Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds is the fifth installment in the National Intelligence Council’s series aimed at providing a framework for thinking about the future. As with previous editions, this report will stimulate strategic thinking by identifying critical trends and potential discontinuities. It distinguishes between megatrends, those factors that will likely occur under any scenario, and game-changers, critical variables whose trajectories are far less certain. As the diversity and complexity of various factors has grown, there is increased attention to scenarios or alternative worlds...

A Monthly Magazine of aspiration devoted to the economic and political interests of women, edited by Josephine Conger-Keneko. - Summary by KevinS

Frederick Adams Woods examined the biographical records and family trees of the great dynasties of Europe, judging and comparing their moral standards and intellectual aptitude to their reputation as rulers. The summarised family histories are produced after a painstaking search including portrait galleries, family lineage, comparisons of reputation, and the origin of allegations of madness and moral bankruptcy, all collated within a single volume. - Summary by Leon Harvey

At its height, the British Empire was the largest in history. This short volume traces its development through the long 18th century, from 1714 to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Founded on the prosperity of Sir Robert Walpole's ministry , the Empire emerged from the Indian conquests of that gifted military amateur, Lord Clive, and was extended under the leadership of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, who drove the English to victory in the Seven Years' War . Surmounting the loss of the American colonies and twenty years of conflict with France, by the first quarter of the 19th century, the British navy, master of the oceans, presided over an Empire upon which the sun never set.

The Bolshevik Myth is a book by Alexander Berkman who with his partner Emma Goldman was deported from the USA under the 1918 Anarchist Exclusion Act and shipped to the young Soviet Russia. He describes his experiences in Bolshevik Russia from 1920 to 1922, where he saw the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Written in the form of a diary, The Bolshevik Myth describes how Berkman's initial enthusiasm for the revolution faded as he became disillusioned with the Bolsheviks and their suppression of all political dissent...

John Eliot, a North American missionary, advocates for post-civil-war England to adopt a representative democracy, using the Mosaic Law as a model.

John Lothrop Motley was an American author and popular diplomat, who helped to prevent European intervention on the side of the Confederates in the American Civil War. In 1861, just after the outbreak of the American Civil War, Motley wrote two letters to The Times defending the Federal position, and these letters, afterwards reprinted as [this] pamphlet entitled Causes of the Civil War in America, made a favourable impression on President Lincoln. Partly owing to this essay, Motley was appointed...

"What I want to impress upon those who may read this paper is this: The Irish land question is not a mere local question; it is a universal question. It involves the great problem of the distribution of wealth, which is everywhere forcing itself upon attention. It can not be settled by measures which in their nature can have but a local application. It can only be settled by measures which in their nature will apply everywhere as readily as in Ireland."

“The Federalist Papers” are a collection of 85 linked essays that explain the construction of the U.S. government and why it was built that way. The Papers are regarded as the best pipeline into understanding the U.S. Constitution and the founding principles of the government it would establish. I have endeavored here to present these essays, not as articles in a newspaper, but as you might have experienced them if you had sat in a comfortable tavern with a tankard in hand, and listened while these ardent men ranged in front of a friendly fireplace as they attempted to convince you of their arguments...

Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United States when president William McKinley was assassinated in 1901. As the youngest president, Roosevelt advanced the progressive Republican program known as the “Square Deal” focused on conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection. Expanding on this theme, “The matter contained is this book has been carefully prepared from the many addresses by the President, the aim being to bring under each specific head the ideas expressed on many occasions, by Horace Markle.” Topics range from The Farmer to World Peace, and The Essence of Christian Character. - Summary by Larry Wilson

This essay is one of a great number that endorse the principle of eugenics, a controversial study and practice that aims for society or government to 'self-direct' the course of human evolution. In this essay, one finds discussion of contraception, abortion, population growth and war, as well as questions of 'race.' One finds here a use of the term 'race' meaning something far different than what is used today. This is a provocative essay. - Summary by KevinS

A number of publications distributed by the Friends of Ukraine in the period after the First World War when the Ukraine was struggling for its independence.

In this essay, the author directs our attention on the African continent and describes how the exploitation and colonization of Africa by European powers contributed to the then-ongoing World War. Without a just and measured settlement of African concerns, the promise is for continued warfare among nations even after the peace to be negotiated at the close of the European conflict. - Summary by KevinS

Here is a trenchant argument for the Allied Supreme Council, established at the close of World War One, to recognize and defend the independence of Armenia and its people. Responding to President Wilson's call for the sovereignty of those who fought for self-determination during the war, the author outlines his people's suffering and their efforts to earn recognition of their nationhood by joining the Entente in fighting against tyranny.

An explanation of the concept of industrial democracy and its relation to capitalism.

American journalist H.L. Mencken’s Notes On Democracy was originally published in 1926, yet is still relevant almost 100 years later. Mencken has proposed some succinct and satirical definitions of democracy, such as, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” And, “Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey house.” One predictable result of democracy, Mencken explains, is that the professional politician, who’s objective is always the job, and not the principle, is in a constant struggle for office and its rewards...

Written in the aftermath of Word War I, Viscountess Snowden recounts her travels in post war Europe in, as she describes it, "an attempt to do what one person might do, or at least attempt, to restore good feeling between the nations and the normal course of life as quickly as possible." An outspoken pacifist, socialist, and feminist who nonetheless strongly denounced the Bolsheviks, Snowden was a controversial and polarizing figure. whose views and observations offer a unique perspective on Europe in the '20s. - Summary by Ciufi Galeazzi

“We are not the same nation with Russian people,” the statement which all Ukrainians wish to convey to the whole world for centuries. The striving for freedom and independence is what these people shed much of their blood on Ukrainian lands for. “The Ukraine” by Bedwin Sands describes Ukrainian problem, which exacerbated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, by looking back at the Ukrainian history, the development of Ukrainian literature and its influence, and by considering its relations with Austria and Russia.

The 19th century was the Golden Age of Nationalism in Europe. By the end of the century many countries achieved their national self-determination. But the asunder of the territories was still a cause of dispute which led to the Great War in 1914. Ukrainian nationalism reached its peak in the early years of the 20th century. The Great War was the opportunity of the nation to obtain its unification and liberty from Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary which kept Ukraine under their reign for decades...

A Critique of Classical Socialism presented in a series of letters to a Mr. Smith. The author was the editor of the New York-based "Common Cause" magazine - Summary by KevinS

The Commentaries on the Laws of England by Sir William Blackstone, are a prominent and authoritative 18th century dissertation on the common law of England which not only pertains to that country, but is also at the foundation of the American legal system. They were widely read and a huge influence on America's Founding Fathers and, to this day, are occasionally quoted in U.S. Supreme Court decisions when expounding upon principals of universal and enduring human justice. The commentaries were divided into four books: On the Rights of Persons, On the Rights of Things, Of Private Wrongs, and Of Public Wrongs...