Literary Fiction Political

A young, handsome, charismatic Southern governor is elected president of the United States in a landslide. He was so popular that world leaders were scrambling to attend his inauguration. Among the attendees were the pope, the queen of England, and other royalties. He had, however, an Achilles' heel-he was a philanderer. It will not take long for his misdeeds to leak out to the media and the opposition party. While he was being investigated, the noose was getting tighter around his neck. Pressured by his wife to save his power, he decided to do the unthinkable.

Uscito nel 1976, "Un borghese piccolo piccolo" racconta la crudele, sanguinosa vicenda di Giovanni Vivaldi, impiegato di un ministero romano che, nell'Italia spietata del boom economico, tenta di farsi largo nel mondo tra sotterfugi e piccole furbizie, ed è pronto a tutto pur di garantire al figlio quel benessere che lui ha potuto solo sfiorare.

Mein Sohn, trotz allem... Fus und Gillou, 10 und 7, sind sein ganzer Stolz. Doch als seine Frau stirbt, steht er mit seinen Jungs allein da. Die Arbeit als Monteur, Haushalt, Erziehung: Er gibt sein Bestes, bringt die Jungs zum Fußball, zeltet mit ihnen in den Ferien. Die ersten Jahre läuft alles glatt. Nur Fus wird in der Schule schlechter, sodass er danach nicht in Paris studieren kann. Der Vater tröstet sich damit, dass sein Ältester nicht wegzieht - bis er entdeckt, dass der 20-Jährige neuerdings mit einer rechtsextremen Clique rumhängt.

Ein Anruf aus dem Hospiz: Ihr Kindheitsfreund Yigal, den Lizzie vierzig Jahre lang nicht gesehen hat, bittet sie, sein letzter Besuch kurz vor seinem Tod zu sein. Aber warum ausgerechnet sie? Yigals Erfahrungen in der israelischen Armee machten ihn zum Aktivisten gegen die Politik seines Heimatlandes. Als Tochter einer Holocaust-Überlebenden hielt Lizzie ihn für einen Verräter und wandte sich von ihm ab. Jetzt stellt sie sich der Frage, wer damals wen verraten hat. In den frühen Morgenstunden und voller Erinnerungen im Gepäck macht Lizzie sich auf den Weg.

Exposing his father’s transgressions in a tell-all was the ethical, righteous--and profitable--thing to do. What’s left but to slink back home for a humbling face-to-face with the man whose secrets he sold? He was a notorious government whistle-blower. Depending on whom you ask, he’s a treasonous felon, a folk hero, a validated patriot, or a national disgrace. To his son, Michael, he’s the father who threw his family into upheaval. Now, having moved back home at the age of thirty-four, Michael is getting to know him as a man.

In Berlin, Germany, in the early 1930s, the acclaimed Swiss film director Emil Nägeli receives the assignment of a lifetime: travel to Japan and make a film to establish the dominance of Adolf Hitler's Nazi empire once and for all. But his handlers are unaware Nägeli has colluded with the Jewish film critics to pursue an alternative objective - to create a monumental, modernist, allegorical spectacle to warn the world of the horror to come.

As the dictator Franco teeters on the edge of death - a death that will completely overturn the political structure of Spain - two couples are entwined. One, a husband and wife bored with the existence they have drifted into. The other, a passionate, combative pair who relish every moment of life. Into this potent mix a young American arrives, seeking his missing lover - bringing a shadow of danger into the machinations already at work. Soon the political tension in the country reaches the breaking point....

In Ayn Rand’s Anthem, humankind has entered a dark age at some point in the unspecified future. Individuality is no longer permitted, and people are assigned roles to fulfill in their lives. The work's protagonist, Equality 7-2521, is given an undesirable job as a punishment for thinking for himself and desiring to become a scientist instead. The novella outlines his journey as he starts to commit more “crimes” against society, such as desiring a companion of his own choosing, discovering electricity, and ultimately fleeing from his leaders.

"Sabotaggio d'amore" è la storia della guerra surreale che impegna e allieta i figli dei diplomatici stranieri a Pechino nel ghetto di San Li Tun, all'inizio degli anni Settanta. Su questo sfondo si muove lo sguardo pungente della protagonista, una bambina di sette anni precocissima, presa fra una sorprendente consapevolezza, le corse in bicicletta e la scoperta del primo, perturbante amore.

Set against the backdrop of the both optimistic and violent 1950s and 1960s, Affections traces the Ertls's slow and inevitable breakdown through the various erratic trajectories of each family member: Hans's undertakings of colossal, foolhardy projects and his subsequent spectacular failures; his daughter Monika, heir to his adventurous spirit, who joins the Bolivian Marxist guerrillas and becomes known as "Che Guevara's avenger"; and his wife and two younger sisters left to pick up the pieces in their wake.

In 1995, at the height of the Bosnian conflict, a young refugee visits the old Mardi Castle in the north of Italy. There, instead of only experiencing the beautiful fortress and Renaissance frescoes, he becomes enthralled with the story of the tragic fate of poet Enzo Strecci, who spent his last days awaiting death in the castle’s dungeon. A Franciscan guide, Niccolò, a refugee as well, will illuminate the past in remarkable ways for the curious tourist. The fascinating and moving tale reaches back not only to Strecci’s life - four centuries earlier.

Our America: The Mayor is a story about Bob Griffith, an average citizen. Bob has had much success in his young life. He is a successful manager, educated, and possessed with great people skills. He is caring towards all people and loving towards his wife. Bob is on the path of great professional success. Through the encouragement of his wife, Bob is persuaded to seek public office as the Mayor of Hilliard, Ohio. Though he is an upstanding citizen, Bob has absolutely no political experience.

The Wall is a new, brief collection of stories by Becker that have either never been translated into English or been published here in audiobook form before. The title story, "The Wall," recounts two boys’ risky adventure when they scale the wall of a transit camp to visit the ghetto their families have recently vacated. In "The Most Popular Family Story," a favorite anecdote recounted year after year at the gatherings of an extended Jewish family subtly marks the absences left by the Holocaust.

In questo brevissimo resoconto Daniel Defoe fa luce su un caso misterioso, avvenuto nella parrocchia di St. Benet Fynk agli inizi del Settecento. Per non rovinare la lettura a chiunque si accinga ad immergersi nell’inquietante cronaca, è sufficiente citare gli ingredienti perfetti per questa storia del brivido: un apparente suicidio, l'inspiegabile comparsa di una persona dai contorni indefinibili e la presenza di ben due testimoni.

Maps can be useful in war, but many of the things they are helpful for can be achieved by other means, at least to an extent. An ancient or medieval commander wouldn't have an accurate map of the land he's campaigning on, but reconnaissance could help him learn about it. He might not have a map of the battlefield he was fighting on, and if he did, then it would probably be very primitive, but again reconnaissance could help him learn about it.

Una satira de la vida estadounindense. Sinclair Lewis, ganador del Premio Nobel, quiso mostrar en sus dos grandes novelas Babbitt y Calle Mayor, aspectos de la vida de su pais, con un ojo que satirizaba esa hipocresia puritana que muchas veces se presenta no solo en Estados Unidos sino en todas partes.

Una ventana a ideas revolucionarias. Aunque La Madre de Gorky tiene quiza un exceso de retorica, es sin embargo una ventana a las ideas revolucionarias, en especial en el conmovedor retrato de la madre que decide tomar los rumbos de su hijo, cuando este es encarcelado por sus ideas.

En un penal de América Central, un preso político y un perro se observan fascinados el uno por el otro. Cuando el preso se evade tras herir mortalmente al guardián, el animal, condicionado por su amo antes de morir, se lanza en su persecución. Los dos adversarios se enfrentan en una lucha atroz e infatigable, y, a medida que transcurren las semanas, se establece entre ellos una extraña complicidad, hecha de sentimientos tan opuestos como el odio y la autoestima.

La trama se centra en Jane, una mujer que se encuentra en una situación socialmente desafiante. En la historia, Jane es encargada con una misión que no solo pone a prueba su ingenio e inteligencia, sino que también la enfrenta a las normas y expectativas sociales de su tiempo. A través de su viaje, Jane se encuentra navegando entre las complicadas estructuras de la clase y el género, desafiando de manera sutil las convenciones de su entorno.

福沢諭吉の説くあるべき日本男子は「メシ」「フロ」「ネル」ではありえない。『一国の社会を維持して繁栄幸福を求めんとするには、その社会の公衆に公徳なかるべからず。その公徳をして堅固ならしめんとするには、根本を私徳の発育に取らざるべからず。』この視点に依って説かれる「男子論」なのである。襟を正して聞くべし。