In The Naked Swiss: A Nation Behind 10 Myths, journalist Clare O’Dea promises to change the way the world thinks about modern Switzerland – and give Swiss readers much to think about too. In 10 fact-based chapters O’Dea investigates positive myths of modern Switzerland (The Swiss are Rich/Brilliant/Have the Perfect Democracy) with the same sharp journalistic eye she uses to assess negative ones (The Swiss are Crooked Bankers/Xenophobic/Helped the Nazis). It is a view of Switzerlan...

An up-to-date guide to Swiss society and current affairs, All About Switzerland features a selection of 29 news and background articles, opinion pieces and personal essays by Clare O'Dea. The articles were first published online between 2022 and 2024 by The Local Switzerland news platform.Author of the bestselling The Naked Swiss: A Nation Behind 10 Myths and the novel Voting Day, Clare O'Dea has been writing about Switzerland for 20 years. In

Why has Switzerland - a tiny, land-locked country with few natural advantages - become so successful for so long at so many things? In banking, pharmaceuticals, machinery, even textiles, Swiss companies rank alongside the biggest and most powerful global competitors. How did they get there? How do they continue to refresh themselves? Does the Swiss 'Sonderfall' (special case) provide lessons others can learn and benefit from? Can the Swiss continue to perform in a hyper-competitive global ...

A lively, engaging and counterintuitive exploration of success stories from across the globe, and what Michelle Obama referred to as ‘the flimsy difference between success and failure’.In this lively and counterintuitive exploration of success stories from across the globe, award-winning journalist Hamish McRae takes the reader on a fascinating journey in pursuit of the flimsy difference between triumph and failure. Why do some initiatives take off while others flounder? How have s...

This book has one central theme: how, in the United Kingdom, can we create better cities and towns in which to live and work and play? What can we learn from other countries, especially our near neighbours in Europe? And, in turn, can we provide lessons for other countries facing similar dilemmas?Urban Britain is not functioning as it should. Social inequalities and regional disparities show little sign of going away. Efforts to generate growth, and spread it to the poorer areas of...

What Europe is and what it should be is often the subject of passionate debate. A unique concept whereby several nations are brought together under a humane, democratic system? The strongest economy in the world? A patchwork of different cultures? A tolerant home for freethinkers and the persecuted? For Christa Klickermann, a 58-year-old native of Salzburg who now lives in Hamburg, Europe is, above all, somewhere she can call her own extended home. A loveable continent and a great place to...

Does a utopia really exist within northern Europe? Do we have anything to learn from it if it does? And what makes a nation worthy of admiration, anyway? Since the '30s, when the world was wowed by the Stockholm Exhibition, to most people Sweden has meant clean lines, good public housing, and a Social Democratic government. More recently the Swedes have been lauded for their environmental credentials, their aspirational free schools, and their hardy economy. But what's the truth of the Swe...

**NATIONAL BESTSELLER · WINNER OF BC BOOK PRIZE GEORGE RYGA AWARD FOR SOCIAL AWARENESS · FINALIST FOR THE BALSILLIE PRIZE FOR PUBLIC POLICY · FINALIST FOR THE BC BOOK AWARDS HUBERT EVANS NON-FICTION PRIZE · A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK · A HILL TIMES BEST BOOK“Gregor Craigie’s *Our Crumbling Foundation...*is so chockful of solutions that it makes you want to shake politicians and policymakers and ask: ‘When are you going to act?’” —André Picard, author of Neglec...

With the Eurozone engulfed in an unprecedented crisis, one political figure looms largest of all, Angela Merkel, the leader of its most powerful economy. While foreign affairs have become the central issues of her chancellorship in this crucial election year, the entire world is anxiously looking to Germany to play its part in Europes rescue.This authorized biography sheds light on the person behind the politician from her youthful days of hitchhiking in Tbilisi to being the guest of honou...

One of the world's foremost urban designers shares his passion and methods for rejuvenating neglected cities and argues passionately for the importance and possibilities of their renewal.From a youth spent in the boroughs of New York City and other great cities of the world, to his beginnings as an architect in Toronto, Ken Greenberg has long recognized that cities at their best provide much of what we seek in a place to call home. Community, places of culture and business that we ...

Masters Of The WorldHidden behind many of today's major news stories, the Bilderberg Group is an elite clique of the most powerful names in politics, media, business, and finance, who want to impose a one-world government on the rest of us. Led by such iconic members as Henry Kissinger, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Richard Perle, Melinda Gates (wife of Bill Gates), David Rockefeller, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Tony Blair, and Margaret Thatcher, their secret conf...

A penniless émigré who made a fortune and became one of the great philanthropists of the twentieth century, George Soros has led a remarkable life. This biography brings forth his story in unprecedented depth, from his childhood as a Jew in occupied Budapest during World War II to his conquests on Wall Street and the establishment of his philanthropic Open Society foundations. Soros offers exclusive glimpses at an often misunderstood man, revealing a shy character whose ow...