An epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

The Sassoons and the Kadoories stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than one hundred seventy-five years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and nearly losing everything as the Communists swept into power. Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families ignited an economic boom and opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country's deep inequality and to the political turmoil on their doorsteps. In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue, and survival.

Jonathan Kaufman paints a vivid, moving portrait of the relationship between blacks and Jews in recent decades--from the strong partnership forged during the civil rights movement of the 1960s to the angry war of words, recriminations, and highly charged confrontations making headlines today.

Burying the Pawn is the story of three unconventional people facing the challenges of learning disabilities and mental health issues in America. Zeb, Kiara, and Leo have all suffered in their own ways but are determined not to let their struggles define them. As they mature from lonely and confused children into headstrong adults, they still face obstacles but seek to make a difference in a society that often overlooks those who learn differently.

Zeb, a floundering adventure tour operator, wants to live a big, consequential life but is held back by his ADHD. Kiara, a disbarred psychologist and former soccer star, yearns to be a better person but seemingly lacks empathy for others, despite her auditory processing disorder, scoliosis, and Trinidadian immigrant heritage. Leo, a Venezuelan-born investment banker who suffers from anxiety, wants to make his family proud and repay his adopted country, but his mistreatment of Zeb, Kiara, and others might tank his chances. Individually, they struggle to keep their lives from unraveling, but their paths converge in the university town of Chapel Hill as they confront one of America's most pressing social problems-a broken education system that leaves students with learning differences behind. With tenacity and passion, they work to change the system and give others like them a chance to succeed.

At times joyful and other times heartbreaking, Burying the Pawn is a story about persistence, friendship, redemption, and taking control of your own destiny. Along the way, it offers a nuanced picture of the ways our education system fails students who learn differently and what can be done about it.

Proceeds from the book will benefit the University of North Carolina Learning Center and Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities.

The role of the individual is largely insignificant in world affairs but it's not zero. Each of us can make an intervention. And each of us should. Jettison the car pethaps. Cease one's addiction to flying. Change to a more sustainable diet. Rage against the polluting corporates. Turn the pen against the propaganda machine. Take radical action as befits the circumstances. All this has to be better than passivity and despair.

Yes, we are a highly ingenious species. But also an incredibly shortsighted one. Which trait will win out in this lethal struggle between antithical poles? No way of knowing in advance of course, but best not bet your money on human ingenuity and rationality. We don't have a great track record in this regard. Our tribal and base instincts are still far too deeply ingrained.

So if you're waiting for the tech geeks to bail us out at the eleventh hour you may very well be disappointed. Far better to take your very own heroic stand now whilst the global eco-systems still allow. Maybe it's too late already, but maybe it's not. Either way, the head-in-the-sand option doesn't seem to have much going for it amidst the never ending fires, floods and life sapping droughts. Start by reading these polemical rhymes and take things from there.