Political Science

Ambassador Chas W. Freeman Jr. is one of America's most brilliant and experienced diplomats and an outspoken advocate of diplomacy and other measures short of war to address international problems. In the first installment of this work, he trenchantly described the challenges he faced when, as US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 1990, he worked with coalition partners to push Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. He also reflected on the origins of Washington's numerous intelligence failures in the Middle East, "the American way of war," and Washington's consistent failure in recent decades to plan for termination and a stable political end-state for the wars it has so cavalierly launched.

American's Continuing Misadventures in the Middle East is a revised and updated version of that earlier work. In it, Freeman deploys his customary insight and wit to look at the significance of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the complex consequences of the Arab Spring, the special role the Middle East plays in global affairs (and in US strategy and politics), and the roles played in the region by China and other world powers.

On the Brink is a compelling collection of short essays that chronicle a fact-finding and solidarity visit the author made to the West Bank and Israel during the last three weeks of June 2014. Physician, author, filmmaker, and longtime activist Alice Rothchild uses her powers of careful observation and her deep understanding of the consequences of racism and occupation to craft a lively, honest, heart breaking collection of reports from the field.

On the Brink documents stories and lives that seldom make the evening news, but that are essential to understanding the context in which that news occurs.

War Is a Lie is a thorough refutation of every major argument used to justify wars, drawing on evidence from numerous past wars, with a focus on those that have been most widely defended as just and good. This is a handbook of sorts, an engaging, always informative manual that can be used to debunk future lies before the wars they’re deployed to justify have any chance to begin.

For this edition of the book, the original 2010 version has been updated and expanded with material on lessons from America’s most recent wars, more pointers on what can be done to end warmaking, and an epilogue that analyzes new trends in war lying and in resistance to it. No one to whom you give this book can claim they haven’t been warned!

UNtold is a provocative, engaging exploration of the United Nations, including its history and how it functions. This is a “warts and all” look at a controversial institution that over 70 years has variously evoked respect, indifference, and outrage from the US media. The author and illustrator have plenty of personal experience with the UN at all levels and through their concise, informative text and whimsical cartoons, they describe how the organization is supposed to work, how it actually behaves, and why there is a difference! UNtold lets readers in on the quirks and mysteries of international diplomacy and global decision-making. Delightfully funny and irreverent, the message is that this vital body really can represent “We the peoples of the world.” The book has something to offer everyone, from high school and college students involved in model UNs to secretaries of state and senior diplomats.

In 1935, when Lillian Rosengarten was a toddler, her family fled Nazi Germany, for New York. But even there, the legacy of the Nazis' brutality continued to cast a shadow over her family for many decades. In Survival and Conscience, Rosengarten describes how she faced those challenges and came to understand that all forms of extreme nationalism and race hatred must be combated, together. Along with many other refugees from Nazism and survivors of the Holocaust, she became a strong advocate of Palestinian rights. In 2010, she joined the “Jewish Boat to Gaza”, designed to break Israel’s punishing blockade of Gaza.

In 2010, the Israeli Navy blocked the Jewish Boat to Gaza. But nothing can block Lillian Rosengarten’s inspiring story of love, self-discovery, and activism from touching the hearts of readers everywhere.

They fought for us. Now it’s our turn to fight for them.

When our nation’s Guardians return home, their mission should be over—but for too many, the battle is just beginning. Traumatic Brain Injuries, Post-Traumatic Stress, and systemic barriers keep them from the care, community, and the promised future they’ve earned.

In Guarding Our Guardians, physician and veteran advocate Chrisanne Gordon, MD, exposes the hidden crisis affecting America’s returning warriors and reveals what must change to keep our national promise. Drawing from years of medical experience and advocacy, she shares powerful stories and practical solutions that unite healthcare, education, and employment systems to support every veteran’s recovery.

This is more than a book—it’s a call to action for citizens, leaders, and communities to step forward together. Because when we guard those who once guarded us, we protect not only their future, but the strength and future of our nation itself.

This scholarly but accessible book exploring the Palestine-Israel Conflict, balances history, politics, and human experience to make the case for a one state solution arguing that the conflict has its roots in European racism and American fundamentalism, forces which have combined to produce what has been called a setter-colonial state.

Depleting democracies provides an analysis of the radical right’s interactions with mainstream parties and the effect they have on setting political agendas in sensitive areas such as minority policies and asylum regulations. It asks to what extent the radical right has changed the quality of democracy in Eastern Europe: does its electoral strength, its capacity for political blackmail and its coalition potential actually translate into impact?

The book compares three groups of countries that are distinct in terms of the relevance of radical right parties: Bulgaria and Slovakia; Hungary, Poland and Romania; and the Czech Republic and Estonia. It follows a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of survey data with qualitative, comparative analysis of archival material and other texts to determine the causal role radical right parties play in influencing parties, policies and ultimately democratic quality in the seven countries.

Depleting democracies advances theory on radical right actors in the political process and contributes to empirical research across the region. Its results are particularly relevant to the debate on democratic transformation and the effects of radical right parties.

The Martin Luther King Jr. of popular memory vanquished Jim Crow in the South, but award-winning and New York Times–bestselling historian Jeanne Theoharis argues that King’s time in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—outside Dixie—was at the heart of his campaign for racial justice. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly highlights the book’s “stellar” writing, and reveals that King of the North “makes a persuasive case that Martin Luther King Jr.’s campaign for racial justice has been significantly misrepresented.”

In this bold retelling, “Theoharis depicts a complex, radical King whose fight against Northern racism alternately inspires and infuriates” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). King emerges here as someone who not only led a movement but who showed up for other people’s struggles; a charismatic speaker who also listened and learned; a Black man who experienced police brutality; a minister who lived with and organized alongside the poor; and a husband who—despite his flaws—depended on Coretta Scott King as an intellectual and political guide in the national fight against racism, poverty, and war.

In a book Democracy Now! calls “a major reexamination of the civil rights leader,” King of the North speaks directly to our struggles over racial inequality today.

A new generation of Americans has declared that another world is possible. And yet, the stubborn problems of inequality, climate change, and declining health seem as intractable as ever. Where might different answers lie?

Intrepid journalist Natasha Hakimi Zapata has traveled around the world, from Costa Rica to Uganda, and Estonia to Singapore, uncovering how “other nations have successfully addressed social conditions that continue to vex America” (The New York Times Book Review). The product of in-depth reporting, including interviews with senior government officials, activists, industry professionals, and the ordinary people affected by their policies, Another World Is Possible was named a LitHub Most Anticipated title of 2025, which highlighted that it “offers international solutions to American problems.”

From Singapore’s approach to providing affordable public housing, to Costa Rica’s biodiversity law, to Finland’s universal public school system, in each instance Hakimi Zapata provides a clear-eyed assessment of the history, challenges, cost-effectiveness, and real-world impact of these programs. The result is a compelling, frame-shifting account of how we might live differently and create a safer, healthier, more sustainable future.

A “distinctive” (Library Journal) work of keen analysis as well as enormous heart and optimism, Another World Is Possible is destined to crack the mold of current debates, offering “a fascinating and inspiring glimpse of how rational governance operates” (Publishers Weekly).

Fast-rising political commentator Matthew Yglesias reveals the wrong-headed foreign policy stance of conservatives, neocons, and the Republican Party for what it is—aggressive nationalism.

Writing with wit, passion, and keen insight, Yglesias reminds us of the rich tradition of liberal internationalism that, developed by Democrats, was used with great success by both Democratic and Republican administrations for more than fifty years. He provides a starting point for politicians, policymakers, pundits, and citizens alike to return America to its role as leader of a peace-loving and cooperative international community.

Decolonising International Solidarity analyses the post-independence trajectories of formerly colonized countries in Africa and the Middle East from an unexplored angle: the differences between the natural environments of coloniser and colonised.

Frauen in extremistischen und terroristischen Bewegungen bewegen sich im Spannungsfeld zwischen Unsichtbarkeit und Überhöhung. Oft gelten sie in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung entweder als verführte Opfer oder als schockierende Ausnahmefiguren. Dieser Sammelband zeigt, wie irreführend dieses Bild ist. Er versammelt aktuelle wissenschaftliche und praxisnahe Perspektiven, die deutlich machen, dass Frauen keineswegs am Rand stehen, sondern als Akteurinnen, Ideologieträgerinnen und organisatorische Knotenpunkte zentrale Rollen sowohl in Extremismus und Terrorismus einnehmen.
Die Beiträge eröffnen einen Zugang zu den vielfältigen Beteiligungsformen: von salafistischen Influencerinnen auf TikTok über jihadistische Unterstützerinnen und Netzwerkerinnen bis hin zu Akteurinnen der extremen Rechten und historischen wie gegenwärtigen Formen linker Militanz. Sie zeigen, wie Geschlecht als Ressource und soziale Strukturkategorie Radikalisierungsprozesse prägt und dass ohne Frauen weder die Idee einer „Volksgemeinschaft“ noch der Anspruch eines „Islamischen Staates“ tragfähig wäre.
Gleichzeitig führt der Band vor Augen, wie sehr Prävention, Deradikalisierung und Forschung von einer gendersensiblen Perspektive profitieren. Er macht sichtbar, dass Radikalisierungsprozesse erst dann nachvollziehbar werden, wenn die Beteiligung von Frauen und die Bedeutung von Geschlecht mitgedacht werden, weil gerade Geschlechterbilder zur Mobilisierung und Stabilisierung extremistischer Gruppen beitragen. Zugleich zeigt er, welche Chancen sich eröffnen, wenn Beratungsarbeit biografische Brüche, emotionale Ambivalenzen und Geschlechterrollen ernst nimmt.

In an era where sustainability is paramount, leaders in the field face significant challenges in implementing comprehensive organizational change. Maya Jaber’s ground-breaking new book addresses the gaps in current strategies, highlighting the fragmented approaches that hinder progress.

Many sustainability initiatives remain isolated, failing to drive broader, deeper adoption within organizations. Integral Design Thinking presents a transformative, practical framework to aid sustainability leaders in accelerating the adoption of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) by fostering agile, adaptive, and innovative organizational cultures.

Through this innovative approach to sustainability, leaders and management teams will discover how design thinking can drive innovation in sustainability practices and gain knowledge of design science and action research methodologies. Every reader will be better equipped to lead their organization toward a sustainable future, overcoming obstacles and implementing strategies that drive meaningful, long-lasting change.

Analyzes how Taiwan’s #MeToo movement emerged from the Netflix series Wave Makers, showing how fictional storytelling mobilized real survivors and then tracing how the movement spread—and met its limits—through Taiwanese social media.

This book offers a pioneering examination of the #MeToo movement in Taiwan, foregrounding the pivotal role played by the Taiwanese Netflix series Wave Makers in igniting public discourse and social mobilization around sexual violence. Employing frame analysis and sociological theories, the study begins by analyzing the narrative structure, character development, and thematic framing of Wave Makers, with a particular focus on how the series mirrors the lived realities and sociocultural challenges faced by survivors of sexual harassment and assault in Taiwan. Through close textual analysis, it unpacks how the drama articulates issues of workplace power dynamics, institutional silencing, and the emotional toll of disclosure—concerns that deeply resonate within Taiwanese society.
Using psychological and communication theories such as narrative identity and parasocial contact, the book also demonstrates how the storytelling of Wave Makers—specifically the scene “don’t just let it go”—served as a cultural catalyst, transforming fictional moments into a springboard for collective action. It highlights how the series’ emotionally charged narrative and morally grounded protagonists created an empathic framework through which viewers—especially women—could find the language and courage to speak out. In doing so, the book contributes to broader discussions on media influence, showing how cultural productions can foster empathy, shape public consciousness, and inspire acts of resistance.
The rest of the book explores the communication of Taiwan’s #MeToo movement, focusing on how digital testimony emerged as a hybrid form of personal disclosure and public truth-telling that collapses the boundary between the intimate and the political. It also critiques the limits of digital testimony, showing how platform-mediated activism often shifts the call for systemic change toward viral hashtag campaigns centered on public shaming and spectacle. By situating Taiwan’s #MeToo movement within the broader dynamics of the attention economy, the book further examines how digital testimony functions simultaneously as a political intervention and a media commodity. It foregrounds how algorithmic logics privilege voices and narratives already embedded in dominant public discourse, while rendering others less visible or marginal.
By interweaving media analysis with sociopolitical critique, the book offers a nuanced account of how popular culture and digital activism converged to shape Taiwan’s #MeToo movement. This ultimately raises important questions about the durability of social change, the risks of performative justice, and the potential of narrative-driven movements in non-Western contexts.

A logistics manager in Dubai reroutes ships through an AI-powered trade platform. A policymaker in Riyadh uses an AI-powered model of the national economy to test how fiscal choices affect growth, spending, and debt. A graduate in Astana is turning to an algorithmic jobs accelerator to find her path in global markets.

Across economies and institutions, artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of decision-making, governance, and value creation. It marks the dawn of a new economic era that is powered by intelligence, driven by insight, and grounded in inclusion. AI Economics is where this transformation takes shape. It represents the fusion of data, technology, and policy into a living system of governance that anticipates shocks, adapts in real time, and empowers people through knowledge and inclusion.

This timely book explores how nations can navigate this transformation through ten defining policy questions that range from redesigning labour markets to rethinking trade, fiscal policy, and institutional trust. Each question translates the promise of artificial intelligence into a practical pathway toward a more resilient, adaptive, and participatory governance, where data becomes foresight and foresight becomes action. AI Economics is not about replacing human judgment. It is about reimagining how intelligence, in all its forms, can serve society with precision and purpose. Provocative, precise and visionary, Governing the Future challenges policymakers, economists and citizens alike to rethink how nations govern in the new age of artificial intelligence.

Exploring all five boroughs, this volume shows how New York has been a national pioneer in developing affordable, equitable, and comprehensive housing policy

In Housing in New York City, Katrin B. Anacker explores how New York City’s policy innovations have impacted the trajectory of a nation. Drawing on historical, policy, and data analysis, she highlights New York City's greatest successes, including its early popularization of affordable housing and the birth of the modern high-rise.

From the Plan of 1811, which established Manhattan's rectangular street grids, to the 1916 Building Zone Resolution, the first comprehensive zoning ordinance in America, Anacker takes us through many of these key moments in New York City's history, and how its impact was felt beyond the city's limits. She shows us how policy innovations - like the affordable housing movement - not only improved quality of life for New Yorkers themselves, but also made New York City a national role model to every other city, resulting in many additional national, state, and local laws, policies, and programs.

Ultimately, she emphasizes the contrast between the New York City of yesterday and today, where exorbitant rents and gentrification threaten its historical role as a leader in housing policy. Housing in New York City provides a comprehensive discussion of this history and calls upon policymakers to continue innovating to keep the Big Apple not only affordable, but to preserve its legacy in housing.

Explores the lasting echoes of an unprecedented pandemic that continues to shape politics in the MENA region today

From the Maghreb in North Africa to the Levant in the East, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted politics - and the promise of democratic governance - within the MENA region. In this edited volume, Anis Ben Brik assembles a group of scholars to explore how the Middle East and North Africa grappled with an unprecedented global health crisis that transcended medical dimensions and continues to manifest profound social, political, and economic implications for its people.

Featuring timely original research, including in-depth case studies and cross-country comparisons, contributors take us inside a region already grappling with complex political systems, social structures, and historical legacies. They show us how the pandemic triggered widespread democratic backsliding in the region, as countries like Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia began to adopt emergency measures that extended well beyond the immediate public health crisis, including increased censorship, arrests of activists and journalists, and the suppression of political dissent. Contributors also examine how the pandemic impacted perceptions of political legitimacy within the region, shaping people's support and opposition to emergency measures, legislation, and regimes and governments themselves.

Ultimately, the book captures the ways in which a global state of emergency created even more opportunities for political abuse and suppression, enabling authoritarian leaders to further consolidate their power within the region.

"A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism." The Communist Manifesto (1848) is one of the most important pieces of political writing in modern history, sparking outrage, revolution, and controversy since its initial publication in 1848.

In the text, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels begin by laying out the different classes of people within society and how those classes interact with one another. They stress the exploitation of the working class by the capitalist class and the consequences of that exploitation. The Manifesto concludes with a call to direct action, urging the masses of workers to rise up in revolution and seize the means of production. In their view, this revolution is the only path forward to create a just society.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

A searing account of three interconnected global crises that defined the 2010s, and a powerful invitation to respond with compassionate solidarity.

In Ebola, Bombs, and Migrants, Dr. Joanne Liu, former International President of Doctors Without Borders, draws on frontline experience to examine three major humanitarian crises of the 2010s, revealing the global obsession with national security and its capacity to overshadow our responsibility to protect vulnerable populations.

Since the early 2000s, a world shaped by 9/11 has retreated into fear, strengthening borders and eroding the mechanisms of international cooperation. From West Africa to the Mediterranean and into Afghanistan, Dr. Liu shows how, despite the best efforts of frontline responders, the international community has repeatedly chosen containment over compassion, and politics over principle.

This urgent, authoritative work urges readers to connect past tragedies to current circumstances, reckoning with the cost of disengagement to ultimately reclaim a vision of shared humanity in the face of global crisis.

What happens when a president convinces the world he might just do the unthinkable?

US Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory argues that projecting calculated irrationality can terrify adversaries into submission, but at enormous risk.

From Nixon’s secret Cold War gambit to Trump’s chaotic, tweet-driven diplomacy, this book explores how these two leaders weaponized unpredictability to keep allies guessing and enemies off balance. Where does strategy end and madness begin?

In an era where perception can dictate power, unpredictability becomes a weapon and fear its sharpest edge. This book reveals how calculated chaos reshapes diplomacy, destabilizes norms, and forces nations to question whether the next move is genius or catastrophe.

Essential reading for anyone wanting to understand U.S. politics under Trump, and the dangerous allure of strategic madness.

On the Chinese internet, alternate history is booming. Millions of writers and readers fantasize about going back in time and changing their country’s fate. One envisions saving the Southern Song Dynasty from the Mongols and turning China into a capitalist democracy. Another portrays a contemporary traveling to 1905 and sparking a communist revolution before the Chinese Communist Party was even founded. These stories and others like them share a theme of national revival that echoes both the official narrative of the “Chinese dream” and populist movements around the world. Why is alt-history so popular in China, and what does it reveal about politics and culture under authoritarianism?

Rongbin Han examines the production and consumption of online alt-history fiction in China, offering new insight into how authoritarian rule gains popular consent. Combining in-depth digital ethnography with analysis of dozens of alt-history novels, he explores how state intervention, market forces, and consumer preferences interact. Han argues that alt-history literature is a project of imagining an ideal China, which simultaneously legitimizes and contests state ideology. Tracing the popular resonance of the regime’s nationalist vision, he demonstrates how citizens play a crucial role in constructing and maintaining the state’s dominance. Because many see national revival as imminent under the party’s leadership, they are willing to tolerate authoritarian rule, in contrast to Western democracies, where discontent has fueled populist politics. Introducing readers to the uncanny world of alt-history, Make China Great Again underscores how aspirations for the rebirth of the nation can bolster undemocratic politics—in China and elsewhere.

The upper South – starting in the Appalachian Mountains and stretching west across the Ohio and Tennessee River Valleys and into Arkansas – has its own culture and history distinct from the Deep South. It also has its own distinct political realignment that has pushed the region toward the right starting in the mid-1990s.

The region is defined by concentrations of unhyphenated Americans – whites who trace their ethnicity not to the European country of their ancestors, but directly to the United States. Examining counties with concentrations of these American ethnic identifiers, the book uses election data to show the region’s rapid shift to the Republicans. Public opinion data shows the region was pushed to the Republicans by its conservatism on issues such as abortion, guns, and the environment, and the increased national salience of racial issues prompted by the emergence of Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

A plan for transitioning to a more sustainable world—while keeping the economy afloat

Ulrike Hermann is an economics correspondent whose books on social and economic policy issues are bestsellers in Germany. Here—translated by journalist and international broadcaster David Shaw—Ulrike explores how we might manage to transition to a more sustainable world without the collapse of the economy.

The End of Capitalism tells the story of Capitalism—from its beginnings in 1760 England, where textiles manufacturers had the idea to replace human workers with machines—and what it really means for the world when individual profits overshadow communal and environmental needs.

Hermann makes an argument for a “circular economy,” an economy where only what can be recycled is consumed. We know by now the ruinous effects of Capitalism on the climate and environment. While we hear that “green growth” is meant to be the savior, Ulrike argues that we need “green shrinkage” instead.

Her example for a solution is the British war economy of the 1940s. This is not a utopian scenario (it would involve personal restrictions and government planning) but a comprehensive example of how resources can be diverted.

An interesting and important read for serious thinkers who hope to upend Capitalism, The End of Capitalism offers a realistic alternative from an expert in the field. Readers of Rebecca Solnit, Naomi Klein and Rutgar Bregman; progressive-minded readers; and anyone interested in a different future should read this.

The translation of this book was supported by a grant from the Goethe-Institut.

An invaluable guide to understanding the relationship between globalization, transnationalization and the development of social inequality.

Global Inequality addresses challenges in the transition to a multi-centered world. The contributions by international experts from different continents and different disciplines bring together current research on global inequality and social classes, covering a wide variety of thematic and spatial foci. This also includes a comparison of analyses of inequality in a global context. By bringing together analyses of inequalities in income, wealth, education, political influence, labor conditions, and socio-ecological inequalities, among others, the volume provides deeper insights into the ways in which global social inequalities are changing yet being reproduced in many ways in the twenty-first century. It calls for a discussion on the global dimensions of unequal power relations.

A succinct analysis of the process of super-exploitation in the present-day context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Drawing upon methodological insights from Hungarian Marxist István Mészáros, Brazilian Marxist Ruy Mauro Marini, and others, Adrián Sotelo Valencia demonstrates the pivotal importance of analyzing second order mediations as he builds an innovative, expanded model of structural dependency. The result is a more holistic, dialectical grasp of the contradictory dynamics of contemporary imperialism where Capital globally deploys technology for automation in an unsustainable drive for profit that displaces labor and increasingly threatens the reproduction of the global labor force. Empirical evidence presented throughout this work serves to reinforce its powerful, updated articulation of Marxist Dependency Theory.

Hellworld examines the megastructures of global capitalism, asking how revolutionary subjectivity might emerge within and against capital’s domesticating force.

Central to this inquiry is the planetary factory: the global value chains connecting disparate industrial territories, the rise of China, the fragmentation of global trade, and, above all, the simultaneous deagrarianization and deindustrialization of labor. These structural shifts are linked to subjective forces, exploring how social divisions shape resistance. Through an analysis of uprisings in Hong Kong, Thailand, Sudan, and beyond, Hellworld considers whether this system—inescapable as it seems—can, perhaps, be destroyed.

The African allies of the United States are often depicted as mere pawns or clients seeking aid. Yet African leaders have deftly capitalized on security partnerships with the United States in ways that have been widely overlooked. Through skillful negotiating, hosting US military operations, and deploying their soldiers to support Washington’s strategic aims, they have advanced their own interests—sometimes at the expense of their citizens.

Treachery and Diplomacy shines a light on US-Africa security partnerships, revealing their simmering internal tensions, hidden racial politics, and consequences for peace and democracy. Sobukwe Odinga explores the contentious relations between the US and key African allies—Liberia, Ethiopia, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Uganda—from the Cold War to the War on Terror. He brings to life the diplomatic gambits of leaders such as William Tubman, Mobutu Sese Seko, and Yoweri Museveni, documenting how they prodded Washington to back them in regional conflicts, increase aid, and temper criticisms of their domestic policies. Odinga also considers the African American political elites who denounced and championed US-Africa security partnerships—in some moments undercutting the influence of African leaders, in others abetting their authoritarianism. Connecting American racial thought, Pan-Africanism, and Black transnationalism to US security policy toward Africa, Treachery and Diplomacy offers new insight into how African governments have pursued their own agendas.

The Wagner Group emerged from Russia’s shadowy criminal underworld in 2014 and soon became one of the world’s most infamous private military companies. Led by the provocative oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner developed into a key instrument of Russian power projection, with deep and direct ties to the Kremlin. Its mercenaries fought on the front lines in Ukraine, propped up regimes in the Middle East and Africa, and exploited chaos to secure lucrative resource contracts before Prigozhin’s mutiny against Moscow in 2023 brought him down.

This book traces the Wagner Group’s violent ascent and descent, exposing how a shadow army built an empire that seemed to have no end in sight until it turned on its masters. Drawing on a wide range of sources and interviews, Moscow’s Mercenaries offers a comprehensive examination of Wagner’s inner workings: its hybrid structure, battlefield tactics, propaganda campaigns, and connections to the Russian military. From Ukraine to brutal counterinsurgency campaigns in Syria, the Central African Republic, Mali, and beyond, the book shows how Wagner evolved into a global criminal syndicate and reveals why its ambitions led to a fatal collision with the Russian state.

Moscow’s Mercenaries explores what Wagner’s rise tells us about the future of modern warfare, the erosion of international norms, and how authoritarian regimes outsource violence. Anyone interested in the evolution of mercenary warfare, great power competition, and the dark underbelly of global security stands to learn important lessons from this well-timed and insightful book.

If someone posts a death threat or a violent manifesto online, will they cross over from words to deeds? Explicit threats, intimidation campaigns, and incitements to violence are no rarity among white nationalists, incels, and other racist and misogynist extremists. Yet it is often difficult to determine whether they pose genuine risks, since the boundaries between trolling and true violent intent can be blurry. How can we tell the difference between online bluster and terrorist threats?

Julia Ebner—an internationally acclaimed expert on online radicalization—offers a fresh approach, showing how language patterns reveal the potential for political violence. She investigates the psychological underpinnings of texts by terrorists such as Anders Breivik, Dylann Roof, Elliot Rodger, and Brenton Tarrant, offering statistical and qualitative contrasts with nonviolent political writing. Ebner finds striking similarities among their manifestos, including the fusion of personal identity with the group, visceral othering of outgroups, narratives of existential conflict, and the glorification of violence. Following these trails, she demonstrates that perpetrators of extremist violence inadvertently give away their intentions in what they say. Featuring vivid writing and actionable conclusions, The Language of Terrorists presents a new model of violent threat detection that can address pressing challenges faced by the international security and intelligence communities.

Make America Sane Again is an analysis of Donald Trump’s many travesties, dating back to his first inauguration but concentrating on the last year.

This issue features a forum led by Lea Ypi on the real crisis fueling the war on immigrants, with responses from Paulina Ochoa Espejo, Daniel Denvir, T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Chandran Kukathas, Ayelet Shachar, and Dara Lind.

Also in this issue:

• Panashe Chigumadzi on the language of “apartheid” and “settler colonialism” in political resistance, from South Africa to Israel
• Aaron Labaree on the moral filmmaking of the late Marcel Ophuls
• Honora Spicer on the history of Fort Bliss, the site of the largest immigration detention center in U.S. history
• Emily Baughan on the broken care economy, reviewing books by Emily Callaci, Gabriel Winant, and Premilla Nadasen
• Lorna Finlayson on the anti-gender backlash, reviewing books by Judith Butler, Sophie Lewis, and Andrea Dworkin

Plus columns by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò and David Austin Walsh; essays by Joan Wallach Scott, Lily Hu, Eric Reinhart, and Joseph Margulies; and a special 50th anniversary archive feature with introductions from Wajahat Ali, Elaine Scarry, Becca Rothfeld, Samuel Moyn, David Adler, and Greg Grandin.