Hi everyone, we're promoting a special Quicklet Bundle featuring the best of Walter Isaacson's works, including the following 4 titles:

+Steve Jobs
+Kissinger
+The Wise Men
+Benjamin Franklin

Separately, you'd pay $8.97 for all 3, instead, you get them for 25% off in one convenient form!

Here are short descriptions for each book.

Quicklets: Your Reading Sidekick!

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On Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is Walter Isaacson’s fourth major biography, and it was his account of the lives of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin that led Steve Jobs to approach Isaacson about writing his own biography. Isaacson attended Harvard University where he earned a B.A. in history and literature, and he also attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Isaacson currently serves as chairman of the board for Teach for America and the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He began his career at the The Sunday Times of London before joining TIME Magazine in 1978, where he eventually became editor in 1996. He became Chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, then became President and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003.

Isaacson enjoyed unprecedented access to Steve Jobs, drawing on over forty exclusive interviews with the tech icon dating back to 2009 for this biography. Isaacson’s other notable biographies include Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), and Kissinger: A Biography (1992).

Steve Jobs was published only weeks after Jobs passed, and the book immediately jumped to the top of every bestseller list in the country. The hotly anticipated biography sold 37,000 copies in its first five days, setting a record for any book, fiction or nonfiction, hardcover or paperback.

Amazon recently announced that Steve Jobs was Amazon’s bestselling book of 2011. Sony has already acquired the rights to the film version of the biography, and there are rumors that Aaron Sorkin, who adapted The Social Network for the big screen could be writing the screenplay.

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On Kissinger

Kissinger came of age and into his own professionally during the most tumultuous period in recent history. It is at least fair to acknowledge that Kissingers world view guiding his actions as the worlds most influential policymaker were formulated during very stressful times. Early on, from his teenage German exodus to the many nail-biting moments that accompanied his life during World War II and the beginning stages of the Cold War, Kissinger and his colleagues were involved in the study and practice of international relations. He faced having to provide answers to difficult questions never before faced by his predecessors.

One such telling example is the emergence of nuclear weapons as a major factor affecting power balances and diplomatic relationships between the nuclear powers of the Soviet Union and China. Additionally, nations in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East such as Angola and Palestine/Israel were in their early generational adjustment to post-colonial existence, which for many resulted in revolutionary violence.

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On The Wise Men

By no means a laudatory puff piece, the book also very vividly details instances when the Wise Men favored positions that in retrospect werent a credible portrayal of wisdom. Some examples include Kennans seeming advocacy at times for authoritarian systems including as a model for the U.S. domestic power structure, McCloys favorable view of Japanese internment camps during World War II, and Harrimans decision to pressure journalists working at Newsweek, in which he owned a controlling interest, to alter their critical coverage of daytime bombing raids over Germany in 1943 (The Wise Men). The Wise Mens Eurocentric focus with regard to world affairs and Soviet expansionism also ill-prepared them and their top aids to deal with the rise of Cold War struggles in East Asia, especially with regard to China, Korea, and Vietnam.

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Quicklets: Your Reading Sidekick!