Creating an American dystopia took planners, architects and salesmen. How did they get away with it?

A Black female protagonist elevates the genre to show how intelligence professionals live with their choices.

A novel clears up what has been obscured by the reflexive belief in America’s founding myths.

The famed author roamed the grey of the international order and captured a world of “half-angels fighting half-devils”.

Documentary photographers have the toughest of briefs – a still image of an ever changing world.

When it came to baking bread, we were breaking bread as a community.

With Trump on the way out, from the White House at least, there is perhaps a chance to get serious for a moment.

To grasp Malaysia’s infamous 1MDB scandal means understanding the elaborate ecosystem of government-linked companies.

An absurd insight? Dishonesty, narcissism and the celebritisation of politics do sound awfully familiar.

Internet culture is moving faster than ever, and what better way to understand a crazy year?

Robert Hope laid out down operating principles to ensure the intelligence community is properly managed and accountable.

Against the odds, the Chinese economy has navigated multiple crises, but the future may be more problematic.

Jumping at shadows is no basis for Australian foreign policy. Common sense must prevail.

A new book from an Obama insider considers the repeated failures of outside overthrow in the Middle East.

People-to-people connections that stretch across tens of thousands of years don’t stop when lines are drawn on a map.

Anne Applebaum’s latest book is a forensic and humane study of a world where methods change, but lust for power doesn’t.

The anti-communist purge in Indonesia in the 1960s is retold in a compelling examination of US Cold War policy.

A contrarian view on a cherished historical narrative and the necessity of “dark bargains with illiberal forces”.

The fraught relationship between the United States and China is set to deteriorate further.

Survivors and perpetrators alike have preferred silence as a way of coping with a traumatic past.

How did an uncharismatic former mid-level KGB spy rise to the pinnacle of Russian politics?

The CCP’s discriminatory hukou system is a great obstacle to changing from world’s factory to a service-driven economy.

A meditation on the region – the arena of Australia’s greatest strategic focus – puts China’s rise in historic context.

More reader responses to the call for books to collect for social isolation.

Looking to past examples of state collapse offers a predictive guide to why nations will fail in the future.

How a “mental map” became a physical space facing “the risks of multiple plausible futures”.

Toilet paper is piled high in the laundry cupboard. Now to make a dent on the stockpile of books.

To be seduced by “MarketWorld” thinking is one thing – to grapple with how to break the cycle is quite another.

Replete with wry observations, this quick read will appeal to political insiders – and so achieves less as a result.

Aggressive advocates of free markets, the Koch brothers amassed a fortune by exploiting market imperfections.

In a #MeToo age, censorship has largely shielded China’s citizens from joining the feminist movement – but not entirely.

A well-crafted look back at the Weimar Republic’s fragile democracy in 1929 shows how societies come apart at the seams.

A bitingly satirical, sometimes subversive, series that offers a deep dive into topical issues.

“When this part of history is written, my people will be remembered for what you have done.”

He was the diplomat who in many ways embodied the US with his idealism and his egocentrism.

A reminder that politics can be messy, complex and seemingly contradictory – and that’s just one person.

Occasionally inspiring and frequently very funny, Twitter is the great modern meeting point – mostly.

What better way to understand the upside-down world of today than with fiction masquerading as fact?

In the divide between capitalist West and communist East, it was often regional politics that mattered more.

Detailed reporting enlivens what is a substantive and important look at the world’s big economic test.

Historian William Dalrymple looks at how a small trading company in London became a mighty army and conquered India.

It’s time to inject new content into the hardy ideal of a free and equal Australia.

Adam Driver stars as Daniel Jones, who spent more than six years uncovering the dark secrets of the US war on terror.

Parag Khanna’s The Future is Asian is a perfect example of “Asian Century” hype.

Samantha Power’s memoir is no reflection in despair but instead a continuing call to action in support of rights.

A look at law-enforcement cooperation between Australia and Indonesia will interest experts and curious observers alike.

A historian retraces the links between South Asia and Australia, uncovering a rich and complex legacy.

Xi has sworn enemies and many hold grievances, but many more support him and the system of which he is a creature.

This quietly radical book calls on Australia to plan as if our US alliance will diminish to the point of vanishing.

Tracing the life of Kim Jong-un delivers a captivating account of a chubby, cartoonish dictator that graces the screen.