Why am I passionate about this?

My childhood, very much shaped by World War II, led me the study of international relations and political psychology. I have written numerous books on conflict management and prevention, and also on ancient Greek thinkers and writers, and the elusive nature of knowledge. In recent years I have begun to explore these themes in fiction. This shift has been exhilarating and liberating and provides me the opportunity to present the tragic understanding of life and politics to a larger audience.


I wrote

Rough Waters and Other Stories: Facing Ethical Dilemmas

By Richard Ned Lebow,

Book cover of Rough Waters and Other Stories: Facing Ethical Dilemmas

What is my book about?

Rough Waters is a collection of short stories about people and political leaders facing ethical choices. These choices arise in…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Dubliners

Richard Ned Lebow Why did I love this book?

Engaging stories about James Joyce as a young man. This is a perfect read for young aspiring authors for reasons of content and style. It is a classic, and deservedly so, and was my inspiration for writing fiction. As a young man I bubbled over with enthusiasm to write and express my creativity but to do so well needed focus and discipline. So did Joyce and I learned vicariously from him.

By James Joyce,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Dubliners as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A definitive edition of perhaps the greatest short story collection in the English language

James Joyce's Dubliners is a vivid and unflinching portrait of "dear dirty Dublin" at the turn of the twentieth century. These fifteen stories, including such unforgettable ones as "Araby," "Grace," and "The Dead," delve into the heart of the city of Joyce's birth, capturing the cadences of Dubliners' speech and portraying with an almost brute realism their outer and inner lives. Dubliners is Joyce at his most accessible and most profound, and this edition is the definitive text, authorized by the Joyce estate and collated from…


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Book cover of Sufferance

Sufferance by Charles Palliser,

This is a novel about choices. How would you have chosen to act during the Second World War if your country had been invaded and occupied by a brutal enemy determined to isolate and murder a whole community?

That’s the situation facing an ordinary family man with two children, a…

Book cover of The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

Richard Ned Lebow Why did I love this book?

Once again, there is much to learn in style and substance from Hemingway. He was another of my inspirations, although as I matured, I have changed my opinion of him. What stands out now is self-indulgence and the attempt to depict himself as hyper-masculine. The combination of brilliant technical skills and an unattractive personality creates strong dissonance, a good thing for prospective authors to confront.

By Ernest Hemingway,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The complete, authoritative collection of Ernest Hemingway's short fiction, including classic stories like "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," along with seven previously unpublished stories.

In this definitive collection of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s short stories, readers will delight in Hemingway’s most beloved classics such as "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "Hills Like White Elephants," and "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and will discover seven new tales published for the first time in this collection, totaling in sixty stories. This collection demonstrates Hemingway’s ability to write beautiful prose for each distinct story,…


Book cover of Selected Stories

Richard Ned Lebow Why did I love this book?

Chekhov is a master storyteller who conveys important insights into human nature with remarkable parsimony. Chekhov also provides contemporary readers with a certain detachment as he wrote in the nineteenth century and in Russia. Ancient Greek playwrights understood that distant settings provided analytical clarity to contemporary problems and also made people understand their universal nature. Chekhov also serves these aims.

By Anton Pavlovich Chekhov,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Selected Stories as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With an Introduction and Notes by Joe Andrew, Professor of Russian Literature, Keele University.

Anton Chekhov is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of short stories. He constructs stories where action and drama are implied rather than described openly, and which leave much to the reader's imagination.

This collection contains some of the most important of his earliest and shortest comic sketches, as well as examples of his great, mature works. Throughout, the doctor-turned-writer displays compassion for human suffering and misfortune, but is always able to see the comical, even farcical aspects of the human condition.

Chekhov sees…


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Book cover of Defection in Prague

Defection in Prague by Ray C Doyle,

Pete West, a political columnist, travels to Prague to find a missing diplomat, later found murdered. He attempts to discover more about a cryptic note received from the diplomat and is immediately entangled in the secret Bilderberg Club’s strategy to form a world federation.

Pete meets a Czechian agent who…

Explore my book 😀

Rough Waters and Other Stories: Facing Ethical Dilemmas

By Richard Ned Lebow,

Book cover of Rough Waters and Other Stories: Facing Ethical Dilemmas

What is my book about?

Rough Waters is a collection of short stories about people and political leaders facing ethical choices. These choices arise in extraordinary situations but also in everyday life. Collectively my stories make the case for a tragic approach to ethics. 

Book cover of Dubliners
Book cover of Metamorphosis and Other Stories
Book cover of The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

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Kanazawa by David Joiner,

Emmitt’s plans collapse when his wife, Mirai, suddenly backs out of purchasing their dream home. Disappointed, he’s surprised to discover her subtle pursuit of a life and career in Tokyo.

In his search for a meaningful life in Japan, and after quitting his job, he finds himself helping his mother-in-law…

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Drawn from Life by Sarah P. Blanchard,

A life-changing tragedy. Conflicting memories. Is she a killer or a victim? Drawn From Life tells the story of a young woman driven to seek the truth about her traumatic past. As she sifts through the real and not-real landscapes of memory, she must re-examine her own agency in the…

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Interested in Russia, Dublin, and Bohemianism?

Russia 390 books
Dublin 81 books
Bohemianism 28 books