Fit for the Presidency?: Winners, Losers, What-Ifs, and Also-Rans

  • Seymour Morris
Potomac (2017) 9781612348506 | ISBN: 978-1-6123-4850-6

Former pollster Seymour Morris Jr runs a political-science thought experiment by scrutinizing the curricula vitae of 15 US presidential hopefuls from 1789 to 1980. 'Shoo-in' DeWitt Clinton, a naturalist and statesman, lost to James Madison in 1812. Abraham Lincoln looked unqualified, yet unusual work experience (including navigating the treacherous Mississippi River) endowed him with the pragmatism needed to win the American Civil War. Morris reminds that sterling qualities make good presidents, but they must be the right qualities — and voters must be capable of recognizing them.

The Secret State: A History of Intelligence and Espionage

  • John Hughes-Wilson
Pegasus (2017) 9781681773025 | ISBN: 978-1-6817-7302-5

From the cursus publicus (imperial communications network) of ancient Rome to cybersurveillance, espionage is as old as war. In this sweeping history, John Hughes-Wilson anatomizes the intelligence process and the evolution of covert methodologies and technologies that maintain (or disrupt) geopolitical balance. Nineteenth-century German spymaster Wilhelm Stieber, for instance, sparked the paranoia that led in part to the First World War. Hughes-Wilson also masterfully summarizes the workings of terrorism and cyberwar. A deft tour of the shadow side of 'speaking truth to power'.

Europe's Last Chance

  • Guy Verhofstadt
Basic (2017) 9780465096855 | ISBN: 978-0-4650-9685-5

Terrorist attacks, tangled economics, tsunamis of refugees — the European Union faces a perfect storm, with added turbulence from nationalism. Here, Guy Verhofstadt — leader of the European Parliament's liberal faction — argues that the political solution is a US-style federation of member states. He offers an insider's view, not least of prevailing issues such as Europe's toothless responses to Middle Eastern conflict and Russian belligerence. His hypothetical “United States of Europe”, predicated on early efforts towards an EU, is both hugely ambitious and highly plausible.

The Cradle of Humanity

  • Mark Maslin
Oxford University Press (2017) 9780198704522 | ISBN: 978-0-1987-0452-2

Palaeoclimatologist Mark Maslin delves into deep time to trace humanity's rise to geological hegemony. Examining early hominin finds in East Africa, he spotlights three stages (bipedalism in Australophithecus, a jump in brain size in Homo erectus and Homo sapiens' arrival some 195,000 years ago) and the roles of climate change, celestial mechanics and plate tectonics in their emergence. Ultimately, he theorizes that 'climate pulses' in the Rift Valley, in which hyper-arid conditions alternated with the formation of vast lakes, helped to drive the evolution of the big hominin brain.

New York Scientific: A Culture of Inquiry, Knowledge, and Learning

Istvan Hargittai and Magdolna Hargittai. Oxford University Press (2016)

9780198769873

New York may blaze with neon, but many of the city's byways shine with scientific brilliance — if you know where to look. Chemists Istvan Hargittai and Magdolna Hargittai map the territory for this quirkily comprehensive guide to key landmarks and institutions. There are scores here, from the Nobel obelisk to gems of the city's “biotechnology corridor” (such as the Rockefeller University, where Oswald Avery isolated DNA), the home of African American inventor Lewis Latimer and monuments galore.