In the annals of South Asian history, few political formations carry the weight of the Kuru Kingdom. Emerging from the mists of the late Bronze Age around 1200 BC, this union of Indo-Aryan tribes in the region of modern Haryana, Delhi, and western Uttar Pradesh represents nothing less than the first recorded state-level society in the Indian subcontinent since the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization.

On the night of November 5, 1991, the body of one of Britain's most powerful men was found floating naked in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary Islands. Robert Maxwell—media baron, Labour MP, multimillionaire, and father of nine—had vanished from his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, hours earlier.

Arthashastra, a manual on statecraft so detailed and pragmatic that it makes Machiavelli's The Prince seem like a preliminary sketch. Written in Sanskrit, this ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, politics, economic policy, and military strategy is a monumental work of political realism.