Barack Obama

"Missionaries" by Phil Klay is a gripping novel that delves into the aftermath of America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Set in Colombia, the book follows four lives that become entangled as they navigate the violence and power struggles of the region. Mason, a U.S. Army Special Forces medic, and Lisette, a foreign correspondent, are drawn to Colombia and the adrenaline of war despite their past traumas. Meanwhile, Juan Pablo, Mason's counterpart in the Colombian military, and Abel, a lieutenant in a local militia, grapple with their own perspectives and loyalties in the midst of chaos. As they navigate a landscape where drug cartels, militias, and the state are blurred, a power vacuum emerges, leaving all the characters vulnerable to forces they cannot control. With geopolitical sophistication and powerful insights into the human heart, "Missionaries" is an electrifying artistic reckoning with the unpredictable and devastating consequences of America's global projection of power.

El Ministerio del Futuro una obra maestra de la imaginación. Narra a través de testimonios ficticios cómo nos afectará a todos el cambio climático. Su visión no es la de un mundo desolado y apocalíptico, sino la de un futuro que ya se nos echa encima… y cuyos desafíos tal vez consigamos superar por los pelos. Es una novela actual e impactante, descorazonadora y esperanzadora a partes iguales, y es uno de los libros más poderosos y originales que jamás se hayan escrito sobre el cambio climático. Creado en el año 2025, el objetivo del nuevo organismo era sencillo: Defender a las futuras generaciones de la humanidad y proteger a todos los seres vivos, del presente y del futuro. Enseguida empezó a ser conocido como el Ministerio del Futuro, y esta es su historia.

"Jack" by a Pulitzer and National Humanities Medal-winning author Marilynne Robinson is a masterpiece of American contemporary fiction, exploring the themes of love, race, and religion. Set in segregated St. Louis after World War II, Jack's heart-wrenching love story with an African American teacher, the daughter of a preacher, is one of the author's greatest accomplishments. The novel delves into the dilemmas and promises of American history, the impact of racial inequality, and the deep-rooted religious belief that continues to resonate in our national character.

"Homeland Elegies" is a thought-provoking exploration of hope and identity in a nation that is falling apart, blending fact and fiction to tell an epic story of belonging and dispossession in the aftermath of 9/11. This gripping book is part family drama, part social essay, and part adventure, following a father and son as they navigate a changing world. Author Ayad Akhtar has created a powerful new narrative voice that captures a country where debt and finance have taken over, a TV star is president, and immigrants live in fear. Through the lens of a gripping family story, Akhtar makes sense of this chaotic new reality, sparing no one in the process.

A young black woman navigates contemporary sexual and racial politics while stumbling her way through her twenties and trying to make it as an artist. When she meets Eric, who is in an open marriage, Edie becomes embroiled in his family life and becomes a friend to his wife and a role model to his adopted daughter. This sharp, darkly comic, sexually charged, and socially disruptive debut novel is a haunting and aching portrayal of the challenges of self-discovery in a tumultuous era.

In this book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people--including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball's Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others--she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

"Memorial Drive" is a memoir that delves into how the author's teenage years were upended when her former stepfather killed her mother. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey shares her journey through grief and explores how this traumatic event shaped her as an artist. She reflects on her own upbringing as a "child of miscegenation" in Mississippi and her mother's history in the deeply segregated South. This book is an intimate portrayal of pain, loss, and resilience.

Un análisis demoledor sobre el panorama político actual. El mejor libro del año según The Washington Post y The financial Times Las democracias occidentales modernas están bajo asedio y el auge del autoritarismo es una cuestión que debería preocuparnos a todos. En El ocaso de la democracia, Anne Applebaum (premio Pulitzer y una de las primeras historiadoras que alertó de las peligrosas tendencias antidemocráticas en Occidente) expone de forma clara y concisa las trampas del nacionalismo y de la autocracia. En este extraordinario ensayo explica por qué los sistemas con mensajes simples y radicales son tan atractivos. Los líderes despóticos no llegan solos al poder; lo hacen aupados por aliados políticos, ejércitos de burócratas y unos medios de comunicación que les allanan el camino y apoyan sus mandatos. Asimismo, los partidos nacionalistas y autoritarios que han ido tomando relevancia en las democracias modernas ofrecen unas perspectivas que benefician exclusivamente a sus partidarios, permitiéndoles alcanzar unas cotas de riqueza y poder inigualables. Siguiendo los pasos de Julien Benda y Hannah Arendt, Applebaum retrata a los nuevos defensores de las ideas antiliberales y denuncia cómo estas élites autoritarias utilizan las teorías de la conspiración, la polarización política, el terrorífico alcance de las redes sociales e incluso el sentimiento de nostalgia para destruirlo todo y redefinir nuestra idea de nación. Escrito de forma magistral, y de lectura urgente y necesaria, El ocaso de la democracia es un brillante análisis pormenorizado del terremoto que está sacudiendo el mundo y una apasionante defensa de los valores democráticos. La crítica ha dicho... «¿Cómo se torcieron nuestras democracias? Applebaum nos ofrece una respuesta en este extraordinario ensayo.» Timothy Snyder «La experiencia histórica y el conocimiento de Applebaum de la Europa contemporánea y de los Estados Unidos iluminan lo distintivo y eterno de los peligros políticos que enfrentamos hoy [...]. El ocaso de la democracia ofrece muchas lecciones sobre la antigua lucha entre los conceptos de democracia y de dictadura. Pero quizás lo más importante es lo frágil que es la democracia: su supervivencia depende de las decisiones que toman cada día las élites y la gente común.» Sheri Berman, The Washington Post «Un relato a menudo aleccionador, a veces impactante, pero nunca desesperante del auge del autoritarismo en Occidente.» Los Angeles Review of Books