Offers a new theory of how and why some nations recover from national trauma and others do not.

As the interminable case of 'Jarndyce and Jarndyce' grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but...

Friedman examines the geopolitical flashpoints in Europe in which imminent future conflicts are brewing. He zooms in on the region that has, for 500 years, been the cultural hotbed of the world, and examines the most basic building block of the region: culture. Analyzing the fault lines that have existed for centuries, and which have led to two world wars and dozens more conflicts, he goes through the 'flashpoints' that are still smoldering beneath...

A regiment of African American soldiers from Harlem travels across the Atlantic to fight alongside the French in World War I, and inspires an entire continent with their unique brand of jazz music.