Bombay Nights

Michele Fitoussi

These were the last words Michèle Fitoussi would ever hear from her friend Loumia Hiridjee. Just a few hours later on November 26, 2008, Bombay would be paralyzed by a series of terrorist attacks-a ma…

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Happy as a Dane

Malene Rydahl

For decades Denmark has ranked at the top of the world’s happiness surveys.How is it that these 5.6 million Danes are so content when they live in a country that is dark and cold nine months out of th…

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The Sixth Extinction

Elizabeth Kolbert

Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring…

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The Master of Confessions

Thierry Cruvellier

An Eichmann in Jerusalem for the Khmer Rouge, Thierry Cruvellier’s The Master of Confessions is a harrowing account of the trial of Duch, director of the regime’s most brutal prison. Cruvellier paints…

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About Time

Vahram Muratyan

Take it, make it, lose it, have it, kill it, spend it, save it, forget it, break it, set it, repeat it, keep it. Time flies like never before, yet time crawls.This may be your first time, your last, o…

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The Billions of Dollars of Léon Robillard

Vincent Malone

We’ve all received spam from an obscure African prince promising us a million dollars if we can just wire him some money for a visa, or a banker informing us we inherited a fortune from a long lost co…

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The Incredible Journey of Childhood

Philippe Presles

At the age of five or six, something incredible happens: a transition wherein children become aware of themselves, of the passage of time and their own mortality. This moment is what psychologist Phil…

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Wise Quacks

Jean-Christophe Royer

Wise Quacks is a photo album of rural scenes with captions. The author attributes thoughts and dialogue not only to the men and women in the photos, but also to the animals and plants. The contrast be…

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How Iceland Bounced Back

Pascal Riche

Iceland’s incredible and improbable economic turnaround has become the stuff of legend. Many attribute the country’s success to its adoption of draconian reforms: rejection of capitalism, nationalizat…

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Goya: The Dark Side of the Enlightenment

Tzvetan Todorov

In an erudite, clear, and concise essay, Todorov paints the portrait of eighteenth century Spanish artist Francisco Goya. He highlights his impact within his own era, while underscoring how the artist…

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