MARCH 2010
Welcome to The Passport, the all-new newsletter from Random House International. The Passport is a monthly look at what we're reading at RHI, from the latest releases to the best of the backlist for adults and young readers.
This month, we're proud to bring you 13 Bankers, a searing, exhaustively researched look at the global financial crisis and a brilliant, historically informed account of our troubled political economy. Simon Johnson is one the most prominent and widely quoted economists in America, and 13 Bankers is a must-read for anyone around the world wondering just how we've gotten to where we are now.
The Passport is going to be an ever-evolving project, so look for new features and more great content in the months to come. Welcome aboard!
 BOOK OF THE MONTH: 13 Bankers by Simon Johnson and James Kwak
In 13 Bankers, Simon Johnson—one of the most prominent and frequently cited economists in America (former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT, and author of the controversial "The Quiet Coup" in The Atlantic)—and James Kwak give a wide-ranging, meticulous, and bracing account of recent U.S. financial history within the context of previous showdowns between American democracy and Big Finance: from Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson, from Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They convincingly show why our future is imperiled by the ideology of finance (finance is good, unregulated finance is better, unfettered finance run amok is best) and by Wall Street's political control of government policy pertaining to it.
As the authors insist, the choice that we face is stark: whether we will accede to the vested interests of an unbridled financial sector that runs up profits in good years and dumps its losses on taxpayers in lean years, or reform through stringent regulation the banking system as first and foremost an engine of economic growth. To restore health and balance to our economy, Johnson and Kwak make a radical yet feasible and focused proposal: reconfigure the megabanks to be "small enough to fail."
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 BACKLIST BUZZ: Richard K. Morgan
Senior Marketing Manager Jason Kincade talks frankly about being a geek.
I can't say enough good things about Richard K. Morgan. Full disclosure: I'm a sci-fi geek, and over the last 30 years I have read my way through a huge swath of the canon, from Jules Verne to Arthur C. Clarke, from Philip K. Dick to Greg Bear and too many others to list. I'm also a voracious reader in general, and working in publishing allows me the great pleasure of it being a part of my job. So, it's rare that I have the time or the wherewithal to revisit many of my favorite books.
The one exception I have made in the past few years have been the novels of Richard K. Morgan. Mr. Morgan has written several books that are fantastic - Thirteen, set in 2091, a hard-charging tale of genetically engineered super-soldiers and a scarily plausible world where the old social orders have broken down, Market Forces, where the future of corporate life is literally kill or be killed, and The Steel Remains, the first in a fantasy trilogy featuring Gil, a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose cynicism is surpassed only by the speed of his sword.
What keeps bringing me back, however, is the trilogy featuring in my opinion Morgan's greatest character: Takeshi Kovacs. Imagine the pulp noir genius of a Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe set in the 25th century, where consciousness is digitised and for the right price death is only an option, and you begin to get the picture. Humanity has spread throughout the universe, in large part due to the discovery of the technological advances and knowledge of the long-extinct Martian race. Kovacs was once a UN Envoy, an elite cadre of soldiers who act as the enforcers for the ruling classes among the far-flung worlds humans have colonised. When we first meet him in Altered Carbon, he has re-invented himself as a private detective slash warrior for hire shanghaied into taking on a particularly shady case even by his standards. Throughout the next two books, Broken Angels and Woken Furies, the propulsive action and intricate set pieces coupled with Kovac's incisive musings about humanity and what the world has become leave you wishing the story would never end. I don't want to give too much away, as there really is so much more to these books than what I've said here. Go and read them and enjoy!
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 LIKE THIS? TRY THIS:
John Grisham's The Associate and Lee Vance's Restitution
John Grisham needs no introduction; he is a beloved author to millions, and each new book he writes becomes an immediate global phenomenon and an instant bestseller. The Associate is no exception in a long line of unforgettable, iconic works from Mr. Grisham.
If you are a fan of John Grisham, and of well-written and immaculately plotted suspense, then you'll love Lee Vance's debut novel Restitution. The New York Times Book Review called Restitution "Relentlessly readable...Vance plays his own excruciatingly complex game with great finesse, balancing interior drama and rip snorting action." Restitution established Lee Vance is a writer to watch, and the publication later this summer of his follow-up novel Garden of Betrayal is sure to grow his global audience.
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 KID'S CORNER:
N.D. Wilson's 100 Cupboards series
Henry York never dreamed his time in Kansas would open a door to adventure—much less a hundred doors. But a visit to his aunt and uncle's farm took an amazing turn when cupboard doors, hidden behind Henry's bedroom wall, revealed themselves to be portals to other worlds.
The three books in this rollicking young readers series, 100 Cupboards, Dandelion Fire and The Chestnut King, have become instant classics in the children's fantasy genre, and with each publication his fan base and readership has grown exponentially. If you or your kids are fans of Christopher Paolini, Michael Scott or J.K. Rowling then N.D. Wilson should have great appeal.
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