Penguin Books Australia

Life can be baffling and chaotic, and sometimes it's hard to make sense of it all. The answer, explains groundbreaking thinker Steven Levitt, lies in economics. Not ordinary economics, but freakonomics. It is at the heart of everything we see and do and the subjects that bedevil us daily: from parenting to crime, sport...

In issues including the ongoing financial crisis, Obama's presidency, the limits of the two-party system, nuclear Iran, Afghanistan, Israel-Palestine, corporate power, and the future of American politics. Laced throughout his critiques are expressions of commitment to democracy and the power of popular struggles. 'Progressive legislation and social welfare,' writes Chomsky, 'have been won by popular...

'Such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy  must be crushed out. The hand of our power should close over them at once.'  President Woodrow Wilson, 1919

THE ESSENTIAL INTRODUCTION TO CHOMSKY'S POLITICAL IDEAS

With exceptional clarity and power of argument, Noam Chomsky lays bare as no one else can the realities of contemporary geopolitics. Divided into four sections, originally published in the US only as individual short books, collectively selling over half a million copies, How the World Works covers:

WHAT UNCLE SAM REALLY WANTS:
 the main...

'Superb . . . an essential, riveting guide to how the rising power really works' 
Jonathan Fenby

'Marvellous . . . should be read by anyone doing business with or just trying to understand China'
Bill Emmott

In this urgent new book, Noam Chomsky surveys the threats and prospects of our early twenty-first century. Exploring challenges such as the growing gap between North and South, American exceptionalism (even under Obama), the fiascos of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Israeli assault on Gaza and the recent financial bailouts, he also sees hope for the future and a way to move forward - in the so-called democratic...

'This Cambridge professor delights in paradox. And myth-busting . . . he does this with charm and a desire to see how things work in the real world'
Guardian , 'In Praise of Ha-Joon Chang'

'On the last day, we flew out to Manono aboard an RNZAF Iroquois. The doors were open and the beauty of Samoa was literally beneath our feet. I have always known it to be a fragile kind of place: tsunamis, like all the other disasters, big and small, show that we have a pact with nature to enjoy 'paradise'. Sometimes nature reasserts supremacy and paradise becomes a nightmare.'

Welcome to the world of espionage.

Inside the cool novelty covers, we turn our magnifying glass on spies, snoops, and spooks throughout history in The Spy Book . Eavesdrop on the incredible tales of daring, explore top-secret gadgets, and find out why espionage still hits the headlines.

Code breakers and safe crackers, spy rings and honey traps, dead drops and lipstick pistols all lurk inside. Confidentially...

Gabrielle unwinds at weekends with a line of coke – and also works for the Metropolitan Police, Juan Pablo is a drugs mule in Bogotá who gets his stash from a sweathouse.  Ricky Ross, king of the 'Walmart of Crack', has made a fortune dealing.  Belica started picking coca when she was eleven.  Kurt Schmoke, former mayor of Baltimore, thanks legalization's the only way . ...

'Packed with thinking dynamite . . . a book to be read everywhere' JOHN BERGER

'If you only read one non-fiction book this year, make it this one' METRO, BOOKS OF THE YEAR

THE RISE OF DISASTER CAPITALISM . . .

Around the world in Britain, the United States, Asia and the Middle East, there are people with power who are cashing in on chaos; exploiting bloodshed and catastrophe to brutally remake our...

Selected with an Introduction by
Alex Danchev

'The Manifesto is remarkable for its imaginative power . . . it is the first great modernist work of art'
Marshall Berman

In this remarkable collection of 100 manifestos from the last 100 years, Alex Danchev presents the cacophony of voices of such diverse movements as Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Feminism, Communism, Destructivism, Vorticism...