while making authoritarian conquests.

If the West is to survive, it must be defended. The War on the West is not only an incisive takedown of foolish anti-Western arguments but also a rigorous new apologetic for civilization itself.]]> 308 Douglas Murray 0063162024 Ephraim 5 4.22 2022 The War on the West
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]]> <![CDATA[Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich]]> 202101990 Through a connected set of biographical portraits of key Nazi figures that follows power as it radiated out from Hitler to the inner and outer circles of the regime’s leadership, one of our greatest historians answers the enduring question, how does a society come to carry out a program of unspeakable evil?Richard Evans, author of the acclaimed The Third Reich Trilogy and over two dozen other volumes on modern Europe, is our preeminent scholar of Nazi Germany. Having spent half a century searching for the truths behind one of the most horrifying episodes in human history, in Hitler’s People, he brings us back to the original site of the Nazi namely, the lives of its most important members.Working in concentric circles out from Hitler and his closest allies, Evans forms a typological framework of Germany society under Nazi rule from the top down. With a novelist’s eye for detail, Evans explains the Third Reich through the personal failings and professional ambitions of its members, from its most notorious deputies—like Goebbels, the regime’s propagandist, and Himmler, the Holocaust’s chief architect—to the crucial enforcers and instruments of the Nazi agenda that history has largely forgotten—like the schoolteacher Julius Streicher and the actress Leni Riefenstahl. Drawing on a wealth of recently unearthed historical sources, Hitler’s People lays bare the inner and outer lives of the characters whose choices led to the deaths of millions.Nearly a century after Hitler’s rise, the leading nations of the West are once again being torn apart by a will to power. By telling the stories of these infamous lives as human lives, Evans asks us to grapple with the complicated nature of complicity, showing us that the distinctions between individual and collective responsibility—and even between pathological evil and rational choice—are never easily drawn.]]> 624 Richard J. Evans 0593296427 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.10 2024 Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich
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]]> <![CDATA[The State in the Third Millennium]]> 7355700 222 Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein 3905881047 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.00 2009 The State in the Third Millennium
author: Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2009
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]]> <![CDATA[The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History]]> 3871

Most Americans trust that their history professors and high school teachers will give students honest and accurate information. The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History makes it quite clear that liberal professors have misinformed our children for generations.

Professor Thomas E. Woods, Jr. takes on the most controversial moments of American history and exposes how history books are merely a series of clichés drafted by academics who are heavily biased against God, democracy, patriotism, capitalism and most American family values.

Woods reveals the truth behind many of today's prominent myths....

The First Amendment prohibits school prayer

The New Deal created great prosperity

What the Supreme Court says, goes

From the real American “revolutionariesâ€� to the reality of labor unions, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History is all you need for the truth about America—objective and unvarnished.]]> 270 Thomas E. Woods Jr. 0895260476 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.03 2001 The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History
author: Thomas E. Woods Jr.
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.03
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]]> <![CDATA[How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization]]> 313011 280 Thomas E. Woods Jr. 0895260387 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.10 2005 How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
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]]> <![CDATA[Leftism: from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse]]> 18849635 886 Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn 1610164725 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.20 Leftism: from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse
author: Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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]]> <![CDATA[Liberty or Equality: The Challenge of Our Times]]> 2661834
He uses national socialism as his prime example. He further argues the old notion of government by law is upheld in old monarchies, restrained by a noble elite. Aristocracy, not democracy, gave us liberty. On his side in this argument, he includes the whole of the old liberal tradition, and offers overwhelming evidence for his case. In our times, war and totalitarianism do indeed sail under the democratic flag. This book, capable of overturning most of what you thought you knew about political systems, was first published in 1952.]]> 403 Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn Ephraim 0 to-read 4.04 1952 Liberty or Equality: The Challenge of Our Times
author: Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1952
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]]> <![CDATA[The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies]]> 698866
Boldly calling into question our most basic assumptions about American politics, Caplan contends that democracy fails precisely because it does what voters want. Through an analysis of Americans' voting behavior and opinions on a range of economic issues, he makes the convincing case that noneconomists suffer from four prevailing biases: they underestimate the wisdom of the market mechanism, distrust foreigners, undervalue the benefits of conserving labor, and pessimistically believe the economy is going from bad to worse. Caplan lays out several bold ways to make democratic government work better--for example, urging economic educators to focus on correcting popular misconceptions and recommending that democracies do less and let markets take up the slack.

The Myth of the Rational Voter takes an unflinching look at how people who vote under the influence of false beliefs ultimately end up with government that delivers lousy results. With the upcoming presidential election season drawing nearer, this thought-provoking book is sure to spark a long-overdue reappraisal of our elective system.]]> 288 Bryan Caplan 0691129428 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.89 2007 The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies
author: Bryan Caplan
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.89
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]]> <![CDATA[Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy]]> 3023 Basic Economics is a citizen's guide to economics-for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Sowell reveals the general principles behind any kind of economy-capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions.]]> 448 Thomas Sowell 0465081452 Ephraim 5 currently-reading 4.35 2000 Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy
author: Thomas Sowell
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.35
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]]> Economics in One Lesson 3028 Economics in One Lesson is a classic economic primer. But it is also much more, having become a fundamental influence on modern “libertarianâ€� economics of the type espoused by Ron Paul and others.

Considered among the leading economic thinkers of the “Austrian School,â€� which includes Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich (F.A.) Hayek, and others, Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993), was a libertarian philosopher, an economist, and a journalist. He was the founding vice-president of the Foundation for Economic Education and an early editor of The Freeman magazine, an influential libertarian publication.Ìę Hazlitt wrote Economics in One Lesson, his seminal work, in 1946. Concise and instructive, it is also deceptively prescient and far-reaching in its efforts to dissemble economic fallacies that are so prevalent they have almost become a new orthodoxy.

Many current economic commentators across the political spectrum have credited Hazlitt with foreseeing the collapse of the global economy which occurred more than 50 years after the initial publication of Economics in One Lesson. Hazlitt’s focus on non-governmental solutions, strong â€� and strongly reasoned â€� anti-deficit position, and general emphasis on free markets, economic liberty of individuals, and the dangers of government intervention make Economics in One Lesson, every bit as relevant and valuable today as it has been since publication.]]> 218 Henry Hazlitt Ephraim 0 to-read 4.16 1946 Economics in One Lesson
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]]> A Promised Land 55361205
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.

Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.

Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.

A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective—the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,â€� and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible.

This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.]]> 768 Barack Obama 1524763187 Ephraim 4 4.31 2020 A Promised Land
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name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2020
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]]> <![CDATA[A People’s History of the United States: 1492 - Present]]> 2767 Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen as the exploitation and manipulation of the majority by rigged systems that hugely favor a small aggregate of elite rulers from across the orthodox political parties.
A People's History has been assigned as reading in many high schools and colleges across the United States. It has also resulted in a change in the focus of historical work, which now includes stories that previously were ignored

Library Journal calls Howard Zinn’s book “a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those
whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories.”]]> 729 Howard Zinn 0060838655 Ephraim 3 4.08 1980 A People’s History of the United States: 1492 - Present
author: Howard Zinn
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1980
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Reform or Revolution & Other Writings (Books on History, Political & Social Science)]]> 168057 222 Rosa Luxemburg 0486447766 Ephraim 2 4.15 1899 Reform or Revolution & Other Writings (Books on History, Political & Social Science)
author: Rosa Luxemburg
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1899
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]]> Reform or Revolution 213519 112 Rosa Luxemburg 0873483030 Ephraim 2 4.22 1900 Reform or Revolution
author: Rosa Luxemburg
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1900
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]]> <![CDATA[The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism]]> 1237300 The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq. At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. By capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, Klein argues that the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years.]]> 558 Naomi Klein 0805079831 Ephraim 2 4.28 2007 The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
author: Naomi Klein
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average rating: 4.28
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]]> <![CDATA[The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism]]> 112849 267 David D. Friedman 0812690699 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.06 1973 The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism
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name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.06
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Think about the Economy: A Primer]]> 62038714
Per Bylund will make you excited about what economics has to offer. Because economic literacy is mind-opening. Sound economic reasoning is an enormously powerful tool for understanding both the economy and society. Economic literacy uncovers what is going on under the surface and why things work out as they do. There is no magic to it. In fact, economic literacy is necessary to properly understand the world.

Short, direct, axiomatically unassailable, and devastating to the mythology of modern economics. This book not only promote Mises' views, but refutes and attacks the tragicomic orthodoxy of today’s economics mainstream. ]]> 121 Per Bylund Ephraim 5 4.30 2022 How to Think about the Economy: A Primer
author: Per Bylund
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Betrayal Of The American Right]]> 1995212 231 Murray N. Rothbard 9781933550 Ephraim 5 4.17 2007 The Betrayal Of The American Right
author: Murray N. Rothbard
name: Ephraim
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]]> <![CDATA[An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (2 Volumes)]]> 81979
Rothbard rejects the Whig view, according to which the history of economics is a story of constant progress. To the contrary, he sees economics as a battle between two conflicting schools of thought. The correct one explains prices through subjective value: this approach culminates in the Austrian School. The other view explains prices by cost, especially labor cost.

In the first volume, Rothbard stresses the great contributions of the Spanish Scholastics to the subjective tradition. Other great subjectivists included Turgot and Cantillon. Unfortunately, Adam Smith’s labor cost theories became the dominant view, especially in Britain. Rothbard regards Smith as largely a retrograde influence on economic theory.

The second volume contains a brilliant critique of Ricardian economics, showing the constraints on theory entailed by Ricardo’s static and pseudo-mathematical method. Ricardo’s successor John Stuart Mill is the object of a devastating intellectual portrait. Marxism is subjected to a merciless demolition, and Rothbard shows the roots of this system in metaphysical speculation. The French classical liberals such as Bastiat, on the other hand, contributed to the subjectivist school. A further highlight of this volume is a discussion of the bullionist controversy: the views of the Banking and Currency Schools receive extensive analysis.]]> 1084 Murray N. Rothbard 094546648X Ephraim 0 to-read 4.39 1995 An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (2 Volumes)
author: Murray N. Rothbard
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.39
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]]> <![CDATA[Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays]]> 168946
Murray Rothbard had a nose for such error. And when he smelled it, he wrote it up, exposed its underside, refuted its logic, and obliterated its intellectual foundation. That's why he was so hated—and so loved. He is so relentless that it makes the reader squirm. But he also teaches and inspires.

So it goes through this wonderful book called "Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature, and Other Essays." It might just be the wildest Rothbard romp ever. Fully armed, he slices and dices crazies of all sorts, from those who would level all incomes to those who would free all people's of the world through bombings and nuclear war. This is Rothbard providing the reader a strong does of sanity against the hordes of ideological fanatics who care not a knit for reality or reason.

But Rothbard is not one of those thinkers who, like Russell Kirk, conclude that ideology is itself a bad thing. On the contrary, Rothbard believes that ideology is critical for the defense of we must organize our ideas to make sense of the world and to have an agenda for the future.

Thus does this book also include outstanding pieces of positive theory, including "Justice and Property Rights," "War, Peace, and the State," and "Left and The Prospects for Liberty." It concludes with his rallying "Why Be Libertarian?"

With all the political books out there, each with a partisan spin, it's wonderful to read a thinker who doesn't fear exposing the errors of left and right, measuring anyone and everyone against the great benchmark of the idea of liberty.]]> 352 Murray N. Rothbard 1933550902 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.20 2000 Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays
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]]> The Ethics of Liberty 81983 The Ethics of Liberty stands as one of the most rigorous and philosophically sophisticated expositions of the libertarian political position.

What distinguishes Rothbard's book is the manner in which it roots the case for freedom in the concept of natural rights and applies it to a host of practical problems. An economist by profession, Rothbard here proves himself equally at home with philosophy. And while his conclusions are radical--that a social order that strictly adheres to the rights of private property must exclude the institutionalized violence inherent in the state--his applications of libertarian principles prove surprisingly practical for a host of social dilemmas, solutions to which have eluded alternative traditions.

The Ethics of Liberty authoritatively established the anarcho-capitalist economic system as the most viable and the only principled option for a social order based on freedom. This edition is newly indexed and includes a new introduction that takes special note of the Robert Nozick-Rothbard controversies.]]> 308 Murray N. Rothbard Ephraim 0 to-read 4.13 1982 The Ethics of Liberty
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]]> <![CDATA[For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto]]> 1268994 338 Murray N. Rothbard Ephraim 0 to-read 4.28 1973 For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto
author: Murray N. Rothbard
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]]> Anatomy of the State 6613404
How can an organization of this type sustain itself? It must engage in propaganda to induce popular support for its policies. Court intellectuals play a key role here, and Rothbard cites as an example of ideological mystification the work of the influential legal theorist Charles Black, Jr., on the way the Supreme Court has become a revered institution.]]> 60 Murray N. Rothbard 1933550481 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.18 1974 Anatomy of the State
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]]> <![CDATA[The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy]]> 2562710 265 Hans-Hermann Hoppe 0792393287 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.36 1993 The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy
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name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.36
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]]> What Must Be Done 18211977
Hoppe begins by examining the nature of the state as “a monopolist of defense and the provision and enforcement of law and order.â€� Like all state-mandated monopolies, the monopoly of law enforcement also leads to higher prices and lower quality of services. Why is this state of affairs tolerated? The modern democratic states, much more than the monarchies and princely estates of old, are seen as moral and necessary despite ample evidence to the contrary.

In the minds of most modern citizens of democratic states, law and order is what the state says it is, and this has led to a long period of centralization and power consolidation by those states.

How can the libertarian fight back against this trend?

Hoppe offers a program that can pave the way for a new libertarian society.]]> 400 Hans-Hermann Hoppe Ephraim 0 to-read 3.98 2013 What Must Be Done
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name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.98
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]]> <![CDATA[Democracy: The God That Failed]]> 980031
A compelling chapter on time preference describes the progress of civilization as lowering time preferences as capital structure is built, and explains how the interaction between people can lower time all around, with interesting parallels to the Ricardian Law of Association. By focusing on this transformation, the author is able to interpret many historical phenomena, such as rising levels of crime, degeneration of standards of conduct and morality, and the growth of the mega-state. In underscoring the deficiencies of both monarchy and democracy, the author demonstrates how these systems are both inferior to a natural order based on private-property.

Hoppe deconstructs the classical liberal belief in the possibility of limited government and calls for an alignment of conservatism and libertarianism as natural allies with common goals. He defends the proper role of the production of defense as undertaken by insurance companies on a free market, and describes the emergence of private law among competing insurers.

Having established a natural order as superior on utilitarian grounds, the author goes on to assess the prospects for achieving a natural order. Informed by his analysis of the deficiencies of social democracy, and armed with the social theory of legitimation, he forsees secession as the likely future of the US and Europe, resulting in a multitude of region and city-states. This book complements the author's previous work defending the ethics of private property and natural order. Democracy - The God that Failed will be of interest to scholars and students of history, political economy, and political philosophy.]]> 304 Hans-Hermann Hoppe 0765808684 Ephraim 5 4.16 2001 Democracy: The God That Failed
author: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2001
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet]]> 49089453 Enough, argues bestselling author Bjorn Lomborg. Climate change is real, but it's not the apocalyptic threat that we've been told it is. Projections of Earth's imminent demise are based on bad science and even worse economics. In panic, world leaders have committed to wildly expensive but largely ineffective policies that hamper growth and crowd out more pressing investments in human capital, from immunization to education.

False Alarm will convince you that everything you think about climate change is wrong -- and points the way toward making the world a vastly better, if slightly warmer, place for us all.]]> 320 BjĂžrn Lomborg 1541647467 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.10 2020 False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet
author: BjĂžrn Lomborg
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2020
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]]> <![CDATA[Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World]]> 9231119 The big economic story of our times is not the Great Recession. It is how China and India began to embrace neoliberal ideas of economics and attributed a sense of dignity and liberty to the bourgeoisie they had denied for so long. The result was an explosion in economic growth and proof that economic change depends less on foreign trade, investment, or material causes, and a whole lot more on ideas and what people believe.

Or so says Deirdre N. McCloskey in Bourgeois Dignity, a fiercely contrarian history that wages a similar argument about economics in the West. Here she turns her attention to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe to reconsider the birth of the industrial revolution and the rise of capitalism. According to McCloskey, our modern world was not the product of new markets and innovations, but rather the result of shifting opinions about them. During this time, talk of private property, commerce, and even the bourgeoisie itself radically altered, becoming far more approving and flying in the face of prejudices several millennia old. The wealth of nations, then, didn’t grow so dramatically because of economic factors: it grew because rhetoric about markets and free enterprise finally became enthusiastic and encouraging of their inherent dignity.

An utterly fascinating sequel to her critically acclaimed book The Bourgeois Virtues, Bourgeois Dignity is a feast of intellectual riches from one of our most spirited and ambitious historians—a work that will forever change our understanding of how the power of persuasion shapes our economic lives.

]]> 592 Deirdre Nansen McCloskey 0226556654 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.13 2010 Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World
author: Deirdre Nansen McCloskey
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2010
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]]> On Anarchism 22558046
On Anarchism sheds a much needed light on the foundations of Chomsky's thought, specifically his constant questioning of the legitimacy of entrenched power. The book gathers his essays and interviews to provide a short, accessible introduction to his distinctively optimistic brand of anarchism. Refuting the notion of anarchism as a fixed idea, and disputing the traditional fault lines between anarchism and socialism, this is a book sure to challenge, provoke and inspire. Profoundly relevant to our times, it is a touchstone for political activists and anyone interested in deepening their understanding of anarchism, or of Chomsky's thought.

'Arguably the most important intellectual alive' New York Times

Noam Chomsky is the author of numerous bestselling and influential political books, including Hegemony or Survival, Failed States, Interventions, What We Say Goes, Hopes and Prospects, Gaza in Crisis, Making the Future and Occupy.

Nathan Schneider is the author of Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse and God in Proof: The Story of a Search from the Ancients to the Internet.]]> 192 Noam Chomsky 0241969603 Ephraim 2 3.66 2005 On Anarchism
author: Noam Chomsky
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2005
rating: 2
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom]]> 561909
Corrie ten Boom and her family became leaders in the Dutch Underground, hiding Jewish people in their home in a specially built room and aiding their escape from the Nazis. For their help, all but Corrie found death in a concentration camp. The Hiding Place is their story.]]> 242 Corrie ten Boom 0553256696 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.46 1971 The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom
author: Corrie ten Boom
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1971
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Rock and Sand: An Orthodox Appraisal of the Protestant Reformers and Their Teachings]]> 25319089 420 Josiah Trenham 1939028361 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.45 2015 Rock and Sand: An Orthodox Appraisal of the Protestant Reformers and Their Teachings
author: Josiah Trenham
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence]]> 58594010 780 Martin Meredith 1471196410 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.57 2005 The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence
author: Martin Meredith
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Total State: How Liberal Democracies Become Tyrannies]]> 199798256 208 Auron MacIntyre 1684515580 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.51 The Total State: How Liberal Democracies Become Tyrannies
author: Auron MacIntyre
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.51
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]]> <![CDATA[The Boniface Option: A Strategy For Christian Counteroffensive in a Post-Christian Nation]]> 197344422 Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide For Taking Dominion And Discipling Nations brings you The Boniface Option: A Strategy For Christian Counteroffensive in a Post-Christian Nation.

You live in a dystopia. Every part of historical human existence in our world has been turned on its head. The world we live in is an inversion of what God created you to live in. All that is good is treated as though it were repugnant. All that is beautiful is treated as though it were repulsive. And the truth is forbidden while the most outrageous lies are exalted. This world did not become like this by accident or by inexorable forces of history. This world was engineered to be this way. It was designed to take the life your ancestors had and tear it apart to prevent you from attaining a normal, human way of life.

We are already in the midst of decades of social engineering. The society we have is already an anti-human one. It is already one designed to remove from you all that made life meaningful and fulfilling. It has torn you from people and place. It is designed to make you isolated, lonely, and, above all else, totally docile. Throughout the pages of this book, I use the term Trashworld to describe this dystopian society. And the point of The Boniface Option is to make you see it for what it is and to begin the hard work of escaping and overcoming it.

"Young man, you've come of age in an Age when God is handing the Western World over to its wickedness. That's the essence of judgment, to give a person, a community, a nation, or a civilization over to the nothingness of its illusions. Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor, once said, 'It is crazy to want what is impossible. And it is impossible for the wicked not to do so. Andrew Isker has done you a favor. He's written a book for you that cuts through the miasma pouring out of every institution that now squats on the cultural landscape. You've been lied to you about everything of importance your entire life. As a result, a healthy cynicism probably colors your thinking. But if that's the only color you see, you will die from despair. This is where Andrew is so helpful. He speaks your language, but he also has something hopeful to say that might be new to you. Even though you're surrounded by fools, there is still a path that the wise may follow. It is well worn furrow made by many feet. That's actually the historical meaning of the word "lore"--a word once used as a synonym for wisdom, but to imply a path to follow rather than just an ivory tower to look down at the world from. Take and read." - C. R. Wiley, author of The Household and the War for the Cosmos

"Prepare to embark on an exciting journey through the dense forest of modernity with The Boniface Option. Fearlessly confronting the challenges of our time, Andrew Isker vividly portrays the harsh realities of 'trashworld,' leaving no issue unaddressed. His unapologetic approach exposes the real struggles faced by Christians in the modern era while empowering readers to confront these problems head-on. Brace yourself for an unforgettable and engaging experience that challenges, inspires, and empowers. Join my friend and colleague Andrew Isker on this extraordinary adventure to reclaim our faith and embrace 'The Boniface Option' to dismantle the idols of our modern world." - Andrew Torba, CEO, Gab[dot]com]]> 182 Andrew Isker Ephraim 0 to-read 4.27 The Boniface Option: A Strategy For Christian Counteroffensive in a Post-Christian Nation
author: Andrew Isker
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]]> <![CDATA[Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life]]> 56019043
In 12 Rules for Life, clinical psychologist and celebrated professor at Harvard and the University of Toronto Dr. Jordan B. Peterson helped millions of readers impose order on the chaos of their lives. Now, in this bold sequel, Peterson delivers twelve more lifesaving principles for resisting the exhausting toll that our desire to order the world inevitably takes.

In a time when the human will increasingly imposes itself over every sphere of life—from our social structures to our emotional states—Peterson warns that too much security is dangerous. What’s more, he offers strategies for overcoming the cultural, scientific, and psychological forces causing us to tend toward tyranny, and teaches us how to rely instead on our instinct to find meaning and purpose, even—and especially—when we find ourselves powerless.

While chaos, in excess, threatens us with instability and anxiety, unchecked order can petrify us into submission. Beyond Order provides a call to balance these two fundamental principles of reality itself, and guides us along the straight and narrow path that divides them.]]> 382 Jordan B. Peterson 0593084640 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.14 2021 Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life
author: Jordan B. Peterson
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
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]]> The Pilgrim's Regress 29806 The first book written by C. S. Lewis after his conversion, The Pilgrim's Regress is, in a sense, the record of Lewis s own search for meaning and spiritual satisfaction—a search that eventually led him to Christianity.

Here is the story of the pilgrim John and his odyssey to an enchanting island which has created in him an intense longing—a mysterious, sweet desire. John s pursuit of this desire takes him through adventures with such people as Mr. Enlightenment, Media Halfways, Mr. Mammon, Mother Kirk, Mr. Sensible, and Mr. Humanist and through such cities as Thrill and Eschropolis as well as the Valley of Humiliation.

Though the dragons and giants here are different from those in Bunyan s Pilgrim s Progress, Lewis s allegory performs the same function of enabling the author to say simply and through fantasy what would otherwise have demanded a full-length philosophy of religion.

]]> 211 C.S. Lewis 0802806414 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.86 1933 The Pilgrim's Regress
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1933
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]]> Christianity and Liberalism 156871 199 J. Gresham Machen 0802811213 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.28 1922 Christianity and Liberalism
author: J. Gresham Machen
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1922
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Theology Of The Body For Beginners]]> 401802 Why did God create us male and female?
How do we attain true happiness on earth?
What kind of joys await us in heaven?
Why is there evil in the world and how do we overcome it?
How can we experience the love we long for in the depth of our hearts?]]> 151 Christopher West 1932645349 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.26 2003 Theology Of The Body For Beginners
author: Christopher West
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2003
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]]> <![CDATA[Communism and the Conscience of the West]]> 17852913 Communism and the Conscience of the West, Sheen explains the problems with society stemming from socialism and communism, which continue to infect universities and political discourse today. This timeless book exposes communism's defects, its attitude toward the family, the decline of historical liberalism, and the rise of the antireligious spirit that pervades our world.

Readers will be impressed as Sheen diagnoses the issues facing our once peaceful cities, with history being put on trial, scrubbed, rewritten, and explained in terms of class hate. While communism destroys human freedom, Sheen illustrates how man is free as a result of two guarantees: one economic and the other spiritual. The economic enables man to call something his own which is outside of himself. The spiritual is the soul, which makes man independent of an earthly tyrant or a political dictator. In short, man's soul is his own on the inside, as his property is his own on the outside.

Sheen carefully illustrates how even though we are living at a time when man has all the material conditions necessary for his happiness, "having lost the purpose of life which religion supplied, modern man became increasingly frustrated as his disappointed hedonism turned to pessimism. Thus man, who isolated himself from the religious community, now by reaction finds himself absorbed by the political community as despair becomes the dominant note of contemporary philosophy and literature." For anyone seeking to understand one of the greatest threats to the Faith and our world, Communism and the Conscience of the West will be your guide.]]> 247 Fulton J. Sheen Ephraim 5 4.58 1948 Communism and the Conscience of the West
author: Fulton J. Sheen
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.58
book published: 1948
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Eugenics and Other Evils : An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State]]> 184421 179 G.K. Chesterton 1587420023 Ephraim 5 3.95 1922 Eugenics and Other Evils : An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State
author: G.K. Chesterton
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1922
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It]]> 36738610 Michael J. Sandel, author of Justice

"Everyone worried about the state of contemporary politics should read this book." --Anne-Marie Slaughter, President of the New America Foundation

The world is in turmoil. From Russia, Turkey, and Egypt to the United States, authoritarian populists have seized power. As a result, democracy itself may now be at risk.

Two core components of liberal democracy--individual rights and the popular will--are increasingly at war with each other. As the role of money in politics soared and important issues were taken out of public contestation, a system of "rights without democracy" took hold. Populists who rail against this say they want to return power to the people. But in practice they create something just as bad: a system of "democracy without rights." The consequence, as Yascha Mounk shows in this brilliant and timely book, is that trust in politics is dwindling. Citizens are falling out of love with their political system. Democracy is wilting away. Drawing on vivid stories and original research, Mounk identifies three key drivers of voters' discontent: stagnating living standards, fear of multiethnic democracy, and the rise of social media. To reverse the trend, politicians need to enact radical reforms that benefit the many, not the few.

The People vs. Democracy is the first book to describe both how we got here and what we need to do now. For those unwilling to give up either individual rights or the concept of the popular will, Mounk argues that urgent action is needed, as this may be our last chance to save democracy.]]> 400 Yascha Mounk 0674976827 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.00 2018 The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It
author: Yascha Mounk
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2018
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]]> <![CDATA[Stranger in My Own Country: A Jewish Family in Modern Germany]]> 17910075 As a Jew in postwar Germany, Yascha Mounk felt like a foreigner in his own country. When he mentioned that he is Jewish, some made anti-Semitic jokes or talked about the superiority of the Aryan race. Others, sincerely hoping to atone for the country's past, fawned over him with a forced friendliness he found just as alienating.
Vivid and fascinating, Stranger in My Own Country traces the contours of Jewish life in a country still struggling with the legacy of the Third Reich and portrays those who, inevitably, continue to live in its shadow. Marshaling an extraordinary range of material into a lively narrative, Mounk surveys his countrymen's responses to "the Jewish question." Examining history, the story of his family, and his own childhood, he shows that anti-Semitism and far-right extremism have long coexisted with self-conscious philo-Semitism in postwar Germany.
But of late a new kind of resentment against Jews has come out in the open. Unnoticed by much of the outside world, the desire for a "finish line" that would spell a definitive end to the country's obsession with the past is feeding an emphasis on German victimhood. Mounk shows how, from the government's pursuit of a less "apologetic" foreign policy to the way the country's idea of the Volk makes life difficult for its immigrant communities, a troubled nationalism is shaping Germany's future.]]> 272 Yascha Mounk 0374157537 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.63 2014 Stranger in My Own Country: A Jewish Family in Modern Germany
author: Yascha Mounk
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2014
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]]> <![CDATA[The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism]]> 58684273 A magisterial intellectual history of the last century of American conservatism

When most people think of the history of modern conservatism, they think of Ronald Reagan. Yet this narrow view leaves many to question: How did Donald Trump win the presidency? And what is the future of the Republican Party?

In The Right, Matthew Continetti gives a sweeping account of movement conservatism’s evolution, from the Progressive Era through the present. He tells the story of how conservatism began as networks of intellectuals, developing and institutionalizing a vision that grew over time, until they began to buckle under new pressures, resembling national populist movements. Drawing out the tensions between the desire for mainstream acceptance and the pull of extremism, Continetti argues that the more one studies conservatism’s past, the more one becomes convinced of its future.

Deeply researched and brilliantly told, The Right is essential reading for anyone looking to understand American conservatism.]]> Matthew Continetti 1549193147 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.00 The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism
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]]> <![CDATA[Religion and American Foreign Policy, 1945â€�1960: The Soul of Containment]]> 6285275 372 William Inboden 0521513472 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.88 2008 Religion and American Foreign Policy, 1945–1960: The Soul of Containment
author: William Inboden
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2008
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]]> <![CDATA[The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan in the White House and the World]]> 60429551 An in-depth and masterful account of how Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy "team of rivals" ended the Cold War and laid the foundation for the twenty-first century.

Today, the ending of the Cold War seems a foregone conclusion. But in the early 1980s, US intelligence predicted the Soviet Union would last another century. Ronald Reagan entered the White House with no certainty of what would happen next, only an overriding faith in American democracy and an abiding belief that the communist system—and the threat of nuclear war—must be brought to an end.

The Peacemaker is the story of the eight years of Reagan’s presidency, as he and his foreign policy team managed, in real time, multiple crises around the globe. From the emergence of global terrorism, wars in the Middle East, the rise of Japan and the awakening of China, to proxy conflicts in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, Reagan’s team oversaw the worldwide expansion of democracy, globalization, free trade, and the information revolution. Yet no issue was greater than the Cold War standoff with the Soviet Union. As president, Reagan cast aside the four-decades-old policy of containment and challenged the Soviets in an arms race that pushed them towards economic and political collapse, all while extending an olive branch of diplomacy.

Reagan’s revolving team included Secretaries of State Al Haig and George Schultz; Secretaries of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Frank Carlucci; National Security Advisors Bill Clark, John Poindexter and Bud McFarlane; Chief of Staff James Baker; CIA Director Bill Casey; and Jeane Kirkpatrick, Reagan’s United Nations ambassador who fell out with the president over the Falkland War. Talented and devoted to their cause, at times their inner rivalries and backstabbing led to missteps and crises. But over the course of the administration, the Reagan team developed the strategies that brought us to the brink of the Cold War’s peaceful conclusion, and remade the world.]]> 596 William Inboden 1524745898 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.46 2022 The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan in the White House and the World
author: William Inboden
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.46
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]]> <![CDATA[The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - From Ancient Greece to Iraq]]> 16034214 The Savior Generals, a set of brilliantly executed pocket biographies of five generals who single-handedly saved their nations from defeat in war. War is rarely a predictable enterprise--it is a mess of luck, chance, and incalculable variables. Today's sure winner can easily become tomorrow's doomed loser. Sudden, sharp changes in fortune can reverse the course of war.
These intractable circumstances are sometimes mastered by leaders of genius--asked at the eleventh hour to save a hopeless conflict, created by others, often unpopular with politics and the public. These savior generals often come from outside the established power structure, employ radical strategies, and flame out quickly. Their careers often end in controversy. But their dramatic feats of leadership are vital slices of history--not merely as stirring military narrative, but as lessons on the dynamic nature of consensus, leadership, and destiny.]]> 320 Victor Davis Hanson 160819163X Ephraim 0 to-read 3.90 2013 The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - From Ancient Greece to Iraq
author: Victor Davis Hanson
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2013
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]]> <![CDATA[The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won]]> 34184217 A definitive account of World War II by America's preeminent military historian

World War II was the most lethal conflict in human history. Never before had a war been fought on so many diverse landscapes and in so many different ways, from rocket attacks in London to jungle fighting in Burma to armor strikes in Libya.

The Second World Wars examines how combat unfolded in the air, at sea, and on land to show how distinct conflicts among disparate combatants coalesced into one interconnected global war. Drawing on 3,000 years of military history, Victor Davis Hanson argues that despite its novel industrial barbarity, neither the war's origins nor its geography were unusual. Nor was its ultimate outcome surprising. The Axis powers were well prepared to win limited border conflicts, but once they blundered into global war, they had no hope of victory.

An authoritative new history of astonishing breadth, The Second World Wars offers a stunning reinterpretation of history's deadliest conflict.]]> 652 Victor Davis Hanson 0465066984 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.42 2017 The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won
author: Victor Davis Hanson
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology (Routledge Radical Orthodoxy)]]> 209481 This collection of papers is essential reading for anyone eager to understand religion, theology, and philosophy in a completely new light.]]> 285 John Milbank 0415196981 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.89 1998 Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology (Routledge Radical Orthodoxy)
author: John Milbank
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1998
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]]> <![CDATA[An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West]]> 60504972
Funny, provocative and unswervingly perceptive, An Immigrant's Love letter to the West interrogates the developing sense of self-loathing the Western sphere has adopted and offers an alternative perspective. Exploring race politics, free speech, immigration and more, Kisin argues that wrongdoing and guilt need not pervade how we feel about the West - and Britain - today, and that despite all its ups and downs, it remains one of the best places to live in the world.

After all, if an immigrant can't publicly profess their appreciation for this country, who can?]]> 288 Konstantin Kisin 1408716046 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.18 2022 An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West
author: Konstantin Kisin
name: Ephraim
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2022
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]]> <![CDATA[The Saad Truth about Happiness: 8 Secrets for Leading the Good Life]]> 75277383 The Quest for Happiness Is a Universal Fact.

It is a scientific fact, which means we can measure happiness, we can assess it, and we can devise strategies to make ourselves happy and fulfilled human beings.

So says Professor Gad Saad, the author of the sensational bestseller The Parasitic Mind and the irrepressible host of The Saad Truth podcast. In this provocative, entertaining, and life-changing new book, he roams through the scientific studies, culls the wisdom of ancient philosophy and religion, and draws on his extraordinary personal experience as a refugee from war-torn Lebanon turned academic celebrity.

In The Saad Truth about Happiness you’ll learn the secrets to living the good life,
â€� How to live the life you want—not necessarily the life expected of you
� Why resilience is a key to happiness
� Why your career needs to have a higher purpose than a paycheck
� Why variety truly can be the spice of life
� Why choosing the right spouse is so important
� Why Aristotle had it right when he preached moderation
� Why you should take a hint from your dog and realize that playfulness equals happiness

The Saad Truth about Happiness is as lively, stimulating, and captivating as its author, who has become a "de facto global therapist" to an ever-growing audience of hundreds of thousands of people. Read this book and you’ll see why so many seek his counsel.]]> 251 Gad Saad 1684514347 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.68 2023 The Saad Truth about Happiness: 8 Secrets for Leading the Good Life
author: Gad Saad
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2023
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]]> <![CDATA[Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense]]> 49680197
Dr. Gad Saad, the host of the YouTube show THE SAAD TRUTH, exposes the bad ideas—what he calls “idea pathogens”—that are killing common sense and rational debate. Incubated in our universities and spread through the tyranny of political correctness, these ideas are endangering our most basic freedoms—including freedom of thought and speech.

The danger is grave, but as Dr. Saad shows, politically correct dogma is riddled with logical fallacies. We have powerful weapons to fight back with—if we have the courage to use them.

A provocative guide to defending reason and intellectual freedom and a battle cry for the preservation of our fundamental rights.]]> 264 Gad Saad 162157959X Ephraim 0 to-read 3.87 2020 Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense
author: Gad Saad
name: Ephraim
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
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]]> <![CDATA[The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great]]> 42649659
Human beings have never had it better than we have it now in the West. So why are we on the verge of throwing it all away?

In 2016, New York Times bestselling author Ben Shapiro spoke at the University of California–Berkeley. Hundreds of police officers were required to protect his speech. What was so frightening about Shapiro? He came to argue that Western civilization is in the midst of a crisis of purpose and ideas; that we have let grievances replace our sense of community and political expediency limit our individual rights; that we are teaching our kids that their emotions matter more than rational debate; and that the only meaning in life is arbitrary and subjective.

As a society, we are forgetting that almost everything great that has ever happened in history happened because of people who believed in both Judeo-Christian values and in the Greek-born power of reason. In The Right Side of History, Shapiro sprints through more than 3,500 years, dozens of philosophers, and the thicket of modern politics to show how our freedoms are built upon the twin notions that every human being is made in God’s image and that human beings were created with reason capable of exploring God’s world.

We can thank these values for the birth of science, the dream of progress, human rights, prosperity, peace, and artistic beauty. Jerusalem and Athens built America, ended slavery, defeated the Nazis and the Communists, lifted billions from poverty, and gave billions moreÌęspiritual purpose.

Yet we are in the process of abandoning Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, watching our civilization collapse into age-old tribalism, individualistic hedonism, and moral subjectivism. We believe we can satisfy ourselves with intersectionality, scientific materialism, progressive politics, authoritarian governance, or nationalistic solidarity.

We can’t.

The West is special, and in The Right Side of History, Ben Shapiro bravely explains how we have lost sight of the moral purpose that drives each of us to be better, the sacred duty to work together for the greater good,.]]> 277 Ben Shapiro 0062857924 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.86 2019 The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great
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]]> <![CDATA[The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent]]> 57935190 288 Ben Shapiro Ephraim 0 to-read 4.17 2021 The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent
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]]> <![CDATA[Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty]]> 12158480 Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?

Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are?

Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence?

Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories.

Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including:

ÌęÌę - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed andÌęoverwhelm the West?
ÌęÌę - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority?
ÌęÌę - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More
philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions?

Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.]]> 529 Daron Acemoğlu 0307719219 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.06 2012 Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
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]]> <![CDATA[Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics]]> 17345217 ÌęFrom America’s preeminent columnist, named by the Financial Times the most influential commentator in the nation, the long-awaited collection of Charles Krauthammer’s essential, timeless writings.
Ìę
A brilliant stylist known for an uncompromising honesty that challenges conventional wisdom at every turn, Krauthammer has for decades daz­zled readers with his keen insight into politics and government. His weekly column is a must-read in Washington and across the country. Now, finally, the best of Krauthammer’s intelligence, erudition and wit are collected in one volume.
Ìę
Readers will find here not only the country’s leading conservative thinker offering a pas­sionate defense of limited government, but also a highly independent mind whose views—on feminism, evolution and the death penalty, for example—defy ideological convention. Things That Matter also features several of Krautham­mer’s major path-breaking essays—on bioeth­ics, on Jewish destiny and on America’s role as the world’s superpower—that have pro­foundly influenced the nation’s thoughts and policies. And finally, the collection presents a trove of always penetrating, often bemused re­flections on everything from border collies to Halley’s Comet, from Woody Allen to Win­ston Churchill, from the punishing pleasures of speed chess to the elegance of the perfectly thrown outfield assist.
Ìę
With a special, highly autobiographical in­troduction in which Krauthammer reflects on the events that shaped his career and political philosophy, this indispensible chronicle takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the fashions and follies, the tragedies and triumphs, of the last three decades of American life.]]> 388 Charles Krauthammer 0385349173 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.18 2013 Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics
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]]> <![CDATA[Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All]]> 50173134
But in 2019, as some claimed “billions of people are going to die,â€� contributing to rising anxiety, including among adolescents, Shellenberger decided that, as a lifelong environmental activist, leading energy expert, and father of a teenage daughter, he needed to speak out to separate science from fiction.

Despite decades of news media attention, many remain ignorant of basic facts. Carbon emissions peaked and have been declining in most developed nations for over a decade. Deaths from extreme weather, even in poor nations, declined 80 percent over the last four decades. And the risk of Earth warming to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely thanks to slowing population growth and abundant natural gas.

Curiously, the people who are the most alarmist about the problems also tend to oppose the obvious solutions.

What’s really behind the rise of apocalyptic environmentalism? There are powerful financial interests. There are desires for status and power. But most of all there is a desire among supposedly secular people for transcendence. This spiritual impulse can be natural and healthy. But in preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the new religion is failing to satisfy our deepest psychological and existential needs.]]> 272 Michael Shellenberger 0063001705 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.09 2020 Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All
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]]> <![CDATA[NeoConservatism: Why We Need It]]> 770272 248 Douglas Murray 1594031479 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.44 2005 NeoConservatism: Why We Need It
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]]> <![CDATA[The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings]]> 30037808
C. S. Lewis, author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics, considers humankind’s spiritual journey in this collection of wise, meditative excerpts and writings.

In these daily reflections, the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, and Christian apologist, explores a range of connected themes, including “the serious business of heaven,â€� “Nearness to God,â€� “Heaven and Sexuality,â€� and “Two Kinds of Good and Bad.”]]> 432 C.S. Lewis 0062643576 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.26 1984 The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings
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]]> Red Plenty 18634818 "Spufford cunningly maps out a literary genre of his own . . . Freewheeling and fabulous." —The Times (London)Strange as it may seem, the gray, oppressive USSR was founded on a fairy tale. It was built on the twentieth-century magic called "the planned economy," which was going to gush forth an abundance of good things that the lands of capitalism could never match. And just for a little while, in the heady years of the late 1950s, the magic seemed to be working. Red Plenty is about that moment in history, and how it came, and how it went away; about the brief era when, under the rash leadership of Khrushchev, the Soviet Union looked forward to a future of rich communists and envious capitalists, when Moscow would out-glitter Manhattan and every Lada would be better engineered than a Porsche. It's about the scientists who did their genuinely brilliant best to make the dream come true, to give the tyranny its happy ending. Red Plenty is history, it's fiction, it's as ambitious as Sputnik, as uncompromising as an Aeroflot flight attendant, and as different from what you were expecting as a glass of Soviet champagne.]]> 453 Francis Spufford Ephraim 0 to-read 4.07 2010 Red Plenty
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]]> <![CDATA[Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense]]> 15929332 Unapologetic is a wonderfully pugnacious defense of Christianity. Refuting critics such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the "new atheist" crowd, Spufford, a former atheist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, argues that Christianity is recognizable, drawing on the deep and deeply ordinary vocabulary of human feeling, satisfying those who believe in it by offering a ruthlessly realistic account of the grown-up dignity of Christian experience.

Fans of C. S. Lewis, N. T. Wright, Marilynne Robinson, Mary Karr, Diana Butler Bass, Rob Bell, and James Martin will appreciate Spufford's crisp, lively, and abashedly defiant thesis.

Unapologetic is a book for believers who are fed up with being patronized, for non-believers curious about how faith can possibly work in the twenty-first century, and for anyone who feels there is something indefinably wrong, literalistic, anti-imaginative and intolerant about the way the atheist case is now being made.]]> 224 Francis Spufford 0571225217 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.95 2012 Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense
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]]> <![CDATA[Churchill: Walking with Destiny]]> 38470102 Napoleon and The Storm of War.

When we seek an example of unalloyed courage, the man who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the visionary leader, immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior force of Nazi Germany when bombs rained on London and so many others had caved? In The Storm of War, Andrew Roberts gave us a tantalizing glimpse of Churchill the war leader. Now, at last, we have the full and definitive biography, as personally revealing as it is compulsively readable, about one of the great leaders of all time.

Roberts was granted exclusive access to extensive new material: the transcripts of war cabinet meetings - the equivalent of the Nixon and JFK tapes - diaries, letters, unpublished memoirs, and detailed notes taken by the king after their bi-weekly meetings. Having read every one of Churchill's letters, including deeply personal ones that Churchill's son Randolph had previously chosen to withhold, and spoken to more than one hundred people who knew or worked with him, Roberts identifies the hidden forces fueling Churchill's drive. Churchill put his faith in the British Empire and fought as hard to preserve it as he did to defend London. Having started his career in India and South Africa, he understood better than most idealists how hard it can be to pacify reluctant people far from home.

We think of Churchill as a hero of the age of mechanized warfare, but Roberts's masterwork reveals that he has as much to teach us about the challenges we face today and the fundamental values of courage, tenacity, leadership, and moral conviction.]]> 1105 Andrew Roberts 0241205638 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.30 2018 Churchill: Walking with Destiny
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]]> <![CDATA[Leadership in War: Essential Lessons from Those Who Made History]]> 43982424
Each of these leaders fundamentally shaped the outcome of the war in which their nation was embroiled. Is war leadership unique, or did these leaders have something in common, traits and techniques that transcend time and place and can be applied to the essential nature of conflict?

Meticulously researched and compellingly written, Leadership in War presents readers with fresh, complex portraits of leaders who approached war with different tactics and weapons, but with the common goal of success in the face of battle. Both inspiring and cautionary, these portraits offer important lessons on leadership in times of struggle, unease, and discord. With his trademark verve and incisive observation, Roberts reveals the qualities that doom even the most promising leaders to failure, as well as the traits that lead to victory.]]> 256 Andrew Roberts 0525522387 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.78 2019 Leadership in War: Essential Lessons from Those Who Made History
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]]> The Post-American World 2120783
Following on the success of his best-selling The Future of Freedom, Zakaria describes with equal prescience a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures. He sees the "rise of the rest"—the growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others—as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world.

The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States. This economic growth is producing political confidence, national pride, and potentially international problems. How should the United States understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate? What does it mean to live in a truly global era? Zakaria answers these questions with his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination.]]> 292 Fareed Zakaria 039306235X Ephraim 0 to-read 3.86 2008 The Post-American World
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]]> <![CDATA[Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present]]> 199387585 The international best-selling author explores the revolutions—past and present—that define the chaotic, polarized and unstable age in which we livePopulist rage, ideological fracture, economic and technological shocks, geopolitical dangers and an international system studded with catastrophic risk â€� the early decades of the 21st century may be one of the most revolutionary periods in modern history. But they are not the first. Humans have lived, and thrived, through more than one great realignment. What makes an age a revolutionary one? And how do they end?

In this major new work, Fareed Zakaria masterfully investigates eras that have shattered and shaped humanity. Four such periods hold profound lessons for today. First, in seventeenth-century Netherlands a series of transformations made that tiny land the richest in thew world â€� and created modern politics as we know it today. The ‘Glorious Revolutionâ€� in Britain showed that major political change could happen peacefully. Next, the French Revolution, a dramatic decade and a half that devoured its ideological children and left a bloody legacy that haunts us to this day. Finally, the mother of all revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, which catapulted Britain and the U.S. to global dominance and created the modern world. Against these paradigm-shifting historical eras, Zakaria describes our current situation, unpacking the four revolutions we are living through now; in globalization, technology, identity, and geopolitics.As few public intellectuals can, Zakaria combines intellectual range, deep historical insight, and uncanny prescience to reframe and illuminate a turbulent present.]]> 380 Fareed Zakaria 1802065601 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.30 2024 Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present
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]]> <![CDATA[Human Action: A Treatise on Economics]]> 81912 Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, Mises explains complex market phenomena as "the outcomes of countless conscious, purposive actions, choices, and preferences of individuals, each of whom was trying as best as he or she could under the circumstances to attain various wants and ends and to avoid undesired consequences." It is individual choices in response to personal subjective value judgments that ultimately determine market phenomena—supply and demand, prices, the pattern of production, and even profits and losses. Although governments may presume to set "prices," it is individuals who, by their actions and choices through competitive bidding for money, products, and services, actually determine "prices". Thus, Mises presents economics—not as a study of material goods, services, and products—but as a study of human actions. He sees the science of human action, praxeology, as a science of reason and logic, which recognizes a regularity in the sequence and interrelationships among market phenomena. Mises defends the methodology of praxeology against the criticisms of Marxists, socialists, positivists, and mathematical statisticians.

Mises attributes the tremendous technological progress and the consequent increase in wealth and general welfare in the last two centuries to the introduction of liberal government policies based on free-market economic teachings, creating an economic and political environment which permits individuals to pursue their respective goals in freedom and peace. Mises also explains the futility and counter-productiveness of government attempts to regulate, control, and equalize all people's circumstances: "Men are born unequal and ... it is precisely their inequality that generates social cooperation and civilization."

Ludwig von Mises (1881â€�1973)Ìęwas the leading spokesman of the Austrian School of Economics throughout most of the twentieth century. He earned his doctorate in law and economics from the University of Vienna in 1906. In 1926, Mises founded the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research. From 1909 to 1934, he was an economist for the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. Before the Anschluss, in 1934 Mises left for Geneva, where he was a professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies until 1940, when he emigrated to New York City. From 1948 to 1969, he was a visiting professor at New York University.

Bettina Bien GreavesÌęis a former resident scholar, trustee, and longtime staff member of the Foundation for Economic Education. SheÌęhas written and lectured extensively on topics of free market economics. Her articles have appeared in such journals as Human Events, Reason, and The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty. A student of Mises, Greaves has become an expert on his work in particular and that of the Austrian School of economics in general. She has translated several Mises monographs, compiled an annotated bibliography of his work, and edited collections of papers by Mises and other members of the Austrian School.]]> 924 Ludwig von Mises 0809297434 Ephraim 0 to-read 4.32 1940 Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
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]]> <![CDATA[Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow]]> 1822167 106 Ludwig von Mises 089526899X Ephraim 0 to-read 4.28 1979 Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow
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]]> <![CDATA[Classical Liberalism in Africa: A Manifesto]]> 53883982 116 Germinal G. Van Ephraim 0 to-read 0.0 Classical Liberalism in Africa: A Manifesto
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]]> <![CDATA[Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators]]> 24693812
Jay Nordlinger set out to answer that question, and does so in this book. He surveys 20 dictators in all. They are the worst of the Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, and so on. The book is not about them, really, though of course they figure in it. It’s about their children.

Some of them are absolute loyalists. They admire, revere, or worship their father. Some of them actually succeed their father as dictator—as in North Korea, Syria, and Haiti. Some of them have doubts. A couple of them become full-blown dissenters, even defectors. A few of the daughters have the experience of having their husband killed by their father. Most of these children are rocked by war, prison, exile, or other upheaval.

Obviously, the children have things in common. But they are also individuals, making of life what they can. The main thing they have in common is They have been dealt a very, very unusual hand.

What would you do, if you were the offspring of an infamous dictator, who lords it over your country?

An early reader of this book said, “There’s an opera on every pageâ€�: a drama, a tragedy (or even a comedy). Another reader said he had read the chapter on Bokassa “with my eyes on stalks.â€�

Meet these characters for yourself. Marvel, shudder, and ponder.]]> 336 Jay Nordlinger 1594038155 Ephraim 0 to-read 3.64 2015 Children of Monsters: An Inquiry into the Sons and Daughters of Dictators
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]]>