-Titulo Original : Vanguard-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: Review Jones has written an elegant and expansive history of Black women who sought to build political power where they could.... Jones is an assiduous scholar and an absorbing writer, turning to the archives to unearth the stories of Black women who worked alongside white suffragists only to be marginalized. New York TimesIn her important new book, Jones shows how African American women waged their own fight for the vote, and why their achievements speak mightily to our present moment as voters, regardless of gender or race. Washington Post“If you read no other book on suffrage this centennial of the 19th Amendment, read this one. Let the incomparable historian Martha S. Jones take you to school.” Ms.“Jones’ book is a welcome addition to the spate of books on woman suffrage that have been published this year in honor of the Centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment. Through her rigorous scholarship and out-of-the-box perspective, she sheds new and important light on the crucial role of Black women in winning and ensuring the right to vote…Jones’ scholarship addresses a gaping hole in suffrage literature.” New York Journal of Books“Thanks to Martha Jones’s Vanguard, Black women’s rightful place in this history has been restored. Foreign Affairs“In her forceful and compelling history, Johns Hopkins professor Jones corrects and enriches the conventional narrative of the noble suffrage crusade led overwhelmingly by white women with the determined and strategic efforts by Black women to build their own movement to win the rights that had been denied them.” National Book Review“A necessary, insightful book that shines light on Black women underexplored in history. Jones writes narrative nonfiction at its best.” Library JournalHighly charged, absorbing reading and most timely in the era of renewed advocacy for civil rights. KirkusMartha Jones is the political historian of African American women. And this book is the commanding history of the remarkable struggle of African American women for political power. The more power they accumulated, the more equality they wrought. All Americans would be better off learning this history and grasping just how much we owe equalitys vanguard. Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an AntiracistIn her inspiring new book, Vanguard, renowned historian Martha S. Jones gives us a sweeping narrative for our times, grounded in the multi-generational struggle of black women for a freedom and equality that would not only fulfill their rights but galvanize a broader, redemptive movement for human rights everywhere. Through the carefully interwoven stories of famous and forgotten African American women, together representing two hundred years of history, Jones shows how this core of our society -- so key to winning elections today -- also gave us the nations original feminists and antiracists. From organizers and institution builders to preachers and writers, journalists and activists, black women found ways to rise up through the twin cracks of race and sex discrimination to elevate democracy as a whole. At a moment when that very democracy is under assault, Vanguard reminds us to look for hope in those most denied it. Henry Louis Gates Jr.Bold, ambitious, and beautifully crafted, Vanguard represents more than two hundred years of Black womens political history. From Jarena Lee to Stacey Abrams, Martha S. Jones reminds her readers that Black women stand as Americas original feminists -- women who continue to remind America that it must make good on its promises. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, author of Never Caught and She Came to SlayYou cannot tell the history of modern democracy without the history of Black women, and vibrating through Martha Joness prose, argument, and evidence is analysis that takes Black women seriously. Vanguard brilliantly lays bare how a full accounting of black women as powerful political actors is both pas...

-Titulo Original : Land So Strange The Epic Journey Of Cabeza De Vaca-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: From a Bancroft Prize-winning historian, the gripping tale of a shipwrecked Spaniard who walked across America in the sixteenth century (Financial Times)In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival. Of the four hundred men who had embarked on the voyage, only four survived-three Spaniards and an African slave. This tiny band endured a horrific march through Florida, a harrowing raft passage across the Louisiana coast, and years of enslavement in the American Southwest. They journeyed for almost ten years in search of the Pacific Ocean that would guide them home, and they were forever changed by their experience. The men lived with a variety of nomadic Indians and learned several indigenous languages. They saw lands, peoples, plants, and animals that no outsider had ever before seen. In this enthralling tale of four castaways wandering in an unknown land, Andres Resendez brings to life the vast, dynamic world of North America just a few years before European settlers would transform it forever. Review Once you start this book, its nearly impossible to put it down. Carolyn See, Washington Post Book World“I’m loving this book.” Joe RoganResendezs story is so riveting youll wonder why so many history books ignore it. Entertainment WeeklyThe story of Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, and of his accidental journey across the American continent, is one of the most remarkable feats of endurance ever recorded.... Resendez tells this gripping story with zeal.... It is impossible not to be swept along by his enthusiasm. Financial Times[Resendezs] indefatigable scholarship, knowledge of the context, and craftsmanlike storytelling provide a model account: concise, solid, moving. Times Literary SupplementThe accidental journey of Cabeza de Vaca and his companions across North America is one of the epics of the Age of Exploration. Andres Resendez recounts the story in broad context and riveting detail, capturing the lofty, base, cunning, fatuous, cowardly, and heroic actions and motives of an improbable cast of astonishing characters. H.W. Brands, author of Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American RevolutionResendezs brisk historical narrative cries out for novelisation. Times (U.K.)Resendez ... shows how Cortez, de Soto and other would-be conquistadors schemed for their kingdoms in the New World like investors jockeying for IPOs. Wall Street JournalAn extraordinary adventure story (which) offers a very different sort of paradigm for Europes encounter with the Americas. The ScotsmanAndres Resendezs new interpretation of this uncanny ordeal of human survival comprehensively reveals the adventure in almost seamless, highly readable prose. He provides a clear background of the politics of the Spanish Conquest, then spins a yarn of unimaginable hardship and a testament to endurance that elicits head-shaking disbelief on almost every page. Amazingly, all of it is true ... Mr. Resendezs new telling of this astounding tale entertains and captivates from the first page. Dallas Morning News[Resendezs] voice is original, his writing lucid and gripping. Miami Herald[I]t is Resendezs clever rewriting of his ordeal-as a survivors tale-that is most memorable. Texas MonthlyResendez creates a gripping narrative of one of the most amazing survival stories of all time. Library Journal (starred review)[Resendez] misses nothing in telling this riveting quest for gold and glory: prickly pears, pecan nuts, and other plants new to Europeans; migrant tribes in the daily search for food; massacres and treks of naked men across hundreds of miles; and the jealousies and cabals among men like rich fat D...

-Titulo Original : What Is Real? The Unfinished Quest For The Meaning Of Quantum Physics-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: A thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science. --New York Times Book ReviewAn Editors Choice, New York Times Book ReviewLonglisted for PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science WritingLonglisted for Goodreads Choice Award Every physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among humanitys finest scientific achievements. But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohrs solipsistic and poorly reasoned Copenhagen interpretation. Indeed, questioning it has long meant professional ruin, yet some daring physicists, such as John Bell, David Bohm, and Hugh Everett, persisted in seeking the true meaning of quantum mechanics. What Is Real? is the gripping story of this battle of ideas and the courageous scientists who dared to stand up for truth. An excellent, accessible account. --Wall Street Journal Splendid. . . . Deeply detailed research, accompanied by charming anecdotes about the scientists. --Washington Post Review In What Is Real? Adam Becker tells a fascinating if complex story of quantum dissidents...An excellent, accessible account. Wall Street JournalA thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science...[Becker] leads us through an impressive account of the rise of competing interpretations, grounding them in the human stories, which are naturally messy and full of contingencies. He makes a convincing case that its wrong to imagine the Copenhagen interpretation as a single official or even coherent statement. New York Times Book ReviewBeckers book is one of the first attempts we have at telling this story in a way that acknowledges how it actually turned out--acknowledges, that is, who won these debates about the Copenhagen interpretation, who lost them, who pretended otherwise, and how they got away with it.... He has clearly done extensive and meticulous historical research. David Z. Albert, NewYork Review of BooksSplendid.... With deeply detailed research, accompanied by charming anecdotes about the scientists...[Becker] hopes to convince us that the Cophenhagen interpretation has had too great an influence on physics for historically contingent reasons. Washington PostBecker...make[s] a case for the importance of philosophy. Thats a key call, with influential scientists such as Neil deGrasse Tyson dismissing the discipline as a waste of time. What Is Real? is an argument for keeping an open mind. NatureA riveting storyteller, Becker brings to life physicists who have too long remained in the shadow of Bohr and Einstein.... What Is Real? offers an engaging and accessible overview of the debates surrounding the interpretation of quantum mechanics. ScienceImpressive...[Beckers] strength is the excavation of stories that show how deeply quantum physics was in thrall to the personalities of its developers. The cast is colourful and expansive, and provides engaging drama...The subtext running through this hugely enjoyable book is that, if we still have a long way to go before we understand reality, we may only have our own prejudices to blame. New ScientistA joy to read...For anyone who has been intrigued by other popular accounts of the quantum world but came away feeling somewhat cheated by the Copenhagen sleight-of-hand. Physics WorldRemarkable...What Is Real? is a superb contribution both to popular understanding of quantum theory and to ongoing debates among experts...It deserves wide attention and careful study. Physics TodaySpellbinding....This very book could prove to be a watershed moment for the physics community if it faces up to its own past and its present....If you have any interest in the implications of quantum theory, or in the suppression of scientific curiosity, What is Real? is required reading. There is no more reliable, careful, and readable account of the whole history of quantum th...

-Titulo Original : Predators Pedophiles, Rapists, And Other Sex Offenders-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: About the Author Anna C. Salter, Ph.D., lectures and consults throughout the U.S. and abroad, and in 1997 won the Significant Achievement Award from the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. She is the author of Treating Child Sex Offenders and Victims, Transforming Trauma, and several forensic mysteries. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin. What motivates sexual abusers? Why are so few caught? Drawing on the stories of abusers, Anna C. Salter shows that sexual predators use sophisticated deception techniques and rely on misconceptions surrounding them to evade discovery. Arguing that even the most knowledgeable among us can be fooled, Salter dispels the myths about sexual predators and gives us the tools to protect our families and ourselves. Review Disturbing and absorbing.... Salter offers chilling portraits of a variety of [offenders].... this is an insightful look at a subject that concerns all parents...

-Titulo Original : Why Orwell Matters-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: Review Not only a fine defense of Orwells politics, but also the most stimulating introduction available to almost every other aspect of his work. The Sunday Telegraph (London) In this widely acclaimed biographical essay, the masterful polemicist Christopher Hitchens assesses the life, the achievements, and the myth of the great political writer and participant George Orwell. True to his contrarian style, Hitchens is both admiring and aggressive, sympathetic yet critical, taking true measure of his subject as hero and problem. Answering both the detractors and the false claimants, Hitchens tears down the faA§e of sainthood erected by the hagiographers and rebuts the critics point by point. He examines Orwell and his perspectives on fascism, empire, feminism, and Englishness, as well as his outlook on America, a country and culture towards which he exhibited much ambivalence. Whether thinking about empires or dictators, race or class, nationalism or popular culture, Orwells moral outlook remains indispensable in a world that has undergone vast changes in the seven decades since his death. Combining the best of Hitchens polemical punch and intellectual elegance in a tightly woven and subtle argument, this book addresses not only why Orwell matters today, but how he will continue to matter in a future, uncertain world. About the Author Christopher Hitchens is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a visiting professor of liberal studies at the New School. He is the author of numerous books, including works on Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George Orwell, Mother Teresa, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, and his #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award nominee, God Is Not Great...

-Titulo Original : Sword And The Shield-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: This “landmark” (Ibram X. Kendi) dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King transforms our understanding of the twentieth century’s most iconic African American leaders.To most Americans, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. represent contrasting ideals: self-defense versus nonviolence, Black Power versus civil rights, the sword versus the shield. The struggle for Black freedom is wrought with the same contrasts. While nonviolent direct action is remembered as an unassailable part of American democracy, the movement’s militancy is either vilified or erased outright.In The Sword and the Shield, Peniel E. Joseph upends these misconceptions and reveals a nuanced portrait of two men who, despite markedly different backgrounds, inspired and pushed each other throughout their adult lives. Now updated with a new afterword, this is a strikingly revisionist account of Malcolm and Martin, the era they defined, and their lasting impact on today’s Movement for Black Lives. Review Enchanting. New York Times“Joseph, a prolific historian of twentieth-century African-American politics, an indefatigable public commentator, and arguably the leading chronicler of the Black Power movement, sheds light in The Sword and the Shield on the complex intellectual and strategic dynamics beneath the publicly fractious relationship between Martin and Malcolm.” New York Review of BooksMr. Joseph, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, weaves [Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm Xs] stories fluidly and with vivid detail, helping to strip away the high gloss of mythology. Wall Street JournalIt is a fascinating story, full of subtle twists and turns. Washington PostIn this brilliantly braided biography, Peniel E. Joseph tells the story of each man’s identity and how their ideas shaped America, making clear that we can never fully understand one without the other. TIME“A brilliant revisionist study of the lives of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Effectively challenging the conventional dichotomy between the two men, it shows, instead, how their paths became increasingly convergent, coming to represent ‘overlapping and intersecting strains of revolutionary black activism.’” The Guardian“In the year of Black Lives Matter, this comparative biography of two of the great figures in the struggle for racial equality in the US stands out.” Financial Times“The Sword and the Shield?delivers both strong storytelling and exemplary history, dismantling popular distortions of its subjects, and arriving at a nuanced and profoundly revealing portrayal of converging visions that informed, challenged, and sharpened each other even as their proponents seemed publicly and irrevocably at odds.” New York Journal of BooksJosephs fresh and perceptive dual biography may rekindle political unity in a time of increasingly granular identity politics, sensationalism, and fear. BooklistAs the author delineates the philosophies and tactics of each man, he compares and contrasts them on nearly every page, making the various narrative strands cohere nicely. An authoritative dual biography from a leading scholar of African American history. Kirkus Though other meaningful figures from the era get short shrift, Joseph’s laser focus delivers essential insights into the characters of both men. This incisive work uncovers the subtleties of a relationship too often cast in broad strokes. Publishers WeeklyThe Sword and the Shield is a landmark. It is what happens when one Americas greatest historians of African America shines the same light on two of African Americas greatest historical figures. Peniel Joseph deploys his supreme talents as a biographer and movement historian to interweave the world-shattering lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an AntiracistArguing against facile juxtapositions of the political philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Peniel...

-Titulo Original : Spy Handler Memoir Of A Kgb Officer - The True Story Of The Man Who Recruited Robert Hanssen And Aldrich Ames-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: Victor Cherkashins incredible career in the KGB spanned thirty-eight years, from Stalins death in 1953 to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In this riveting memoir, Cherkashin provides a remarkable insiders view of the KGBs prolonged conflict with the United States, from his recruitment through his rising career in counterintelligence to his prime spot as the KGBs number- two man at the Soviet Embassy in Washington. Victor Cherkashins story will shed stark new light on the KGBs inner workings over four decades and reveal new details about its major cases. Cherkashins story is rich in episode and drama. He took part in some of the highest-profile Cold War cases, including tracking down U.S. and British spies around the world. He was posted to stations in the U.S., Australia, India, and Lebanon and traveled the globe for operations in England, Europe, and the Middle East. But it was in 1985, known as the Year of the Spy, that Cherkashin scored two of the biggest coups of the Cold War. In April of that year, he recruited disgruntled CIA officer Aldrich Ames, becoming his principal handler. Refuting and clarifying other published versions, Cherkashin will offer the most complete account on how and why Ames turned against his country. Cherkashin will also reveal new details about Robert Hanssens recruitment and later exposure, as only he can. And he will address whether there is an undiscovered KGB spy-another Hanssen or Ames-still at large. Spy Handler will be a major addition to Cold War history, told by one of its key participants. Review Mr. Cherkashins story provides a gripping account of [the KGBs] successes in the spy war. -- Wall Street Journal About the Author Victor Cherkashin, a retired KGB colonel, was awarded the prestigious Order of Lenin. During his four decades working for the KGB, he was stationed at various times in West Germany, India, Australia, Lebanon, and Washington, D.C. Following his retirement, he began a private security company in Russia, which he still runs. He lives in Moscow.Gregory Feifer holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Russian Studies from Harvard. A former Radio Free Europe Moscow correspondent, Feifer lived in Russia from 1998 to 2003. He covered Russian politics for a number of publications, including the Moscow Times, World Policy Journal, and Agence France-Presse. He lives in New York City.Victor Cherkashin, a retired KGB colonel, was awarded the prestigious Order of Lenin. During his four decades working for the KGB, he was stationed at various times in West Germany, India, Australia, Lebanon, and Washington, D.C. Following his retirement, he began a private security company in Russia, which he still runs. He lives in Moscow.Gregory Feifer holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Russian Studies from Harvard. A former Radio Free Europe Moscow correspondent, Feifer lived in Russia from 1998 to 2003. He covered Russian politics for a number of publications, including the Moscow Times, World Policy Journal, and Agence France-Presse. He lives in New York City...

-Titulo Original : Lost In Math How Beauty Leads Physics Astray-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: In this provocative book (New York Times), a contrarian physicist argues that her fields modern obsession with beauty has given us wonderful math but bad science.Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades.The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria. Worse, these too good to not be true theories are actually untestable and they have left the field in a cul-de-sac. To escape, physicists must rethink their methods. Only by embracing reality as it is can science discover the truth. Review [A] provocative new book. New York Times According to the physicist and prolific blogger Sabine Hossenfelder, Einstein and others who work in a similar way are lost in math, the title of her lively and provocative book. Wall Street JournalHossenfelder ably mixes simplified explanation of the science with compelling portraits of the fascinating characters who study it. Vanity FairIn her new book, Lost In Math, Sabine Hossenfelder adroitly confronts this crisis head on.... The book is a wild, deep, thought-provoking read that would make any reasonable person in the field whos still capable of introspection doubt themselves. ForbesLost in Math is self-aware and dosed with acerbic wit, and it asks bold questions. NatureSabine Hossenfelders new book Lost in Math provides a well-informed take on the current situation in fundamental physical theory. The author is completely honest, utterly fearless, and often quite funny. MAA Reviews [Hossenfelders] critical assessment of the field is appropriately timed. ScienceEavesdrop on accessible and frank conversations in Hossenfelders Lost in Math, which wrestles with big questions of quantum mechanics and beauty in a fun, fascinating way. Popular ScienceChoice award for outstanding academic titleEntertaining and engaging. Ars TechnicaHossenfelders jaunt through the world of theoretical physics explicitly raises the question of whether the activities of thousands of physicists should actually count as science. And if not, then what in tarnation are they doing? Weekly Standard (UK)Even educated readers will struggle to understand the elements of modern physics, but they will have no trouble enjoying this insightful, delightfully pugnacious polemic about its leading controversy. Kirkus (starred review)This layreader-friendly, amusing treatise gives an enlightening look at a growing issue within physics. Publishers WeeklyEmphasizing how much researchers have achieved in quantum mechanics while using math that is decidedly ugly, Hossenfelder urges her colleagues to start focusing on reality, not conceptual style. A provocative appeal for unattractive but fruitful science. Booklist Hossenfelder, a philosophically inclined physicist, presents the informed reader with a fascinating panorama of the current state of physics, replete with imaginative entities like wormholes, parallel universes, and bubbles associated with the baby universe whose existence cannot be established or falsified through standard experimental modes. CHOICEBorn too late to savor the heady era when the standard model of particle physics came together, Sabine Hossenfelder is impatient for new waves of discovery. Might the pace of insights be slowing because illusions of mathematical beauty have beguiled her fellow theorists? Lost in Math chronicles her quest--through interviews and conversations--to set her own course for exploration. Chris Quigg, Distinguished Scientist Eme...

-Titulo Original : The Strangest Man The Hidden Life Of Paul Dirac, Mystic Of The Atom-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: Paul Dirac was among the greatest scientific geniuses of the modern age. One of Einsteins most admired colleagues, he helped discover quantum mechanics, and his prediction of antimatter was one of the greatest triumphs in the history of physics. In 1933 he became the youngest theoretician ever to win the Nobel Prize in Physics. Diracs personality, like his achievements, is legendary. The Strangest Man uses previously undiscovered archives to reveal the many facets of Diracs brilliantly original mind. About the Author Graham Farmelo is the author of several books, including The Strangest Man, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Farmelo is a Fellow at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge, an Affiliated Professor at Northeastern University, and is a regular visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He lives in London...

-Titulo Original : Philip And Alexander Kings And Conquerors-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: This definitive biography of one of historys most influential father-son duos tells the story of two rulers who gripped the world -- and their rise and fall from power.Alexander the Greats conquests staggered the world. He led his army across thousands of miles, overthrowing the greatest empires of his time and building a new one in their place. He claimed to be the son of a god, but he was actually the son of Philip II of Macedon.Philip inherited a minor kingdom that was on the verge of dismemberment, but despite his youth and inexperience, he made Macedonia dominant throughout Greece. It was Philip who created the armies that Alexander led into war against Persia. In Philip and Alexander, classical historian Adrian Goldsworthy shows that without the work and influence of his father, Alexander could not have achieved so much. This is the groundbreaking biography of two men who together conquered the world. Review “A compelling but temperate book, giving readers an in-depth but dispassionate account of its subjects….Mr. Goldsworthy has a rare gift for imagining and describing ancient warfare….He combines the talents of scholar and storyteller, bringing to life the full drama of ancient history while assessing the evidence with a critical eye.” Wall Street Journal“[Goldsworthy] brings a careful, often insightful balance to the familiar stories.” Open Letters Review“Contributes significantly to making these scholarly developments accessible to a very wide audience, through engaging narratives which capture the political complexity of the Greek world both before and after Alexander. The major innovation of Goldsworthys vivid Philip and Alexander is to pair Alexanders biography with that of his father, Philip II.” Times Literary Supplement“Belongs on the (sturdy) shelf of any reader interested in military, political, or social history.” Minerva Magazine“By pairing the two giants of Macedonia, Goldsworthy helps the reader understand Alexanders life all the better, and sheds light on the achievements and character of Philip.” Aspects of History“A gripping history that combined deep scholarship with readability ... This is an epic history. Very much in the vein of the Tom Holland histories of empire, enjoyable and informative but also gripping.” NB MagazineRiveting...Goldsworthy is the best sort of writer on ancient times. He eschews psychohistory, explains the wildly unfamiliar culture of that era, and speculates carefully...An outstandingly fresh look at well-trodden ground. Kirkus (starred review)An impressive dual biography.... Goldsworthy expertly mines ancient sources to parse fact from legend...This is a fascinating and richly detailed look at two men who changed the course of history. Publishers Weekly“Thorough and riveting.” Library Journal (starred review)Philip and Alexander is another wonderful product of Adrian Goldsworthys historical craft -- sterling scholarship, engaging prose, insightful analysis, and unbiased assessment. Goldsworthy explores brilliantly the complex relationship between father and son, the failure of the Greek city-states to stop them, the proper credit for the Macedonian expansion, and the megalomania of Alexanders near global conquests. A brilliant account of how father and son changed the world, for both good and bad. Victor Davis Hanson, author of A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War A thrilling read, as successful in meeting its ambitions as Philips kingship, as sweeping as Alexanders conquests. Tom Holland, author of Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman RepublicPhilip and Alexander is history writing at its best. In one volume, Adrian Goldsworthy tells the story of perhaps the most successful father-son pair of conquerors of all time. He highlights both the drama of their violent achievements and the consequences that were felt for centuries. The result is expert, fluent, and vivid. Barry Straus...

-Titulo Original : Dreams Of El Dorado A History Of The American West-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: Epic in its scale, fearless in its scope (Hampton Sides), this masterfully told account of the American West from a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist sets a new standard as it sweeps from the California Gold Rush and beyond.In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astors fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame-and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. The West was where riches would reward the miners persistence, the cattlemans courage, the railroad mans enterprise; but El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East.Balanced, authoritative, and masterfully told, Dreams of El Dorado sets a new standard for histories of the American West. Review Lively...[Brands] knows how to write in a popular style that draws us in and holds our interest...[He] also pauses to make some thought-provoking insights, which round out the narrative and present his subject in a fresh light...An engaging, eminently readable introduction. Wall Street JournalAn exciting new history of the American West and how it was settled, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush and more. New York Post [Brands] has a deft narrative touch and a talent for highlighting the human drama undergirding historical events...History as adventure story. Los Angeles Reviewof Books [A] fine new history. Houston ChronicleBrands surveys the past three centuries of the West, chronicling all-too-human tales of hope, greed, triumph, tragedy, and irony. His history is propelled by the stories of amazing characters, some famous, others obscure...A marvelous short history of the West, rewarding both expert and neophyte readers. Booklist (starredreview)Brands is a master storyteller...[Dreams of El Dorado] will enthrall aficionados of 19th-century American history. Library Journal A lively, well-written survey full of novel observations on a region shrouded in legend. KirkusBrands argues convincingly that the reality of the American West was very different than the way it was mythologized...Lucid prose and short, tightly focused chapters...This broad but clearly structured study, with its many well-chosen illustrations, is likely to have wide appeal. Publishers WeeklyThe expansion of the United States across what would become the American West is the sort of sprawling, tumultuous epic that is best told by a calm and concentrated mind. Fortunately the author of this book is H.W. Brands, who has the vision and supreme narrative skill to braid the chaotic tendrils that make up the past into a story that is almost as exciting for its coherence as it is for the heroic and heartbreaking events it so vividly renders. Dreams of El Dorado is the latest reason to think of Brands as Americas go-to historian. Stephen Harrigan, author of Big Wonderful Thing and The Gates of the AlamoA subject this monumental demands prose to match it, and I am pleased that to report that, in this sprawling epic, H. W. Brands is at his sparkling best. He is of the American West and grew up in its myths, which may explain why he writes about it with such passion and clarity. S. C. Gwynne, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel YellThe winning of the American West is that biggest and most daunting of subjects, so big that most historians have found it necessary to bite off small corners of this grand and sordid tale of empire-building. But here H.W. Brands endeavors to tell it all, from Texas to California, from beaver pelts to buffalo robes, from the hoofbeats of horses to the steam blasts of the first transcontinen...

-Titulo Original : The Sword And The Shield The Revolutionary Lives Of Malcolm X And Martin Luther King Jr.-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: This dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King upends longstanding preconceptions to transform our understanding of the twentieth centurys most iconic African American leaders.To most Americans, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. represent contrasting ideals: self-defense vs. nonviolence, black power vs. civil rights, the sword vs. the shield. The struggle for black freedom is wrought with the same contrasts. While nonviolent direct action is remembered as an unassailable part of American democracy, the movements militancy is either vilified or erased outright. In The Sword and the Shield, Peniel E. Joseph upends these misconceptions and reveals a nuanced portrait of two men who, despite markedly different backgrounds, inspired and pushed each other throughout their adult lives. This is a strikingly revisionist biography, not only of Malcolm and Martin, but also of the movement and era they came to define. Review Enchanting. New York Times“Joseph, a prolific historian of twentieth-century African-American politics, an indefatigable public commentator, and arguably the leading chronicler of the Black Power movement, sheds light in The Sword and the Shield on the complex intellectual and strategic dynamics beneath the publicly fractious relationship between Martin and Malcolm.” New York Review of BooksMr. Joseph, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, weaves [Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm Xs] stories fluidly and with vivid detail, helping to strip away the high gloss of mythology. Wall Street JournalIt is a fascinating story, full of subtle twists and turns. Washington PostIn this brilliantly braided biography, Peniel E. Joseph tells the story of each man’s identity and how their ideas shaped America, making clear that we can never fully understand one without the other. TIME“A brilliant revisionist study of the lives of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Effectively challenging the conventional dichotomy between the two men, it shows, instead, how their paths became increasingly convergent, coming to represent ‘overlapping and intersecting strains of revolutionary black activism.’” The Guardian“In the year of Black Lives Matter, this comparative biography of two of the great figures in the struggle for racial equality in the US stands out.” Financial Times“The Sword and the Shield?delivers both strong storytelling and exemplary history, dismantling popular distortions of its subjects, and arriving at a nuanced and profoundly revealing portrayal of converging visions that informed, challenged, and sharpened each other even as their proponents seemed publicly and irrevocably at odds.” New York Journal of BooksJosephs fresh and perceptive dual biography may rekindle political unity in a time of increasingly granular identity politics, sensationalism, and fear. BooklistAs the author delineates the philosophies and tactics of each man, he compares and contrasts them on nearly every page, making the various narrative strands cohere nicely. An authoritative dual biography from a leading scholar of African American history. Kirkus Though other meaningful figures from the era get short shrift, Joseph’s laser focus delivers essential insights into the characters of both men. This incisive work uncovers the subtleties of a relationship too often cast in broad strokes. Publishers WeeklyThe Sword and the Shield is a landmark. It is what happens when one Americas greatest historians of African America shines the same light on two of African Americas greatest historical figures. Peniel Joseph deploys his supreme talents as a biographer and movement historian to interweave the world-shattering lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an AntiracistArguing against facile juxtapositions of the political philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Peniel Joseph has written a powerful and persuasive re-exa...

-Titulo Original : The Aquariums Of Pyongyang Ten Years In The North Korean Gulag-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: Destined to become a classic (Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking), this harrowing memoir of life inside North Korea was the first account to emerge from the notoriously secretive country -- and it remains one of the most terrifying. Amid escalating nuclear tensions, Kim Jong-un and North Koreas other leaders have kept a tight grasp on their one-party state, quashing any nascent opposition movements and sending all suspected dissidents to its brutal concentration camps for re-education. Kang Chol-Hwan is the first survivor of one of these camps to escape and tell his story to the world, documenting the extreme conditions in these gulags and providing a personal insight into life in North Korea. Sent to the notorious labor camp Yodok when he was nine years old, Kang observed frequent public executions and endured forced labor and near-starvation rations for ten years. In 1992, he escaped to South Korea, where he found God and now advocates for human rights in North Korea. Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this book brings together unassailable firsthand experience, setting one young mans personal suffering in the wider context of modern history, giving eyewitness proof to the abuses perpetrated by the North Korean regime. Review The Aquariums of Pyongyang is one of the most terrifying memoirs I have ever read. As the first account to emerge from North Korea, it is destined to become a classic. Iris Chang, authorof The Rape of NankingA triumph against silence. Financial TimesA chilling testimony.... Freezes the heart and seizes the soul. Kirkus Reviews About the Author Kang Chol-Hwan is founder and president of the North Korea Strategy Center. Pierre Rigoulot is a journalist, historian, and human rights activist living in Paris, France. He is the author of numerous books on the history of political repression and contributed the North Korean chapter to the bestselling The Black Book of Communism...

-Titulo Original : Fixing My Gaze A Scientists Journey Into Seeing In Three Dimensions-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: A revelatory account of the brains capacity for change When neuroscientist Susan Barry was fifty years old, she experienced the sense of immersion in a three dimensional world for the first time. Skyscrapers on street corners appeared to loom out toward her like the bows of giant ships. Tree branches projected upward and outward, enclosing and commanding palpable volumes of space. Leaves created intricate mosaics in 3D. Barry had been cross-eyed and stereoblind since early infancy. After half a century of perceiving her surroundings as flat and compressed, on that day she saw the city of Manhattan in stereo depth for first time in her life. As a neuroscientist, she understood just how extraordinary this transformation was, not only for herself but for the scientific understanding of the human brain. Scientists have long believed that the brain is malleable only during a critical period in early childhood. According to this theory, Barrys brain had organized itself when she was a baby to avoid double vision - and there was no way to rewire it as an adult. But Barry found an optometrist who prescribed a little-known program of vision therapy; after intensive training, Barry was ultimately able to accomplish what other scientists and even she herself had once considered impossible. Dubbed Stereo Sue by renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks, Susan Barry tells her own remarkable journey and celebrates the joyous pleasure of our senses. Review Essential reading for people interested in the brain. Temple Grandin[A] powerful account.... [Barrys] journey to attain the type of vision that most take for granted is inspirational and instructive. Virginian-Pilot[Barrys] buoyant journey into stereovision is an eye-popping ride. Discover[A] fascinating account.... In addition to recounting her personal triumph, Barry clearly explains the visual and clinical science needed to understand the significance of this achievement.... [T]his engaging book will leave both readers knowledgeable in the field, as well as those just looking to understand something about the visual process, pondering what else there is left to see. The Journal of Clinical InvestigationEnticing.... [Barry] combine[s] a vivid and poetic account of her recovery with a detailed description of her treatment and the underlying science. Nature NeuroscienceFixing My Gaze provides a fascinating, informative, and beautifully written account of [Barrys] acquisition of stereopsis after vision therapy at the age of 48 years.... Barrys insights about her own vision provide wonderful insights into what it means to not have stereopsis, and the profound, life-changing effect of acquiring it. Optometry and Vision ScienceReaders of this book will be enriched by the experiences that Sue Barry recounts on her marvelous journey.... Part memoir and part science, Fixing My Gaze is a fitting tribute to the determination of a patient and her optometrist in challenging conventional wisdom and dogma. Journal of Behavioral OptometryOne axis of [Barrys] book is a graceful and grateful appreciation of a newly acquired ability to see the volume of space between objects and to see each object as occupying its own space - revelations that allowed her to live among and in the things of this world and gave her first movements of snow falling, trees branching, and a faucet arcing out of the sink.... The books main contribution, however, is exposing the wrong-headed dogma that acuity and binocular vision can be restored only during a critical developmental period. New England Journal of Medicine[A] testament both to human physiology and spirit that permits someone to live with - and then change - a uniquely altered view of the world.... This book opens up the possibility that people can change their physical limitations, and that it is never too late to try. BookPage[An] exemplary and informative testimony to the probably lifelong plasticit...

-Titulo Original : Hitlers First Hundred Days-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: About the Author Peter Fritzsche is the W. D. & Sarah E. Trowbridge Professor of History at the University of Illinois and the author of ten previous books, including An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler and the award-winning Life and Death in the Third Reich. He lives in Urbana, Illinois. This “elegant and sobering” (New York Times) history reveals how Germany’s fractured republic gave way to the Third Reich, from the breakthrough of the Nazi party to the rise of HitlerAmid the ravages of economic depression, Germans in the early 1930s were pulled to political extremes both left and right. Then, in the spring of 1933, Germany turned itself inside out, from a deeply divided republic into a one-party dictatorship. In Hitler’s First Hundred Days, award-winning historian Peter Fritzsche offers a probing account of the pivotal moments when the majority of Germans seemed, all at once, to join the Nazis to construct the Third Reich. Fritzsche examines the events of the period-the elections and mass arrests, the bonfires and gunfire, the patriotic rallies and anti-Jewish boycotts-to understand both the terrifying power the National Socialists exerted over ordinary Germans and the powerful appeal of the new era they promised.Hitler’s First Hundred Days is the chilling story of the beginning of the end, when one hundred days inaugurated a new thousand-year Reich...

-Titulo Original : John Quincy Adams Militant Spirit-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: Penetrating, detailed, and very readable. . . . A splendid biography. -- Wall Street Journal Few figures in American history have held as many roles in public life as John Quincy Adams. The son of John Adams, he was a brilliant ambassador and secretary of state, a frustrated president, and a dedicated congressman who staunchly opposed slavery. In John Quincy Adams, scholar and journalist James Traub draws on Adamss diaries, letters, and writings to evoke his numerous achievements-and failures-in office. A man of unwavering moral convictions, Adams is the father of foreign policy realism and one of the first proponents of the activist government. But John Quincy Adams is first and foremost the story of a brilliant, flinty, and unyielding man whose life exemplified admirable political courage. Review A splendid new biography.... Reliably thorough, blissfully bereft of jargon, and nicely paced. Joseph J. Ellis, New York Times Book ReviewJames Traub does justice to both the man and his times, with a historians sense of complexity and a writers eye for drama and detail. Sean WilentzBy rights, John Quincy Adams should be one of Americas most famous presidents. His life story is remarkable, the son of one of the nations founding presidents, the only one to serve in an elected office after leaving the White House, and a man of vast intelligence and political courage who died while debating in the House of Representatives. Yet hes an obscure figure. James Traub has rectified this in a book worthy of its subject. Fareed Zakaria, Fareed Zakaria GPSTraubs work is a reminder to Americans that politicians can be devoted to national issues, promote their principles, and still maintain their integrity. ChoiceWell-written and highly readable biography...highly accessible work. Chronicles [An] excellent biography.... [John Quincy Adams] life is worth meditating on, and Traubs biography is an indispensable resource for doing so. Washington Free BeaconJames Traub has admirably captured the man inside the public figure, giving us a view of a typical New England grandee, puritanical at his core, molded as a traditionalist republican with no love for pure democracy, convinced that governing was intended for the class born and bred for it. The Arts FuseTraub thoroughly, even quite engagingly, follows Adams through the years during which he served in the diplomatic corps, building up the reputation as the new republics best representative abroad. Booklist,starred review[An] essential biography of a complex man.... Traub shows that without imperiling national unity, Adamss persistent, perspicacious opposition to slavery shattered the overweening confidence of the South and confirmed his place in Americas history. Publishers Weekly,starred reviewTraub depicts a fully fleshed character, an extraordinary man driven by his birthright principles, a voluminous diarist, scholar, poet, polymath, eccentric, and iconoclast. The author also offers a masterly portrait of Adams wife, Louisa. An impassioned biography of a coherent and consistent thinker who adhered to his core political convictions across his decades of public service. KirkusJames Traubs new biography of John Quincy Adams is exceptionally strong. Adams was a complicated hero, a patrician visionary but also, as Traub puts it, a militant spirit, one of the most important diplomats in all of American history and, finally, slaverys greatest enemy in American politics. Sean Wilentz, author of The Rise of AmericanDemocracy: Jefferson to LincolnJohn Quincy Adams was a great statesman and a heroic crusader for freedom, whose finest hours, ironically, came both before and after his time as president. James Traub does us a service by bringing him to life again for a new generation. With a journalists touch, Traub paints a vivid portrait of the man in all his complexity. Robert Kagan, author of Of Paradise and PowerIn lucid ...

-Titulo Original : The Great Debate Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, And The Birth Of Right And Left-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: An acclaimed portrait of Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the origins of modern conservatism and liberalism In The Great Debate, Yuval Levin explores the roots of the left/right political divide in America by examining the views of the men who best represented each side at its origin: Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine. Striving to forge a new political path in the tumultuous age of the American and French revolutions, these two ideological titans sparred over moral and philosophical questions about the nature of political life and the best approach to social change: radical and swift, or gradual and incremental. The division they articulated continues to shape our political life today. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the basis of our political order and Washingtons acrimonious rifts today, The Great Debate offers a profound examination of what conservatism, progressivism, and the debate between them truly amount to. Review Yuval Levin, whose sharp thinking was honed at the University of Chicago s Committee on Social Thought...is one of conservatism s most sophisticated and measured explicators. George F. Will, Washington Post[The Great Debates] architecture is clever and intellectually persuasive.... A thoughtful introduction to this famous paradigmatic opposition. Washington PostIn a Burkean manner, Mr. Levin enriches through wisdom rather than prescription. He gives us something more than a manual of past lessons--namely, the historical framework to achieve greater understanding. Wall Street JournalIn this lively and probing book, Levin, one of the most influential conservative writers in the United States, looks at the ideas of Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine, towering figures in the late-eighteenth-century transatlantic Enlightenment...The Great Debate wont settle any of the political disputes roiling U.S. politics today, but those who read it carefully will find it easier to understand their opponents--and perhaps even to find some common ground. Foreign AffairsLevin enters into another great debate that riles academia: between historians insisting upon the uniqueness and specificity of events, which defy abstractions and generalizations, and philosophers impatient with the ephemera and contingency of events, which do not rise to the level of truth and certainty. Here too he rises to the occasion, satisfying the scruples of historians and philosophers alike. From a debate raged about an event centuries ago, he deduces truths that illuminate some of our most vexing political and social problems today. Gertrude Himmelfarb, Weekly StandardThe Great Debate is a masterful and loving piece of work, the kind of solo performance that commands mute attention and makes even a crinkled cough-drop wrapper sound like an errant clang of the gong. It does more than announce Levins arrival; it is, in itself, a refutation--this time with an inerrant clang--of the factitious notion that intellectual conservatism is a bygone thing. Commentary [A] wonderful book. Los Angeles TimesThe definitive intellectual history of an argument so powerful that it echoes to the present day. National Review Online About the Author Yuval Levin is director of social, cultural, and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute and the editor of National Affairs. A former member of the White House domestic policy staff under George W. Bush, he has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, among many other publications. His previous books include The Fractured Republic and The Great Debate. He lives in Maryland...

-Titulo Original : Fatal Passage The Story Of John Rae, The Arctic Hero Time Forgot-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: About the Author Ken McGoogan, former literary editor of The Calgary Herald, is the author of the novels Kerouacs Ghosts and Chasing Sofiya. He won the Drainie Taylor Biography Prize and The CAA Lela Common Award for Canadian History for Fatal Passage. In researching Fatal Passage, McGoogan traveled to England, Scotland, and the Arctic, where in 1999 he erected a plaque commemorating John Raes accomplishments. McGoogan lives in Calgary, Alberta. John Raes accomplishments, surpassing all nineteenth-century Arctic explorers, were worthy of honors and international fame. No explorer even approached Raes prolific record: 1,776 miles surveyed of uncharted territory; 6,555 miles hiked on snowshoes; and 6,700 miles navigated in small boats. Yet, he was denied fair recognition of his discoveries because he dared to utter the truth about the fate of Sir John Franklin and his crew, Raes predecessors in the far north. Author Ken McGoogan vividly narrates the astonishing adventures of Rae, who found the last link to the Northwest Passage and uncovered the grisly truth about the cannibalism of Franklin and his crew. A bitter smear campaign by Franklins supporters would deny Rae his knighthood and bury him in ignominy for over one hundred and fifty years. Ken McGoogans passion to secure justice for a true North American hero in this revelatory book produces a completely original and compelling portrait that elevates Rae to his rightful place as one of historys greatest explorers. Review Ken McGoogans passionate and immaculately researched book...is a sort of Arctic whodunit.Rae emerges from the shadows to take his place among the most intriguing of the 19th-century Arctic explorers. Delightful readingRae...was hounded into obscurity, banished from the pantheon of approved Victorian Arctic explorers, and was the only important one not to be knighted...

-Titulo Original : Love And Math The Heart Of Hidden Reality-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: An awesome, globe-spanning, and New York Times bestselling journey through the beauty and power of mathematics What if you had to take an art class in which you were only taught how to paint a fence? What if you were never shown the paintings of van Gogh and Picasso, werent even told they existed? Alas, this is how math is taught, and so for most of us it becomes the intellectual equivalent of watching paint dry. In Love and Math, renowned mathematician Edward Frenkel reveals a side of math weve never seen, suffused with all the beauty and elegance of a work of art. In this heartfelt and passionate book, Frenkel shows that mathematics, far from occupying a specialist niche, goes to the heart of all matter, uniting us across cultures, time, and space. Love and Math tells two intertwined stories: of the wonders of mathematics and of one young mans journey learning and living it. Having braved a discriminatory educational system to become one of the twenty-first centurys leading mathematicians, Frenkel now works on one of the biggest ideas to come out of math in the last 50 years: the Langlands Program. Considered by many to be a Grand Unified Theory of mathematics, the Langlands Program enables researchers to translate findings from one field to another so that they can solve problems, such as Fermats last theorem, that had seemed intractable before. At its core, Love and Math is a story about accessing a new way of thinking, which can enrich our lives and empower us to better understand the world and our place in it. It is an invitation to discover the magic hidden universe of mathematics. Review A New York Times Science BestsellerPowerful, passionate and inspiring. New York TimesLove and Math is a book by a very brilliant Russian-born mathematician, Edward Frenkel, who tells his life story while hes telling you some of the fundamentals of mathematics in language that interested laypeople can understand. Moshe Safdie, New York Times, Sunday Review[Frenkels] winsome new memoir... is three things: a Platonic love letter to mathematics; an attempt to give the layman some idea of its most magnificent drama-in-progress; and an autobiographical account, by turns inspiring and droll, of how the author himself came to be a leading player in that drama. New York Review of BooksWith every page, I found my minds eye conjuring up a fictional image of the books author, writing by candlelight in the depths of the Siberian winter like Omar Sharifs Doctor Zhivago in the David Lean movie adaptation of Pasternaks famous novel. Love and Math is Edward Frenkels Lara poems... As is true for all the great Russian novels, you will find in Frenkels tale that one persons individual story of love and overcoming adversity provides both a penetrating lens on society and a revealing mirror into the human mind. Keith Devlin, Huffington PostLove and Math = fast-paced adventure story intimate memoir insiders account of the quest to decode a Rosetta Stone at the heart of modern math. It all adds up to a thrilling intellectual ride--and a tale of surprising passion. Steven Strogatz, Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics, Cornell University, and author of The Joy of xThrough his fascinating autobiography, mathematician Edward Frenkel is opening for us a window into the ambitious Langlands Program--a sweeping network that interconnects many branches of mathematics and physics. A breathtaking view of modern mathematics. Mario Livio, astrophysicist, and author of The Golden Ratio and Brilliant BlundersThis very readable, passionately written, account of some of the most exciting ideas in modern mathematics is highly recommended to all who are curious lovers of beauty. David Gross, Nobel Laureate in PhysicsI dont know if Ive ever used the words love and math together, but this book changed that. In the tradition of his heroes Andre Weil and C. N. Yang, Edward Frenkel writes of the objectiv...

-Titulo Original : First Cell-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: With the fascinating scholarship of The Emperor of All Maladies and the deeply personal experience of When Breath Becomes Air, a world-class oncologist examines the current state of cancer and its devastating impact on the individuals it affects -- including herself.In The First Cell, Azra Raza offers a searing account of how both medicine and our society (mis)treats cancer, how we can do better, and why we must. A lyrical journey from hope to despair and back again, The First Cell explores cancer from every angle: medical, scientific, cultural, and personal. Indeed, Raza describes how she bore the terrible burden of being her own husbands oncologist as he succumbed to leukemia. Like When Breath Becomes Air, The First Cell is no ordinary book of medicine, but a book of wisdom and grace by an author who has devoted her life to making the unbearable easier to bear. Review An elegantly conceived, powerfully written, and far-reaching book that will change the conversation around cancer for decades to come.--Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All MaladiesAmazons Best Science Book of 2019One of Smithsonians Top 10 Books of 2019The New York Times, Books to Watch For in October 2019Amazon, Top 100 Books of 2019LitHub, Most Anticipated Books of 2019BookRiot, Must-Read Books on CancerStarred Review from Publishers WeeklyStarred Review from KirkusOne of the New York Times Eighteen New Books to Watch For in October Joumana KhatibRaza asks hard questions ... and she hopes to jolt people into looking for a new paradigm in the so-called war on cancer. Henry Marsh, The New York Times Book ReviewAn incisive critique-cum-memoir NatureRaza, a Columbia University professor of medicine and practicing oncologist, offers a passionate account of how humans grapple with the scourge of cancer.... Showing that compassion is just as important for cancer patients as the drugs administered to them, Razas deeply personal work brings understanding and empathy to the fore in a way that a purely scientific explication never could. Publishers WeeklyWith elegant literary references and a compassion that deeply personalizes her interactions with patients and families, [Raza] engages readers in a commitment to finding a better way. Intelligence, empathy, and optimism inform the argument for new research on cancer that could obviate the suffering prevalent today. KirkusOne of the best things about this book is that it advocates that we see efforts to cope with the disease not in the context of war or battle, but from a more compassionate, scientific, and realistic point of view. The book is considered controversial by the traditional cancer-fighting establishment, but as a current cancer patient who has often felt worn out by that establishment’s well-meaning cheerleading and metaphors of hope, Raza’s genuine approach offered me authentic uplift. Robert Meyer, MD, and Dan Koeppel, LitHubWe are accustomed to a narrative of war in books by cancer researchers. The doctors are generals on the barricades alongside their soldier patients. Progress is slow, but the battle is gradually being won. This book tells another story. The drugs that are declared successes offer only a few weeks of painful extension of life. The best clinicians are usually thrown back on the primitive combination of cut, poison, and burn that as students, they thought they would look back on as an embarrassment. Bespoke genetic treatments have significant limitations. Azra Raza breaks out of the official story to tell a new one. Shes not fighting a war. Shes negotiating with a resilient and dynamic enemy. She wants to change the terms of engagement. No more fighting at the endgame, but hunting down the first deviant cells. This book is a passion project, a personal story, a scientific proposal, and quite simply one of the most compelling books youll read. It breaks out of the standard narrative. It invents a whole new one. It works...

-Titulo Original : 1920 The Year Of The Six Presidents-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: Review broad, fluid brush strokes . . . a brisk narrative--The Wall Street Journal (rated one of the Top Five Books on Presidential Campaigns)David Pietrusza has a gift for making the past both real and dramatically gripping, and in 1920 he has an extraordinary cast of characters with which to work his magic. ... one helluva historical dinner party. An unforgettable group portrait of America on the brink of modernity.--Richard Norton Smithabsorbing . . . a broad, satisfying political and social history, in the style of Doris Kearns Goodwin. --Publishers Weekly Loved it!--Sen. Mitch McConnell1920: The Year of the Six Presidents is everything a great narrative history should be: deeply researched, vividly written, brimming with detail and sharp, revealing quotations. David Pietrusza is a jolly chronicler of a bitter presidential campaign waged at a fraught historical moment, and he brings his large and colorful cast of characters to life on the page. Readers get a ringside seat to a great political show.--Elaine Weiss, Author of The Womans Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Votea colorful, nonacademic account . . . Fans of political history will enjoy this book. --The Seattle Times should be required reading for college political science and history courses.--David Mark, Sr. Editor, POLITICOFascinating and compelling . . . Highly recommended. --Library Journal I just loved 1920--Jonah Goldbergan unbelievable book you should read --Glenn BeckMore than just a story of six men who either already had been president or would be, this is the story of America as it moved into the modern age.--Denver Posta very vivid portrait of each of these presidents.--Ann Compton, ABC News full of fascinating and colorful anecdotes about an election at the turning point of American history.--The American Spectatorone of the best campaign histories ever written--Author John BicknellAn incredible read . . . Five stars from this corner on a remarkable piece of work.--Reagan Smith, WFLA (Tampa)excellent--Sean Trende, Sr. Elections Analyst, Real Clear Politicsa superb recounting of a largely forgotten political season--Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL)excellent--Paul Mirengoff, Power Line Bloga delightful read . . . chock full of wild stuff.--Bill Scher, author of Wait! Dont Move to Canada: A Stay-and-Fight Strategy to Win Back AmericaIts a book that grabs you.--The History Author Show Podcastone of the most informative, heavily researched, and yet still entertaining books I have ever read.--Tyler Curtisa delightful read!--Author Feather Foster The presidential election of 1920 was one of the most dramatic ever. For the only time in the nations history, six once-and-future presidents hoped to end up in the White House: Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Theodore Roosevelt. It was an election that saw unprecedented levels of publicity -- the Republicans outspent the Democrats by 4 to 1 -- and it was the first to garner extensive newspaper and newsreel coverage. It was also the first election in which women could vote. Meanwhile, the 1920 census showed that America had become an urban nation -- automobiles, mass production, chain stores, and easy credit were transforming the economy and America was limbering up for the most spectacular decade of its history, the roaring 20s. Award-winning historian David Pietruszas riveting new work presents a dazzling panorama of presidential personalities, ambitions, plots, and counterplots -- a picture of modern America at the crossroads. From the Back Cover A Dazzling Panorama of Presidential Personalities, Ambitions, Plots and Counterplots: 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents -- Woodrow Wilson (D)Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D)Herbert Hoover (R)Warren G. Harding (R)Calvin Coolidge (R)Theodore Roosevelt (R) About the Author Called a national treasure and one ...

-Titulo Original : Vanguard How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won The Vote, And Insisted On Equality For All-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: The epic history of African American womens pursuit of political power -- and how it transformed America.In the standard story, the suffrage crusade began in Seneca Falls in 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. But this overwhelmingly white womens movement did not win the vote for most black women. Securing their rights required a movement of their own.In Vanguard, acclaimed historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American womens political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of black women-Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more-who were the vanguard of womens rights, calling on America to realize its best ideals. Review Jones has written an elegant and expansive history of Black women who sought to build political power where they could.... Jones is an assiduous scholar and an absorbing writer, turning to the archives to unearth the stories of Black women who worked alongside white suffragists only to be marginalized. New York TimesIn her important new book, Jones shows how African American women waged their own fight for the vote, and why their achievements speak mightily to our present moment as voters, regardless of gender or race. Washington Post“If you read no other book on suffrage this centennial of the 19th Amendment, read this one. Let the incomparable historian Martha S. Jones take you to school.” Ms.“Jones’ book is a welcome addition to the spate of books on woman suffrage that have been published this year in honor of the Centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment. Through her rigorous scholarship and out-of-the-box perspective, she sheds new and important light on the crucial role of Black women in winning and ensuring the right to vote…Jones’ scholarship addresses a gaping hole in suffrage literature.” New York Journal of Books“Thanks to Martha Jones’s Vanguard, Black women’s rightful place in this history has been restored. Foreign Affairs“In her forceful and compelling history, Johns Hopkins professor Jones corrects and enriches the conventional narrative of the noble suffrage crusade led overwhelmingly by white women with the determined and strategic efforts by Black women to build their own movement to win the rights that had been denied them.” National Book Review“A necessary, insightful book that shines light on Black women underexplored in history. Jones writes narrative nonfiction at its best.” Library JournalHighly charged, absorbing reading and most timely in the era of renewed advocacy for civil rights. KirkusMartha Jones is the political historian of African American women. And this book is the commanding history of the remarkable struggle of African American women for political power. The more power they accumulated, the more equality they wrought. All Americans would be better off learning this history and grasping just how much we owe equalitys vanguard. Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an AntiracistIn her inspiring new book, Vanguard, renowned historian Martha S. Jones gives us a sweeping narrative for our times, grounded in the multi-generational struggle of black women for a freedom and equality that would not only fulfill their rights but galvanize a broader, redemptive movement for human rights everywhere. Through the carefully interwoven stories of famous and forgotten African American women, together representing two hundred years of history, Jones shows how this core of our society -- so key to winning elections today -- also gave us the nations original feminists and antiracists. From organizers and institution builders...

-Titulo Original : Gene Machine The Race To Decipher The Secrets Of The Ribosome-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: A Nobel Prize-winning biologist tells the riveting story of his race to discover the inner workings of biologys most important molecule Ramakrishnans writing is so honest, lucid and engaging that I could not put this book down until I had read to the very end. -- Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene Everyone has heard of DNA. But by itself, DNA is just an inert blueprint for life. It is the ribosome -- an enormous molecular machine made up of a million atoms -- that makes DNA come to life, turning our genetic code into proteins and therefore into us. Gene Machine is an insider account of the race for the structure of the ribosome, a fundamental discovery that both advances our knowledge of all life and could lead to the development of better antibiotics against life-threatening diseases. But this is also a human story of Ramakrishnans unlikely journey, from his first fumbling experiments in a biology lab to being the dark horse in a fierce competition with some of the worlds best scientists. In the end, Gene Machine is a frank insiders account of the pursuit of high-stakes science. Review It is [Ramakrishnans] full embrace of the role of the antihero that makes Gene Machine so much fun to read and also serves as a reminder to us all of the beating human heart that lies at the center of every advance in science. Wall Street Journal An engaging and witty memoir... This profoundly human story is written with honesty and humility... This lucid and highly readable account will be enjoyed by students in any of the sciences, by those interested in the history of science, or who love reading memoirs. But really, I think that anyone who is captivated by an absorbing story well told will find much to appreciate in this fascinating book. Forbes [An] absorbing account. Scientific American In Gene Machine, [Ramakrishnan] thoughtfully embeds his trajectory in a wider meditation on how scientists make the decisions that lead to success or failure--and on how they struggle to solve complex problems... anyone who wants to know how modern science really works should read it. Its all here: the ambition, jealousy and factionalism--as well as the heroic late nights, crippling anxiety and disastrous mistakes--that underlie the apparently serene and objective surface represented by the published record. Nature Choice award for outstanding academic titlesAn enchanting and invigorating work, Gene Machine casts a many-angled light on the world of science, the nature of discovery, and on one of the deepest mysteries of twentieth-century biology. Ramakrishnan, one of the key players in deciphering the molecular basis of protein translation, gives us both a rollicking scientific story and a profoundly human tale. In the tradition of The Double Helix, Gene Machine does not hesitate to highlight the process by which science advances: moving through fits and starts, often underscored by deep rivalries and contests, occasionally pitching towards error and misconception, but ultimately advancing towards profound and powerful truths. An outsider to the world of ribosome biology--an Indian immigrant, a physicist by training--Ramakrishnan retains his outsiders vision throughout the text, reminding us about the corrosive nature of scientific prizes, and the intensity of competition that drives researchers (both ideas, I suspect, will have a munificent effect on our current scientific culture). Ramakrishnans writing is so honest, lucid and engaging that I could not put this book down until I had read to the very end. Siddhartha MukherjeeIf someone had told me that one of the most witty and enthralling books Id read this year would be on the quest to understand ribosomes, I believe I would have laughed in his face, but I would have been quite wrong. Gene Machine is beyond superb. Bill BrysonThe ribosome, a structure of astonishing complexity, lies at the crossroads o...

-Titulo Original : Rules Of Contagion-Fabricante : Basic Books-Descripcion Original: One of the Best Books of 2020 - Financial TimesOne of the Most 2020 Books of 2020 - Washington PostOne of the Best Science Books of 2020 - The Times of LondonOne of the Best Science Books of 2020 - The GuardianFrom fake news to COVID-19, a smart and engaging (New York Times) look at why the science of outbreaks is the science of modern lifeIt’s undeniable that we live in a world shaped by outbreaks. Whether it’s pandemic disease, misinformation, or violence, grasping why exactly some things spread is essential for understanding the world around us. In The Rules of Contagion, Adam Kucharski uncovers the crucial factors driving outbreaks, exploring what it actually means for something to “go viral.” He offers compelling insights into human behavior, ultimately showing us how we can all get better at predicting outbreaks-and how they can be stopped. Revised in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is a comprehensive and essential guide to our times. Review In this smart and engaging tour of epidemiology, written before the pandemic, Kucharski makes a convincing case that just as the arc of an epidemic depends on the transmissibility of a virus and a populations susceptibility to infection, so online contagions obey similar rules. New York Times Book ReviewThe Rules of Contagion is a fascinating and richly detailed excursion into a science as old as biblical plagues and as current as todays headlines: the science of contagion, of disease, of ideas, of emotions, of everything. This is a book youll want to spread to your friends. Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be WrongPerfect timing.... Prepares the ground comprehensively for readers to make sense of what is happening today, by distilling the wisdom gathered by studying previous epidemics over more than a century. Financial TimesLearned and lucid.... Coronavirus has prompted hot-headed public and media reaction; this book offers comfort in the form of cold, hard facts. The ProspectA fascinating exploration of the mathematics of things that go viral--not least of them viruses.... Kucharski takes his readers down provocative detours, such as the use of public-health models of disease transmission to examine how social networks figure in urban gun violence, with algorithms that take into account such things as age gang affiliations, and prior arrests.... Utterly timely and readable. Kirkus ReviewsIt is hard to imagine a more timely book ... much of the modern world will make more sense having read it. The Times (UK)This is a hell of a moment for a book like this to come out ... the principles of contagion, which, Kucharski argues, can be applied to everything from folk stories and financial crises to itching and loneliness, are suddenly of pressing interest to all of us. Sunday Times (UK)The Rules of Contagion is popular science at its best. The prose is sparkling and clear. The subject is deeply fascinating and highly relevant. Touching on psychology, medicine, network theory and mathematics, epidemiologist Adam Kucharski has written a brilliant and authoritative guide to the hidden laws of how things spread - from ideas and memes, to violence and deadly viruses. An example of its subject matter, this book is also highly contagious: once you have read it, you will want to make sure others read it too. Alex Bellos, author of Alexs Adventures in NumberlandRich in stories, The Rules of Contagion is a down-to-earth account of how mathematical approaches can help us better understand and, in turn, better respond to contagion in all its dynamic forms. Tackling issues from pandemics and gun violence, to financial crises and misinformation, Adam Kucharski inspires us all to think like mathematicians. A must read for anybody interested in epidemics and other crises. Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine About the Author Adam Kucharski is an associate professor and a Sir Henry D...