How did Nigeria create the second largest movie industry in the world?Nollywood began in Nigeria in the 1990s and has grown into one of the most recognized cultural centers of the world, producing mor
When the Bush Administration invaded Iraq in 2003, it was promised that Iraqi Kurdistan would be developed into one of the most productive oil and natural gas regions in the world, and the profits wou
When the Ottoman Empire fell apart, colonial powers drew straight lines on the map to create a new region--the Middle East--made up of new countries filled with multiple religious sects and ethnicitie
On April 15, 2014, 267 girls from the Chibok Secondary School in northern Nigeria were kidnapped by Boko Haram, the world's deadliest terrorist group. Most were never heard from again. Acclaimed Niger
Global literature was hailed by Goethe as long ago as 1827, when he announced, "National literature is now a meaningless term; the epoch of world literature is at hand, and everyone must strive to has
Neoliberals thought capitalism would bring about democracy, civil liberties, and human rights everywhere. But that is fast becoming an illusion, particularly in the East, where traditionalist and nati
Starting in late 2012, Westerners working in Syria -- journalists and aid workers -- began disappearing without a trace. A year later the world learned they had been taken hostage by the Islamic State
The real story behind El Salvador's MS-13 gang and how they have perpetuated three generations of conflict and led to scores of migrants seeking a new life in the United States."A gripping, electrifyi
"A passionate, important study of the current affairs of a volatile region."-- Kirkus Reviews starred reviewThe rise of Hong Kong is the story of a miraculous post-War boom, when Chinese refugees floc
Follows the money to reveal how Saudi Arabia has spread their particular brand of ultraconservative Islam beyond the Middle East."An award-winning journalist follows the money to track the pervasive s
A haunting literary and visual journey deep into Russia's past -- and present.The Gulag was a monstrous network of labor camps that held and killed millions of prisoners from the 1930s to the 1950s. M
"David Kaye's book is crucial to understanding the tactics, rhetoric and stakes in one of the most consequential free speech debates in human history." -- Cory Doctorow, author of Radicalized, Walkawa
The technology of fracking in shale rock -- particularly in the Permian Basin in Texas -- has transformed America into the world's top producer of both oil and natural gas. The U.S. is expected to be
Why has nationalism suddenly returned with a vengeance?From the Trump administration in the United States to rightwing populist parties and leftwing parties in France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norw
Arbitration tribunals are buried in thousands of trade treaties, linking more than 179 countries. Called Investor-State Dispute Settlements, or ISDS, these tribunals allow private corporations to sue
Populism is on its biggest run since the Second World War, in the United States (Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump); France (National Front); Britain (United Kingdom Independ
Is the West to blame for the agony of Uganda and its neighbors?In this powerful account of Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni's 30 year reign, Helen Epstein chronicles how Western leaders' single-minded
Three decades after Paul Theroux dubbed China's lumbering railway the Iron Rooster, the country's network of high-speed trains is the envy of the world. Now, China is working to push those tracks into
