Global Literature

It has been over a year since the war began. A year since China launched its surprise attack on America. EMP and cyber weapons plunging much of the nation into a dark chaos. Thousands of anti-ship missiles gutting the US Pacific fleet. A Chinese-allied North Korea launching an all-out attack on South Korea. Chinese information warfare campaigns triggering America to launch a nuclear strike on China's own nuclear stockpile. And the international political consequences that followed.

In this Chinese folktale, an old woman spends years weaving, day and night, until one day she reveals a magical cloth. But moments later, the cloth mysteriously disappears! Now, her three young sons must set out on a long, mystical journey to find it.

In this Hmong folktale, two brothers venture into a remote jungle, hunting food for their hungry family. But the jungle is full of dangerous wild animals. The older brother vows to keep his younger brother safe . . . or die trying.

What happens to a fox that won't stop teasing the others animals? Listen to this Peruvian tale to find out. Some lessons can change everything.

In this Swedish folktale, a young boy longs for all the nice things other children have. An old woman tells the boy a secret for granting his wishes: sprinkling salt on a magpie’s tail. But, before the magpie will grant the boy’s wish, the bird has some strange requests of his own.

In this Indian folktale, a young turtle shares a shallow lake with unlikely friends—two geese. But when the lake starts drying up, the stubborn turtle must follow his winged friends’ advice, or he’ll be left out to dry.

What happens when a tortoise challenges a hare to a race? Listen to this popular West African tale to find out. There's more than one way to teach a boastful hare a lesson!

When a fox keeps eating a farmer’s animals, he and his wife come up with a plan to get rid of him. But the clever fox has other ideas....

When the weather changes suddenly, the animals in a jungle find shelter in the mountains. When they return to the forest, one snake has changed forever. And it’s a good thing he does.

In this ancient Mexican folktale, the Aztec Sky god and Wind god attempt to fix silence on Earth by bringing music to the world. They set out to the Sun palace, where legions of musicians play for the almighty Sun. Unfortunately, this hot-headed ruler won’t give up his musicians without a fight!

When a wolf comes to the valley, the animals get scared. How can they escape being the wolf’s next meal? One clever rabbit has an idea.

Migration, terrorism, the tensions between global capitalism and nationalism, and a communications revolution: These forces shaped Joseph Conrad's destiny at the dawn of the 20th century. In this brilliant new interpretation of one of the great voices in modern literature, Maya Jasanoff reveals Conrad as a prophet of globalization. As an immigrant from Poland to England, and in travels from Malaya to Congo to the Caribbean, Conrad navigated an interconnected world and captured it in a literary oeuvre of extraordinary depth.

Charles Street was once a highly respected agent working for MI6, until a terrible mistake cost him his job. Now he's a desperate man, living on past glories and struggling to make ends meet. Until he makes a discovery that has the power to bring down the new President of the United States. But when Street tries to cash in on this discovery, he finds himself pursued by a Russian snatch squad.

Only the most hardened survivalists can endure living in the scorched deadlands of the former state of Arizona. Among them is nineteen-year-old Georgia Reno, who lives in an isolated desert settlement with her father and younger brother. Roads don’t exist here; visitors are more dark fairy tale than reality. But when two mysterious strangers arrive on their land, Georgia begins to question her sheltered existence. Soon, her tentative curiosity blooms into a fledgling desire to leave the settlement, even if it means venturing into a world her father has only ever warned against.

Il livello delle acque del mare si è alzato, sommergendo improvvisamente l'intera città di New York. Ogni strada si è trasformata in un canale, ogni grattacielo in un'isola a sé stante. Ma per i residenti di un edificio di Madison Square, la New York del 2140 è ben lontana dall'essere una metropoli isolata e perduta, e tutto sembra procedere esattamente come prima del disastro climatico.

Nick is an ex-Army translator whose facility for language allowed him to escape a difficult childhood in rural Connecticut. His mother is a former addict, now dying and requires expensive care. Desperate for money though ambivalent about finance, Nick is employed as a researcher at a Boston hedge fund. The head of the fund, the Boss, is a financial genius who believes US financial collapse is imminent, in part due to past inequities, including slavery.

Hi‘iaka wants to make the forests of Hawai’i safe for travelers. But she’ll have to battle an evil lizard named Pana‘ewa and his army to do it. With a little help from her sister and some special powers, she’s ready for a great battle.

It’s fate when a man accidentally drops his phone off the bridge. It’s fortune when it’s retrieved by a friendly shape sloshing in the muck underneath. From that day forward, as they share a coffee every morning, an unlikely friendship blooms. Considering the reality for the man above, where life seems perfect, and that of the sharp-witted creature below, how forever after can a happy ending be?

The End of the End of the Earth is a collection of Jonathan Franzen's essays and speeches from the past five years, in which he grapples with the most important and heated ethical subjects of the day: environmentalism, capitalism, wealth inequality, race, technology, and the role of art. He challenges us to ask difficult questions: What is our civic responsibility in the face of climate change, the greatest ever threat to our planet and species? Does technology give us a sense of control or community or is it stripping these from us?

In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: To cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Tracy Kidder’s magnificent account shows how one person can make a difference in solving global health problems through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease.