Franklin Foer is a celebrated author whose non-fiction works delve into the intersections of sports, technology, and globalism. His writing is characterized by insightful analysis and a remarkable ability to connect seemingly disparate subjects into compelling narratives. Foer tackles complex issues of the modern world with sharp intelligence and a distinctive perspective. Through his essays and books, he offers readers fresh insights into the forces shaping our contemporary lives.
“An eccentric, fascinating exposé of a world most of us know nothing about.”— The New York Times Book Review "An insightful, entertaining, brainiac sports road trip."— The Wall Street Journal "Foer’s skills as a narrator are enviable. His characterizations… are comparable to those in Norman Mailer's journalism."— The Boston Globe A groundbreaking work—named one of the five most influential sports books of the decade by Sports Illustrated—How Soccer Explains the World is a unique and brilliantly illuminating look at soccer, the world’s most popular sport, as a lens through which to view the pressing issues of our age, from the clash of civilizations to the global economy.
"[Tracing] the intellectual history of computer science, [the author] puts the DNA of the very idea of 'tech' under the microscope. Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, he argues, are breaking laws intended protect intellectual property and privacy. This is not the path towards freedom and prosperity, but the total automation and homogenization of our social, political, and intellectual lives. Today's corporate giants want access to every facet of our identities and influence over every corner of our lives. Foer both indicts these companies, and shapes a path towards reining them in."--
Franklin Foer tells the definitive insider story of the first two years of the Biden presidency, with exclusive access to Biden’s longtime team of advisers, and presents a gripping portrait of a president during this momentous time in our nation’s history.On January 20, 2021, standing where only two weeks earlier police officers had battled with right-wing paramilitaries, Joe Biden took his oath of office. The American people were still sick with COVID-19, his economists were already warning him of an imminent financial crisis, and his party, the Democrats, had the barest of majorities in the Senate. Yet, faced with an unprecedented set of crises, Joe Biden decided he would not play defense. Instead, he set out to transform the nation. He proposed the most ambitious domestic spending bills since the 1960s and vowed to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan, ending the nation’s longest war and reorienting it toward a looming competition with China.With unparalleled access to the tight inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades, Franklin Foer dramatizes in forensic detail the first two years of the Biden presidency, concluding with the historic midterm elections. The result is a gripping and high-definition portrait of a major president at a time when democracy itself seems imperiled. With his back to the wall, Biden resorted to old-fashioned deal-making and compromise. It was a gamble that seemed at first disastrously anachronistic, as he struggled to rally even the support of his own party. Yet, as the midterms drew near, via a series of bills with banal names, Biden somehow found a way to invest trillions of dollars in clean energy, the domestic semiconductor industry, and new infrastructure. Had he done the impossible―breaking decisively with the old Washington consensus to achieve progressive goals?The Last Politician is a landmark work of political reporting—which includes thrilling, blow-by-blow insider reports of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and the White House’s swift response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine—that is destined to shape history’s view of a president in the eye of the storm.
Im digitalen Zeitalter erlebt die Welt eine beispiellose Renaissance der Monopole. Ihre Macht erlaubt es einigen wenigen Big-Tech-Unternehmen, nicht nur Konkurrenz um ihre Produkte auszustechen. Sie ist inzwischen so groß, dass Internetkonzerne wie Google, Apple, Amazon und Facebook drauf und dran sind, die Ideologie ihrer Gründer und Führer, die Vision des Silicon Valley von der Alles-Maschine, zu vollenden. Franklin Foers Welt ohne Geist beschreibt mit bestechender Klarheit die Geschichte der Digitalisierung, von Alan Turing und Stewart Brand bis Jeff Bezos und Larry Page, und ihre Folgen: Im Schaufenster des Silicon Valley mögen Pluralismus und Individualität liegen, doch was wir uns erkaufen, sind Konformität, Desinformation, Privatisierung von Wissen und die Abschaffung der Privatsphäre. Selbstbestimmung, mahnt Foer, ist ohne einen freien Geist unmöglich. Wenn wir das Schaffen von Kultur, von Gedanken- und Diskussionsräumen dem Silicon Valley überantworten, befördern wir nicht unsere Existenz und das Gemeinwohl - wir befördern die Bilanzen der Konzerne und die Macht der Maschine.
Die Vereinigten Staaten erscheinen als Katastrophengebiet, dafür sorgen die Pandemie, der Klimawandel, der Wirtschaftseinbruch. Aber auch die politische Landschaft ist nach der Regierung Trump vermint und vernarbt - eine Strategie der Spaltung und des Misstrauens hat den Glauben der Bürger an die Demokratie an sich untergraben. Präsident Joe Biden steht vor enormen Herausforderungen, ein Jahr nach seiner Vereidigung, nach dem »Sturm auf das Capitol« und im Aufdämmern des nächsten Wahlkampfs. Kann das Team Biden internationale Beziehungen kitten, die Handlungsfähigkeit der ältesten Demokratie der Welt retten und die Menschen im Land hinter einer Vision für die Zukunft vereinen? Franklin Foers packende und auf Informationen aus den engsten Regierungskreisen fußende Reportage fängt den »Moment der Wahrheit« in den USA gestochen scharf ein.
