In their 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, David Graeber and David Wengrow work to upend numerous entrenched assumptions about the origins of complex human societies, urban settlements and nation-states, and the global problem of social inequality. An anthropologist and archeologist, respectively, the authors examine the latest archeological evidence and reinterpret decades of anthropological study to provide detailed accounts of how early human societies developed. Their project is to reject... Read The Dawn of Everything Summary

The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills (2017) is a nonfiction work by David A. Ansell that examines health disparities in the United States. Ansell, a Chicago physician and public health advocate, draws on his extensive experience working in underserved communities to expose the realities of how socioeconomic factors drastically affect health outcomes. Throughout the work, Ansell explores themes of inequality, systemic racism, and social justice, examining Healthcare as a Human Right VS Commodity; Environmental and... Read The Death Gap Summary

The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy (2020) by Stephanie Kelton presents a radical reimagining of economic policy and government spending. As a professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University and former Chief Economist of the US Senate Budget Committee, Kelton brings both academic expertise and practical policy experience to her explanation of modern monetary theory (MMT). The book emerged during a period of growing interest in... Read The Deficit Myth Summary

The Design of Everyday Things, originally published in 1988 under the title The Psychology of Everyday Things, is a work of nonfiction by Donald A. Norman, an American scholar specializing in design, engineering, usability, and cognitive science. Combining psychological research, cases studies, and anecdotes, Norman argues that design mediates between objects and users, with successful design being both human-centered and multidisciplinary. A bestseller in the United States, the book remains a foundational text in the... Read The Design of Everyday Things Summary

The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics is a 2012 nonfiction book by political scientists Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith. In it, the authors, who are both professors at New York University, explore the pathologies of politics. In doing so, they demonstrate how leaders of all systems, including governments, businesses, and families, follow the same set of rules, known as the rules to rule by or The Dictator’s Handbook... Read The Dictator's Handbook Summary

The Division of Labor in Society by Émile Durkheim is a doctoral dissertation first published in 1893. It is most notable for using the scientific method to explain social phenomena, and it is widely considered one of the foundational works in modern sociology. Durkheim, along with other theorists such as Max Weber and Karl Marx, is considered a founder of the field. In The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim explores how modern societies remain... Read The Division of Labor in Society Summary

The Do-Over (2022) is a young adult contemporary romance by Lynn Painter. The novel follows Emilie Hornby, a teenage girl who lives her life to scheduled perfection. However, her perfectly planned Valentine’s Day completely unravels when she crashes cars with her surly chemistry partner, Nick Stark; has her prestigious summer internship revoked; witnesses her boyfriend, Josh Sutton, cheating on her with his ex, Macy; and discovers her father is moving across the country for a... Read The Do-Over Summary

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe is the nonfiction debut of American journalist and author, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, first published in 2011. It chronicles the story of Kamila Sidiqi, a young woman living under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, who became a fashion entrepreneur at a time when the rights of women were strictly limited. Lemmon traveled to Afghanistan to study... Read The Dressmaker of Khair Khana Summary

Influential British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) wrote and published The Economic Consequences of the Peace in 1919. The book is an investigation of the economic impact of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and the Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920) on post-World War I Europe. Keynes is one of the most important economists of the 20th century and the originator of “Keynesian” economics, which advocates for governments to create fiscal policies to help stabilize potentially volatile... Read The Economic Consequences of the Peace Summary

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte is a long essay by Karl Marx about the December 1851 coup that ended the Second Republic of France, turning President Louis Bonaparte into Emperor Napoleon III. It was originally written and published in 1852, just a year after Napoleon III came to power. The title refers to the new calendar that was used for several years after the French Revolution of 1789 and the day of the coup... Read The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte Summary

The End of History and the Last Man by political scientist Francis Fukuyama is a widely read and controversial book on political philosophy published in 1992. In it, Fukuyama argues that the end of the Cold War in 1991 established Western liberal democracy as the final and most successful form of government, thus marking the conclusion of “mankind’s ideological evolution.” Since its original release, the book has been updated in 2006 and 2019 with reassertions... Read The End of History and the Last Man Summary

In The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time (2005), leading economist Jeffrey D. Sachs draws on his extensive global experience to identify a path to end extreme poverty within 20 years. This work is inspired by, and in some ways modeled after, the classic John Maynard Keynes essay Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren (1930). In the depths of the Great Depression, Keynes outlined a pathway to ending poverty in the industrialized countries near... Read The End of Poverty Summary

In the 2022 nonfiction work The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization, Peter Zeihan argues that the world is in transition from globalization to de-globalization. Declining populations and the withdrawal of US security from global transport are driving this transition, which benefits the US but has dire consequences for most countries. Zeihan is a globalization expert and geopolitical consultant, and he holds a postgraduate degree in Asian studies... Read The End of the World Is Just the Beginning Summary

Book Details & Major ThemesJon Gordon’s 2007 self-help book The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy was a Wall Street Journal best-seller and tells the fictional tale of a man named George who, after a chance meeting with a unique bus driver, triumphs over serious career and marital problems using the power of positive energy. Both a work of fiction and a how-to manual on team-building, The... Read The Energy Bus Summary

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization was originally written by Peter M. Senge and published by Doubleday Publishing Group, Inc. in 1990. The book is a self-help book/textbook that teaches business managers how to turn their businesses into learning organizations by implementing learning and community-building skills, including five disciplines. The book uses stories about managers and leaders’ use of these skills to create success and positive change in their companies... Read The Fifth Discipline Summary

The Fifth Risk is a narrative nonfiction work published in 2018 by Michael Lewis. Originally, two parts of the book appeared as articles in Vanity Fair, and the third part was released as an audiobook. The Fifth Risk discusses the Trump administration’s transition to running the federal government, and it examines the departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Commerce during the shift from the Obama to the Trump presidencies. The book spent 14 weeks on the... Read The Fifth Risk Summary

The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael D. Watkins, a globally recognized leadership transitions expert, was first published in 2003. With his extensive background in leadership development and organizational change, Watkins provides a comprehensive guide to managing the critical first 90 days of transitioning into a new leadership role. The book delves into themes including The Challenges of Transitioning Into a New Leadership Role, Accelerating the... Read The First 90 Days Summary

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002) is a leadership book written by Patrick Lencioni, an American author and speaker who specializes in business consulting and organizational health. Lencioni sheds light on the fundamental challenges that hinder team success. These dysfunctions are interconnected, each building upon the other. The first dysfunction is the absence of trust, where team members hesitate to express vulnerability by openly sharing their weaknesses and concerns. This lack of trust forms... Read The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team Summary

The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride is a 2018 novel by American writer Joe Siple. It is Siple’s debut novel, though he has since published four others, including one direct sequel, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride. Siple’s book tells the story of Murray McBride, a 100-year-old man who develops an unlikely friendship with a 10-year-old boy, Jason Cashman. Jason is in dire need of a heart transplant, and Murray tries to help... Read The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride Summary

Published in 2023, Neil Howe’s The Fourth Turning Is Here is a work of macro-history and social theory that serves as a sequel to his influential 1997 book, The Fourth Turning, which was coauthored with the late William Strauss. A New York Times bestseller, the book argues that the United States is in the midst of a “Fourth Turning,” a generation-long period of “Crisis” that began with the 2008 financial crash. Howe posits that current... Read The Fourth Turning Is Here Summary