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The great degeneration: how institutions decay and economies die
By Niall Ferguson. 2013
An examination of institutional dysfunction in the Western world argues that such values as a free market and representative government…
are being compromised while future generations are inheriting unmanageable levels of debt. 2013.The game is afoot: a travel guide to the England of Sherlock Holmes
By David L Hammer. 1985
The flâneur: a stroll through the paradoxes of Paris (The writer And The City Ser. #1)
By Edmund White. 2001
Novelist, critic, and biographer White, who moved to Paris in 1983, describes his wanderings through the city's arrondissements, including districts…
congenial to writers, African-Americans, Jews, artists, gays and lesbians, and royalists. A flâneur is someone who strolls about a city with no specific purpose, yet is attuned to its history and character. Bestseller. 2001.The frackers: the outrageous inside story of the new billionaire wildcatters
By Gregory Zuckerman. 2014
In five years, the United States has seen a historic burst of oil and natural gas production, easing our insatiable…
hunger for energy. A new drilling process called fracking has made us the world's fastest growing energy power, on track to pass Saudi Arabia by 2020. But despite headlines and controversy, no previous book has shown how the revolution really happened. The Frackers tells the dramatic tale of how a group of ambitious and headstrong wildcatters ignored the ridicule of experts and derision of colleagues to pursue massive, long-overlooked deposits. Against all odds, they changed the world- and made astonishing fortunes in the process. Zuckerman's exclusive access enabled him to get close to men like George Mitchell, who developed a new way to drill for gas in shale rock; Harold Hamm, who discovered so much oil he's now worth more than the estate of Steve Jobs; and Aubrey McClendon, who lost more than billion on a misguided gambit. Zuckerman shows how the frackers are now using their wealth to shake up Hollywood, education, politics, sports, and other fields, much like the Rockefellers and Gettys before them. He also explores the debate over the environmental risks of fracking, and whether those risks are worth it for the United States to achieve energy independence and for the rest of the world to follow. 2014.The fracture zone: a return to the Balkans
By Simon Winchester. 2001
Award-winning journalist and author Simon Winchester takes readers on a personal tour of the Balkans. Combining history and interviews with…
the people who live there, Winchester offers a fascinating glimpse into the complex issues at work in this chaotic region. 2001.The forgotten man: a new history of the Great Depression
By Amity Shlaes. 2007
Economics reporter analyzes the Great Depression era in the United States and posits that federal intervention in the economy lengthened…
its duration. Considers economic plans from members of Franklin Roosevelt's brain trust and alternate solutions of outsiders such as African American Father Divine and Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson. 2007.The first Eden: the Mediterranean world and man
By David Attenborough. 1987
A history of the Mediterranean world from the dramatic creation of the sea when the Atlantic flooded across the barrier…
of land connecting Morocco and Gibraltar and plunged over a cliff 50 times the height of Niagara. The transformation of man in this rich region from hunter-gather to a settled form of existence was the beginning of civilisation and so began the process that was to transform the whole area. 1987.The end of elsewhere: travels among the tourists
By Taras Grescoe. 2003
Taras Grescoe plunges into the ruts where the tourists are thickest, starting at the tip of Spain's Land's End and…
finishing, nine months later, on the soldier-patrolled beaches of China's End of the Earth. Along the way, he crosses the entire Eurasian landmass, experiencing all sorts of travel such as all-inclusive resorts, pilgrimages, and bus tours. Some descriptions of sex and violence, some strong language. 2003.The end of growth
By Jeff Rubin. 2012
Economist and resource analyst Jeff Rubin is certain that the world's governments are getting it wrong - instead of moving…
us toward economic recovery, measures being taken around the globe right now are digging us into a deeper hole. Both politicians and economists are missing the fact that the real engine of economic growth has always been cheap, abundant fuel and resources, but that era is over. The end of cheap oil signals the end of growth - and the end of easy answers to renewing prosperity. c2012.The hill of Kronos
By Peter Levi. 1981
Greece as seen through the eyes of a sensitive traveller - English classicist, archaeologist, and former Jesuit priest, whose poetic…
observations about the land and its people are interspersed with personal narrative. c1981.The gypsy in me: from Germany to Romania in search of youth, truth and Dad
By Ted Simon. 1997
The author recounts his 1500 mile journey, much of it on foot, through Eastern Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania,…
making personal connections with people in the turbulent region, and learning more about himself and his parents who had escaped from there years before. 1997.The Greek for love: a memoir of Corfu
By James Chatto. 2005
They arrived as tourists in Corfu, Wendy from Canada and James from England. They enjoyed the sun, an idyllic beach,…
olives, fresh apricots and marinated lamb, and long evenings of storytelling at the local taverna. But what captivated James and Wendy was the way the islanders embraced them, and how their deep connection to Corfu and its people sustained them through tragedy just as it had carried them into love. Some strong language. 2005.The ecology of commerce: a declaration of sustainability
By Paul Hawken. 1993
Provides a blueprint for a marketplace where businesses and environmentalists work together, showing companies how to redesign and manufacture products…
in innovative ways, re-educate customers, and work closely with government toward a profitable, productive, and ecologically sound future. 2005, c1993.The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
By Helene Hanff. 1973
The Darwin economy: liberty, competition, and the common good (Your coach in a box)
By Robert H Frank. 2011
Frank looks at how economic competition is actually hindering the "common good." He explains that Charles Darwin's theory on the…
clash between individual and group interests is a perfect analogy for today's economic landscape. 2011.The cult of impotence: selling the myth of powerlessness in the global economy
By Linda McQuaig. 1998
McQuaig looks into the popular belief that the Canadian economy is beyond Canada's control, held at the mercy of globalization…
and technology. Instead, she argues, the international community has the tools to regulate the world financial system to everyone's benefit, as was done in the decades after World War II. 1998.The collapse of globalism: and the reinvention of the world
By John Ralston Saul. 2005
Globalism, where world markets would supplant nation-states, has failed even as it succeeded, by increasing GDP or individual wealth in…
some countries while allowing the paralyzing accumulation of debt in the third world. In the meantime, economies have artificially inflated and imploded. The author also faults a system where multinational corporations attempt to replace government infrastructure and "overly complex" management is mistaken for leadership. 2005.The city of falling angels
By John Berendt. 2006
Taking the fire that destroyed the Fenice theatre in 1996 as his starting point, John Berendt creates a portrait of…
Venice and its extraordinary inhabitants. Beneath the exquisite facade of the world's most beautiful historic city, scandal, corruption and venality are rampant, and John Berendt is a master at seeking them out. It is the inhabitants of Venice who are the real stars of this story: Ezra Pound and his mistress, Olga; poet Mario Stefani; the Rat Man of Treviso; or Mario Moro self-styled carabiniere, fireman, soldier or airman, depending on the day of the week. 2006.The cash nexus: money and power in the modern world, 1700-2000 (Allen Lane History Ser.)
By Niall Ferguson. 2001
Throughout modern history, the way states have managed their money has been crucial to their survival and success. It has…
been finance as much as firepower that has decided the fates of nations in the supreme test of war. The cash nexus is the crucial point where money and power meet. But does money make the political world go round? Does the success of democracy depend on economic growth? Does victory always go to the richest of the great powers? Or are financial markets the true 'masters' of the modern world? 2001.The carbon bubble: what happens to us when it bursts
By Jeff Rubin. 2015
The author vehemently believes that Stephen Harper's economic vision for our country is dead wrong. Changes in energy markets in…
the US - where domestic production is booming while demand for oil is shrinking - are quickly turning Harper's dream into an economic nightmare. The same trade and investment ties to oil that pushed the Canadian dollar to record highs are now pulling it down. But the very climate change that will leave much of the country's carbon unburnable could at the same time make some of Canada's other resource assets more valuable: our water and our land. Canada won't be an energy superpower, but it has the potential to be one of the world's great breadbaskets. And in the global climate that the world's carbon emissions are inexorably creating, food will soon be a lot more valuable than oil. Bestseller. 2015.