Knowledge = Power

Josef Stalin exercised supreme power in the Soviet Union from 1929  until his death in 1953. During that quarter century, by Oleg  Khlevniuk's estimate, he caused the imprisonment and execution of no  fewer than a million Soviet citizens per year. Millions more were  victims of famine directly resulting from Stalin's policies. What drove  him toward such ruthlessness? This essential biography, by the author most deeply familiar with the  vast archives of the Soviet era, offers an unprecedented, fine-grained  portrait of Stalin, the man and dictator. Without mythologizing Stalin  as either benevolent or an evil genius, Khlevniuk resolves numerous  controversies about specific events in the dictator's life while  assembling many hundreds of previously unknown letters, memos, reports,  and diaries into a comprehensive, compelling narrative of a life that  altered the course of world history. In brief, revealing prologues to each chapter, Khlevniuk takes his reader into Stalin's favorite dacha, where the innermost circle of Soviet leadership gathered as their vozhd lay dying. Chronological chapters then illuminate major themes:  Stalin's childhood, his involvement in the Revolution and the early  Bolshevik government under Lenin, his assumption of undivided power and  mandate for industrialization and collectivization, the Terror, World  War II, and the postwar period. At the book's conclusion, the author  presents a cogent warning against nostalgia for the Stalinist era.

A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his world The product of a decade of intrepid research, Stalin is a landmark achievement. Stephen Kotkin offers a biography that, at  long last, is equal to this shrewd, sociopathic, charismatic dictator in  all his dimensions. We see a man inclined to despotism who could be  utterly charming; a pragmatic ideologue; a leader who obsessed over  slights yet was a precocious geostrategic thinker—unique among  Bolsheviks—and yet who made egregious strategic blunders. Through it  all, we see Stalin’s unflinching persistence, his sheer force of  will—perhaps the ultimate key to understanding his indelible mark on  history. Drawing on Kotkin’s exhaustive study of Soviet archival  materials as well as vast scholarly literature, Stalin recasts  the way we think about the Soviet Union, revolution, dictatorship, the  twentieth century, and indeed the art of history itself.

After interviewing 50 of the world's greatest financial minds and penning the number-one New York Times best seller Money: Master the Game,  Tony Robbins returns with a step-by-step playbook, taking you on a  journey to transform your financial life and accelerate your path to  financial freedom. No matter your salary, your stage of life, or when  you started, this book will provide the tools to help you achieve your  financial goals more rapidly than you ever thought possible. Robbins, who has coached more than 50 million people from 100  countries, is the world's number-one life and business strategist. In  this book he teams up with Peter Mallouk, the only man in history to be  ranked the number-one financial advisor in the United States for three  consecutive years by Barron's. Together they reveal how to become  unshakeable - someone who can not only maintain true peace of mind in a  world of immense uncertainty, economic volatility, and unprecedented  change but profit from the fear that immobilizes so many. Through plain  English and inspiring stories, you'll discover... How to put together a simple, actionable plan that will deliver true financial freedom Strategies from the world's top investors on how to protect  yourself and your family and maximize profit from the inevitable crashes  and corrections to come How a few simple steps can add a decade or more of additional  retirement income by discovering what your 401(k) provider doesn't want  you to know The core four principles that most of the world's greatest  financial minds utilize so that you can maximize upside and minimize  downside The fastest way to put money back in your pocket: uncover the  hidden fees and half truths of Wall Street - how the biggest firms keep  you overpaying for underperformance Master the mind-set of true wealth, and experience the fulfillment you deserve today.

In his first book in two decades, Anthony Robbins turns to the topic  that vexes us all: How to secure financial freedom for ourselves and for  our families. “If there were a Pulitzer Prize for investment books,  this one would win, hands down” (Forbes). Tony Robbins  is one of the most revered writers and thinkers of our time. People  from all over the world—from the disadvantaged to the well-heeled, from  twenty-somethings to retirees—credit him for giving them the inspiration  and the tools for transforming their lives. From diet and fitness, to  business and leadership, to relationships and self-respect, Tony  Robbins’s books have changed people in profound and lasting ways. Now,  for the first time, he has assembled an invaluable “distillation of just  about every good personal finance idea of the last forty years” (The New York Times). Based  on extensive research and interviews with some of the most legendary  investors at work today (John Bogle, Warren Buffett, Paul Tudor Jones,  Ray Dalio, Carl Icahn, and many others), Tony Robbins has created a  7-step blueprint for securing financial freedom. With advice about  taking control of your financial decisions, to setting up a savings and  investing plan, to destroying myths about what it takes to save and  invest, to setting up a “lifetime income plan,” the book brims with  advice and practices for making the financial game not only winnable—but  providing financial freedom for the rest of your life. “Put MONEY on your short list of new books to read…It’s that good” (Marketwatch.com).

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In a chronicle that  captures nearly two thousand years of inspiration and intrigue, John  Julius Norwich recounts in riveting detail the histories of the most  significant popes and what they meant politically, culturally, and  socially to Rome and to the world. Norwich presents such popes as  Innocent I, who in the fifth century successfully negotiated with Alaric  the Goth, an invader civil authorities could not defeat; Leo I, who two  decades later tamed (and perhaps paid off) Attila the Hun; the infamous  “pornocracy”—the five libertines who were descendants or lovers of  Marozia, debauched daughter of one of Rome’s most powerful families;  Pope Paul III, “the greatest pontiff of the sixteenth century,” who  reinterpreted the Church’s teaching and discipline; John XXIII, who in  five short years starting in 1958 instituted reforms that led to Vatican  II; and Benedict XVI, who is coping with today’s global priest sex  scandal. Epic and compelling, Absolute Monarchs is an enthralling history from “an enchanting and satisfying raconteur” (The Washington Post).

A galaxy of legendary figures from the annals of Western history In this enlightening and entertaining work, Paul Johnson, the bestselling author of Intellectuals and Creators,  approaches the subject of heroism with stirring examples of men and  women from every age, walk of life, and corner of the planet who have  inspired and transformed not only their own cultures but the entire  world as well. Heroes includes: Samson, Judith, and  Deborah • Henry V and Joan of Arc • Elizabeth I and Walter Raleigh •  George Washington, the Duke of Wellington, and Lord Nelson • Emily  Dickinson • Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee • Mae West and Marilyn  Monroe • Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II

Robert Cialdini-Instant Influence

The most authoritative life of the Chinese leader every written, Mao: The Unknown Story is  based on a decade of research, and on interviews with many of Mao’s  close circle in China who have never talked before — and with virtually  everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him. It is full  of startling revelations, exploding the myth of the Long March, and  showing a completely unknown Mao: he was not driven by idealism or  ideology; his intimate and intricate relationship with Stalin went back  to the 1920s, ultimately bringing him to power; he welcomed Japanese  occupation of much of China; and he schemed, poisoned, and blackmailed  to get his way. After Mao conquered China in 1949, his secret goal was  to dominate the world. In chasing this dream he caused the deaths of 38  million people in the greatest famine in history. In all, well over 70  million Chinese perished under Mao’s rule — in peacetime.

Victor Sebestyen's riveting biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin—the first  major biography in English in nearly two decades—is not only a  political examination of one of the most important historical figures of  the twentieth century but also a fascinating portrait of Lenin the man. Brought  up in comfort and with a passion for hunting and fishing, chess, and  the English classics, Lenin was radicalized after the execution of his  brother in 1887. Sebestyen traces the story from Lenin's early years to  his long exile in Europe and return to Petrograd in 1917 to lead the  first Communist revolution in history. Uniquely, Sebestyen has  discovered that throughout Lenin's life his closest relationships were  with his mother, his sisters, his wife, and his mistress. The  long-suppressed story told here of the love triangle that Lenin had with  his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his beautiful, married mistress and  comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a more complicated character than that  of the coldly one-dimensional leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. With  Lenin's personal papers and those of other leading political figures  now available, Sebestyen gives is new details that bring to life the  dramatic and gripping story of how Lenin seized power in a coup and ran  his revolutionary state. The product of a violent, tyrannical, and  corrupt Russia, he chillingly authorized the deaths of thousands of  people and created a system based on the idea that political terror  against opponents was justified for a greater ideal. An old comrade what  had once admired him said that Lenin "desired the good . . . but  created evil." This included his invention of Stalin, who would take  Lenin's system of the gulag and the secret police to horrifying new  heights. In Lenin, Victor Sebestyen has written a  brilliant portrait of this dictator as a complex and ruthless figure,  and he also brings to light important new revelations about the Russian  Revolution, a pivotal point in modern history. (With 16 pages of black-and-white photographs)