See books and series to understand the world in 2021

In addition to the continuation of the coronavirus pandemic, the year 2021 was marked by episodes that intensified current geopolitical chess scenarios. The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, for example, has again challenged the way the US and China deal with partners and form alliances.

The Cold War 2.0 between the two powers was also reflected in fears of conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a rebel province to be reincorporated in the future — something Washington promises to avoid. In other words, in the end, it is China’s rise that is at stake.

Therefore, the list of books and documentaries released this year compiled by journalists and columnists from leaf brings together three works dealing with the Asian country, such as “A China Won?”, by Kishore Mahbubani, and “China’s Leaders: From Mao to Now”, by David Shambaugh.

There are also indications of productions that strive to explain the crisis of democracy, such as the book by Anne Applebaum, or address racism in the history of the United Kingdom, the various political and social issues in Latin America and Africa, and reflections on Covid-19 and environmental issues.

Books

‘Dreamworlds of Race: Empire and the Utopian Destiny of Anglo-America’, de Duncan Bell

_{Princeton University Press; R$ 158 (e-book) 488 pages.}

Habitually relegated to the tabloids, news about the British royal family gained another relevance in 2021. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle pointed to the structural racism of royalty as one of the causes for her and Prince Harry to withdraw from their royal functions. The subject is addressed by one of the most distinguished scholars of the moment, Duncan Bell, who has written about the relationship between race, empire and liberalism in the history of the United Kingdom. (Mathias Alencastro)

‘Has China Winned?’ by Kishore Mahbubani

_{Intrinsic; BRL 54.90; 368 pages}

Singapore diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, who once chaired the United Nations Security Council, confronts the United States and China, particularly in economics, to point out what led to Donald Trump’s trade war — and even though the book was written before from the new American government to Joe Biden’s Cold War attempt. (Nelson de Sa)

‘China’s Leaders: From Mao to Now’, de David Shambaugh

_{Polity Press; R$ 142; 416 págs.}

In the year that the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its 100th anniversary, analyzes of the acronym and Chinese politics were the subject of numerous publications. “From Mao to Now” is a small window into contemporary China from the profile of its leaders, covering their personalities, trajectories and personal experiences. (Tatiana Pleasures)

‘How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate’, de Isabella M. Weber

_{Routledge; R$ 224 (e-book); 358 págs.}

Isabella Weber sheds new light on the country’s economic reform and opening process and shows how China sought to increase its integration into the world economy, while preserving essential features of its political model. (Tatiana Pleasures)

‘The Twilight of Democracy’ by Anne Applebaum

_{Record; R $ 35.90; 168 p.}

It is just another title in a torrent of recent works on the corrosion of democratic systems, but the book offers an important differential by bringing the analysis and testimony of an American journalist who has lived a good part of the last few years in Warsaw. Applebaum followed the Polish transition between the 1980s and 1990s, designed to eliminate the Soviet system, and is now witnessing the nationalist and populist wave led by the government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. (Jaime Spitzcovsky)

‘Ñamérica’, by Martín Caparrós

_{Penguin Random House; BRL 68.18 (e-book); 688 pages}

In his most recent book, the Argentine chronicler portrays political and social conflicts, poverty and inequality in large Latin American cities, such as Mexico, Bogotá, Managua, Caracas and Buenos Aires. The work brings an engaging narrative, in the first person, with astute observations of the famous author of “El Hambre” and “El Interior”. (Sylvia Colombo)

‘The Dead and the Journalist’, by Óscar Martínez

_{Anagram; BRL 45.92 (e-book); 199 pages}

The Salvadoran journalist, director and reporter for El Faro, the main news site in Central America, reflects on the profession in one of the most violent regions in the world. Martínez has traveled by freight train with illegal immigrants, interviewed gang leaders who ended up murdered, visited prisons and faces, on a daily basis, a government hostile to the press. It is a record in a more intimate tone than his previous books, “Los Migrantes que No Importan” and “Una Historia de Violencia”. (Sylvia Colombo)

‘Catastrophe’, by Niall Ferguson

_{Criticism; BRL 72; 544 pages}

The work recovers great tragedies of history –from the Black Death to financial crises– to show, in the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic, how catastrophes shaped the planet. It takes, however, a certain amount of goodwill with the controversial Scottish historian, who does better when he reconstructs historical facts than when he minimizes the current climate crisis. (Thiago Amancio)

‘Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats’ Campaigns to Defeat Trump’, de Edward-Isaac Duty

_{Viking; R $ 106 (e-book); 528 págs.}

The book provides a detailed account of the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, which began with a party shocked by its defeat by Donald Trump. The author unravels the relationships between the various names that marked this process and explains how Joe Biden, considered uncompetitive for most of the race, left all his rivals behind. (Rafael Balago)

‘Under a White Sky: Nature in the Future’, by Elizabeth Kolbert

_{Intrinsic; BRL 49.90; 224 pages.}

Kolbert details how various efforts to try to conserve nature ended up creating new problems. An example: one study is throwing a white substance into the sky to reflect sunlight back into space and thus trying to cool the planet. The side effect is that the sky would no longer be blue. (Rafael Balago)

‘The Education of an Idealist’, by Samantha Power

_{Company of Letters; BRL 139.90; 632 pages}

A memoir by the former US ambassador to the UN and current head of USAID, the US agency for international development, mixes the personal story of the immigrant from Ireland with an interest in diplomacy. The author of an influential book on genocide, Power shows how the attempt to adopt an idealistic foreign policy comes up against political pressures and bureaucratic hurdles. (Fabio Zanini)

‘Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad’, de Michela Wrong

_{Public Affairs; R$ 56,47 (e-book); 464 págs.}

An unflattering account of Rwanda, an African country considered a model of development, but one that adopts authoritarian practices. The book chronicles the coming to power of Paul Kagame, in 1994, after his group overthrew those responsible for a genocide that left close to 1 million dead. In a harsh account, not free from controversy, the author shows the contradictions of the regime, also known for persecuting opponents. (Fabio Zanini)

‘Survivor of the Chinese Gulag’, by Gulbahar Haitiwaji

_{Ecuador; R $ 174.50; 249 págs.}

The account recalls the period the author spent in a forced education camp in Xinjiang province, where Chinese of Uighur origin are sent. Exiled in France, she recalls her arrest and release and her youth, which helps to understand the reality of the local population. This is a strong report, which brings the fear he felt without being able to communicate with his family. (Patricia Pamplona)

‘Brimos: Syrian-Lebanese Immigration in Brazil and its Path to Politics”, by Diogo Bercito

_{Phosphor; BRL 74.90; 272 pages.}

The book starts from the trajectory of prominent families in national politics –such as Maluf, Temer, Haddad and Boulos– to tell the story of the Syrian-Lebanese migration to Brazil. With a narrative that mixes historical and journalistic information with tasty anecdotes, Bercito transports us from the villages of the former Ottoman Empire, emptied by the mass diaspora, to the rise of these immigrants’ children and grandchildren to the National Congress and the Planalto Palace, in Brasília. (Flávia Mantovani)

Series

‘Dignity Colony: A Nazi Sect in Chile’

_{Directed by: Cristián Leighton; 6 episodes; available on Netflix}

The documentary reconstructs life in Colonia Dignidade, founded in southern Chile in 1961 by Paul Schäfer. There, Chileans from the region and German immigrants were kept separate from the world, forced into forced labor. The property, where several opponents were buried, served to support the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Schäfer died in prison, convicted, among other crimes, of pedophilia. (Sylvia Colombo)

‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’

_{Directed by: Ian Curtis; 6 episodes; Still no debut scheduled in Brazil}

BBC documentary makes a kind of “emotional history” of the modern world, with moments as diverse as the Cultural Revolution in China and the rise of the Illuminati conspiracy theory. The work makes a patchwork of geopolitics and assembles an almost lysergic puzzle to explain how we reached this state of disintegration and how we can get out of that precipice. (Thiago Amancio)

‘Turning Point – September 11th and the War on Terror’

_{Creation: Brian Knappenberger; 5 episodes; available on Netflix}

Twenty years after 9/11, the series makes the best of recent snapshots of the two decades of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, recounting the attacks, going back to the formation of al Qaeda and portraying what was done in the name of War on Terror. (Thiago Amancio)