Knowledge = Power

The special assistant to Boris Yeltsin radically alters the traditional  image of Lenin with a biography based on secret Soviet archives,  revealing the Founding Father as a cruel, totalitarian leader who was  responsible for the worst excesses of the Soviet state.

The first full account, based on access to key players who have never  before spoken, of the Munich Massacre and the Israeli response–a lethal,  top secret, thirty-year-long antiterrorism campaign to track down the  killers. 1972. The Munich Olympics. Palestinian members of the Black  September group murder eleven Israeli athletes. Nine hundred million  people watch the crisis unfold on television, witnessing a tragedy that  inaugurates the modern age of terror and remains a scar on the  collective conscience of the world. Back in Israel, Prime Minister  Golda Meir vows to track down those responsible and, in Menachem Begin’s  words, “run these criminals and murderers off the face of the earth.” A  secret Mossad unit, code named Caesarea, is mobilized, a list of  targets drawn up. Thus begins the Israeli response–a mission that  unfolds not over months but over decades. The Mossad has never spoken  about this operation. No one has known the real story. Until now. Award-winning  journalist Aaron Klein’s incisive and riveting account tells for the  first time the full story of Munich and the Israeli counterterrorism  operation it spawned. With unprecedented access to Mossad agents and an  unparalleled knowledge of Israeli intelligence, Klein peels back the  layers of myth and misinformation that have permeated previous books,  films, and magazine articles about the “shadow war” against Black  September and other terrorist groups. Spycraft, secret diplomacy, and  fierce detective work abound in a story with more drama than any  fictional thriller. Burning questions are at last answered, including  who was killed and who was not, how it was done, which targets were hit  and which were missed. Truths are revealed: the degree to which the  Mossad targeted nonaffiliated Black September terrorists for  assassination, the length and full scope of the operation (far greater  than previously suspected), retributive acts against Israel, and much  more. Finally, Klein shows that the Israeli response to Munich was  not simply about revenge, as is popularly believed. By illuminating the  tactical and strategic purposes of the Israeli operation, Striking Back  allows us to draw profoundly relevant lessons from one of the most  important counterterrorism campaigns in history.

The first comprehensive yet  accessible history of the state of Israel from its inception to present  day, from Daniel Gordis, "one of the most respected Israel analysts" (The Forward) living and writing in Jerusalem. Israel  is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world's attention, aroused  its imagination, and lately, been the object of its opprobrium. Why  does such a small country speak to so many global concerns? More  pressingly: Why does Israel make the decisions it does? And what lies in  its future? We cannot answer these questions until we  understand Israel's people and the questions and conflicts, the hopes  and desires, that have animated their conversations and actions. Though  Israel's history is rife with conflict, these conflicts do not fully  communicate the spirit of Israel and its people: they give short shrift  to the dream that gave birth to the state, and to the vision for the  Jewish people that was at its core. Guiding us through the milestones of  Israeli history, Gordis relays the drama of the Jewish people's story  and the creation of the state. Clear-eyed and erudite, he illustrates  how Israel became a cultural, economic and military powerhouse - but  also explains where Israel made grave mistakes and traces the long  history of Israel's deepening isolation. With Israel,  public intellectual Daniel Gordis offers us a brief but thorough account  of the cultural, economic, and political history of this complex  nation, from its beginnings to the present. Accessible, levelheaded, and  rigorous, Israel sheds light on Israel's past so we can understand its future. The result is a vivid portrait of a people, and a nation, reborn.

In The Story of Christianity: Volume 1, Justo L. González, author of the highly praised three-volume History of Christian Thought,  presents a narrative history of Christianity, from the Early Church to  the Dawn of the Protestant Reformation. From Jesus’ faithful apostles to  the early reformist John Wycliffe, González skillfully traces core  theological issues and developments within the various traditions of the  church, including major events outside of Europe, such as the Spanish  and Portuguese conquest of the New World. This updated and expanded  edition incorporates recent archaeological discoveries about the life of  Early Christian Communities, as well as important contemporary research  revealing the significant role of women throughout the history of the  church. With lively storytelling, The Story of Christianity provides  a fascinating and panoramic history of the dramatic events, colorful  characters, and revolutionary ideas that shaped the first fifteen  centuries of the church.

Dubbed the "pirate queen" by the Vatican and Spain's Philip II,  Elizabeth I was feared and admired by her enemies. Extravagant,  whimsical, and hot-tempered, Elizabeth was the epitome of power. Her  visionary accomplishments were made possible by her daring merchants,  gifted rapscallion adventurers, astronomer philosophers, and her  stalwart Privy Council, including Sir William Cecil, Sir Francis  Walsingham, and Sir Nicholas Bacon. All these men contributed their vast  genius, power, greed, and expertise to the advancement of England. In The Pirate Queen,  historian Susan Ronald offers a fresh look at Elizabeth I, focusing on  her uncanny instinct for financial survival and the superior intellect  that propelled and sustained her rise. The foundation of Elizabeth's  empire was built on a carefully choreographed strategy whereby piracy  transformed England from an impoverished state on the fringes of Europe  into the first building block of an empire that covered two-fifths of  the world. Based on a wealth of historical sources and thousands  of personal letters between Elizabeth and her merchant adventurers,  advisers, and royal "cousins", The Pirate Queen tells the  thrilling story of Elizabeth and the swashbuckling mariners who  terrorized the seas, planted the seedlings of an empire, and amassed  great wealth for themselves and the Crown.

"Human beings have always been mythmakers.” So begins best-selling writer  Karen Armstrong’s concise yet compelling investigation into myth: what  it is, how it has evolved, and why we still so desperately need it. She  takes us from the Paleolithic period and the myths of the hunters right  up to the “Great Western Transformation” of the last five hundred years  and the discrediting of myth by science. The history of myth is the  history of humanity, our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts  to understand the world, which link us to our ancestors and each other.  Heralding a major series of retellings of international myths by  authors from around the world, Armstrong’s characteristically insightful  and eloquent book serves as a brilliant and thought-provoking  introduction to myth in the broadest sense—and explains why if we  dismiss it, we do so at our peril.

“[A] tale of power, perseverance and passion . . . a great story in the hands of a master storyteller.”—The Wall Street Journal   The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns   with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary   story of an obscure German princess who became one of the most   remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. Born into a   minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia   by sheer determination. For thirty-four years, the government, foreign   policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were  in  her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the   tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French   Revolution. Catherine’s family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers,   and enemies—all are here, vividly brought to life. History offers few   stories richer than that of Catherine the Great. In this book, an   eternally fascinating woman is returned to life. “[A] compelling portrait not just of a Russian titan, but also of a flesh-and-blood woman.”—Newsweek   “An absorbing, satisfying biography.”—Los Angeles Times “Juicy and suspenseful.”—The New York Times Book Review   “A great life, indeed, and irresistibly told.”—Salon   NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The Washington Post • USA Today • The Boston Globe • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • Newsweek/The Daily Beast • Salon • Vogue • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Providence Journal • Washington Examiner • South Florida Sun-Sentinel • BookPage • Bookreporter • Publishers Weekly BONUS: This edition contains a Catherine the Great reader's guide.

'A learned, wise, wonderfully written single volume history of a civilisation that I knew I should know more about' Tom Holland 'Masterful and engrossing...well-paced, eminently readable and  well-timed. A must-read for those who want – and need – to know about  the China of yesterday, today and tomorrow' Peter Frankopan China’s  story is extraordinarily rich and dramatic. Now Michael Wood, one of  the UK's pre-eminent historians, brings it all together in a major new  one-volume history of China that is essential reading for anyone who  wants to understand its burgeoning role in our world today.  China is the oldest living civilisation on earth, but its history is  still surprisingly little known in the wider world. Michael Wood's  sparkling narrative, which mingles the grand sweep with local and  personal stories, woven together with the author’s own travel journals,  is an enthralling account of China’s 4000-year-old tradition, taking in  life stationed on the Great Wall or inside the Forbidden City.  The story is enriched with the latest archaeological and documentary  discoveries; correspondence and court cases going back to the Qin and Han dynasties; family letters from soldiers in the real-life Terracotta Army; stories from Silk Road merchants and Buddhist travellers, along with memoirs and diaries of  emperors, poets and peasants.  In the modern era, the book is full of new insights, with the electrifying manifestos of the feminist revolutionaries Qiu Jin and He Zhen, extraordinary eye-witness accounts of the Japanese invasion, the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao, and fascinating newly published sources for the great turning points in China’s modern history, including the Tiananmen Square crisis of 1989, and the new order of  President Xi Jinping. A compelling portrait of a single civilisation over an immense period  of time, the book is full of intimate detail and colourful voices,  taking us from the desolate Mongolian steppes to the ultra-modern world of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.  It also asks what were the forces that have kept China together for so  long? Why was China overtaken by the west after the 18th century? What  lies behind China’s extraordinary rise today? The Story of China tells a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity and deep  humanity; a portrait of a country that will be of the greatest  importance to the world in the twenty-first century.

'Of the "Great Powers" that dominated Europe from the eighteenth to the  twentieth centuries, Prussia is the only one to have vanished … Iron Kingdom is not just good: it is everything a history book ought to be … The  nemesis of Prussia has cast such a long shadow that German historians  have tiptoed around the subject. Thus it was left to an Englishman to  write what is surely the best history of Prussia in any language'  Sunday Telegraph

An ideal introduction to the history of Buddhism. Andrew Skilton - a  writer on and practitioner of Buddhism - explains the development of the  basic concepts of Buddhism during its 2,500 years of history and  describes its varied developments in India, Buddhism’s homeland, as well  as its spread across Asia, from Mongolia to Sri Lanka and from Japan to  the Middle East. A fascinating insight into the historical progress of  one of the world’s great religions. "..an excellent synopsis of  current scholarship..."—Alan Sponberg, Professor of Asian Philosophy and  Religion, University of Montana