Unfolding in an informal setting, Plato's The Symposium is a powerful discussion on the nature of love, translated from the Greek with notes and an introduction by Christopher Gill in Penguin Classics. In the course of a lively drinking party, a group of Athenian intellectuals exchange views on eros, or desire. From their conversation emerge a series of subtle reflections on gender roles, sex in society and the sublimation of basic human instincts. The discussion culminates in a radical challenge to conventional views by Plato's mentor, Socrates, who advocates transcendence through spiritual love. The Symposium is a deft interweaving of different viewpoints and ideas about the nature of love - as a response to beauty, a cosmic force, a motive for social action and as a means of ethical education. Christopher Gill's translation retains all the drama and humour of Plato's language, bringing the historical figures to life. His introduction discusses aspects of classical Athenian life shown in The Symposium a

Secret societies, assassination plots, cover-ups, and covert actions - these are the theories and shadows that influence politics, business, and even our daily lives. The truth is always out there, but what truth you believe depends on what you already know. Categorized into specific areas of interest, Conspiracy Encyclopedia is an essential guide to the many and varied theories that question the status quo and redefine the official version or events past. Presenting the case for and against a number of well-known theories - as well as more obscure and bizarre ones - this encyclopedia is dedicated to casting a skeptical eye on not only the world around us but the conspiracies as well. With detailed entries to help answer all the right questions, Conspiracy Encyclopedia also includes numerous alternate perspectives covering wars and state legislation, as well as biographies of the key figures of conspiracy theory.

One overcast April morning in 1943, a fisherman notices a corpsefloating in the sea off the coast of Spain. When the body isbrought ashore, it is identified as a British soldier, MajorWilliam Martin of the Royal Marines. A leather attache case,secured to his belt,reveals an intelligence gold mine: top-secretAllied invasion plans.

Based on over five years of research, Inside Al Qaeda provides the definitive story behind the rise of this small, mysterious group to the notorious organization making headlines today.

Barack Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father, was a compelling and moving memoir focusing on personal issues of race, identity, and community. With his second book The Audacity of Hope, Obama engages themes raised in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, shares personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves repairing a "political process that is broken" and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people. We had the opportunity to ask Senator Obama a few questions about writing, reading, and politics, see his responses below. --Daphne Durham

The late 1990s saw a number of attacks against American military and governmental offices,most notably the U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa in 1998. On September 11,2001, however,the scale of this conflict changed dramatically,The hijacking of four commercial airliners on that sunny Tuesday morning led to the deaths of some 3,000 people. As in 1998, the terrorist group responsible for this devastating campaign was Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, or "The Base," a loose network of extremists many of whom are willing to die for their cause, the promotion of a militant form of Islam and the destruction of the West. In Al-Qaeda, Jane Corbin, the award-winning senior BBC correspondent for Panorama the British equivalent of 60 Minutes -- crosses four continents in search of bin Laden's terror network. The result of four years research, reporting and travel throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Aanerica, she has conducted hundreds of interviews with key eyewitnesses, investigators, and intelligence officers a

Winston Churchill's six-volume history of the cataclysm thatswept the world remains the definitive history of the Second WorldWar. Lucid, dramatic, remarkable both for its breadth and sweep andfor its sense of personal involvement, it is universallyacknowledged as a magnificent reconstruction and is an enduring,compelling work that led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize forliterature. The Grand Alliance recounts the momentous events of1941 surrounding America's entry into the War and Hitler's march onRussia the continuing onslaught on British civilians during theBlitz, Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and the alliance betweenBritain and America that shaped the outcome of the War.

Uses a conversation between a troubled businessman and hisfriend to outline the principles of success.

In this distillation of frontline experiences and culturalinsights, Anita Pratap, one of the finest journalists India hasever produced, faithfully reports on the consequences of war,ethnic conflict, earthquakes, cyclones, prejudices, and themindless hatred and fear that has hurt so much of the world.Wherever there was a story to be told-from her native India toAfghanistan and Sri Lanka-Pratap braved the odds to send in reportsfrom the front, managing to track down elusive stories and makeheadlines. With determined diligence she exposed the terrors insidesuch frightening regimes as the Taliban, returning home each timewith a renewed determination to appreciate and celebrate theordinary.

Burke's seminal work was written during the early months ofthe French Revolution, and it predicted with uncanny accuracy manyof its worst excesses, including the Reign of Terror. A scathingattack on the revolution's attitudes to existing institutions,property and religion, it makes a cogent case for upholdinginherited rights and established customs, argues for piecemealreform rather than revolutionary change - and deplores theinfluence Burke feared the revolution might have in Britain."Reflections on the Revolution in France" is now widely regarded asa classic statement of conservative political thought, and is oneof the eighteenth century's great works of political rhetoric.

Mr. Zakaria has written a short primer (250+ pages of text) about where the world is today and the role he sees the United States playing in the future. His assessment, for the most part, is fair, balanced and nonpartisan. And though the title of his treatise--The Post-American World--sounds pessimistic, in reality Mr. Zakaria sees the glass half full. The principal weakness of the book is a product of its brevity: the author paints in broad strokes, providing a sweeping assessment of the dynamic changes that have unfolded on the world scene over the past twenty-five years. This invariably results in some over-generalizations and assessments that are not sufficiently nuanced. For example, in responding to concerns about China's growing power and influence, he quotes several Chinese officials who repeatedly reassure the listener that, notwithstanding its recent advances, China still lags behind the United States in so many areas; consequently, it poses no real threat to America or its neighbors. Instead of t

Winston Churchill's six-volume history of the cataclysm thatswept the world remains the definitive history of the Second WorldWar. Lucid, dramatic, remarkable both for its breadth and sweep andfor its sense of personal involvement, it is universallyacknowledged as a magnificent reconstruction and is an enduring,compelling work that led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize forliterature. Triumph and Tragedy recounts the dramatic months as theWar drew to a close the Normandy landings, the liberation ofWestern Europe, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and thesurrender of Germany and Japan.

As his parents finished packing the few personal belongines they were permitted to take out of Germany,the bespectacled 15-year-old stood in the corner of the apartment memorizing the details of the scene.He was a bookish and reflective child,with that odd mixture of ego and insecurity that can come from growing up smart yet persecuted.“I'll be back someday.”he saide to the cutoms inspector who was surveying the boses.Years later,he would recall how the offciual looded at him“with the disdain of ages”and said nothing. Henry Kissinger was right:he did come bacd to his Bavarian birthplace,first as a soldier with the U.S. Army counterintelligence corps,them as a ren owned scholar of international relations,and eventually as the dominant relations,and eventually as the dominant statesman of his era. Bya the time he was made secretary of stalte in 1973,he had become,according to the Gallup Poll,the most admired person in America.In addition.as the conducted foreign ploicy with the air of a gues

The Norton Critical Edition offers a complete historical and philosophical introduction to Marx's Manifesto of the Communist Party. It will help both students making their first approach to Marx's thought and those ready to study the Manifesto in more depth. For beginning students, this edition provides a carefully anno-tated text of the Manifesto, a useful historical and philosophical introduction by Frederic Bender, and a chronology of events sur-rounding publication of the Manifesto. More experienced students will benefit from sections on the sources of Marx's thought, the sig-nificance of the Manifesto in the history of Marxism, and recent interpretations of the work. THE EDITOR: FREDERIC L. BENDER is professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He is the author of The Betrayal of Marw and editor of Karl Marx: The Essential Writings.

In Brown's Britain, award-winning journalist Robert Peston explains for the first time the REAL nature of the relationship between Blair and Brown. With the ease of a born storyteller, he gives the first truly authoritative account of the extraordinary deal they did back in 1994, the subsequent collapse of trust between them, and the growing crisis as they became completely alienated from each other in the run-up to the 2005 election. This book, for which Peston was granted unprecedented access to the Chancellor and his friends and colleagues, draws back the veil on the brooding man who has been Britain's longest serving and arguably most powerful Chancellor in more than 100 years Filled with telling quotes and unexpected insights, it takes you right to the heart of the secret power games that go on behind the gates of Downing Street, and looks ahead to what Brown will do when he becomes Prime Minister in name as well as deed.