Knowledge = Power

About  national and international power in the "modern" or Post Renaissance  period. Explains how the various powers have risen and fallen over the 5  centuries since the formation of the "new monarchies" in W. Europe.

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail - Ray Dalio

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Edith Grossman's definitive English translation of the Spanish masterpiece, in an expanded P.S. edition Widely regarded as one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the adventures of the self-created knight-errant Don Quixote  of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel  through sixteenth-century Spain. You haven't experienced Don Quixote in English until you've read this masterful translation. This  P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book,  including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, is an anti-slavery  novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the  novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will  Kaufman. Stowe, a Connecticut-born teacher at the Hartford Female  Seminary and an active abolitionist, featured the character of Uncle  Tom, a long-suffering black slave around whom the stories of other  characters revolve. The sentimental novel depicts the reality of slavery  while also asserting that Christian love can overcome something as  destructive as enslavement of fellow human beings. Uncle Tom's Cabin was  the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling  book of that century, following the Bible. It is credited with helping  fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. In the first year after it was  published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the United States;  one million copies in Great Britain. In 1855, three years after it was  published, it was called "the most popular novel of our day." The impact  attributed to the book is great, reinforced by a story that when  Abraham Lincoln met Stowe at the start of the Civil War, Lincoln  declared, "So this is the little lady who started this great war." The  quote is apocryphal; it did not appear in print until 1896, and it has  been argued that "The long-term durability of Lincoln's greeting as an  anecdote in literary studies and Stowe scholarship can perhaps be  explained in part by the desire among many contemporary intellectuals  ... to affirm the role of literature as an agent of social change."

The awesome conclusion to The Lord of the Rings—the greatest fantasy epic of all time—which began in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read While the evil might of the Dark Lord Sauron swarms out to conquer all  Middle-earth, Frodo and Sam struggle deep into Mordor, seat of Sauron’s  power. To defeat the Dark Lord, the One Ring, ruler of the accursed  Rings of Power, must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. But the  way is impossibly hard, and Frodo is weakening. Weighed down by the  compulsion of the Ring, he begins finally to despair.

Inspired by The Hobbit and begun in 1937, The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy that J.R.R. Tolkien created to provide "the necessary  background of history for Elvish tongues". From these academic  aspirations was born one of the most popular and imaginative works in  English literature. The Fellowship of the Ring,  the first volume in the trilogy, tells of the fateful power of the One  Ring. It begins a magnificent tale of adventure that will plunge the  members of the Fellowship of the Ring into a perilous quest and set the  stage for the ultimate clash between the powers of good and evil. In  this splendid, unabridged audio production of Tolkien's great work, all  the inhabitants of a magical universe – hobbits, elves, and wizards –  step colorfully into life. Rob Inglis' narration has been praised as a  masterpiece of audio.

The Two Towers is the second volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic saga, The Lord of the Rings. The  Fellowship has been forced to split up. Frodo and Sam must continue  alone towards Mount Doom, where the One Ring must be destroyed.  Meanwhile, at Helm’s Deep and Isengard, the first great battles of the  War of the Ring take shape. In this splendid,  unabridged audio production of Tolkien’s great work, all the inhabitants  of a magical universe - hobbits, elves, and wizards - spring to life.  Rob Inglis’ narration has been praised as a masterpiece of audio.

The journey through Middle-earth begins here with J.R.R. Tolkien's classic prelude to his Lord of the Rings trilogy. “A  glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and  seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible... All those, young or  old, who love a fine adventurous tale, beautifully told, will take The Hobbit to their hearts.”—The New York Times Book Review "In  a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." So begins one of the most  beloved and delightful tales in the English language—Tolkien's prelude  to The Lord of the Rings. Set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth, at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale, The Hobbit is one of literature's most enduring and well-loved novels. Bilbo  Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely  traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is  disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his  doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a  plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a  large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest,  unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter  both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

Frank Herbert’s classic masterpiece—a triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked  with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the  “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing  consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize  worth killing for.... When House Atreides is betrayed, the  destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a  destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into  the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition  humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.  A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis  of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

Named 2006 Best Book of the Year by Amazon.com “An authoritative and exciting portrait not only of Caesar but of the complex society in which he lived.”—Steven Coates, New York Times Book Review “The best introduction to Caesar and his world that is currently available.”—Karl Galinsky, Bookforum Tracing the extraordinary trajectory of the great Roman emperor’s life,  Goldsworthy covers not only the great Roman emperor’s accomplishments  as charismatic orator, conquering general, and powerful dictator but  also lesser-known chapters during which he was high priest of an exotic  cult, captive of pirates, seducer not only of Cleopatra but also of the  wives of his two main political rivals, and rebel condemned by his own  country. Ultimately, Goldsworthy realizes the full complexity of  Caesar’s character and shows why his political and military leadership  continues to resonate some two thousand years later. In the introduction  to his biography of the great Roman emperor, Adrian Goldsworthy writes,  “Caesar was at times many things, including a fugitive, prisoner,  rising politician, army leader, legal advocate, rebel, dictator . . . as  well as husband, father, lover and adulterer.” In this landmark  biography, Goldsworthy examines Caesar as military leader, all of these  roles and places his subject firmly within the context of Roman society  in the first century B.C.