Covering popular culture, the economy, and Cuban politics, veteran reporter Reese Erlich combines original photography with on-the-ground reporting from Havana and Miami. He explores Cuba's strained history with the US, the power of the Cuba Lobby and offers a fresh look at the island nation nearly 50 years after their historic Revolution to create a tableau that is at once moving and informative. This will be the stand-out book about Cuba during the media coverage of the anniversary. It will lay out the options and challenges facing the next American president. He concludes with prospects for policy change following the death of Fidel Castro.

On June 24, 2005, after nearly ten years of supporting liberal reform, the people of Iran surprised the world by electing the conservative mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as their new president. Soon after, the new president announced Iran would restart its uranium enrichment program, drawing international criticism and condemnation from leaders in Europe and the United States. Many observers suspect it is the desire to produce not nuclear energy but nuclear weapons that lies behind Iran's controversial decision.
Ever since President George W. Bush described Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as the ""Axis of Evil,"" Iran has garnered increased international attention and threatens to become the new focus of European and American foreign policy. Now you can have at your fingertips up-to-date, must-know details on this complex, pivotal country-straight from one of the most trusted sources of information around the globe.
The first in a major new series from Encyclopedia Britannica, Iran presents a balanced, sophisticated examination of Iran's social, cultural, and political landscape, past and present. From the constitutional revolution to the hostage crisis to weapons of mass destruction, this thorough guide provides the necessary background to comprehend all the important, ongoing issues surrounding this enigmatic country.
Information on such leaders as Cyrus the Great and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, as well as on historical events like the Iran-Contra Affair and the Iran-Iraq War, place current developments into the broader context of world history, the Muslim world, the War on Terror, and the push for democratic reform in the Middle East. Every concise entry-from Afghanistan and Ayatollah Khomeini to Shari'ah law and the Shah-promotes the deeper understanding of issues and events that only Encyclopedia Britannica can provide.
Since 1768, Encyclopedia Britannica has been a leading provider of learning products and one of the world's most trusted sources of information.
www.britannica.com

A joint biography of John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles, who led the United States into an unseen war that decisively shaped today's worldDuring the 1950s, when the Cold War was at its peak, two immensely powerful brothers led the United States into a series of foreign adventures whose effects are still shaking the world.John Foster Dulles was secretary of state while his brother, Allen Dulles, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this book, Stephen Kinzer places their extraordinary lives against the background of American culture and history. He uses the framework of biography to ask: Why does the United States behave as it does in the world?The Brothers explores hidden forces that shape the national psyche, from religious piety to Western movies--many of which are about a noble gunman who cleans up a lawless town by killing bad guys. This is how the Dulles brothers saw themselves, and how many Americans still see their country's role in the world.Propelled by a quintessentially American set of fears and delusions, the Dulles brothers launched violent campaigns against foreign leaders they saw as threats to the United States. These campaigns helped push countries from Guatemala to the Congo into long spirals of violence, led the United States into the Vietnam War, and laid the foundation for decades of hostility between the United States and countries from Cuba to Iran.The story of the Dulles brothers is the story of America. It illuminates and helps explain the modern history of the United States and the world.

"Bitter Fruit" is a comprehensive and insightful account of the CIA operation to overthrow the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954. First published in 1982, this book has become a classic, a textbook case of the relationship between the United States and the Third World. The authors make extensive use of U.S. government documents and interviews with former CIA and other officials. It is a warning of what happens when the United States abuses its power.

In 1976, at age twenty-five, Stephen Kinzer arrived in Nicaragua as a freelance journalist--and became a witness to history. He returned many times during the years that followed, becoming Latin America correspondent for the "Boston Globe" in 1981 and joining the foreign staff of the "New York Times" in 1983. That year he openedthe "New York Times" Managua bureau, making that newspaper the first daily in America to maintain a full-time office in Nicaragua.

Widely considered the best-connected journalist in Central America, Kinzer personally met and interviewed people at every level of the Somoza, Sandinistas and contra hierarchies, as well as dissidents, heads of state, and countless ordinary citizens throughout the region.

"Blood of Brothers" is Kinzer's dramatic story of the centuries-old power struggle that burst into the headlines in 1979 with the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship. It is a vibrant portrait of the Nicaraguan people and their volcanic land, a cultural history rich in poetry and bloodshed, baseball and insurrection.

"A sharp, spirited appreciation of where Turkey stands now, and where it may head." --Carlin Romano, "The ""Philadelphia"" Inquirer""" In the first edition of this widely praised book, Stephen Kinzer made the convincing claim that Turkey was the country to watch--poised between Europe and Asia, between the glories of its Ottoman past and its hopes for a democratic future, between the dominance of its army and the needs of its civilian citizens, between its secular expectations and its Muslim traditions. In this newly revised edition, he adds much important new information on the many exciting transformations in Turkey's government and politics that have kept it in the headlines, and also shows how recent developments in both American and European policies (and not only the war in Iraq) have affected this unique and perplexing nation.

Advance Praise for "A Thousand Hills"

"What a fascinating tale! What an inspiration! The courage and triumph of Paul Kagame show the beauty of reconciliation and of transcendent leadership. The world needs to learn his lessons, and Stephen Kinzer's brilliant narrative will help make this enlightenment possible."
--Walter Isaacson, CEO, the Aspen Institute

"A fascinating account of the near-miracle unfolding before our very eyes: a country, Rwanda, rising from the ashes of genocide phoenix-like, and its President, Paul Kagame, who is making it happen. This is no hagiography, for he is depicted warts and all. . . . A very good read."
--Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Praise for Overthrow

"Kinzer's narrative abounds with unusual anecdotes, vivid description, and fine detail, demonstrating why he ranks among the best in popular foreign policy storytelling."
--"Washington Post Book World"

"A jewel."
--Chalmers Johnson

Praise for "All the Shah's Men"

"A thrilling tale that pits two characters worthy of a movie against each other."
--"The Economist"

"A very gripping read. . . . A cautionary tale for our current leaders."
--"The New York Times"

"Reset" introduces an astonishing parade of characters: sultans, shahs, oil tycoons, mullahs, women of the world, liberators, oppressors, and dreamers of every sort. Woven together into a dazzling panorama, they help us see the Middle East in a new way--and lead to startling proposals for how the world's most volatile region might be reshaped.

In this paradigm-shifting book, Stephen Kinzer argues that the United States needs to break out of its Cold War mindset and find new partners in the Middle East. Only two Muslim countries in the Middle East have long experience with democracy: Iran and Turkey. They are logical partners for the United States. Besides proposing this new "power triangle," Kinzer tells the turbulent story of America's relations with its traditional partners in the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and argues they must be reshaped to fit the new realities of the twenty-first century.

Kinzer's provocative new view of the Middle East--and of America's role there--will richly entertain while moving a vital policy debate beyond the stale alternatives of the last fifty years.

"A very gripping read . . . a cautionary tale for our current leaders."
--"The New York Times"

As zealots in Washington intensify their preparations for an American attack on Iran, the story of the CIA's 1953 coup--with its many cautionary lessons--is more urgently relevant than ever. All the Shah's Men brings to life the cloak-and-dagger operation that deposed the only democratic regime Iran ever had. The coup ushered in a quarter-century of repressive rule under the Shah, stimulated the rise of Muslim fundamentalism and anti-Americanism throughout the Middle East, and exposed the folly of using violence to try to reshape Iran. Selected as one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and the Economist, it's essential reading if you want to place the American attack of Iraq in context--and prepare for what comes next.

"An entirely engrossing, often riveting, nearly Homeric tale. . . . For anyone with more than a passing interest in how the United States got into such a pickle in the Middle East, All the Shah's Men is as good as Grisham."
--"The Washington Post Book World"

"An exciting narrative. [Kinzer] questions whether Americans are well served by interventions for regime change abroad, and he reminds us of the long history of Iranian resistance to great power interventions, as well as the unanticipated consequences of intervention."
--"The Los Angeles Times"

"A swashbuckling yarn [and] helpful reminder of an oft-neglected piece of Middle Eastern history."
--"The New York Times Book Review"