In his book War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires, Peter Turchin illustrates the role of group cohesion in the success of nations.
Read More
Mattias Desmet’s The Psychology of Totalitarianism puts forward a compelling new theory about unconscious group behaviour in the political sphere.
Read More
Big picture students of history know that empires and civilizations rise and then fall. American scholar William Ophuls explains in his book Immoderate Greatness that their own success undermines them, and that the process of collapse is unavoidable.
Read More
John Zada’s new book looks at how the news skews our perceptions and disorients society.
Read More
Ibn Khaldun, a 14th century Arab historian, wrote that most understanding of politics and history is a result of bias, whereas more permanent and accurate laws lie beyond that.
Read More
Many are wondering whether the global COVID-19 crisis is the harbinger of greater global cooperation or a confirmation of our more 'selfish selves.'
Read More
The great British economist John Maynard Keynes is reputed to have once quipped to someone, “When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?”
Read More
Jamie Bartlett’s recent book outlines dangers of the digital revolution and offers possible solutions on how we can protect our personal privacy, and democracy itself.
Read More
Sir John Bagot Glubb, a little-known British soldier with long ties to the Middle East, wrote a manifesto about the rise and fall of empires that should be on everyone’s reading list.
Read More
American Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt overturns our assumptions that our political beliefs are the result of logic and informed conscious choice.
Read More
Thomas Hegghammer’s new book looks at the cultural practices of jihadists and poses the important question of why these fighters spend so much time on rituals, music, films, and storytelling.
Read More
Tim Wu, in his new book, The Attention Merchants, shows us how technologists, profiteers and politicians take advantage of our vulnerabilities for their own advantage.
Read More