Leaders shape history and here is a selection of the most remarkable views into these public figures plus first-hand accounts by those with access to them.

Margaret Thatcher by Charles Moore (2013)

Before Moore published the first volume of his biography, there had already been a mountain of books on Thatcher. Moore’s account is different. He shows that far from being fearless, she could often be fearful without cause. The final volume will include her fall from power.

Harold Wilson by Ben Pimlott (1992)

Harold Wilson had become a ghostly figure when this book was published in 1992. The absence heightened a sense of mystery. Who was he? How to explain his seemingly contradictory characteristics? Pimlott solves some of the mysteries; the book is detailed until Wilson’s final phase as prime minister in 1974.

Churchill by Roy Jenkins (2001)

Jenkins writes a politician as well as a historian, analyzing Churchill’s historic moves from the opinions of one who had also spoken in the Commons. Jenkins had resigned from high positions in battles over policy, and as one that changed parties, though not as frequently as Churchill did.

Roy Jenkins by John Campbell (2014)

Campbell calmly narrates the many political and personal dramas, including Jenkins’ intense relationship with Anthony Crosland when they were both students at Oxford. Campbell also addresses Jenkins’ various affairs with women. Like Jenkins’s political heroes, he led many lives. Campbell is sharp in describing each of them.

Diaries, Volumes One to Six by Alastair Campbell (2017)

Love or hate him, Campbell remains the master of the inside story, and not just because of his unusual ideas on the relationship between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. This is an incredibly detailed book on what it’s like to live inside No. 10: the cruel space of events; and the constant conflict with the media.

LAS VEGAS—It was different in the light of day.

There was no ‘pop, pop, pop’ of gunfire, no screams. Just a quiet lot of cars abandoned by those, like Kassidy Owen, who escaped with their lives.

“It’s strange to hear the silence,” Owen said, “because all I remember was the noise.”

The 22-year-old was one of dozens of concertgoers who returned to the scene of the Route 91 Harvest festival on Wednesday morning to fetch the vehicles they left behind as they fled from a gunman raining down bullets from high above in the tower of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino across the street.

Survivors of the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday needed their cars to move on with their lives—to get back to work, to school, home. It was the first time they were returning to a scene that would forever change them, when joy and celebration and music turned into killing and horror.

Before they could move forward, they had to go back to the place where they thought they were going to die.

Owen had run to her car to hide and had tried to drive away, but she couldn’t. People were running, bodies dropped to the ground, and cars bottlenecked in the parking lot. During a brief pause after more than 10 minutes of gunfire, she worried the lights of her SUV made everyone inside a shining target.

“They’re shooting again!” her best friend’s brother screamed. “Turn off the car!”

That’s when she got out and fled.

“I just remember shutting the door and running.” Owen said.

Now, nearly three days later, she was back, sitting in the driver’s seat of her SUV. Her eyes were swollen and red. This was a long way from over.

“You just keep hearing the gunshots in your head,” Owen said.

Cities are likely to be affected by overheating, thanks to something called the urban heat island effect. Cities tend to be short of trees, which provide shade, and they are covered with black pavement, which absorbs heat from the sun. Think of how it feels to wear a dark shirt versus a white shirt on a sunny day. A black shirt absorbs light, heating you up. But a white shirt reflects light, keeping you cool.

The average temperature in a city of a million or more people can be more than 5 degrees F hotter than surrounding areas. That extra 5 degrees can turn a hot day from uncomfortable to deadly. As temperatures rise, cities will be an especially dangerous place to be during a heat wave. To protect public health, city officials are going to make the city cooler.

As part of that effort, Los Angeles is coating its roads in CoolSeal, a gray paint that keeps streets and parking lots 10 degrees cooler than black asphalt（沥青）. It will help Angelinos save money during the summer, when air conditioning sends power bills soaring. And it will save lives by lowering temperatures and improving air quality. Hot weather worsens air pollution by turning car exhaust into smog, which can make life miserable for people with asthma（哮喘）and other breathing problems.

Of course, LA will have to do more than paint over a few streets to cool off the city. Angelinos will also need to plant more trees and apply white paint to rooftops—at least those not already covered in solar panels. While LA is a pioneer of reflective streets, other cities, like New York, are already experimenting with reflective roofs or, like Melbourne, lowering the temperature by planting trees. LA is hardly alone in its effort to stay cool.

“This is an urgent challenge, and it’s much bigger than one person,” said Mayor Garcetti in a recent statement. “Climate change is a fact of life that people in Los Angeles and cities around the world live with every day.”

Even for a certified teacher with a degree and teaching certificate from Florida, a certain embarrassment exists. The two words “English teacher” don’t clearly show who I am.

Let me explain: When I go back to the US, I meet all my old friends. Some are stressed, exhausted and generally unhappy. They are stuck in jobs they don’t love that they do only to pay the bills. Even the ones making good money don’t even have the time to spend it and enjoy themselves. If I were in the US and I was working as a teacher, accountant, lawyer or so on, then that would be my job more or less for the next 30 to 40 years. I might have other talents, but I would be limited in being able to explore them.

In China the system is fluid for everyone: Chinese and expats (侨民). I know many friends, both Chinese and expats, who changed careers because they wanted something new and it didn’t require going back to university four more years. All it required was motivation and a calculated risk. One of the best things about living in China for me is that I can explore different career choices and actually find one that I truly love. Let’s face it people change over the years: Your likes, your abilities and even the things that make you happy are constantly changing. Why shouldn’t your jobs and the opportunities also change with you?

When people ask me if I love my job, my answer is ‘YES’. In China I have had many jobs: actor, model, salesman and teacher at various stages during my seven years here. And no one told me “You can’t do that.” There was no self-limiting. In China, if you have the motivation to work hard and the drive to succeed then opportunities present themselves around every corner.