Some People Need Killing: A Memoir Of Murder In My Country is a riveting account by journalist Patricia Evangelista, who came of age in the aftermath of a street revolution that promised a new future for the Philippines. Decades later, as the nation grappled with mounting inequality, it witnessed the fragility of its democratic institutions under the regime of Rodrigo Duterte.

Evangelista's book is a meticulously reported chronicle of the Philippines' drug war. For six years, she immersed herself in the world of killers and survivors, documenting the police and vigilante killings carried out in the name of Duterte's war on drugs—a conflict that has led to the slaughter of thousands and created an atmosphere of fear.

The book's title comes from the words of a vigilante, reflecting a psychological accommodation that many in the country have made: "I'm really not a bad guy," he said. "I'm not all bad. Some people need killing." Through her profound act of witness and literary journalism, Evangelista offers a dissection of the grammar of violence and an investigation into the human impulses to dominate and resist.

A Modest Proposal is a renowned satirical essay by Jonathan Swift, which offers a chilling solution to the dire poverty and overpopulation plaguing Ireland in the 18th century. Swift presents a shockingly calculated and seemingly rational argument for using the children of the poor as a food source, thereby addressing both the economic burden on society and the issue of hunger.

This provocative piece is a masterful example of irony and social criticism, as it exposes the cruel attitudes and policies of the British ruling class towards the Irish populace. Swift's incisive critique not only underscores the absurdity of the proposed solution but also serves as a profound commentary on the exploitation and mistreatment of the oppressed.

A Modest Proposal remains a quintessential example of satirical literature, its biting wit and moral indignation as relevant today as it was at the time of its publication. Swift's deadpan satire led to the coining of the term "Swiftian", describing satire of similarly ironic writing style.

Heartbreaking and timely novel by Afghan-American author follows one man’s journey from New York to the clutches of the Taliban and into an unintentional polygamist union. "He is picking up the same bags with the same clothes Lisa packed and folded a year ago. He wishes he were like his clothes, untouched by external forces."

Family man Nick Blake is living in New York City and working for the United Nations. Born and raised in the United States with broad knowledge of the Afghan culture, he is living the All-American life with his wife, Lisa, and their children. His life is turned upside down when, while on a diplomatic mission to Afghanistan, Nick is kidnapped and finds himself in the clutches of the Taliban. Omar Farhad’s debut novel Honor and Polygamy follows Nick throughout his eighteen months in Afghanistan and the devastating and unexpected turns his life takes, as he learns the true meanings of home, history and culture. After being held captive for several months, Nick is forced to marry the sixteen-year-old Shaista. Although he cannot forget his beloved wife and children back home, he finds himself falling in love with his second wife and, overwhelmed with guilt, is torn between his old life and his new one.

Honor and Polygamy is far from simply a captivating fiction story, but is also a brilliant commentary on the United States’ situation with Afghanistan. Farhad expresses his views on both the political and the cultural sides of Afghanistan. Politically, he is predicting how he feels the war will ultimately end, while culturally, he shows readers not familiar with Afghanistan that the 35-year-old war has created a population, which is uneducated, disloyal, and without identity. The United States and many other nations have continuously disrupted Afghanistan with no clear political objectives, and, in his novel, Farhad explores the consequences of these actions. The story of Nick Blake represents the reality of the Afghan culture and the results and disappointments of the political realities in Afghanistan, and shows readers just how unaware we all are of other cultures.

Written by an author who has lived both the American and Afghan ways of life, Honor and Polygamy is a harrowing, haunting and deeply moving tale for our times.

In his latest book, What Young India Wants, Chetan Bhagat asks hard questions, demands answers, and presents solutions for a better, more prosperous India.

Why do our students regularly commit suicide?
Why is there so much corruption in India?
Can't our political parties ever work together?
Does our vote make any difference at all?
We love our India, but shouldn't some things be different?

All of us have asked these questions at some time or the other. So does Chetan Bhagat, India's most loved writer, in What Young India Wants, his first book of non-fiction.

What Young India Wants is based on Chetan Bhagat's vast experience as a very successful writer and motivational speaker. In clear, simple prose, and with great insight, he analyzes some of the complex issues facing modern India, offers solutions, and invites discussion on them.

At the end, he asks this important question: Unless we are all in agreement on what it is going to take to make our country better, how will things ever change?

If you want to understand contemporary India, the problems that face it, and want to be a part of the solution, What Young India Wants is the book for you.

Enduring Literature Illuminated by Practical Scholarship

By turns a children's fantasy and a social satire for adults, Gulliver's Travels is one of the most popular adventure tales of all time. A Modest Proposal, also an imaginative, enduring work, is political lampoonery at its finest.

Gulliver's Travels takes readers on an imaginative journey through fantastical lands, filled with strange creatures and satirical insights into human nature and society. A Modest Proposal offers a biting critique of economic and political policies of Swift's time, wrapped in dark humor.

Considered the high point of Gogol's writing for the stage and a masterpiece of dramatic satire, The Inspector General skewers the stupidity, greed, and venality of Russian provincial officials. When it is announced that the Inspector General is coming to visit incognito, Anton, the chief of police, hastens to clean up the town before his arrival. Local officials scurry to hide evidence of bribe-taking and other misdeeds, setting the stage for the arrival from St. Petersburg of Ivan, a penurious gambler and rake who is promptly taken by the townspeople to be the dreaded Inspector General.

Ivan, and his servant, Osip, soon take advantage of the situation with hilarious results. First performed in 1836, the play transcends regional and national boundaries to offer a biting, highly entertaining glimpse of universal human foibles and failings.

The Holocaust Industry is a controversial indictment of those who exploit the tragedy of the Holocaust for their own gain. Norman G. Finkelstein presents an iconoclastic and controversial study, moving from an interrogation of the place the Holocaust has come to occupy in American culture to a disturbing examination of recent Holocaust compensation agreements.

It was not until the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, when Israel's evident strength aligned with US foreign policy, that the memory of the Holocaust began to acquire the exceptional prominence it enjoys today. Leaders of America's Jewish community were delighted that Israel was now deemed a major strategic asset and, Finkelstein contends, exploited the Holocaust to enhance this newfound status. Their interpretations of the tragedy often vary from actual historical events and are employed to deflect criticism of Israel and its supporters.

Recalling Holocaust fraudsters such as Jerzy Kosinski and Binjamin Wilkomirski, as well as the demagogic constructions of writers like Daniel Goldhagen, Finkelstein argues that the main danger to the memory of Nazism's victims comes not from Holocaust deniers but from prominent, self-proclaimed guardians of Holocaust memory. Drawing on a wealth of untapped sources, he exposes the double shakedown of European countries as well as legitimate Jewish claimants, concluding that the Holocaust industry has become an outright extortion racket.

Thoroughly researched and closely argued, this book is all the more disturbing and powerful because the issues it addresses are so rarely discussed.

Being There is a modern classic now available from Grove Press, and is one of the most popular and significant works from a writer of international stature. It tells the story of Chauncey Gardiner - Chance, an enigmatic but distinguished man who emerges from nowhere to become an heir to the throne of a Wall Street tycoon, a presidential policy adviser, and a media icon.

Truly a man without qualities, Chance's straightforward responses to popular concerns are heralded as visionary. But though everyone is quoting him, no one is sure what he's really saying. And filling in the blanks in his background proves impossible.

Being There is a brilliantly satiric look at the unreality of American media culture that is, if anything, more trenchant now than ever.