Archives de catégorie : Nonfiction

NAZI BILLIONAIRES de David de Jong

A groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions off the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II—and how America allowed them to get away with it.

NAZI BILLIONAIRES:
The Dark History of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties
by David de Jong
‎ Mariner Books/HarperCollins, April 2022

In 1946, Günther Quandt—patriarch of Germany’s most iconic industrial empire, a dynasty that today controls BMW—was arrested for suspected Nazi collaboration. Quandt claimed that he had been forced to join the party by his archrival, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and the courts acquitted him. But Quandt lied. And his heirs, and those of other Nazi billionaires, have only grown wealthier in the generations since, while their reckoning with this dark past remains incomplete at best. Many of them continue to control swaths of the world economy, owning iconic brands whose products blanket the globe. The brutal legacy of the dynasties that dominated Daimler-Benz, cofounded Allianz, and still control Porsche, Volkswagen, and BMW has remained hidden in plain sight—until now.
In this landmark work of investigative journalism, David de Jong reveals the true story of how Germany’s wealthiest business dynasties amassed untold money and power by abetting the atrocities of the Third Reich. Using a wealth of untapped sources, de Jong shows how these tycoons seized Jewish businesses, procured slave laborers, and ramped up weapons production to equip Hitler’s army as Europe burned around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong exposes how America’s political expediency enabled these billionaires to get away with their crimes, covering up a bloodstain that defiles the German and global economy to this day.

“A provocative group portrait of five industrialists who expanded their fortunes by colluding with Hitler and then, after World War II, walked away with minimal punishment and barely a dent in their bottom lines… In this meticulously researched book, Mr. de Jong, an investigative journalist and former reporter at Bloomberg News, compels us to confront the current-day legacy of these Nazi ties. »—The Wall Street Journal

David de Jong is a journalist who previously covered European banking and finance from Amsterdam and hidden wealth and billionaire fortunes from New York for Bloomberg News. His work has also appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek, the Wall Street Journal, and the Dutch Financial Daily. A native of the Netherlands, de Jong currently lives in Tel Aviv. He spent four years researching and writing this book from Berlin.

DELIBERATE CALM de Jacqueline Brassey, Aaron De Smet & Michiel Kruyt

A trio of McKinsey & Company veterans draws from a unique combination of psychology, neuroscience, and consciousness practices plus a combined 50-plus years of international board room experience to offer a unique approach to learning and leading with awareness and intentional choice, even amidst the most challenging circumstances.

DELIBERATE CALM:
How to Learn and Lead in a Volatile World
by Jacqueline Brassey, Aaron De Smet & Michiel Kruyt
HarperBusiness, November 2022

As the speed of change in our increasingly complex world accelerates daily, leaders are tasked with performing outside of their familiar zones both in their personal and professional lives. This requires us to adapt. Yet, the same conditions that make adapting so important can also trigger fear, leading us to resist change and default to reactive behavior. The authors call this the “adaptability paradox”: when we most need to learn and change, we stick with what we know, often in ways that stifle learning and innovation. To avoid this trap, leaders must become proactive so they can lead ahead of the curve.
Enter DELIBERATE CALM, a tangible guide that combines cutting-edge neuroscience, psychology, and consciousness practices, along with the authors’ decades of experience working with leaders around the globe. By practicing Dual Awareness, which integrates our internal and external experiences, leaders can become fluid and respond to challenges with intentional choice instead of being limited by their old success models. With DELIBERATE CALM, anyone can lead and learn with awareness and choice to realize their full potential, even in times of uncertainty, complexity, and change.

Jacqueline (Jacqui) Brassey started at McKinsey & Company in 2013 as an expert consultant in the organization practice where she further specialized in transformational change, diversity & inclusion, human capital and leadership development. She has led the learning & development of McKinsey’s top 600 most senior leaders and serves on the firm’s global learning team. She has a PhD in Economics and Business from Groningen University, MS in affective neuroscience from the University of Maastricht and Florence, BA and MA cum laude in policy and organization sciences from Tilburg University and a bachelor’s degree in international business and languages from Avans University of Applied Sciences. She coauthored over twenty book chapters and articles in the area of organizational behavior and leadership development. Additionally, she serves as a board member of Save the Children. Jacqui and husband, Nicholas, live in the Netherlands with their 12-year-old twins.
Aaron De Smet joined McKinsey and Company in 2003; he has led the firm’s thinking on organizational health and leadership. His articles in McKinsey Quarterly are among its most-read and he is a member of the master faculty of the Change Leaders Forum and of the Organizational Agility Forum, which he helped establish. He leads McKinsey’s thinking on organizational health and was on the team that developed the Organizational Health Index (OHI) and OrgLab. Aaron has a PhD in social and organizational psychology from Columbia University, where he specialized in organizational dynamics, culture, leadership, and strategic change. He also has an MBA and BA in psychology. He lives in New Jersey with his family.
Michiel Kruyt is currently CEO of Imagine.one with a mission to create systemic transformation towards a more sustainable and equal planet. Before joining Imagine, Michiel was a partner and one of the leaders of the Organization Practice of McKinsey & Company, and co-founder and former managing partner of Aberkyn, a pioneer specializing in performance transformations, culture change and executive team and leadership development. The first 15 years of his career he worked for Unilever in marketing, sales and general management roles in The Netherlands, Italy and the USA. He is a member of the Board of the non-profit Urban Consciousness Center De Roos in Amsterdam. Michiel, his wife Christine, and their three children live just outside Amsterdam.

THE RISE OF THE NEW PURITANS de Noah Rothman

Commentary editor Noah Rothman takes aim at the “woke left,” comparing them to stern, joyless Puritans who seek to make every daily choice a matter of life or death and break society down into the saintly or sinful.

THE RISE OF THE NEW PURITANS:
Fighting Back Against Progressives’ War on Fun
by Noah Rothman
Broadside Books/HarperCollins, July 2022

In Noah Rothman’s view, the Left used to be the party of the hippies and the free spirits. Now it’s home to woke scolds and humorless idealogues. The New Puritans can judge a person’s moral character by their clothes, Netflix queue, fast food favorites, the sports they watch, and the company they keep. No choice is neutral, no sphere is private.
Not since the Puritans has a political movement wanted so much power over your thoughts, hobbies, and preferences every minute of your day. In the process, they are sucking the joy out of life.
In THE RISE OF THE NEW PURITANS, Noah Rothman explains how, in pursuit of a better world, progressives are ruining the very things which make life worth living. They’ve created a society full of verbal trip wires and digital witch hunts. Football? Too violent. Fusion food? Appropriation. The nuclear family? Oppressive.
Witty, deeply researched, and thorough, THE RISE OF THE NEW PURITANS encourages us to spurn a movement whose primary goal has become limiting happiness. It uncovers the historical roots of the left’s war on fun and reminds us of the freedom and personal fulfillment at the heart of the American experiment.

Noah Rothman is the associate editor of Commentary Magazine, author of Unjust, and an MSNBC/NBC News contributor.

ON BELONGING de Kim Samuel

In an age of social isolation, what does it mean to belong?

ON BELONGING:
Finding Connection in an Age of Isolation
by Kim Samuel
‎ Abrams Press, September 2022

Humanity is at an inflection point. Stress, disconnection, and increasing environmental degradation have people yearning for more than just material progress, personal freedom, or political stability. We are searching for deeper connection. We are longing to belong.
ON BELONGING is an exploration of the crisis of social isolation and of the fundamental human need to belong. It considers belonging across four core dimensions: in our relationships with other people, in our rootedness in nature, in our ability to influence political and economic decision-making, and in our finding of meaning and purpose in our lives, with lessons on how to create communities centered on human connection.
A trailblazing advocate and thought leader on questions of social connectedness, Kim Samuel introduces readers to leaders around the world who are doing the work to cultivate belonging. Whether through sports, medicine, music, business, culture, or advocacy, the people and programs in this book offer us meaningful lessons on building a world where we all feel at home.

“Kim Samuel dives deeply into one of the most complex issues of twenty-first-century human existence, the results of which can be discovered in this compelling book. ON BELONGING draws narratives from profound life experiences, timeless literature, and cutting-edge academic research. The key to finding potential solutions to so many of the social, ecological, economic, and political challenges we face will be revealed within these pages. Find inspiration and even hope right here!”―Annie Lennox, singer-songwriter and global feminist activist

Kim Samuel is an activist, educator, and movement builder. She is the founder of the Samuel Centre for Social Connected-ness and an academic lecturer at institu-tions including Oxford, Harvard, and McGill Universities. Samuel was recently named the first-ever Fulbright Canada ambassador for diversity and social connectedness. She lives in Toronto.

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WARUM ES SO SCHWER IST, EIN GUTER MENSCH ZU SEIN d’Armin Falk

Why we want to do the right thing, but do the wrong thing instead – and how to become a better person.

WARUM ES SO SCHWER IST, EIN GUTER MENSCH ZU SEIN
(Why It Is So Hard to Be Good)
by Armin Falk
Siedler Verlag, May 2022

Would you save a life for 100 euros? The answer has to be yes – doesn’t everyone want to do the right thing? But Armin Falk, Germany’s leading behavioural economist, shows that we often do bad things despite wanting to be good, and are far from being as good as we like to think.
Why is it that we don’t do the right thing day in and day out: help others, give to those in need, protect our climate or care for the well-being of animals? Using many concrete examples and the insights he has gained from years of research, the Leibniz Prize-winner reveals under what circumstances people are likely to act morally – or immorally – and the role that personality, gender, education and culture play. Once we have understood this, we’ll find it easier to change – not only ourselves, but the very fabric of our economy and society.

Armin Falk, born in 1968, is the director of the Institute for Behavioural Economics and Inequality (BRIQ) and of the Laboratory for Experimental Economic Research, as well as Professor of economics at the University of Bonn. He is one of the world’s most highly regarded economic scientists. His work has won him the 2009 Leibniz Prize (the ‘German Nobel’) and a 2013 Advanced Grant from the European Research Council, the world’s highest prize for economists.