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Recommendations based on Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zoneby Rajiv Chandrasekaran
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
From Beirut to Jerusalem
by Thomas L. Friedman
A journalist's account of the Middle East, from the civil war in Lebanon to the first Palestinian intifada.
This extraordinary bestseller is still the most incisive, thought-provoking book ever written about the Middle East. Thomas L. Friedman, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international ... (Goodreads)
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families
by Philip Gourevitch
True story of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, told through the eyes of survivors.
In April of 1994, the government of Rwanda called on everyone in the Hutu majority to kill everyone in the Tutsi minority. Over the next three months, 800,000 Tutsis were murdered in the most ... (Goodreads)
Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers
A man's struggle to survive and reunite with his family amidst the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria. After a few years of apprenticeship in the Syrian port city of Jableh , Zeitoun spent twenty years working at sea as a muscleman, engineer and fisherman. During ... (Wikipedia)
Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan
by Greg Mortenson
True story of a man's determination to promote peace and education in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
From the author of the #1 bestseller Three Cups of Tea , the continuing story of this determined humanitarian's efforts to promote peace through education. In this dramatic first-person narrative, ... (Goodreads)
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
by Naomi Klein
Examination of the exploitation of economic crises and shock tactics by governments and corporations.
In her ground-breaking reporting from Iraq, Naomi Klein exposed how the trauma of invasion was being exploited to remake the country in the interest of foreign corporations. She called it "disaster ... (Goodreads)
The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins
Scientific exploration of the evidence for and against religious belief.
A preeminent scientist - and the world's most prominent atheist - asserts the irrationality of belief in God, and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. With ... (Goodreads)
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
by Lawrence Wright
A comprehensive study of the rise of Al-Qaeda and its role in the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on ... (Goodreads)
The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli
A timeless political treatise on the art of acquiring and maintaining power.
Machiavelli needs to be looked at as he really was. Hence: Can Machiavelli, who makes the following observations, be Machiavellian as we understand the disparaging term? 1. So it is that to know the ... (Goodreads)
Madness: A Bipolar Life
by Marya Hornbacher
A memoir of living with bipolar disorder, detailing the author's struggles with mania, depression, and addiction.
An astonishing dispatch from inside the belly of bipolar disorder, reflecting major new insights When Marya Hornbacher published her first book, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, she did not ... (Goodreads)
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
A captivating overview of the natural sciences, spanning the history of the universe.
In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory ... (Goodreads)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.
"Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
by Kate Summerscale
A gripping true-crime story centred around the mysterious murder of a young boy.
The dramatic story of the real-life murder that inspired the birth of modern detective fiction. In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy with his throat ... (Goodreads)
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
by Michael Lewis
How an unconventional approach to baseball changed the competitive landscape.
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball , had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every ... (Goodreads)
The Forever War
by Dexter Filkins
A collection of war stories from Iraq and Afghanistan, exploring the human cost of conflict and the impact on soldiers and civilians alike.
From the front lines of the battle against Islamic fundamentalism, a searing, unforgettable book that captures the human essence of the greatest conflict of our time. Through the eyes of Dexter ... (Goodreads)
The Post-American World
by Fareed Zakaria
Exploring the changing global order, and the implications for America's future.
"This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else." So begins Fareed Zakaria's important new work on the era we are now entering. Following on the success ... (Goodreads)
The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America
by George Packer
An exploration of America's political and economic decline over the last few decades.
A riveting examination of a nation in crisis, from one of the finest political journalists of our generation American democracy is beset by a sense of crisis. Seismic shifts during a single ... (Goodreads)
The Bookseller of Kabul
by Åsne Seierstad
An intimate look into the lives of an Afghan family, exploring culture and faith.
In spring 2002, following the fall of the Taliban, Åsne Seierstad spent four months living with a bookseller and his family in Kabul. For more than twenty years Sultan Khan defied the authorities—be ... (Goodreads)
Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific
by Robert Leckie
A WWII Marine's first-hand account of his harrowing experiences in the Pacific Theater.
Now the inspiration behind the HBO series THE PACIFIC Here is one of the most riveting first-person accounts to ever come out of the Second World War. Robert Leckie was 21 when he enlisted in the US ... (Goodreads)
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson
A man's mission to build schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan to promote peace.
The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s ... (Goodreads)
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
by Bryan Burrough
The story of the highly competitive bidding war for RJR Nabisco, one of the biggest corporate takeovers in history.
A #1 New York Times bestseller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco. An enduring masterpiece of ... (Goodreads)
Chickenhawk
by Robert Mason
A soldier's unflinching account of his harrowing experiences in the Vietnam War.
A true story from the battlefield that faithfully portrays the horror, the madness, and the trauma of the Vietnam War More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first ... (Goodreads)
Bad Science
by Ben Goldacre
A critical look at the misuse of scientific fact and the implications of bad science.
Full of spleen, this is a hilarious, invigorating and informative journey through the world of Bad Science . When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an 'Aqua Detox' ... (Goodreads)
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
by Niall Ferguson
Outlines the history of money and its pivotal role in human society.
Niall Ferguson follows the money to tell the human story behind the evolution of finance, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to the latest upheavals on what he calls Planet Finance. Bread, cash, ... (Goodreads)
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi
Autobiographical account of a young girl's experience of the Iranian Revolution.
Note: The summary of the English editions of the novel is divided into two sections, one for each book. Persepolis 1 begins by introducing Marji, the ten-year-old protagonist. Set in 1980, the novel ... (Wikipedia)
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
by Nicholas D. Kristof
Examining the global struggle of women and how to empower them in the face of oppression.
From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. With Pulitzer ... (Goodreads)
No Logo
by Naomi Klein
A critique of the negative impact of corporate branding and globalization on society and culture.
With a new Afterword to the 2002 edition, No Logo employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing—and the powerful ... (Goodreads)
Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival
by Joe Simpson
Gripping account of a mountaineer's harrowing survival after a fall in the Peruvian Andes.
Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck. Simpson plunged off the vertical face of an ice ledge, breaking ... (Barnes & Noble)
Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A letter to his son, exploring the realities of racism in America.
“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American ... (Goodreads)
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
by Hannah Arendt
Exploration of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, examining the nature of evil and its implications.
Originally appearing as a series of articles in The New Yorker , Hannah Arendt’s authoritative and stunning report on the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann sparked a flurry of debate upon its ... (Goodreads)
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
by Tom Holland
An exploration of the events that led to the fall of the Roman Republic.
In 49 B.C., the seven hundred fifth year since the founding of Rome, Julius Caesar crossed a small border river called the Rubicon and plunged Rome into cataclysmic civil war. Tom Holland’s ... (Goodreads)
