West of Kabul, East of New York by Tamim Ansary is an urgent communiqué by an American with "an Afghan soul still inside me," who has lived in the very different worlds of Islam and the secular West.
Confucius lives next door: What Living in the East Teaches Us about Living in the West, by T.R. Reid
Lost in Mongolia: Rafting the World’s Last Unchallenged River, by Colin Angus. A small team of Gen-Xers boat Central Asia’s Yenisey River.
Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia, by Tom Bissell. Investigates the ecological calamity of the Aral Sea.
Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village, by Sarah Erdman.
Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. Tells the story of Paul Farmer, doctor and anthropologist, who grew up to become the visionary founder, in Haiti, of the now worldwide medical aid organization Partners in Health.
Terror in the Name of God, by Jessica Stern. Explains how terrorist organizations are headed by charismatic leaders who are skilled at turning disenfranchised and disillusioned souls into zealous operatives.
A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, by Gil Courtemanche. A Quebecois journalist, who witnessed the event, accounts an AIDS epidemic in Rwanda that becomes dwarfed by the tribal holocaust that unfolds.
Resource Wars, by Michael Klare. Non Fiction.
The Coming Plague: Newly emerging diseases in a world out of balance, by Lori Garrett.
The River Runs Black, by Elizabeth Economy. Looks at China’s environmental problems.
Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, by Carlos Eire. The true story of a child airlifted out of Cuba in 1962 – exiled from his family, his country, and his childhood by the revolution.
Journey from the Land of No: A girlhood caught in revolutionary Iran, by Roya Hakakian. Nonfiction.
Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos, by Dore Gold
Habibi, by Naomi Shihab Nye for students (6th grade and up)
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Fiction, set in Afghanistan.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond. Non-Fiction.
Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi.
The Missing Peace, by Dennis Ross. Ross was the chief U.S. Peace Negotiator in the Middle East under Bush Sr. and Clinton. He gives an insider’s view on the peace process during this period of time.
The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman. The book is about how the world is getting smaller due to the changing nature of business around the world.
The Lexus and the Olive Tree, by Thomas Friedman.
Above the Clouds: Diaries of a High Altitude Climber, Anatoli Boukreev.
Burro Genius, Rain of Gold, Thirteen Senses, and Wild Steps of Heaven, by Victor Villasenor. Non-Fiction. Four books about his life as a Mexican-American and his family's lives in the Mexican Revolution.
Bones of the Master: A Journey to Secret Mongolia, by George Crane - Brilliant and charming. It is the biography of a displaced Chinese Buddhist Monk who returns to Mongolia to rebuild after the destruction by the Red Guards.
The Mystery of Capitalism, by Hernando de Soto.
Life of Pi is fabulous - great comments in part about Hindusim/Christianity/Islam 1421- A book that shows the Chinese were here in the W. Hemisphere ahead of Columbus. Very interesting.
A Problem from Hell--America and the Age of Genocide, by Pulitzer Prize winner Samantha Power. "Nothing less than a masterwork of contemporary journalism....Everybody in the foreign policy apparatus of the American government must read it....An angry, brilliant, fiercely useful, absolutely essential book."--The New Republic
Balzec and the Little Chinese Seamstress - during the period of re-education in China
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire (1921-1997), was a Brazilian educator. He is considered by many to be the most influential author about education in the 20th century. He argued that any curriculum which ignores racism, sexism, the exploitation of workers, and other forms of oppression at the same time supports the status quo. It inhibits the expansion of consciousness and blocks creative and liberating social action for change.
Krakakoa by the same Brit who wrote The Map That Changed the World. Both were excellent reading for geopolitics.
Tent of Miracles by Jorge Amado. It's concerned with the poor of Brazil.
World on fire: how exporting free market democracy breeds ethnic hatred and global instability. Amy Chua claims that "Today's global economy [.] represents the triumph of five decades of American Foreign Policy"
Dreams of Trespass - growing up in Morocco - by Fatima Mernissi
Power Lines by Jason Carter (grandson of Jimmy) about his two-year assignment in South Africa. Very interesting analysis of how the country as a whole, and the area he was assigned to, have fared during the post-apartheid era.
Crescent and Star by Stephen Kinzer is a very interesting survey history/cultural history of Turkey. Talks about the influence of the "founder" of the country, Ataturk, and how Turkey straddles between the worlds of West and East.
A Little Too Close to God by David Horovitz Life of recent Jewish immigrants to Jerusalem. Horovitz is the editor of the Jerusalem Report.
Still Life with Bombers: Israel in the Age of Terrorism also by David Horovitz He shares his frustrations at the missed opportunities for peace and describes in detail how terrorism effects everyday life.
The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric. An absolute must reading to understand the cultural conflict in the Balkans. Beautifully written prose received the Nobel Prize for Literature for Ivo Andric.
The Lunar Society integrates economics, politics, technology, geology, biology, philosophy, and a host of other studies that surround the Industrial Revolution in 18th century Britain. It focuses on the informal society formed by Wedgwood, Erasmus Darwin, Watts, Boulton, Priestly among others. The met every 28 days on a Monday closest to the full moon, hence Lunar Society.
A Season in Bethlehem: Unholy War in a Sacred Place by Joshua Hammer Chronicles the unique environment in and around Jerusalem and the siege of the Church of the Nativity.
American Dynasty: House of Bush by Kevin Phillips Biographical story of bush family rise to prominence by a republican strategist of the Nixon/Reagan era. Not very flattering to the Bush, but its very revealing.
The Conquerors by Michael Beschloss story of how America dealt with the restructuring of postwar Germany, the revelations of the Holocaust and the role of Henry Morgenthau, FDR's friend and Sec of Treasury.
Master of the Senate by Robert Caro, or any other book by him. This one is about LBJ.
The Last Jihad (fiction) by Joel C. Rosenberg Very descriptive scenario of a terrorist attack on the U.S. and it’s connection to Israel and the Palestinian issue.
By the Lake of Sleeping Children: The Secret Life of the Mexican Border Luis Alberto Urrea, John Lueders-Booth a haunting and unprecedented look at what life is like for those living on the Mexican side of the border, eking out only the barest of lives not far from the white sands and coral reefs of Southern California
The Last Days (fiction) by Joel C. Rosenberg A continuation of The Last Jihad as the U.S. faces global terrorism in a post-Iraq Saddam as well as bin-Laden dead. An end of the world scenario focusing again on Israel.
Out of This Furnace Thomas Bell, David P. Demarest (Afterword) a powerful novel that spans three generations of a Slovak family, Thomas Bell vividly tells the story of immigrants and their children who lived, toiled, and died in America's mill towns."
Machiavelli on Modern Leadership by Michael Ledeen. He takes the philosophy of Machiavelli and applies it to today’s leaders.
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Piers Paul Read
Civilization and Its Enemies by Lee Harris Interesting political philosophy that discusses why America is disliked and misunderstood around the world. He deals with the “fantasy ideology” of Islam.
The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership by Zbigniew Brzezinski.
An End to Evil: How To Win the War on Terror by Richard Perle and David Frum They describe how we can attack and defeat terrorism with an aggressive pro-active approach.
Reading Lolita in Tehran (recommended twice) A true story about a female Iranian professor who leaves the university in Iran when the Ayatollah takes over. She holds a reading group for several female students. They compare themselves to these international classics and we the readers observe the culture clash of them doing so. Very good stuff. Gives a great look inside the country and its religious rulers.
Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order by Robert Kagan. Kagan discusses how Europe’s new alliance is putting the Trans-Atlantic alliance at odds. Predictions for the future are intriguing.
The Pentagon's New Map (2004) by Thomas Barnett. Barnett divides the world up between those functioning in the world economy (the Functioning Core) and those not (the Non-Integrating Gap) and argues ways for shrinking the gap. Barnett believes a large function of the US military is military operations other than war.
Truman’s Dilemma: Invasion or the Bomb by Paul Walker Excellent account of the modern history of Japan and their military philosophy and how the bomb was probably the best choice. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver an American missionary family travels to the Congo in the 60’s.
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage Alfred Lansing In the summer of 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set off aboard the Endurance bound for the South Atlantic. The goal of his expedition was to cross the Antarctic overland, but more than a year later, and still half a continent away from the intended base, the Endurance was trapped in ice and eventually was crushed.
The World and a Very Small Place in Africa by Wright An example of the changes brought to isolated places in the world through trade and global systems.
Maggie's American Dream: The Life and Times of a Black Family James P. Comer Foreword by Charlayne Hunter-Gault This poignant book is several stories: the oral history of the struggles of a black mother who saw education as the road to the American dream and propelled her five children to 13 college degrees
Thomas Friedman – His books put very complicated topics in a way for us all to understand. The Lexus and the Olive Tree – deals with issues of globalization. Latitudes and Attitudes – compilation of his articles in the New York Times after 9/11. Also includes excerpts from his journal regarding 9/11.
From Beirut to Jerusalem
Jihad vs. McWorld by Benjamin Barber – How globalism and tribalism are reshaping the world.
§ Desert Flower & Desert Dawn by Waris Dirie - (recommended twice) a true story about a Somolian girl who escapes her past and ends up as a model and UN Representative. Excellent for girls to read as well. It addresses female genital cutting-graphic but important.
Occidentialism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies by Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit, (Penguin, March 2004).
The World That Trade Created by Steven Topik (recommended twice) A great collection of essays on cultural diffusion through trade from 1400
Cry, the beloved Country apartheid in South Africa
Inside the Mirage: America’s Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia. Thomas Lippman. 2004, Westview Press, 0-8133-4052-7, $27.50 hb. This is an engaging, carefully researched, anecdote-laced account of how us companies and individual Americans managed their business and personal relationships in Saudi Arabia.
Why I Am a Muslim: An American Odyssey. Asma Gull Hasan. 2004, ThorsonsElement, 0-00-717533-7, $22.95 hb. Why do Muslims like being Muslims? This is a question that many non-Muslims don’t stop to ask, but Hasan, an attorney and the child of immigrant parents, goes right to the heart of it with a self-effacing humor not often found in anyone’s discussions of religion. She speaks of her own pride in her name, of how forgiveness and personal growth have been integral to her faith; of the differences among cultural and religious practices; of what it feels like to be all of female, Muslim and American; and of how being a Muslim makes her a better American.
Princess, Jean Sasson the life of a Saudi Arabian Princess
Madam Secretary, Madeleine Albright, bio of not only her time as Secretary of State, but also her life which is fascinating. A great look at history and world events.
Into thin Air. A childhood dream of some day ascending Mt. Everest, a lifelong love of climbing, and an expense account all propelled writer Jon Krakauer to the top of the Himalayas in May 1996. Life of Pi is fabulous - great comments in part about Hindusim/Christianity/Islam
1421- A book that shows the Chinese were here in the W. Hemisphere ahead of Columbus.
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