{"title":"Modern History","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"book-cbo5","title":"Directorate S","description":"\u003cp\u003eResuming the narrative of his Pulitzer Prize-winning \u003ci\u003eGhost Wars,\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Steve Coll tells for the first time the epic and enthralling story of America’s intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9\/11\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrior to 9\/11, the United States had been carrying out small-scale covert operations in Afghanistan, ostensibly in cooperation, although often in direct opposition, with ISI, the Pakistani intelligence agency. While the US was trying to quell extremists, a highly secretive and compartmentalized wing of ISI, known as “Directorate S,” was covertly training, arming, and seeking to legitimize the Taliban, in order to enlarge Pakistan’s sphere of influence. After 9\/11, when fifty-nine countries, led by the U.S, deployed troops or provided aid to Afghanistan in an effort to flush out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the US was set on an invisible slow-motion collision course with Pakistan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eToday we know that the war in Afghanistan would falter badly because of military hubris at the highest levels of the Pentagon, the drain on resources and provocation in the Muslim world caused by the US-led invasion of Iraq, and corruption. But more than anything, as Coll makes painfully clear, the war in Afghanistan was doomed because of the failure of the United States to apprehend the motivations and intentions of ISI’s “Directorate S.” This was a swirling and shadowy struggle of historic proportions, which endured over a decade and across both the Bush and Obama administrations, involving multiple secret intelligence agencies, a litany of incongruous strategies and tactics, and dozens of players, including some of the most prominent military and political figures. A sprawling American tragedy, the war was an open clash of arms but also a covert melee of ideas, secrets, and subterranean violence. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eColl excavates this grand battle, which took place away from the gaze of the American public. With unsurpassed expertise, original research, and attention to detail, he brings to life a narrative at once vast and intricate, local and global, propulsive and painstaking. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the definitive explanation of how America came to be so badly ensnared in an elaborate, factional, and seemingly interminable conflict in South Asia. 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Daniel Yergin’s timeless book chronicles the struggle for wealth and power that has surrounded oil for decades and that continues to fuel global rivalries, shake the world economy, and transform the destiny of men and nations. This updated edition categorically proves the unwavering significance of oil throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first by tracing economic and political clashes over precious “black gold.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e With his far-reaching insight and in-depth research, Yergin is uniquely positioned to address the present battle over energy, geopolitics, and global power, which undoubtedly rank as the most vital issues of our time. The canvas of his narrative history is enormous—from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm, and both the Iraq War and current climate change. The definitive work on the subject of oil, \u003ci\u003eThe Prize\u003c\/i\u003e is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement, and great value—crucial to our understanding of world politics and the economy today—and tomorrow.","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster Audio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":50137928991024,"sku":"BDilgv","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":50137928958256,"sku":"10ilgv","price":99.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/ilgv-Square-cover.jpg?v=1782963751"},{"product_id":"book-dxs2","title":"Tomorrow, the World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA new history explains how and why, as it prepared to enter World War II, the United States decided to lead the postwar world.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor most of its history, the United States avoided making political and military commitments that would entangle it in European-style power politics. Then, suddenly, it conceived a new role for itself as the world's armed superpower-and never looked back. In \u003cem\u003eTomorrow, the World,\u003c\/em\u003e Stephen Wertheim traces America's transformation to the crucible of World War II, especially in the months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. As the Nazis conquered France, the architects of the nation's new foreign policy came to believe that the United States ought to achieve primacy in international affairs forevermore.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eScholars have struggled to explain the decision to pursue global supremacy. Some deny that American elites made a willing choice, casting the United States as a reluctant power that sloughed off \"isolationism\" only after all potential competitors lay in ruins. Others contend that the United States had always coveted global dominance and realized its ambition at the first opportunity. Both views are wrong. As late as 1940, the small coterie of officials and experts who composed the US foreign policy class either wanted British preeminence in global affairs to continue or hoped that no power would dominate. The war, however, swept away their assumptions, leading them to conclude that the United States should extend its form of law and order across the globe and back it at gunpoint. Wertheim argues that no one favored \"isolationism\"-a term introduced by advocates of armed supremacy in order to turn their own cause into the definition of a new \"internationalism.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe now live, Wertheim warns, in the world that these men created. 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But giant factories have also fueled our fears about the future since their beginnings, when William Blake called them \"dark Satanic mills.\" Many factories that operated over the last two centuries―such as Homestead, River Rouge, and Foxconn―were known for the labor exploitation and class warfare they engendered, not to mention the environmental devastation caused by factory production from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution up to today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a major work of scholarship that is also wonderfully accessible, celebrated historian Joshua B. Freeman tells the story of the factory and examines how it has reflected both our dreams and our nightmares of industrialization and social change. He whisks readers from the textile mills in England that powered the Industrial Revolution and the factory towns of New England to the colossal steel and car plants of twentieth-century America, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union and on to today's behemoths making sneakers, toys, and cellphones in China and Vietnam.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe giant factory, Freeman shows, led a revolution that transformed human life and the environment. He traces arguments about factories and social progress through such critics and champions as Marx and Engels, Charles Dickens, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Ford, and Joseph Stalin. He chronicles protests against standard industry practices from unions and workers' rights groups that led to shortened workdays, child labor laws, protection for organized labor, and much more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eBehemoth\u003c\/i\u003e, Freeman also explores how factories became objects of great wonder that both inspired and horrified artists and writers in their time. He examines representations of factories in the work of Charles Sheeler, Margaret Bourke-White, Charlie Chaplin, Diego Rivera, and Edward Burtynsky.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBehemoth\u003c\/i\u003e tells the grand story of global industry from the Industrial Revolution to the present. It is a magisterial work on factories and the people whose labor made them run. 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Acclaimed by the \u003cem\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e as \"brilliantly researched and written,\" the book tells the rich, panoramic story of four generations of Morgans and the powerful, secretive firms they spawned. It is the definitive account of the rise of the modern financial world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA gripping history of banking and the booms and busts that shaped the world on both sides of the Atlantic, \u003cem\u003eThe House of Morgan \u003c\/em\u003etraces the trajectory of the J. P. Morgan empire from its obscure beginnings in Victorian London to the crash of 1987. Ron Chernow paints a fascinating portrait of the private saga of the Morgans and the rarefied world of the American and British elite in which they moved. Based on extensive interviews and access to the family and business archives, \u003cem\u003eThe House of Morgan\u003c\/em\u003e is an investigative masterpiece, a compelling account of a remarkable institution and the men who ran it, and an essential book for understanding the money and power behind the major historical events of the last 150 years.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49301277638960,"sku":"BD7151","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49301277671728,"sku":"ZE7151","price":79.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio MP3-CD","offer_id":49301277704496,"sku":"ZM7151","price":65.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/7151-Square-cover.jpg?v=1782336883"},{"product_id":"book-8716","title":"The Twilight of the American Enlightenment","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the aftermath of World War II, the United States stood at a precipice. The forces of modernity unleashed by the war had led to astonishing advances in daily life, but technology and mass culture also threatened to erode the country's traditional moral character. As award-winning historian George M. Marsden explains in \u003ci\u003eThe Twilight of the American Enlightenment\u003c\/i\u003e, postwar Americans looked to the country's secular liberal elites for guidance in this precarious time, but these intellectuals proved unable to articulate a coherent common cause by which America could chart its course. 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Kennedy's death, including the days immediately preceding and following the assassination. Through hundreds of interviews, extensive travel, and firsthand observation, and with unique access to the proceedings of the Warren Commission, Manchester conducted an exhaustive historical investigation, accumulating forty-five volumes of documents, exhibits, and transcribed tapes. His ultimate objective-to set down as a whole the national and personal tragedy that was JFK's assassination-is brilliantly achieved in this galvanizing narrative, a book universally acclaimed as a landmark work of modern history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49302018588976,"sku":"BD8769","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49302018720048,"sku":"ZE8769","price":79.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio MP3-CD","offer_id":49302018752816,"sku":"ZM8769","price":65.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/8769-Square-cover.jpg?v=1782340276"},{"product_id":"book-b1dg","title":"Roosevelt and Churchill","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn intriguing look behind the congenial fa├ºade of Franklin D. 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As Niels Bohr said, if you aren’t shocked by quantum theory, you don’t really understand it. For most people, quantum theory is synonymous with mysterious, impenetrable science. And in fact for many years it was equally baffling for scientists themselves. In this tour de force of science history, Manjit Kumar gives a dramatic and superbly written account of this fundamental scientific revolution, focusing on the central conflict between Einstein and Bohr over the nature of reality and the soul of science. 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What emerges is a saga of how FDR managed to recast the federal government into something that still inspires: a unifying structure with the concept of social justice at its heart. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49312914080048,"sku":"BD6586","price":31.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49312914112816,"sku":"ZE6586","price":59.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio MP3-CD [ZM]","offer_id":49312914145584,"sku":"ZM6586","price":49.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/6586-Square-cover.jpg?v=1782335929"},{"product_id":"book-2490","title":"Twentieth Century","description":"\u003cp\u003eJ. M. Roberts, one of our greatest historians, brings us an engrossing one-volume history of the extraordinary century we’ve just lived through. 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In the last half of the twentieth century the two superpowers had perfected the science of mass destruction and possessed nuclear weapons with the combined power of a million Hiroshimas. What’s more, a Soviet biological warfare machine was ready to produce bacteria and viruses to sicken and kill millions. In \u003ci\u003eThe Dead Hand\u003c\/i\u003e, a thrilling narrative history drawing on new archives and original research and interviews, David E. Hoffman reveals how presidents, scientists, diplomats, soldiers, and spies confronted the danger and changed the course of history. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Dead Hand\u003c\/i\u003e captures the inside story in both the United States and the Soviet Union, giving us an urgent and intimate account of the last decade of the arms race. With access to secret Kremlin documents, Hoffman chronicles Soviet internal deliberations that have long been hidden. He reveals that weapons designers in 1985 laid a massive “Star Wars” program on the desk of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to compete with President Reagan, but Gorbachev refused to build it. He unmasks the cover-up of the Soviet biological weapons program. He tells the exclusive story of one Soviet microbiologist’s quest to build a genetically engineered super-germ—it would cause a mild illness, a deceptive recovery, then a second, fatal attack. And he details the frightening history of the Doomsday Machine, known as the Dead Hand, which would launch a retaliatory nuclear strike if the Soviet leaders were wiped out. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the Soviet Union collapsed, the dangers remained. Soon rickety trains were hauling unsecured nuclear warheads across the Russian steppe; tons of highly-enriched uranium and plutonium lay unguarded in warehouses; and microbiologists and bomb designers were scavenging for food to feed their families. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Dead Hand\u003c\/i\u003e offers fresh and startling insights into Reagan and Gorbachev, the two key figures of the end of the Cold War, and draws colorful, unforgettable portraits of many others who struggled, often valiantly, to save the world from the most terrifying weapons known to man.","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49397152776496,"sku":"BDaw68","price":27.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/310761-aw68-Square.jpg?v=1735456259"},{"product_id":"book-cqp8","title":"Say Nothing","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER • NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • From the author of \u003ci\u003eLondon Falling—\u003c\/i\u003ea stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e’s 20 Best Books of the 21st Century • A \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews \u003c\/i\u003eBest Nonfiction Book of the Century • A \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e Best Nonfiction Book of the Last 30 Years\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Masked intruders dragged Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widow and mother of 10, from her Belfast home in 1972. In this meticulously reported book—as finely paced as a novel—Keefe uses McConville's murder as a prism to tell the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Interviewing people on both sides of the conflict, he transforms the tragic damage and waste of the era into a searing, utterly gripping saga.\" —\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"\u003c\/i\u003eReads like a novel… . Keefe is … a master of narrative nonfiction… . An incredible story.\u003ci\u003e\"—Rolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Best Book of the Year: \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, \u003c\/i\u003eNPR, and more! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJean McConville's abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress-with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePatrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom radical and impetuous I.R.A. terrorists such as Dolours Price, who, when she was barely out of her teens, was already planting bombs in London and targeting informers for execution, to the ferocious I.R.A. mastermind known as The Dark, to the spy games and dirty schemes of the British Army, to Gerry Adams, who negotiated the peace but betrayed his hardcore comrades by denying his I.R.A. past-\u003ci\u003eSay Nothing\u003c\/i\u003e conjures a world of passion, betrayal, vengeance, and anguish.","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49399459381552,"sku":"BDcqp8","price":22.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/cqp8-Square-cover.jpg?v=1782474125"},{"product_id":"book-loli","title":"Prisoners of Geography","description":"\u003cb\u003eUPDATED TO REFLECT CURRENT EVENTS! In this fascinating \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller—fully revised to reflect the events of our current world—award-winning journalist Tim Marshall uses ten maps of crucial regions to explain how physical landscapes influence geopolitical strategies of world leaders, showing “how geography shapes not just history but destiny” (\u003ci\u003eNewsweek). \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaps have always captivated us, offering insights not only into our destinations but also into the broader world. Yet, when it comes to understanding geopolitics, many overlook the fundamental role of geography. All leaders of nations are constrained by geography—their choices limited by mountains, rivers, deserts, and seas. Now in “one of the best books about geopolitics” (\u003ci\u003eThe Evening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e)—journalist Tim Marshall reveals the profound influence of geography on global politics, offering a compelling lens through which to understand the seismic shifts reshaping international relations. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThrough ten up-to-date maps, Marshall explores the landscapes and climates that constrain and empower nations across key parts of the globe, from Russia’s vast tundras to China’s mountainous borders, Africa’s deserts to the Arctic’s shifting ice. Taking a deep dive into the key flashpoints defining our world today—including the Russia-Ukraine war and the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict—Marshall unpacks the shifting dynamics of the New Middle East, China’s bold moves to expand its global influence, including its growing interest in Taiwan, and how America’s pivot to the Pacific is reshaping alliances. And Europe’s tilt towards extreme politics, increased defense spending, and the future role of NATO, paint a dramatic picture of a continent in flux. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAn essential read for anyone interested in the interplay between geography and global politics, this fully revised edition of \u003ci\u003ePrisoners of Geography \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a vivid look at the forces driving our increasingly complex world.","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster Audio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":50138754187568,"sku":"BDloli","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":50138754154800,"sku":"10loli","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/loli-Square-cover.jpg?v=1773684492"},{"product_id":"book-ycc5","title":"A History of the Modern World","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this masterful account, Jeremy Black explores the key themes that have shaped the history of the modern world since 1950. Eschewing a simple political narrative, he instead explores the roles of the environment, demographics, the economy and technology in driving change in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story begins in 1950, by which time a new world order had come into place, with Communism firmly established in Russia, Eastern Europe and China, decolonisation well underway in the old European empires, and the American monopoly on nuclear weaponry at an end, setting the stage for the Cold War.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver the course of the next 75 years, the world changed immeasurably - the population nearly tripled; climate change became ever more pronounced; new liberal values regarding gender, sexuality and age took hold; television and then the internet became the primary drivers of culture; and a new frontier of exploration opened up in space. At the same time tensions continued in politics, with alternative models of democracy and authoritarianism coming into fierce conflict and a range of new countries emerging through decolonization.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRanging widely across the globe, \u003cem\u003eA History of the World \u003c\/em\u003e sheds new light on this fascinating era.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"INAudio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":50393214026032,"sku":"BDycc5","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/ycc5-cover.jpg?v=1765532371"}],"url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/collections\/modern-history.oembed?page=2","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}