Social Power

A brilliant investigative narrative: How six average Soviet men rose to the pinnacle of Russia's battered economy. David Hoffman, former Moscow bureau chief for

The Washington Post, sheds light onto the hidden lives of Russia's most feared power brokers: the oligarchs. Focusing on six of these ruthless men Hoffman reveals how a few players managed to take over Russia's cash-strapped economy and then divvy it up in loans-for-shares deals.

With To Be a Man, this acclaimed psychotherapist and relationship expert offers a groundbreaking and deeply insightful guide to masculine power and fulfillment. He shares what’s needed to enter a manhood as empowered as it is vulnerable, as emotionally literate as it is unapologetically alive - a manhood at home with truly intimate relationship.

Whether it’s a manipulative boss, a controlling partner, or a toxic friend or roommate, chances are you’ve encountered mind games in your relationships. The 13 Power Moves of Dark Psychology will help you decode gaslighting and deception by reading body language, recognizing behavior patterns, and understanding the methodology of individuals who employ dark psychology—or subtle techniques meant to manipulate and control you in harmful ways.

History is clear: Whenever the church has aligned itself with worldly, coercive power, it ends up on the wrong side of important justice issues. But when the church cooperates with God's power through his presence among the least powerful, its witness for Jesus transforms the world into a better place. In Reckoning with Power, David Fitch unpacks the difference between worldly power, or power over others, and God's power, which engages not in coercion but in love, reconciliation, grace, forgiveness, and healing.

Over the past thirty years, Gregory Boyle has transformed thousands of lives through his work as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world. The program runs on two unwavering principles: (1) Everyone is unshakably good (no exceptions) and (2) we belong to each other (no exceptions). Boyle believes that these two ideas allow all of us to cultivate a new way of seeing. Every community wants to be a safe place, where people are seen, and then are cherished.

In a fractured world plagued by anxiety and loneliness, knitting is coming to the rescue of people from all walks of life. Economist and lifelong knitter Loretta Napoleoni unveils the hidden power of the purl and stitch mantra: an essential tool for the survival of our species, a means for women to influence history, a soothing activity to calm us, and a powerful metaphor of life.

What is the way forward for the church? Tragically, in recent years, Christians have gotten used to revelations of abuses of many kinds in our most respected churches―from Willow Creek to Harvest, from Southern Baptist pastors to Sovereign Grace churches. Respected author and theologian Scot McKnight and former Willow Creek member Laura Barringer wrote this book to paint a pathway forward for the church.

Many of us comply much more than we realize. How many times have you wanted to object, disagree, or opt out of something but ended up swallowing your words, shaking your head, and just going along? Analyzing cases ranging from corporate corruption and sexual abuse to everyday acquiescence at work, the doctor’s office, and in our personal lives, award-winning organizational psychologist Dr. Sunita Sah delves deep into why the pressure to comply is a corrosive and often invisible force in our society.

In The Reactionary Mind, Robin traces conservatism back to its roots in the reaction against the French Revolution. He argues that the right was inspired, and is still united, by its hostility to emancipating the lower orders. Some conservatives endorse the free market; others oppose it. Some criticize the state; others celebrate it. Underlying these differences is the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality - while simultaneously making populist appeals to the masses.

Robin Dunbar is the world-renowned psychologist and author who famously discovered Dunbar's number: how our capacity for friendship is limited to around 150 people. In Friends, he looks at friendship in the round, at the way different types of friendship and family relationships intersect, or at the complex of psychological and behavioural mechanisms that underpin friendships and make them possible - and just how complicated the business of making and keeping friends actually is.

Unlock the Dark Secrets of Power-Learn the Ruthless Tactics Used by History's Most Cunning Leaders. 48 Laws of Machiavellian Power: Master the Art of Ruthless Strategy, Influence, and Control is your no-nonsense manual for gaining, maintaining, and expanding your power in a world where the naive get used and the weak get crushed. Drawing on timeless principles of realpolitik, psychological manipulation, and strategic dominance, this book is for those who are ready to stop playing fair-and start winning.

Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. To understand how we've arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today's war in Afghanistan.

Do you want to understand how influence works in real life—not just on paper? This book explores the tools, tactics, and psychology behind persuasion, manipulation, and unconscious influence. Whether you're looking to strengthen your own defenses or learn how to ethically influence others, this guide provides a structured introduction to the most powerful psychological techniques used in everyday life.

Lose weight. Act confident. Play hard to get. This approach to dating doesn't lead to love; it leads to insecurity and loneliness. In Deeper Dating, psychotherapist Ken Page offers a new path to finding meaningful and lasting relationships. Learn how to attract people who love you for who you really are, become more self-assured and emotionally available, and lose your taste for relationships that diminish your self-esteem.

Byung-Chul Han, a star of German philosophy, continues his passionate critique of neoliberalism, trenchantly describing a regime of technological domination that, in contrast to Foucault’s biopower, has discovered the productive force of the psyche.

In The Collective Edge, Colin Fisher, one of the world’s foremost experts on group dynamics, distills decades of research into practical strategies to help groups function at their highest levels. Through case studies from billion-dollar companies, boutique design firms, great basketball teams, and Star Trek villains, Fisher reveals how to compete without dysfunctional conflict within groups, why conformity pressure can sometimes be positive, and why effective group leadership often comes down to structure and organization instead of motivational speeches.

Published in more than two dozen countries, How to Change the World has become a bible for the field of social entrepreneurship. It tells the stories of people building innovative and pattern-changing solutions to social and economic problems.

Tired of hate-liking other people’s engagement photos on Instagram? It’s time to completely obliterate the “good girl” inside of you. You know the one: She thrives on external validation, accepts whatever scraps of affection are thrown at her, and is always the first one to bend to someone else’s will. And she needs to get the hell out of here. While you may feel like you’re doing everything right, that doesn’t explain why all the guys are still swiping left. This book will.

THIS BOOK takes you on a journey–not to an exotic destination, but inwards. It’s perilous, scary, and uncomfortable, but the end rewards will be fantastic. Self-awareness is not simply knowing your name; it’s knowing what makes you happy, what makes you sad, and the underlying beliefs and values that create those emotions.

In 2013, Alicia Garza wrote what she called “a love letter to Black people” on Facebook, in the aftermath of the acquittal of the man who murdered seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin. Garza wrote: Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter. With the speed and networking capacities of social media, #BlackLivesMatter became the hashtag heard ’round the world. But Garza knew even then that hashtags don’t start movements - people do.