Archives de catégorie : London 2024 Nonfiction

THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF MUSIC d’Andrew Ford

From prehistory to now, the fascinating story of why music is vital to the human experience.

THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF MUSIC
by Andrew Ford
Black Inc. (Australia), August 2024

From award-winning broadcaster and composer Andrew Ford, The Shortest History of Music is a lively, authoritative tour through several thousand years of music. Packed with colourful characters and surprising details, it sets out to understand what exactly music is – and why humans are irresistibly drawn to making it.

This is not a traditional chronological account. Instead, Andrew Ford focuses on key themes in the history of music and considers how they have played out across the ages. How has music interacted with other social forces, such as religion and the economy? How have technological changes shaped the kinds of music humans make? From lullabies to concert halls, songlines to streaming services, what has music meant to humans at different times and in different places?

Andrew Ford OAM is a composer, writer and broadcaster who has won awards in each of those capacities, including the Paul Lowin Prize for his song cycle Learning to Howl, a Green Room Award for his opera Rembrandt’s Wife and the Albert H Maggs Prize for his large ensemble piece, Rauha. He has been composer-in-residence for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. In 2014 he was Poynter Fellow and visiting composer at Yale University, in 2015 visiting lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory, and in 2018 HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellow at the Australian National University. Ford has written widely on all manner of music and published ten previous books. He has written, presented and co-produced five radio series for the ABC and, since 1995, presented The Music Show each weekend on Radio National. He was awarded an OAM in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

A NEW CAPITALISM de Seth Levine et Elizabeth MacBride

A NEW CAPITALISM by Seth Levine and Elizabeth MacBride is a provocative and optimistic look at the next stage of capitalism.

A NEW CAPITALISM
A Realist’s Guide to the Next Golden Age
by Seth Levine and Elizabeth MacBride
Matt Holt Books, 2025
(via The Martell Agency)

A NEW CAPITALISM will explore what many experts consider to be a “turning point” in capitalism, a profound shift away from neo-liberalism and a profit-above-all mentality in corporate thinking and practice to systems where companies are becoming more responsible to their countries, employees, and communities. This new way of governance is happening right now and is not driven by altruism but is the natural outcome of vast technological innovation, the effects of the climate crisis and changing social norms. It is the authors’ contention that this re-imagining, will unleash a period of wealth generation and shared prosperity and is emblematic of capitalism’s essential dynamism and ability to reconfigure itself.

Because of their standing and thus exceptional connections, the authors have conducted extensive and invaluable interviews with over 50 the global business leaders, including Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan, Larry Fink, co-founder and CEO of BlackRock and Dick Parsons, former chairman and CEO of Time Warner and Citibank, who will provide compelling insights and often visionary thinking, almost no readers otherwise would be privy to. Challenging the perspectives of the right and the left, the book will examine the emerging consensus about the role these large companies should play and the benefits to the long-term health of businesses that are possible. It’s critical that the authors write from the perspective of business owners themselves, bringing pragmatism and level-headedness to a discussion that is often paralyzed with rigid ideological posturing.

Seth Levine, a partner and co-founder at Boulder, CO-based Foundry Venture Capital, is one of the world’s leading venture capitalists. In addition to his work at Foundry, Seth actively supports entrepreneurs around the country and across the world, serving as an advisor to funds and companies throughout the United States, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2016 Seth co-founded Pledge 1% – an international organization that encourages startups to give back to their local communities through gifts of equity, profit, product, and time.

Elizabeth MacBride is an award-winning business writer, speaker, and expert in the intersection of technology, finance, and economics. A former managing editor of Crain’s New York Business, her work has been featured in MIT Tech Review, Forbes, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Quartz, HBR.com, and many others. She was one of the first 12 employees of Wealthfront, the first online financial advisor. A regular contributor to CNBC and Forbes, she is the founder of New Builders Dispatch, which focuses on leveraging finance to create a fairer world. Elizabeth has reported on business, economics, and entrepreneurship around the world, from New York City to Gaza, to Northern Idaho, to Cambodia.

KILLER STORY de Claire St. Amant

Behind the scenes of every major murder story, there is an entirely separate drama playing out in newsrooms across the country.

KILLER STORY
by Claire St. Amant
BenBella Books, February 2025
(via Laura Dail Literary Agency)

If you pictured Apple TV’s The Morning Show taking place on the set of 48 Hours, you’d have Claire St. Amant’s behind-the-scenes memoir, KILLER STORY. Diving into her time as a true crime television producer, Claire reveals the inner workings of national TV murder coverage, narrating and investigating the twisting cases themselves, while also detailing her personal journey in mainstream network news.

Claire St. Amant is the host of the true crime podcast, Final Days on Earth, which has over 1.4 million downloads since its launch in 2021. She was part of the breaking news team nominated for an Emmy in 2016 for “Bringing a Nation Together,” a special report on the Dallas Police shooting. She has written for CBS News, the Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, and D Magazine. She has earned many writing accolades, including two Dallas Bar Association Stephen Philbin Awards for excellence in legal reporting. She lives in Dallas, Texas.

HOPE FOR CYNICS de Jamil Zaki

Cynicism is making us sick; Stanford Psychologist Dr. Jamil Zaki has the cure—a “ray of light for dark days” (Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

HOPE FOR CYNICS
The Surprising Science of Human Goodness
by Jamil Zaki
Grand Central Publishing, September 2024
(via The Gernert Company)

For thousands of years, people have argued about whether humanity is selfish or generous, cruel or kind. But recently, our answers have changed.  In 1972, half of Americans agreed that most people can be trusted; by 2018, that figure had fallen to 30%. Different generations, genders, religions, and political parties can’t seem to agree on anything, except that they all think human virtue is evaporating.

Cynicism is a perfectly understandable response to a world full of injustice and inequality. But in many cases, cynicism is misplaced.  Dozens of studies find that people fail to realize how kind, generous, and open-minded others really are.  And cynical thinking worsens social problems, because our beliefs don’t just interpret the world—they change it. When we expect people to be awful, we coax awfulness out of them.

Cynicism is a disease, with a history, symptoms—and a cure. Through science and storytelling, Jamil Zaki imparts the secret for beating back cynicism: hopeful skepticism. This approach doesn’t mean putting our faith in every politician or influencer. It means thinking critically about people and our problems, while simultaneously acknowledging and encouraging our strengths. Far from being naïve, hopeful skepticism is a more precise way of understanding others, and paying closer attention re-balances how you think about human nature.  As more of us do this, we can take steps towards building the world we truly want.

Dr. Jamil Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. He trained at Columbia and Harvard, studying empathy and kindness in the human brain. He is interested in human connection and how we can learn to connect better.

BATTLEGROUND UKRAINE d’Adrian Karatnycky

A prominent foreign policy analyst details the power centers that shape modern Ukraine.

BATTLEGROUND UKRAINE
From Independence to the War with Russia
by Adrian Karatnycky
Yale University Press, June 2024
(via Liza Dawson Associates)

The first major English-language history of Ukraine from its emergence after the demise of the Soviet Union through the current Russian invasion.

In 1991, after seventy years of imperial Soviet rule, Ukraine became an independent country. Since 2022, it has been fighting for its survival by resisting an unprovoked, brutal, and ongoing invasion by Russia. At the center of its resistance is the resilience of a united people.

Adrian Karatnycky tells the history of how the Ukrainian state and nation gradually emerged through the tenures of the six presidents who have led Ukraine since the collapse of the USSR, including Volodymyr Zelensky, elected in 2019.

Karatnycky shows that despite the influence of corrupt oligarchs, pressures from Russia, and the legacies of Soviet rule, a disparate but inclusive Ukrainian nation has emerged that inspires the world as it defends the principle that states have the right to their national sovereignty.

“Ukraine’s battle is our battle, so understanding its post-independence history is vital if the battle is to be won. Adrian Karatnycky has done an outstanding job of telling that story, warts and all.” –Bill Emmott, former editor in chief, The Economist, and Chairman, International Institute for Strategic Studies

“An indispensable history of contemporary Ukraine by a writer who is himself one of the builders of contemporary Ukraine. The point of view is intimate. The insights are astute. The sympathy extends to all who labored, fought, and sacrificed for a liberal, democratic, and European Ukraine.” –David Frum, the Atlantic

“Adrian Karatnycky has a knowledge of Ukraine that comes not only with reading history but also with making it. A participant in many key events in Ukraine’s recent past, in this important book, he provides unique insights into the rise of independent Ukraine and explains why the country and its people keep fighting when others gave up.” –Serhii Plokhy, Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University

“ Truly invaluable. Adrian Karatnycky’s knowledge of and personal feel for Ukraine— its leaders and its people—come through on every page. Want to make yourself an expert on the problem that will define Europe’s future for decades to come? Read this book!” –Stephen Sestanovich, Davis Professor of International Affairs, Columbia University, Former US Ambassador-at-Large to the Newly Independent States of the Former USSR

Adrian Karatnycky is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. Through the council’s Ukraine program, as a labor union official, and as CEO of Freedom House, he has been deeply engaged in Ukraine for over three decades. He has written about Ukraine for leading newspapers and journals.