...William W. Finan, Jr. Scott Mainwaring and Aníbal Pérez-Liñán analyze more than a century of Latin American political history, hunting for the root causes of dictatorship and democracy. Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, Survival, and Fall , by Scott Mainwaring...

...William W. Finan, Jr. In his new book, Shibley Telhami analyzes extensive polling data from the Middle East, finding that public opinion embraces regional uprisings but dwells on old grievances. The World through Arab Eyes: Arab Public Opinion and the Reshaping of the Middle East...

...William W. Finan, Jr. A new book by Neil Irwin recounts the extraordinary measures undertaken by central bankers to avert a global depression. The formula to end economic malaise, however, remains undiscovered. The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire , by Neil Irwin...

...William W. Finan, Jr. The authors of a new history of modern China argue that nationalism, not communism, has propelled the country's political evolution and its rise as an international power. Wealth and Power: China's Long March to the Twenty-First Century , by Orville Schell and John...

...William W. Finan, Jr. Three new books examine how it happened that, 12 years after going to war in Afghanistan, the United States and its allies are preparing to withdraw from a nation still largely ungovernable and pervaded by corruption, warlordism, and insecurity. Afghanistan from the Cold...

...William W. Finan, Jr. A new book by Anne Applebaum offers a heavily detailed, ground-level history of the arrival of communist rule in postwar Eastern Europe. The author aims, she says, to understand “totalitarianism in practice.” Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956...

...William W. Finan, Jr. A new book meditates on Haiti before and since the 2010 earthquake, and about the do-gooders who visit, armed with “a kind of condescension filled with pity.” Farewell Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti , by Amy Wilentz . Simon and Schuster , 2013 . © 2013 Current...

...William W. Finan A new book recounts the history of the international human rights movement, a movement that of late has become in part an instrument of war. The International Human Rights Movement: A History , by Aryeh Neier . Princeton University Press , 2012 . © 2012 Current...

...William W. Finan, Jr. A new book details how US policies under George W. Bush helped sour Vladimir Putin on the West, leaving him in the paranoid funk that still colors his outlook today. The Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the Struggle for Russia , by Angus Roxburgh . Macmillan , 2012...

...William W. Finan, Jr. A new book about a fugitive from North Korea casts chilling light on the world's last remaining national system of concentration camps. Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West , by Blaine Harden . Viking , 2012...

...William W. Finan, Jr. A freelance journalist living in Somalia studied the buccaneers who have seized ships in the Gulf of Aden and captured the attention of navies and news media. The Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World , by Jay Bahadur . Pantheon , 2011 . © 2012 Current...