Vol. 4- have imprint Westlake Village, CA.

A Times Literary Supplement’s Book of the Year 2020 A New Statesman's Best Book of 2020 A Bloomberg's Best Book of 2020 A Guardian Best Book About Ideas of 2020 The world-renowned philosopher and author of the bestselling Justice explores the central question of our time: What has become of the common good? These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favor of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the American credo that "you can make it if you try". The consequence is a brew of anger and frustration that has fueled populist protest and extreme polarization, and led to deep distrust of both government and our fellow citizens--leaving us morally unprepared to face the profound challenges of our time. World-renowned philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the crises that are upending our world, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalization and rising inequality. Sandel shows the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind, and traces the dire consequences across a wide swath of American life. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success--more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility and solidarity, and more affirming of the dignity of work. The Tyranny of Merit points us toward a hopeful vision of a new politics of the common good.

Colonized and left to its own devices, the planet on which Lehnik the horsemaster lives has, over a thousand years, reached a medieval level. Sent with an orphaned child to the hold of the Sisters of Silence, the soldier learns that their order exists to guard the very sophisticated -- and perilous -- weapons left to them by their Terran ancestors. When Garrouche invades Trans-Kell, after its ruler has overcome the Order in his own country and stolen its weapons, Lehnik joins the Order in Trans-Kell. and undertakes a hazardous journey to find and destroy the devices that could wreak havoc on their world. "One of Mayhar's best. Lehnik, a cynical professional soldier, tranforms himself by joining a contemplative order of philosopher-agents, seeking to save their civilization from advanced weaponry left by their Terran ancestors. A great premise marvelously realized!"--Robert Reginald

In The Crown, the Court and the Casa da Índia, Susannah Humble Ferreira examines the social and political context that gave rise to the Portuguese Overseas Empire during the reigns of João II (1481-95) and Manuel I (1495-1521). In particular the book elucidates the role of the Portuguese royal household in the political consolidation of Portugal in this period. By looking at the relationship of the Manueline Reforms, the expulsion of the Jews and the creation of the Santa Casa da Misericordia to the political threat brought on by the expansion of Ferdinand of Aragon into the Mediterranean, the author re-evaluates the place of the overseas expansion in the policies of the Portuguese crown.