Book cover of Influence Empire: Inside the Story of Tencent and China’s Tech Ambition by Lulu Chen
Business & Money

Influence Empire: Inside the Story of Tencent and China’s Tech Ambition

In 2017, a company known as Tencent overtook Facebook to become the world’s fifth largest company. It was a watershed moment, a wake-up call for those in the West accustomed to regarding the global tech industry through the prism of Silicon Valley: Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft.

Yet to many of the two billion-plus people who live just across the Pacific Ocean, it came as no surprise at all. […Learn More]

Book cover of Still Broke: Walmart's Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism by Rick Wartzman
Biography & History

Still Broke: Walmart’s Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism

Fifteen years ago, Walmart was the most controversial company in America. By offering incredibly low prices, it had come to dominate the retail landscape. But with this dominance came a suite of ethical concerns. Walmart was accused of wiping out mom-and-pop businesses across the country; ruthlessly pressuring suppliers to cut costs, even if it meant closing up U.S. factories and moving production overseas; and, above all, not taking adequate care of its own employees, who were paid so little that many wound up on public assistance. […Learn More]

Book cover of After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics—and How to Fix It by Will Bunch
Business & Money

After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics—and How to Fix It

Today there are two Americas, separate and unequal, one educated and one not. And these two tribes—the resentful “non-college” crowd and their diploma-bearing yet increasingly disillusioned adversaries—seem on the brink of a civil war. The strongest determinant of whether a voter was likely to support Donald Trump in 2016 was whether or not they attended college, and the degree of loathing they reported feeling toward the so-called “knowledge economy” of clustered, educated elites. […Learn More]

Book cover of The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything by Matthew Ball
Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything

From the leading theorist of the Metaverse comes the definitive account of the next internet: what the Metaverse is, what it will take to build it, and what it means for all of us.

The term “Metaverse” is suddenly everywhere, from the front pages of national newspapers and the latest fashion trends to the plans of the most powerful companies in history. It is already shaping the policy platforms of the US government, the European Union, and the Chinese Communist Party […Learn More]

Book cover of The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy by Mervyn King
Business & Money

The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy

Something is wrong with our banking system. We all sense that, but Mervyn King knows it firsthand; his ten years at the helm of the Bank of England, including at the height of the financial crisis, revealed profound truths about the mechanisms of our capitalist society. In The End of Alchemy he offers us an essential work about the history and future of money and banking, the keys to modern finance. […Learn More]

Book cover of The Industrialists: How the National Association of Manufacturers Shaped American Capitalism by Jennifer A. Delton
Biography & History

The Industrialists: How the National Association of Manufacturers Shaped American Capitalism

The first complete history of US industry’s most influential and controversial lobbyist

Founded in 1895, the National Association of Manufacturers―NAM―helped make manufacturing the basis of the US economy and a major source of jobs in the twentieth century. The Industrialists traces the history of the advocacy group from its origins to today, examining its role in shaping modern capitalism, while also highlighting the many tensions and contradictions within the organization that sometimes hampered its mission. […Learn More]