In a country governed by isolation, fear, and a tyrannical dictator, seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer, but he decides to use his position to try to outwit his handler, undermine the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. Includes author's note. Romania, 1989. In a country governed by isolation, fear, and a tyrannical dictator,...

"'We should have known the end was near.' So begins Imbolo Mbue's exquisite and devastating novel How Beautiful We Were. Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, it tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by a large and powerful American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of clean up and financial reparations to the...

"A woman wondering who she really is goes in search of a father she never knew--only to find something far more complicated than she ever expected--in this "stirring narrative about family, our capacity to change and the need to belong" (Time). Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. In her 40s, she has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up, and her mother--the only parent who raised her--is...

"In an underground club, a high-ranking public official spends his secret nights indulging in fantasies as exciting as they are depraved. For a seductive employee of the Dungeon, it's her job to fulfill them. But she's playing a far more dangerous game-one of blackmail, politics, and murder that reaches into the shadow world of the GhostWalkers, and the creation of a spectacular, one-of-a-kind new weapon of defense. But when a dictator makes his own...

Ali Shigri, Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of Fury Squadron, is determined to understand what or who pushed his father to commit suicide--and to avenge his death. His father, one of Zia ul-Haq's colonels, may or may not have been involved in the conspiracies and coincidences leading to the mysterious 1988 plane crash that killed Pakistan's dictator General Zia ul-Haq. His search immerses him in a snarl of events: Americans in...

Do you crave the power to shape the world in your image? Can you tell lies without blinking an eye? Do you see enemies all around you? If you answered yes to all of the above, then this is the job for you! And if becoming a dictator sounds intriguing, well, you've just stumbled upon the playbook that will guide you step by step towards making your big lie a reality. Join Gaslit Nation co-hosts Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa, with artist Kasia Babis,...