World Conflict

Profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, Iranian-born scholar Vali Nasr has become one of America's leading commentators on current events in the Middle East, admired and welcomed by both media and government for his "concise and coherent" analysis (Wall Street Journal). In this "smart, clear and timely" book (Washington Post), Nasr brilliantly dissects the political and theological antagonisms within Islam. He provides a unique and objective understanding of the 1,400-year bitter struggle between Shias and Sunnis, and sheds crucial light on its modern-day consequences—from the nuclear posturing of Iran's President Ahmadinejad to the recent U.S.-enabled shift toward Shia power in Iraq and Hezbollah's continued dominance in Lebanon.

Since the devastating attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent bombardment by Israel of Gaza, there has been an escalating crisis in the Middle East. With an overflow of news, images, and social media, it is hard to make sense of it all. Middle East in Crisis & Conflict: A Primer seeks to distill the information, insights, and implications you need to navigate ongoing developments.

We live in a fearful, anxiety-driven age where the problems and challenges of the world assault us from every direction and every media source, and they far exceed our abilities to respond to them. The sense of desperation that often comes of this leads to discord and violence: from bitter, cutting remarks to the atrocities of war; from pervasive racism to knee-jerk micro-aggressions. It contributes to our current, peace-bankrupt social discourse, leading to patterns of dismissing, dividing from, condemning, or hating people.

In the 19th century, the world was Europeanized. In the 20th century, it was Americanized. Now, in the 21st century, the world is being Asianized. The “Asian Century” is even bigger than you think. Far greater than just China, the new Asian system taking shape is a multicivilizational order spanning Saudi Arabia to Japan, Russia to Australia, Turkey to Indonesia - linking five billion people through trade, finance, infrastructure, and diplomatic networks that together represent 40 percent of global GDP.

Most of us are terrified of conflict, says Arnold Mindell, PhD, author of 15 books and internationally recognized for his innovative synthesis of Jungian therapy, dreams, and bodywork. But we needn't be. His burning passion is to create groups and organizations, where everyone looks forward to group processes instead of fearing them. He calls this the deep democracy of open forums, where all voices, thoughts, and feelings are aired freely, especially the ones nobody wants to hear.

The Spanish Empire stands as one of the most magnificent empires in the history of the world. It unfurled its might across multiple continents, conquered all who stood in its way, and left an indelible impact on cultures around the globe. For over four centuries, its dominance remained unchallenged, casting a vast shadow across Europe and beyond.

In this urgent and timely book, Patrick Cockburn writes the first draft of the history of the current crisis in the Middle East. Here he charts the period from the recapture of Mosul in 2017 to Turkey's attack on Kurdish territory in November 2019, and recounts the new phase in the wars of disintegration that have plagued the region. The ground battle with the caliphate is perhaps over, but was this the end of the conflict that has scarred these nations for decades?

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has killed hundreds of thousands of people and infected millions while also devastating the world economy. The consequences of the pandemic, however, go much further: they threaten the fabric of national and international politics around the world. What will be the consequences of the pandemic, and what will a post-COVID world order look like? No institution is better suited to address these issues than Johns Hopkins University, which has convened experts from within and outside of the university to discuss world order after COVID-19.

Scattered over the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea lie the remnants of failed peace proposals, international summits, secret negotiations, UN resolutions, and state-building efforts. The conventional story is that these well-meaning attempts at peacemaking were repeatedly, perhaps terminally, thwarted by violence. Through a rich interweaving of reportage, historical narrative, and powerful analysis, Nathan Thrall presents a startling counterhistory.

Based on more than five years of clandestine reporting on the front lines, No Turning Back is an utterly engrossing human drama full of vivid, indelible characters that shows how hope can flourish even amid one of the 21st century's greatest humanitarian disasters.

Since the election of Donald J. Trump, political disagreements have been ravaging our personal relationships like never before. This already widespread phenomenon will continue to grow unless we learn to fight it. From friends to relatives to lovers, no relationship is immune to this crisis. I Love You, but I Hate Your Politics draws from interviews with every type of politically mixed couple, as well as Dr. Safer’s own experiences as a die-hard liberal happily married to a stalwart conservative.

While the Boko Haram conflict has reached a certain level of culturation saturation, what is known about the conflict remains patchy. This collection, featuring interviews with 47 people of all genders, ages and a variety of religious backgrounds, foregrounds the realities of those who are living through the conflict and presenting the humanity of all concerned. Even as they discuss the conflict, their narratives also reflect realities beyond violence, making this an essential cultural archive.

Respected pastor and best-selling author Chip Ingram unpacks Philippians 4 to help us choose peace in any circumstance in life, including relational conflict, anxious moments in our personal lives, or difficult circumstances that are beyond our control.

By the time you are done listening to this audiobook, desire for an active relationship with the teenager in your life can stretch beyond the one hug a year you get from your teen at Christmas time after they receive their presents. With Nicole Rice’s book Does Your Teen Talk? No, but They Text, Snap, & Tik Tok, she wants to help you achieve what to say and what not to say so your teen will talk more; what to do so you spend more and more good times with your teen; and how to talk less and listen more so you are a major difference in your teen’s life.

In Doomed to Succeed, Ross takes us through every administration from Truman to Obama, throwing into dramatic relief each president's attitudes toward Israel and the region, the often tumultuous debates between key advisers, and the events that drove the policies and at times led to a shift in approach.

This unique book can help you change your approach to negotiation by learning key strategies and techniques from actual cases. The Book of Real-World Negotiations shines a light on real-world negotiation examples and cases, rather than discussing hypothetical scenarios. It reveals what is possible through preparation, persistence, creativity, and taking a strategic approach to your negotiations.

Many people in the West look upon the Second Sino-Japanese War, which took place in the 1930s and 1940s, as a sort of sideshow to the larger Second World War, but there is no separating the two. Imagine the Pacific War, the theater of World War II that took place in the Pacific. If the Japanese were not busy fighting on another front, they would have had millions of more troops available to fight the Americans and the British. In all likelihood, World War II would have ended the same way, but it would have taken much longer and cost that many more lives.

This audiobook challenges the notion that true peace is attainable absent anything short of a spiritual revolution. This book is designed to give you a fresh perspective on the historical and timeless origins of peace and help you find the path to true and lasting peace that you deeply long for.

The modern history of Africa was, until very recently, written on behalf of the indigenous races by the white man, who had forcefully entered the continent during a particularly hubristic and dynamic phase of European history. In 1884, Prince Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor, brought the plenipotentiaries of all major powers of Europe together, to deal with Africa's colonization in such a manner as to avoid provocation of war. This event - known as the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 - galvanized a phenomenon that came to be known as the Scramble for Africa.

Bernard Bailyn gives us a compelling account of the first great transit of people from Britain, Europe, and Africa to British North America, their involvements with each other, and their struggles with the indigenous peoples of the eastern seaboard.