Historie og samfunn

Ha-Joon Chang dispels the myths and prejudices that have come to dominate our understanding of how the world works. He succeeds in both setting the historical record straight ('the washing machine has changed the world more than the internet'; 'the US does not have the highest living standard in the world'; 'people in poor countries are more entrepreneurial than people in rich countries') and persuading us of the consequences of his analysis ('making rich people richer doesn't make the rest of us richer'; 'companies should not be run in the interest of their owners'; 'financial markets need to become less, not more, efficient'). As Chang shows above all else, all economic choices are political ones, and it is time we started to be honest about them.

SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERNUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERFrom one of our greatest voices in modern philosophy, author of The Course of Love, The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The School of Life'A serious and optimistic set of practical ideas that could improve and alter the way we live' Jeanette Winterson, The Times'A beautiful, inspiring book... offering a glimpse of a more enlightened path' Sunday Telegraph'Smart, stimulating, sensitive. A timely and perceptive appreciation of how much wisdom is embodied in religious traditions and how we godless moderns might learn from it' Financial Times'There isn't a page in this book that doesn't contain a striking idea or a stimulating parallel' Mail on SundayAlain de Botton takes us one step further than Dawkins or Hitchens ventured - into a world of ideas beyond the God debate...All of us, whether religious, agnostic or atheist, are searching for meaning. And in this wise and life-affirming book, non-believer Alain de Botton both rejects the supernatural claims of the major religions and points out just how many good ideas they sometimes have about how we should live.And he suggests that non-believers can learn and steal from them.Picking and choosing from the thousands of years of advice assembled by the world's great religions, Alain de Botton presents a range of fascinating ideas and practical insights on art, community, love, friendship, work, life and death. He shows how they can be of use to us all, irrespective of whether we do or don't believe.

'Burning ice, biting flame; that is how life began'The extraordinary Scandinavian myth cycle is one of the most enduring, exciting, dramatic and compelling of the world's great stories. The Penguin Book of the Norse Myths compellingly retells these stories for the modern reader, taking us from the creation of the world through the building of Asgard's Wall to the final end in Ragnarok. You'll discover how Thor got his hammer and how Odin lost his eye, the terrible price of binding the wolf Fenrir and why Loki the trickster can never be trusted. The Norse myths are as thrilling to read as they are of vast cultural and historical importance. In this gripping book Kevin Crossley-Holland brings alive the passion, cruelty and heroism of these unforgettable stories.

'Suetonius, in holding up a mirror to those Caesars of diverting legend, reflects not only them but ourselves: half-tempted creatures, whose great moral task is to hold in balance the angel and the monster within' GORE VIDALAs private secretary to the Emperor Hadrian, the scholar Suetonius had access to the imperial archives and used them (along with eyewitness accounts) to produce one of the most colourful biographical works in history. The Twelve Caesars chronicles the public careers and private lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the foundation of the empire under Julius Caesar and Augustus to the decline into depravity under Nero and the recovery that came with his successors. This masterpiece of observation, immortalized in Robert Graves's classic translation, presents us with a gallery of vividly drawn - and all too human - individuals.Translated by ROBERT GRAVESRevised with an Introduction and notes by JAMES B. RIVES

The "e;forgotten"e; second volume of Capital, Marx's world-shaking analysis of economics, politics, and history, contains the vital discussion of commodity, the cornerstone to Marx's theories.

In l978 Sontag wrote Illness As Metaphor. A cancer patient herself at the time, she shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of the patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. By demystifying the fantasies surrounding cancer, Sontag shows cancer for what it is - just a disease. Cancer is not a curse, not a punishment, certainly not an embarrassment, and highly curable, if good treatment is found early enough. Almost a decade later, with the outbreak of a new, stigmatised disease replete with mystifications and punitive metaphors, Sontag wrote Aids and its Metaphors, extending the argument of the earlier book to the AIDS pandemic.

'An unrivalled picture of the rumours, suspicions and treachery of civil war' Antony BeevorEvery line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism as I understand it'. Thus wrote Orwell following his experiences as a militiaman in the Spanish Civil War, chronicled in Homage to Catalonia. Here he brings to bear all the force of his humanity, passion and clarity, describing with bitter intensity the bright hopes and cynical betrayals of that chaotic episode: the revolutionary euphoria of Barcelona, the courage of ordinary Spanish men and women he fought alongside, the terror and confusion of the front, his near-fatal bullet wound and the vicious treachery of his supposed allies.A firsthand account of the brutal conditions of the Spanish Civil War, George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia includes an introduction by Julian Symons.

Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its author's ambitious claim. Thucydides himself (c.460-400 BC) was an Athenian and achieved the rank of general in the earlier stages of the war. He applied thereafter a passion for accuracy and a contempt for myth and romance in compiling this factual record of a disastrous conflict.

A penetrating account of Greek tragedy, it demonstrates how the elements of plot, character and spectacle combine to produce 'pity and fear' - and why we derive pleasure from this apparently painful process. It introduces the crucial concepts of mimesis ('imitation'), hamartia ('error') and katharsis, which have informed serious thinking about drama ever since. It examines the mythological heroes, idealised yet true to life, whom Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides brought on to the stage. And it explains how the most effective plays rely on complication and resolution, recognitions and reversals. Essential reading for all students of Greek literature, the Poetics remains equally stimulating for anyone interested in theatre today.

Unfinished at the time of Marx's death in 1883 and first published with a preface by Frederick Engels in 1894, the third volume of Das Kapital strove to combine the theories and concepts of the two previous volumes in order to prove conclusively that capitalism is inherently unworkable as a permanent system for society. Here, Marx asserts controversially that - regardless of the efforts of individual capitalists, public authorities or even generous philanthropists - any market economy is inevitably doomed to endure a series of worsening, explosive crises leading finally to complete collapse. But healso offers an inspirational and compelling prediction: that the end of capitalism will culminate, ultimately, in the birth of a far greater form of society.

The Rings of Saturn begins as the record of a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia. From Lowestoft to Bungay, Sebald's own story becomes the conductor of evocations of people and cultures past and present: of Chateaubriand, Thomas Browne, Swinburne and Conrad, of fishing fleets, skulls and silkworms. The result is a rich meditation on the past via a melancholy trip along the Suffolk coast, and an intricately patterned and haunting book on the transience of all things human. Sebald is the Joyce of the 21st Century The Times

Perfect for fans of Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine; Ruth Hogan's The Keeper of Lost Things and Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project, A Man Called Ove is one of the best-loved and most life-affirming novels of the decade. This multi-million-copy phenomenon is a funny, moving, uplifting tale of love and community that will leave you with a spring in your step. 'Warm, funny, and almost unbearably moving' Daily Mail 'Rescued all those men who constantly mean to read novels but never get round to it' Spectator Books of the Year At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets. But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so? In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible . . .

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZEFrom the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS'Few books give such a sense of enchantment; it is a book to give to many, and to return to repeatedly' Independent 'Enormously pleasurable, deeply moving. A bid to save our rich hoard of landscape language, and a blow struck for the power of a deep creative relationship to place' Financial Times'A book that ought to be read by policymakers, educators, armchair environmentalists and active conservationists the world over' Guardian 'Gorgeous, thoughtful and lyrical' Independent on Sunday'Feels as if [it] somehow grew out of the land itself. A delight' Sunday TimesDiscover Robert Macfarlane's joyous meditation on words, landscape and the relationship between the two.Words are grained into our landscapes, and landscapes are grained into our words. Landmarks is about the power of language to shape our sense of place. It is a field guide to the literature of nature, and a glossary containing thousands of remarkable words used in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to describe land, nature and weather.Travelling from Cumbria to the Cairngorms, and exploring the landscapes of Roger Deakin, J. A. Baker, Nan Shepherd and others, Robert Macfarlane shows that language, well used, is a keen way of knowing landscape, and a vital means of coming to love it.

We all want to help. Over the past fifty years $1 trillion of aid has flowed from Western governments to Africa, with rock stars and actors campaigning for more. But this has not helped Africa. It has ruined it. Dambisa Moyo's excoriating and controversial book reveals why millions are actually poorer because of aid, unable to escape corruption and reduced, in the West's eyes, to a childlike state of beggary.Dead Aid shows us another way. Using hard evidence to illustrate her case, Moyo shows how, with access to capital and with the right policies, even the poorest nations can turn themselves around. First we must destroy the myth that aid works - and make charity history.

A wise, illuminating little book' Sydney Morning Herald'An entertaining, learned piece of historical compression' The Age'Great stuff . . . the book as a whole is constantly thought-provoking' Courier Mail'Beautifully and sparely constructed, yet rich in fact, feeling and detail -- sweeping, challenging and funny' James Button'The balance of analysis and description, generalisation and specific instance, is beautifully maintained' ABRDescribing the birth of European civilisation from an unlikely mixture of three elements - classical learning, Christianity and German warrior culture - The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid historical overview from the ancient Greeks to the dawn of the modern era.In each later chapter, the author returns to explore in more detail one aspect of Europe's remarkable history: its political evolution; its linguistic boundaries and their defining influence; the crucial role played by power struggles between Pope and Emperor; and the great invasions and conquests that have transformed the continent. Along the way we meet a cast of highly distinctive characters, from pious knights to belligerent popes, from German romanti spouting folklore to French revolutionaries imitating their Roman heroes.Written with clarity, feeling and wit, The Shortest History of Europe is a tour-de-force of compression: it will be read in an afternoon, but remembered for a lifetime.

All the big ideas, simply explained - an innovative and accessible guide to sociologyPart of the popular Big Ideas series, The Sociology Book introduces you to the subject that tells you all about what society is and what makes it tick. With over 80 ideas from the world's most renowned sociologists, covering topics as diverse as issues of equality, diversity, identity and human rights; the effects of globalization; the role of institutions, and the rise of urban living in modern society, this book details the key concepts of sociological thought.Discover all the big sociological ideas with quirky graphics, pithy quotes and step-by-step 'mind maps'. You'll be brought up-to-date on sociological ideas from Jeffrey Alexander to Sharon Zukin, with easy to navigate step-by-step summaries which explain each idea in a nutshell. Plus biographies of key sociologists from around the world, giving a historical context to each idea. Whether you are a sociology student or just have an interest in the workings of society, The Sociology Book is a perfect way to explore this fascinating subject.

An innovative and accessible guide to the world's religionsThe Religions Book clearly explains the key concepts behind the earliest religious beliefs right up to the world's newest faiths, getting to the heart of what it means to believe. Principles of the five main world religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - as well as ancient and primal belief systems are explored in this informative tome. All the big ideas are simply explained with jargon-free descriptions, step-by-step diagrams, and witty illustrations that encapsulate every aspect of religious thinking. Examine major historical developments and ideas with a universal timeline, providing a global perspective on the origins and major events that have contributed to the growth and spread of religion and spirituality. Along with the teaching highlights of pre-eminent figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Saint Paul, and Al-Ghazali, you'll also find a handy reference section featuring a glossary of religious terms and a roadmap to all the branches of the major faiths and the points of doctrine or tradition on which they differ. Modern alternative religions and spiritual beliefs from around the world are also explored, putting into context the political and social climates from which they emerged. The Religions Book provides compelling, accessible information perfect for students of religious study or anyone interested in the ideas of ancient and present day faiths and religious philosophies.

An innovative and accessible guide to government, law, and power Learning about the vast concept of politics can be daunting, but The Politics eBook makes it easier than ever by giving you all the big ideas, simply explained. Step-by-step summaries, graphics, and quotations help even the complete novice understand this fascinating subject. More than 100 groundbreaking ideas in the history of politics are helpfully broken down so that abstract topics, such as theoretical foundations and practical applications become real. Topics span from ancient political thought and medieval politics all the way to world war and modern politics. Features a handy reference section complete with a glossary of political terms and a directory of political thinkers, such as Plato, John Locke, and Karl Marx. The Politics eBook is the essential reference for students of politics and anyone with an interest in how government works.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Ardennes 1994 by Antony Beever, read by Sean Barrett. On 16 December 1944, Hitler launched his last gamble in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes on the Belgian/German border. Although Hitlers generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. The Ardennes offensive, with more than a million men involved, became the greatest battle of the war in western Europe. In January 1945, when the Red Army launched its onslaught towards Berlin, the once-feared German war machine was revealed to be broken beyond repair. The Ardennes was the battle which finally broke the Wehrmacht.

As Henry Kissinger observes in this magisterial book, there has never been a true world order. For most of history, civilizations have defined their own concepts of order, each one envisioning its distinct principles as universally relevant. Now, as international affairs take place on a global basis, these historic concepts of world order are meeting. Every region participates in questions of high policy in every other, often instantaneously - yet there is no consensus among the major actors about the rules and limits guiding this process, or its ultimate destination. The result is mounting tension.Blending historical insight with prognostication, World Order is a meditation from one of our era's most prominent diplomats on the 21st century's ultimate challenge: how to build a shared international order in a world of divergent historic perspectives, violent conflict, proliferating technology and ideological extremism.

The history of nations is a history of haves and have-nots, and as we approach the millennium, the gap between rich and poor countries is widening. In this engrossing and important new work, eminent historian David Landes explores the complex, fascinating and often startling causes of the wealth and poverty of nations. The answers are found not only in the large forces at work in economies: geography, religion, the broad swings of politics, but also in the small surprising details. In Europe, the invention of spectacles doubled the working life of skilled craftsmen, and played a prominent role in the creation of articulated machines, and in China, the failure to adopt the clock fundamentally hindered economic development.The relief of poverty is vital to the survival of us all. As David Landes brilliantly shows, the key to future success lies in understanding the lessons the past has to teach us - lessons uniquely imparted in this groundbreaking and vital book which exemplifies narrative history at its best.

Discover the Joy of Giving--and the Rewards of ReceivingThis book will transform your life for the better, bringing you guaranteed financial results. But it will do more than that. It will change every area of your life: marriage, family, health, and relationships. For when God changes your heart from selfishness to generosity, every part of your life journey is affected.If all believers followed the practical guidance of The Blessed Life, every church could be built, every nation would have an abundance of missionaries--and all would reap the benefits of having a generous heart. With humor, passion, and clarity, Robert Morris presents the secrets of living a blessed life both financially and spiritually.

Twenty-five years since acid house and Ecstasy revolutionized pop culture, Simon Reynolds's landmark rave history Energy Flash has been expanded and updated to cover twenty-first-century developments like dubstep and EDM's recent takeover of America.Author of the acclaimed postpunk history Rip It Up and Start Again, Reynolds became a rave convert in the early nineties. He experienced first-hand the scene's drug-fuelled rollercoaster of euphoria and darkness. He danced at Castlemorton, the illegal 1992 mega-rave that sent spasms of anxiety through the Establishment and resulted in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill. Mixing personal reminiscence with interviews and ultra-vivid description of the underground's ever-changing sounds as they mutated under the influence of MDMA and other drugs, Energy Flash is the definitive chronicle of electronic dance culture.From rave's origins in Chicago house and Detroit techno, through Ibiza, Madchester and the anarchic free-party scene, to the pirate-radio underworld of jungle and UK garage, and then onto 2000s-shaping genres such as grime and electro, Reynolds documents with authority, insight and infectious enthusiasm the tracks, DJs, producers and promoters that soundtracked a generation. A substantial final section, added for this new Faber edition, brings the book right up to date, covering dubstep's explosive rise to mass popularity and America's recent but ardent embrace of rave. Packed with interviews with participants and charismatic innovators like Derrick May, Goldie and Aphex Twin, Energy Flash is an infinitely entertaining and essential history of dance music.

Using her own life as a starting point, Rachel looks at the issues that arise for a woman in the years after she has lived the defining experiences of feminity. She writes about marriage, separation, motherhood, work, money, domesticity and love. Cusk considers the kinds of generational knowledge the contemporary woman harbours, the terrors or expectations that have been passed down to her and that are refracted through the modern transformation of female status.Aftermath is written in the personal/political mode that characterised A Life's Work, Cusk's acclaimed book about becoming a mother.

Agatha Christie's 'most absorbing mystery' - her own autobiography.Over the three decades since her death on 12 January 1976, many of Agatha Christie's readers and reviewers have maintained that her most compelling book is probably still her least well-known. Her candid Autobiography, written mainly in the 1960s, modestly ignores the fact that Agatha had become the best-selling novelist in history and concentrates on her fascinating private life. From early childhood at the end of the 19th century, through two marriages and two World Wars, and her experiences both as a writer and on archaeological expeditions with her second husband, Max Mallowan, Agatha shares the details of her varied and sometimes complex life with real passion and openness.

For centuries people have been tormented by one question above all - 'If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?' And what of the suffering of animals, who neither deserve pain nor can be improved by it?The greatest Christian thinker of our time sets out to disentangle this knotty issue. With his signature wealth of compassion and insight, C.S. Lewis offers answers to these crucial questions and shares his hope and wisdom to help heal a world hungry for a true understanding of human nature.

There's a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way through the alphabet. And as a macabre calling card he leaves beside each victim's corpe the ABC Railway Guide open at the name of the town where the murder has taken place.Having begun with Andover, Bexhill and then Churston, there seems little chance of the murderer being caught - until he makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans...

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales, penned by the renowned author Jacob Grimm, is an enchanting journey into a world of fantasy and wonder. Published by Rock Point in 2020, this compilation of timeless tales is a must-have for lovers of classic literature. The book spans a range of genres, offering something for everyone, from the thrilling to the mysterious. Each tale is beautifully crafted, reflecting Grimm's mastery and creativity. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales is more than just a book; it's a doorway into a realm where the extraordinary reigns supreme. Dive in and let your imagination run wild with Rock Point's 2020 edition of The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm.

This Bible features the clear and accurate Kiswahili Contemporary Version in a quality hardcover binding. Great for outreach, those who are reading the Bible for the first time, or those who are learning the Kiswahili language.