Think your political opinions are the result of carefully reasoned thought? Think that everyone would agree with you if they just weren't so clueless? Think again! Big government vs small government, free market vs a regulated market, individual freedom vs group benefits, conservative vs liberal.... Political controversies sound like they're based on differences in philosophy or ideology or maybe just fact. But they're not. The differences are largely cultural. And, in particular, they're ...

City of Tears is set on the Central Asian steppes in the years prior to the rise of Genghiz Khan. It's an action-adventure story that gets into the heads of the Turco-Mongol nomads, showing how difficult it was for a leader to unite the tribes, but how explosive that force could be when united. And, specifically, how a lack of cross-cultural empathy can result in terrible massacres. Then as now.The story revolves around the Kaskirs, a small nomadic clan caught between the would-be ...