From Amazon to Tinder, from Google to Deliveroo, there is no facet of human life that the digital revolution has not streamlined and dematerialized. Its objective was to reduce costs by forgoing face-to-face interactions, and it was a direct result of the free-market shock of the 1980s, which sought to expand the marketplace seamlessly in every possible dimension. Today, we can be algorithmically entertained, educated, cared for, and courted in a way that was impossible in the old industri...

Why society’s expectation of economic growth is no longer realisticEconomic growth--and the hope of better things to come—is the religion of the modern world. Yet its prospects have become bleak, with crashes following booms in an endless cycle. In the United States, eighty percent of the population has seen no increase in purchasing power over the last thirty years and the situation is not much better elsewhere. The Infinite Desire for Growth spotlights t...

The West has long defined the pursuit of happiness in economic terms but now, in the wake of the 2007-8 financial crisis, it is time to think again about what constitutes our happiness.In this wide-ranging new book, the leading economist Daniel Cohen traces our current malaise back to the rise of homo economicus: for the last 200 years, the modern world has defined happiness in terms of material gain. Homo economicus has cast aside its rivals, homo ethicus and homo empathicus, and ...

"This book is a beacon of light and a touchstone for the timeless values of leading a purposeful life."--From the Foreword by Senator Joseph LiebermanThere's not one person alive who hasn't confronted their own mortality. Each of us, at some point, wakes up to the reality that our time on Earth is limited. But how do we lead our lives with a sense of urgency every day? How do we develop the courage to make choices not based on pressure but on principle? How...

Germany remains unmatched across Europe in its unconditional support for the Israeli state. Since October 7, 2023, the German state has particularly distinguished itself in its brutal repression of anyone who dares to speak out against Israel's crimes in Palestine. What is going on?In this urgent collection, leading authors including Hans Kundnani, Nahed Samour, Adam Tooze, and Dirk Moses, explore Germany's pathological commitment to the state of Israel. The book investigates the m...

The Holocaust is now widely recognized as a central event in twentieth-century Europe. But how did the genocide of the Jews affect European attitudes towards Jews, Judaism and Jewishness after 1945? While many histories of antisemitism exist, Good Jews offers an investigation of philosemitism – defined as a politics of post-Holocaust friendship. Gerard Daniel Cohen presents a critical exploration of the languages of philosemitism in mainstream European politics and culture from 1945 to the...

A noted economist analyzes the upheavals caused by revolutions in technology, labor, culture, financial markets, and globalization.In this pithy and provocative book, noted economist Daniel Cohen offers his analysis of the global shift to a post-industrial era. If it was once natural to speak of industrial society, Cohen writes, it is more difficult to speak meaningfully of post-industrial “society.” The solidarity that once lay at the heart of industrial society n...

Henry Stanley’s physical and mental toughness earned him the nickname Bula Matari, “Rock Breaker.” Although best known for finding the lost Scottish missionary David Livingstone, the explorer and journalist had many other adventures around the world.Born in Wales in 1841, he was placed in a workhouse by his uncle at the age of six. Stanley escaped nine years later and made his way to New Orleans by working as a cabin boy. He fought for the Confederacy and was taken prisoner at Shil...

How violence, rather than peace, has historically accompanied prosperity; and why emerging nations seem poised to repeat the tragic history of the industrialized world.What happened yesterday in the West is today being repeated on a global scale. Industrial society is replacing rural society: millions of peasants in China, India, and elsewhere are leaving the countryside and going to the city. New powers are emerging and rivalries are exacerbated as competition inc...

A provocative argument that the frustrations of globalization stem from the gap between the expectations created and the lagging economic reality in poor countries.The enemies of globalization—whether they denounce the exploitation of poor countries by rich ones or the imposition of Western values on traditional cultures—see the new world economy as forcing a system on people who do not want it. But the truth of the matter, writes Daniel Cohen in this provocative a...

Great mistakes make great reading! No area of human endeavor is immune to human error, as these stories of mistakes throughout history clearly show.Some of these mistakes are foolish or funny. Others are serious, terrifying or disastrous. Some are famous. Others are not well known. All of them are marvelously entertaining. Here is the amusing story of a triple double play, the little-known truth about the awesome angle of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the harrowing tale of the man who...

Hiram Bingham was the ideal explorer-adventurer—handsome, rich, intelligent, brave, and tough. His life seems like something out of film hero Indiana Jones’s exploits in Raiders of the Lost Ark.The descendant of strong-willed missionaries, Bingham was born in Hawaii in 1875, At Yale he specialized in South American studies and became a college teacher. Gradually, the romance of the past took hold of his practical soul. Obsessed by the Incas and his dream of uncovering lost cities, ...