Government Fiction

Despite the title, Dickens's portrayal of early industrial society is less relentlessly grim than that in novels by contemporaries such as Elizabeth Gaskell or Charles Kingsley. Hard Times weaves the tale of Thomas Gradgrind, a hard-headed politician who raises his children Louisa and Tom without love and to have no empathy, their lives completely devoid of beauty, culture, or imagination. Only after a series of crises does their father realise that the manner in which he raised his children has ruined their lives.

Rousseau's Social Contract remains, after a quarter of a millennium, one of the most controversial texts in the history of political philosophy, variously seen as a model for participatory democracy, a blueprint for totalitarianism, and several points in between. In addition to Rousseau’s magnum opus, this production includes an introduction by George Douglas Howard Cole, an English political theorist, economist, writer and historian. Also included are three discourses that Rousseau composed apart from The Social Contract.

A rich and varied collection of contemporary short stories, extracts from novels, and poetry that will go a long way toward informing the English-speaking world of the latest developments in Iranian literature. This sampling - or to use the Farsi term golchine, a bouquet - provides a window onto an important but sorely neglected segment of world culture. We hope it will also serve to awaken further interest in the work and in translations of Iranian novelists and poets.

6 days, 13 hours and 37 minutes to go . . . At the end of The Prodigal Daughter, Florentyna Kane is elected President – the first woman President of the United States. At 7.30 one evening the FBI learn of a plot to kill her – the 1572nd such threat of the year. At 8.30 five people know all...

The economy isn’t just for the economists to debate on. All of us are affected by its ups and downs—global recession, rise in interest rates, or hike in food prices. But do we understand the principles at work and how and why they really affect us? Day to Day Economics is an...

A wonderfully illuminating and witty guide to every -ism you could ever want explained. Entries include every -ism under the sun, from Absurdism to Militarism to Zoroastrianism.

No one could have predicted even two years ago that an African American would take the oath of office as president of the United States in January of 2009. For many, the occasion marks the climax to the civil rights movement and the fulfillment of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream that Americans could be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin. This collection, with about 400 letters from Americans of all walks of life, is being created to stand as a symbol of this exciting moment in history.

How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (the highest office in the Republic), his practical brother Quintus decided he needed some no-nonsense advice on running a successful campaign.

When Aisha’s husband vanishes in plain sight, she is pulled into a nightmare to find him in this race-against-time tech thriller... After the murder of his best friend, newlyweds Adam and Aisha cut their honeymoon short. But just as they are about to board a flight home from Delhi, Adam...

"Welcome to Robert Ludlum's world...fast pacing, tight plotting, international intrigue." — Cleveland Plain Dealer In Robert Ludlum's The Ambler Warning, an agent breaks out of a top-security institution where the government has kept him drugged for years only to discover that he's not the...

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR An unsettling masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will impact us all. “The best science-fiction nonfiction novel I’ve ever read.” —Jonathan Lethem, New York Times...

In an immersive, exciting narrative nonfiction format, this powerful book follows a selection of people who experienced the events surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The first modern treatise of political philosophy, The Prince remains one of the world's most influential and widely read books. Machiavelli, whose name has become synonymous with expedient exercises of will, reveals nothing less than the secrets of power: how to gain it, how to wield it, and how to keep it. But curiously, this work of outspoken clarity has, for centuries, inspired myriad interpretations as to its author's true message.

Set in a chilling future that seems more and more possible each year, this unforgettable story asks the question, "When the government becomes too controlling, what does it really mean to be a patriot?"

The US Capitol houses both the Congress and Senate, but do you know its history? This building, which stands as a symbol of freedom and democracy, took more than 30 years to build. It has survived through wars, and has had many changes and additions. Join a tour guide and learn more about the US capitol.

It is where Fidel Castro raised money to overthrow Batista and where two generations of Castro's enemies have raised armies to overthrow him, so far without success. It is where the bitter opera of Cuban exile intersects with the cynicism of U.S. foreign policy. It is a city whose skyrocketing murder rate is fueled by the cocaine trade, racial discontent, and an undeclared war on the island 90 miles to the south.

From Alan Glynn--the author of Limitless--comes Receptor, an irresistable thriller that reveals the origins of MDT-48 and the consequences of unlocking the human mind. On a Friday evening in 1953, Madison Avenue ad executive Ned Sweeney enjoys a cocktail in the apartment of a strange and...

"Welcome to Robert Ludlum's world...fast pacing, tight plotting, international intrigue." — Cleveland Plain Dealer In Robert Ludlum's The Ambler Warning, an agent breaks out of a top-security institution where the government has kept him drugged for years only to discover that he's not the...

The renowned fantasy and science fiction writer China Mieville has long been inspired by the ideals of the Russian Revolution, and here, on the centenary of the revolution, he provides his own distinctive take on its history. In February 1917, in the midst of bloody war, Russia was still an autocratic monarchy: nine months later it became the first socialist state in world history. How did this unimaginable transformation take place? How was a ravaged and backward country, swept up in a desperately unpopular war, rocked by not one but two revolutions?

In a single volume, the seminal writings of the world's leading philosopher, linguist, and critic, published to coincide with his 80th birthday. For the past 40 years Noam Chomsky's writings on politics and language have established him as a preeminent public intellectual and as one of the most original and wide-ranging political and social critics of our time. Among the seminal figures in linguistic theory over the past century, since the 1960s Chomsky has also secured a place as perhaps the leading dissident voice in the United States.