Arts & Letters Live

Melinda Gates’s inspiring debut The Moment of Lift traces her awakening to the link between women’s empowerment and the health of societies. One thing has become increasingly clear to her: if you want to lift a society up, invest in women. Gates introduces us to her heroes in the movement toward equality, offers startling data, and shares moving conversations she’s had with women from all over the world. A personal statement of passionate conviction, she traces her evolution from a partner working behind the scenes to one of the world’s foremost advocates for women, driven by the belief that all lives have equal value, and gender equity is the lever that lifts everything.

Esteemed scientist and historian Jared Diamond presents a brilliant new theory of how and why some nations recover from trauma and others do not. Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis reveals how seven countries have successfully survived defining upheavals in the recent past through a process of painful self-appraisal and adaptation, and identifies patterns in the way that these distinct nations recovered from calamity. Looking ahead to the future, Diamond investigates whether the United States and the world are squandering their natural advantages, on a path toward political conflict and decline. Diamond won a Pulitzer Prize for his internationally bestselling book Guns, Germs, and Steel.