Good Economics for Hard Times

Good Economics for Hard Times PDF

Author: Abhijit V. Banerjee

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2019-11-12

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 1541762878

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The winners of the Nobel Prize show how economics, when done right, can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our day. Figuring out how to deal with today's critical economic problems is perhaps the great challenge of our time. Much greater than space travel or perhaps even the next revolutionary medical breakthrough, what is at stake is the whole idea of the good life as we have known it. Immigration and inequality, globalization and technological disruption, slowing growth and accelerating climate change--these are sources of great anxiety across the world, from New Delhi and Dakar to Paris and Washington, DC. The resources to address these challenges are there--what we lack are ideas that will help us jump the wall of disagreement and distrust that divides us. If we succeed, history will remember our era with gratitude; if we fail, the potential losses are incalculable. In this revolutionary book, renowned MIT economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo take on this challenge, building on cutting-edge research in economics explained with lucidity and grace. Original, provocative, and urgent, Good Economics for Hard Times makes a persuasive case for an intelligent interventionism and a society built on compassion and respect. It is an extraordinary achievement, one that shines a light to help us appreciate and understand our precariously balanced world.

Thomas Cromwell

Thomas Cromwell PDF

Author: Tracy Borman

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2015-01-06

Total Pages: 467

ISBN-13: 0802191665

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“An exceptional and compelling biography about one of the Tudor Age’s most complex and controversial figures.” —Alison Weir Thomas Cromwell has long been reviled as a Machiavellian schemer who stopped at nothing in his quest for power. As King Henry VIII’s right-hand man, Cromwell was the architect of the English Reformation; secured Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon and plotted the downfall of his second wife, Anne Boleyn; and was fatally accused of trying to usurp the king himself. In this engrossing biography, acclaimed British historian Tracy Borman reveals a different side to one of history’s most notorious characters: that of a caring husband and father, a fiercely loyal servant and friend, and a revolutionary who was key in transforming medieval England into a modern state. Thomas Cromwell was at the heart of the most momentous events of his time—from funding the translation and dissemination of the first vernacular Bible to legitimizing Anne Boleyn as queen—and wielded immense power over both church and state. The impact of his seismic political, religious, and social reforms can still be felt today. Grounded in excellent primary source research, Thomas Cromwell gives an inside look at a monarchy that has captured the Western imagination for centuries and tells the story of a controversial and enigmatic man who forever changed the shape of his country. “An intelligent, sympathetic, and well researched biography.” —The Wall Street Journal “Borman unravels the story of Cromwell’s rise to power skillfully . . . If you want the inside story of Thomas Cromwell . . . this is the book for you.” —The Weekly Standard “An engrossing biography. . . . A fine rags-to-riches-to-executioner’s-block story of a major figure of the English Reformation.” —Kirkus Reviews “An insightful biography of a much-maligned historical figure.” —Booklist

Cane River

Cane River PDF

Author: Lalita Tademy

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Published: 2001-04-17

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0759522421

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A New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club Pick-the unique and deeply moving saga of four generations of African-American women whose journey from slavery to freedom begins on a Creole plantation in Louisiana. Beginning with her great-great-great-great grandmother, a slave owned by a Creole family, Lalita Tademy chronicles four generations of strong, determined black women as they battle injustice to unite their family and forge success on their own terms. They are women whose lives begin in slavery, who weather the Civil War, and who grapple with contradictions of emancipation, Jim Crow, and the pre-Civil Rights South. As she peels back layers of racial and cultural attitudes, Tademy paints a remarkable picture of rural Louisiana and the resilient spirit of one unforgettable family. There is Elisabeth, who bears both a proud legacy and the yoke of bondage... her youngest daughter, Suzette, who is the first to discover the promise-and heartbreak-of freedom... Suzette's strong-willed daughter Philomene, who uses a determination born of tragedy to reunite her family and gain unheard-of economic independence... and Emily, Philomene's spirited daughter, who fights to secure her children's just due and preserve their dignity and future. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Cane River presents a slice of American history never before seen in such piercing and personal detail.

In the Fall

In the Fall PDF

Author: Jeffrey Lent

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2007-12-01

Total Pages: 727

ISBN-13: 0802196519

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This “richly detailed and expertly plotted” historical epic chronicles the dark secrets and forbidden loves of an American family across three generations (Publishers Weekly, starred review). In the twilight of the Civil War, a Union soldier meets a runaway slave and returns with her to his family homestead in Vermont, launching the story of a bold, interracial union and its myriad consequences. This passionate couple and their descendants will grapple with the ongoing devastations of the war, racism, and a haunting family legacy that lies dormant until a grandson is driven to discover the secret of his ancestors. Spanning the post–Civil War era to the edge of the Great Depression, In the Fall is an expansive saga of a rapidly evolving America—from life on a farm, through the final years of Prohibition and bootlegging in the resort towns of New Hampshire, to the advent of modern times. “Remarkable for its grace, felicity and precision,” Jeffrey Lent’s debut novel is an utterly compelling vision of America, and an unforgettable portrait of an American family (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “Jeffrey Lent has quietly created some of the finest novels of our new century.” —Ron Rash “Jeffrey Lent builds characters and their world like a painter layering his canvas, telling his story but substantiating it with color and light.” —Tim Pears “Sentence by sentence . . . Lent’s language draws you in like a clear stream in summer.” —Tim Gautreaux

Fast Food Nation

Fast Food Nation PDF

Author: Eric Schlosser

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 0547750331

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An exploration of the fast food industry in the United States, from its roots to its long-term consequences.

On the Blue Comet

On the Blue Comet PDF

Author: Rosemary Wells

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Published: 2010-09-28

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 076363722X

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Losing his family home and beloved model train set during the Great Depression, 11-year-old Oscar is forced to move in with difficult relatives before meeting an enigmatic drifter and witnessing an incredible crime that prompts his cross-country, celebrity-marked train journey. By the award-winning creator of the Max and Ruby series. 50,000 first printing.

Roses

Roses PDF

Author: Leila Meacham

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Published: 2010-01-06

Total Pages: 555

ISBN-13: 0446558109

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Two East Texas families must deal with the aftermath of a marriage that never happened leading to deceit, secrets, and tragedies in a sweeping multigenerational Southern saga "with echoes of Gone with the Wind" (Publishers Weekly). Spanning the 20th century, the story of Roses takes place in a small East Texas town against the backdrop of the powerful timber and cotton industries, controlled by the scions of the town's founding families. Cotton tycoon Mary Toliver and timber magnate Percy Warwick should have married but unwisely did not, and now must deal with consequences of their momentous choice and the loss of what might have been--not just for themselves but for their children, and their children's children. With expert, unabashed, big-canvas storytelling, Roses covers a hundred years, three generations of Texans, and the explosive combination of passion for work and longing for love.

Out Of Control

Out Of Control PDF

Author: Kevin Kelly

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2009-04-30

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 078674703X

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Out of Control chronicles the dawn of a new era in which the machines and systems that drive our economy are so complex and autonomous as to be indistinguishable from living things.

Complexity

Complexity PDF

Author: M. Mitchell Waldrop

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2019-10-01

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 150405914X

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“If you liked Chaos, you’ll love Complexity. Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year” (The Washington Post). In a rarified world of scientific research, a revolution has been brewing. Its activists are not anarchists, but rather Nobel Laureates in physics and economics and pony-tailed graduates, mathematicians, and computer scientists from all over the world. They have formed an iconoclastic think-tank and their radical idea is to create a new science: complexity. They want to know how a primordial soup of simple molecules managed to turn itself into the first living cell—and what the origin of life some four billion years ago can tell us about the process of technological innovation today. This book is their story—the story of how they have tried to forge what they like to call the science of the twenty-first century. “Lucidly shows physicists, biologists, computer scientists and economists swapping metaphors and reveling in the sense that epochal discoveries are just around the corner . . . [Waldrop] has a special talent for relaying the exhilaration of moments of intellectual insight.” —The New York Times Book Review “Where I enjoyed the book was when it dove into the actual question of complexity, talking about complex systems in economics, biology, genetics, computer modeling, and so on. Snippets of rare beauty here and there almost took your breath away.” —Medium “[Waldrop] provides a good grounding of what may indeed be the first flowering of a new science.” —Publishers Weekly