This book delves into the rich history and complex politics of Greenland, revealing how this icy expanse has shaped—and been shaped by—the world. This short history begins with the Vikings, whose mysterious disappearance from Greenland in the 1400s remains one of history’s great puzzles. It then explores the island’s gradual transformation from a Danish possession to an autonomous territory, charting its role during the World Wars and its strategic importance during the Cold War.

Greenland finds itself at the centre of a renewed ‘great game’, balancing transatlantic ties, rising Chinese influence, and mounting domestic pressures for independence. And that’s before President Trump’s agenda is factored in. Starting from Trump’s plan to purchase Greenland, Elizabeth Buchanan dissects the island’s contemporary role and poses four provocative scenarios for its future—from full independence to an icy geopolitical standoff with Denmark. So You Want to Own Greenland? is an essential read for anyone curious about the future of this frozen frontier and its place on the global stage.

Una guida indispensabile alla Groenlandia: perché è importante, chi la desidera e perché questa terra selvaggia di 56.000 abitanti potrebbe diventare il prossimo punto critico globale. La Groenlandia non è un’isola qualunque. Dalla sua scoperta da parte dei Vichinghi fino alla sua attuale importanza strategica, è stata una frontiera per l’esplorazione umana e per l’impero, emergendo oggi come un facilitatore della competizione geoeconomica.

Questo libro approfondisce la ricca storia e la complessa politica della Groenlandia, rivelando come questa espansione glaciale abbia plasmato – ed è stata plasmata da – il mondo. Questa breve storia inizia con i Vichinghi, la cui misteriosa scomparsa dalla Groenlandia nel 1400 rimane uno dei grandi enigmi della storia. Esplora poi la graduale trasformazione dell’isola da possedimento danese a territorio autonomo, delineandone il ruolo durante le Guerre Mondiali e la sua importanza strategica durante la Guerra Fredda.

La Groenlandia si trova al centro di un rinnovato “grande gioco”, in equilibrio tra i legami transatlantici, la crescente influenza cinese e le crescenti pressioni interne per l’indipendenza. E questo senza considerare l’agenda del presidente Trump. Partendo dal piano di Trump di acquistare la Groenlandia, Elizabeth Buchanan analizza il ruolo attuale dell’isola e propone quattro scenari provocatori per il suo futuro: dalla piena indipendenza a un gelido scontro geopolitico con la Danimarca. So You Want to Own Greenland? è una lettura essenziale per chiunque sia curioso del futuro di questa frontiera ghiacciata e del suo posto sulla scena globale.

Once the war with Iraq was over and after the death of the new order’s charismatic founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic was consolidated: first by tweaking its institutional arrangements, and then by fostering economic development and post-war reconstruction. A reformist interlude then followed, reversed unceremoniously by a return of populism and a broader authoritarian retrenchment. Today Iran remains at odds with itself, its economy too deeply political to yield meaningful developmental results, its foreign relations too conflicted to allow it a productive place in the community of nations.

As Iran’s nationalities and its women and youth carve out spaces for themselves in the broader narrative, competing identities–religious, national and otherwise–abound. After forty years, the Islamic Republic remains a country in search of itself.

These include infiltrating Russian-speaking priests into the Soviet Union; secret negotiations between John XXIII and Khrushchev; the future Paul VI’s close relationship with the CIA; the Vatican’s infiltration by Eastern Bloc intelligence; the battles between the Jesuits and Opus Dei; and the secret bank funds channelled first to fight communism in South America, then to support Solidarity in Poland. This entertaining book journeys right to the present, uncovering startling machinations under Benedict XVI and, today, Pope Francis.

Whether Possessioni Rosso, still made by descendants of Dante; Barolo ‘Lazzarito’, from a wine estate founded by the son of Italy’s first king; or Terre Rosse di Giabbascio, pressed from grapes grown on ex-Mafia land, the peninsula’s wines provide an intoxicating insight into the ideas, events and personalities that shaped Italian history. If history can sometimes be throat-achingly dry, Millon serves up a delightfully fresh take on Italy’s past, present and future, best enjoyed with a glass in hand.

President Putin is the man who manages and manipulates these existential anxieties. And since the annexation of Crimea, the need to decrypt his vision for the nation-propelled by the Kremlin’s Eurasian neo-imperialists and prophets of `Russian-way’ conservatism-has become more pressing than ever. In this revealing and engrossing book, Michel Eltchaninoff invites us inside the psyche of the Russian president for a better understanding of his doctrine and geopolitical vision.

He offers answers to an urgent question for our 21st century world: what is Vladimir Putin thinking?