The Director: My Years Assisting J. Edgar Hoover


Paul Letersky - 2021
    Edgar Hoover by a member of his personal staff—his former assistant, Paul Letersky—offers unprecedented, “clear-eyed and compelling” (Mark Olshaker, coauthor of Mindhunter) insight into an American legend.The 1960s and 1970s were arguably among America’s most turbulent post-Civil War decades. While the Vietnam War continued seemingly without end, protests and riots ravaged most cities, the Kennedys and MLK were assassinated, and corruption found its way to the highest levels of politics, culminating in Watergate. In 1965, at the beginning of the chaos, twenty-two-year-old Paul Letersky was assigned to assist the legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who’d just turned seventy and had, by then, led the Bureau for an incredible forty-one years. Hoover was a rare and complex man who walked confidently among the most powerful. His personal privacy was more tightly guarded than the secret “files” he carefully collected—and that were so feared by politicians and celebrities. Through Letersky’s close working relationship with Hoover, and the trust and confidence he gained from Hoover’s most loyal senior assistant, Helen Gandy, Paul became one of the few able to enter the Director’s secretive—and sometimes perilous—world. Since Hoover’s death half a century ago, millions of words have been written about the man and hundreds of hours of TV dramas and A-list Hollywood films produced. But until now, there has been virtually no account from someone who, for a period of years, spent hours with the Director on a daily basis. Balanced, honest, and keenly observed, this “vivid, foibles-and-all portrait of the fabled scourge of gangsters, Klansmen, and communists” (The Wall Street Journal) sheds new light on one of the most powerful law enforcement figures in American history.

Guderian: Panzer General


Kenneth John Macksey - 1975
    Kenneth Macksey reveals Guderian as a brilliant rebel in search of ideals, and a general whose personality, genius, and achievements transcended those of Rommel. As well as throwing light on the crucial campaigns in Poland, France, and Russia, this biography illuminates the fatal struggles within the German hierarchy, and examines why Guderian was so admired by some and so denigrated by others.

The Contours of American History


William Appleman Williams - 1961
    The Contours of American History, first published in 1961, reached back to seventeenth-century British history to argue that the relationship between liberalism and empire was in effect a grand compromise, with expansion abroad containing class and race tensions at home. Coming as it did before the political explosions of the 1960s, Williams’s message was a deeply heretical one, and yet the Modern Library ultimately chose Contours as one of the best 100 nonfiction books of the 20th Century.

Accidental India: A History of The Nation's Passage Through Crisis and Change


Shankkar Aiyar - 2012
    He argues that these turning points in the country’s history were not the result of foresight or careful planning but were rather the accidental consequences of major crises that had to be resolved at any cost.

Is the American Century Over? (Global Futures)


Joseph S. Nye Jr. - 2015
    Now some analysts predict that China will soon take its place. Does this mean that we are living in a post-American world? Will China's rapid rise spark a new Cold War between the two titans?In this compelling essay, world renowned foreign policy analyst, Joseph Nye, explains why the American century is far from over and what the US must do to retain its lead in an era of increasingly diffuse power politics. America's superpower status may well be tempered by its own domestic problems and China's economic boom, he argues, but its military, economic and soft power capabilities will continue to outstrip those of its closest rivals for decades to come.

The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War


Arkady Ostrovsky - 2015
    So how did we go from the promise of those heady days to the autocratic police state of Putin’s new Russia? The Invention of Russia is a breathtakingly ambitious book that reaches back to the darkest days of the cold war to tell the story of the fight for the soul of a nation. With the deep insight only possible of a native son, Ostrovsky introduces us to the propagandists, oligarchs, and fixers who have set Russia’s course since the collapse of the Soviet Union, inventing a new and more ominous identity for a country where ideas are all too often wielded like a cudgel.  The Soviet Union yoked together dreamers and strongmen—those who believed in an egalitarian ideal and those who pushed for an even more powerful state. The new Russia is a cynical operation, where perpetual fear and war are fueled by a web of lies, as television presenters peddle the invasion of Ukraine and goad Putin to go nuclear. Twenty-five years after the Soviet flag came down over the Kremlin, Russia and America are again heading toward a confrontation—but this course was far from inevitable. With this riveting account of how we got here—of the many mistakes and false promises—Ostrovsky emerges as Russia’s most gifted chronicler.

Guilty By Reason of Insanity: Why The Democrats Must Not Win


David Limbaugh - 2019
    The party out of power used to be “the loyal opposition.” No longer. Now it’s “the Resistance.” The left, abandoning any pretense of fairness and decency, has declared political war on President Trump. Waged by a stunningly broad array of militants—the Democratic Party, countless left-wing interest groups, radical academics, the liberal mainstream media, Antifa shock troops, Hollywood, and the tech oligarchs—this political war is aimed not only at conservative ideas but also at Trump supporters, even teenagers wearing MAGA hats. In his shocking new book,  Guilty by Reason of Insanity , national #1 bestselling author David Limbaugh explains how the left lost its mind—and the threat it now poses to us all. No book you read this year could be more important.

The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century


Robert Cooper - 2003
    Among first world nations, societies may operate on the basis of laws, openness and cooperative security. But when dealing with a hostile outside enemy, civilized countries need to revert to tougher methods from an earlier era – force, pre-emptive attack, deception – if we are to safeguard peaceful co-existence throughout the civilized worldLike Robert Kagan’s best-selling Of Paradise and Power, The Breaking of Nations is essential reading for a dangerous age, a cautionary tale for superpowers, and a prescient examination of international relations in the twenty-first century.

The Power of Capitalism


Rainer Zitelmann - 2018
    

American Power and the New Mandarins: Historical and Political Essays


Noam Chomsky - 1967
    Long out of print, this collection of early, seminal essays helped to establish Chomsky as a leading critic of United States foreign policy. These pages mount a scathing critique of the contradictions of the war, and an indictment of the mainstream, liberal intellectuals—the “new mandarins”—who furnished what Chomsky argued was the necessary ideological cover for the horrors visited on the Vietnamese people.As America’s foreign entanglements deepen by the month, Chomsky’s lucid analysis is a sobering reminder of the perils of imperial diplomacy. With a new foreword by Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, American Power and the New Mandarins is a renewed call for independent analysis of America’s role in the world.

Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border


Jan Brewer - 2011
    Unfairly tarred by liberal critics as a state comprised of racist rednecks, Arizona is on the front lines in the battle against illegal immigration—and the courageous stand of its leader, a national hero who’s been called so tough that she “eats scorpions for breakfast,” will educate and inspire Americans from coast to coast.

Career Advice for Uniquely Ambitious People: A decision-making guide for uncommon success


Eric Jorgenson - 2018
    It's not likely to be advice you'll hear from anyone else. It is only about an hour to read, but the concepts will ring in your ears for years. [From the Book's Introduction] Many people have been incredibly generous to me throughout the first decade of my career. To return that good karma, I try to pay it forward… to be open and available for people who ask me for insight or advice or just have questions about where to go next. I find myself having many conversations about career decisions. Recently, many of these conversations have repeating many of the same pieces of advice. Over the years I’ve gotten enough positive feedback that publishing these thoughts seems worthwhile. After our conversations I’m often told that this advice was unique, counterintuitive, and valuable. That is a high compliment. And if more people would think the same, then I should put these thought somewhere more scalable and accessible. So, I’ve written them down here.

The Boys' Club


Michael Warner - 2021
    The Boys' Club is the must-read inside story behind the power and politics of AFL, Australia's biggest sport.Revealing how the fledgling state administrative body evolved into the Australian Football League and its meteoric rise to become one of the richest and most powerful organisations in the land, award-winning investigative journalist Mick Warner delivers a fascinating insight into key figures and their networks.Tracking the rise of the game and the AFL figureheads, The Boys' Club lifts the lid on the scandals, secrets and deal making that have shaped the Australian game.

The Cold War: History in an Hour


Rupert Colley - 2010
    

Khushwant Singh's Big Book of Malice


Khushwant Singh - 2000
    This book brings together some of his nastiest and most irreverent pieces. Witty, sharp and brutally honest, this collection is certain to delight and provoke readers of all ages.