Knowledge = Power

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In a chronicle that  captures nearly two thousand years of inspiration and intrigue, John  Julius Norwich recounts in riveting detail the histories of the most  significant popes and what they meant politically, culturally, and  socially to Rome and to the world. Norwich presents such popes as  Innocent I, who in the fifth century successfully negotiated with Alaric  the Goth, an invader civil authorities could not defeat; Leo I, who two  decades later tamed (and perhaps paid off) Attila the Hun; the infamous  “pornocracy”—the five libertines who were descendants or lovers of  Marozia, debauched daughter of one of Rome’s most powerful families;  Pope Paul III, “the greatest pontiff of the sixteenth century,” who  reinterpreted the Church’s teaching and discipline; John XXIII, who in  five short years starting in 1958 instituted reforms that led to Vatican  II; and Benedict XVI, who is coping with today’s global priest sex  scandal. Epic and compelling, Absolute Monarchs is an enthralling history from “an enchanting and satisfying raconteur” (The Washington Post).

A galaxy of legendary figures from the annals of Western history In this enlightening and entertaining work, Paul Johnson, the bestselling author of Intellectuals and Creators,  approaches the subject of heroism with stirring examples of men and  women from every age, walk of life, and corner of the planet who have  inspired and transformed not only their own cultures but the entire  world as well. Heroes includes: Samson, Judith, and  Deborah • Henry V and Joan of Arc • Elizabeth I and Walter Raleigh •  George Washington, the Duke of Wellington, and Lord Nelson • Emily  Dickinson • Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee • Mae West and Marilyn  Monroe • Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II

Robert Cialdini-Instant Influence

The most authoritative life of the Chinese leader every written, Mao: The Unknown Story is  based on a decade of research, and on interviews with many of Mao’s  close circle in China who have never talked before — and with virtually  everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him. It is full  of startling revelations, exploding the myth of the Long March, and  showing a completely unknown Mao: he was not driven by idealism or  ideology; his intimate and intricate relationship with Stalin went back  to the 1920s, ultimately bringing him to power; he welcomed Japanese  occupation of much of China; and he schemed, poisoned, and blackmailed  to get his way. After Mao conquered China in 1949, his secret goal was  to dominate the world. In chasing this dream he caused the deaths of 38  million people in the greatest famine in history. In all, well over 70  million Chinese perished under Mao’s rule — in peacetime.

Victor Sebestyen's riveting biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin—the first  major biography in English in nearly two decades—is not only a  political examination of one of the most important historical figures of  the twentieth century but also a fascinating portrait of Lenin the man. Brought  up in comfort and with a passion for hunting and fishing, chess, and  the English classics, Lenin was radicalized after the execution of his  brother in 1887. Sebestyen traces the story from Lenin's early years to  his long exile in Europe and return to Petrograd in 1917 to lead the  first Communist revolution in history. Uniquely, Sebestyen has  discovered that throughout Lenin's life his closest relationships were  with his mother, his sisters, his wife, and his mistress. The  long-suppressed story told here of the love triangle that Lenin had with  his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his beautiful, married mistress and  comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a more complicated character than that  of the coldly one-dimensional leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. With  Lenin's personal papers and those of other leading political figures  now available, Sebestyen gives is new details that bring to life the  dramatic and gripping story of how Lenin seized power in a coup and ran  his revolutionary state. The product of a violent, tyrannical, and  corrupt Russia, he chillingly authorized the deaths of thousands of  people and created a system based on the idea that political terror  against opponents was justified for a greater ideal. An old comrade what  had once admired him said that Lenin "desired the good . . . but  created evil." This included his invention of Stalin, who would take  Lenin's system of the gulag and the secret police to horrifying new  heights. In Lenin, Victor Sebestyen has written a  brilliant portrait of this dictator as a complex and ruthless figure,  and he also brings to light important new revelations about the Russian  Revolution, a pivotal point in modern history. (With 16 pages of black-and-white photographs)