"1984 isn't just a novel; it's a key to understanding the modern world. George Orwell's final work is a treasure chest of ideas and memes--Big Brother, the Thought Police, Doublethink, Newspeak, 2+2=5--that gain potency with every year. Particularly in 2016, when the election of Donald Trump made it a bestseller ("Ministry of Alternative Facts," anyone?). Its influence has morphed endlessly into novels (The Handmaid's Tale), films (Brazil), television...

Both George Orwell and Winston Churchill came close to death in the mid-1930's -- Orwell shot in the neck in a trench line in the Spanish Civil War, and Churchill struck by a car in New York City. If they'd died then, history would scarcely remember them. At the time, Churchill was a politician on the outs, his loyalty to his class and party suspect. Orwell was a mildly successful novelist, to put it generously. No one would have predicted that, by...

"Written in the tradition of historians like Stacy Schiff and Amanda Foreman who find modern lessons in ancient history, this provocative narrative explores the lives of five remarkable pharaohs who ruled Egypt with absolute power, shining a new light on the country's 3,000-year empire and its meaning today. In a new era when democracies around the world are threatened or crumbling, best-selling author Kara Cooney turns to five ancient Egyptian pharaohs...

Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, the story of a young working-class woman, Evey, who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked man known only as 'V.' Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, 'V' ignites a revolution when he urges his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about 'V's' mysterious background, she also discovers...

Takes readers on a fascinating ride through Brazilian politics as the author, his husband, the left-wing Congressman David Miranda, and a powerful opposition movement courageously challenge political corruption, homophobia, and tyranny in Brazil.

"Hitler's Girl is a groundbreaking history that reveals how, in the 1930s, authoritarianism nearly took hold in Great Britain as it did in Italy and Germany. Drawing on recently declassified intelligence files, Lauren Young details the pervasiveness of Nazi sympathies among the British aristocracy, as significant factions of the upper class methodically pursued an actively pro-German agenda. She reveals how these aristocrats formed a murky Fifth Column...

"Perfectly normal couple Sam and Maggie live in a perfectly normal neighborhood, with their perfectly normal dog Winston. All the houses look the same. The people sound and look the same. On the outside, everything is fine. But is it? Winston, their sweet dog, has been dead for some time now, and Sam and Maggie begin to struggle to keep up the facade of their idyllic suburban life. The mystery continues as the couple, despite being as "fine" as they...