Politics & Judaism Books

Special Forces or Commies

2009-12-06T13:36:00.000-08:00

Special Forces: War Against Terrorism in Iraq

Author: Eric Micheletti

Long before the beginning of the Second Gulf War, the Special Forces and other clandestine teams of the Coalition's various services were already operating in Iraq.

This spectacular new book shows these highly specialized teams in action, fulfilling their missions well ahead of the arrival of the conventional forces. Even today the Special Forces, mainly US and British, are waging a merciless war against terrorists of all kinds who proliferate in Saddam's former empire.

The book is profusely illustrated with hundreds of shots taken at the heart of the action on the ground in Iraq, showing all the clothing and equipment used by the Special Forces.

Eric Micheletti's previous book from the "Raids Magazine" group at Histoire & Collections, Special Forces - War against Terrorism in Afghanistan, was a huge success here when it was published last year.

Commies: A Journey through the Old Left, the New Left and the Leftover Left

Author: Ronald Radosh

"Ronald Radosh's earliest memory is of being trundled off to a May Day demonstration on Fifth Avenue by his Communist parents. His boyhood heroes were his uncle Irving Keith (his Communist Party name), who fought in the Spanish Civil War, and his mother's cousin Jacob Abrams, a famous Jewish anarchist who lived in "exile" in Mexico City and was a friend of Trotsky's." "Radosh has been called "the Zelig of the American Left - seen everywhere and knowing everyone." Indeed, Commies is filled with memorable portraits of the people he has met in his unique journey - schoolmate Mary Travers, later of the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary; Pete Seeger, who taught him the banjo and the Communist Party's musical line; young Bob Dylan, who played folk music with him at Radosh's apartment in Madison. Michael Harrington, Tom Hayden, Michael Lerner, William Appleman Williams, Irving Howe, and all the others who made "the Movement" are also actors in Radosh's drama." "But if Commies is an intimate social history of the American Left over the past half-century, it is also a compelling story of a crisis of radical faith."--BOOK JACKET.

Publishers Weekly

Radosh captures well the times and personalities of his journey. Some...will admire the courage of his journey. All will acknowledge that he both entertains and engages in the unusual and heartfelt memoir.

Booknews

Radosh recounts his childhood with communist parents, college political activity, his defection from the left when he wrote , and his encounters in Central America with old acquaintances. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The Best of I F Stone or Europe as Empire

2009-12-05T08:24:00.000-08:00

The Best of I. F. Stone

Author: I F Ston

and/or stickers showing their discounted price. More about bargain books

Book about: Snoozers or How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms

Europe as Empire: The Nature of the Enlarged European Union

Author: Jan Zielonka

This book offers a strikingly new perspective on EU enlargement. Basing his findings on substantial empirical evidence, Zielonka presents a carefully argued account of the kind of political entity the European Union is becoming, with particular reference to recent enlargement.

List of Figures and Tables     xi
Introduction: the neo-medieval paradigm     1
Genesis of the book     2
Unidentified political object     4
Should Europe become a state?     7
The neo-medieval alternative     9
Two types of empire     11
Uses and abuses of models     14
Structure of the book     20
Return to Europe     23
Assessing Eastern European progress     25
Market reforms and social peace     29
Constitutional liberalism or praetorianism?     33
Flash points that never flashed     34
Comparison with other post-Communist states     36
Conclusions     42
European power politics     44
The purpose of accession     49
Imperial design and the process of accession     54
Benign empire in action     57
Agents behind the accession     59
Conclusions     63
Diversity and adaptation     65
Diversity and European integration     67
Diversity and European institutions     71
Economic 'fault lines' in the enlarged EU     74
Diversity in democracy and political culture     78
The American bias     83
Conclusions     88
Economic governance     91
The challenge of internal cohesion     94
The global competition challenge     100
The cross-border interdependence challenge     105
Conclusions     115
Democratic governance     117
Governance structure     120
Majoritarianism versus constitutionalism     125
Public space and democratic culture     333
Conclusions     137
Governance beyond borders     140
The EU as an international actor     143
The emerging international system in Europe     150
Competing universalistic claims: EU versus United States     156
Conclusions     162
Conclusions: implications of neo-medievalism     164
What makes Europe neo-medieval     166
Integration through enlargement     171
Governing the neo-medieval Europe     176
Legitimacy in the neo-medieval Europe     182
Participation, representation, and contestation     186
The case for optimism     189
Notes     192
Bibliography     272
Index      285

Journey to Chernobyl or Canadian Immigration Made Easy

2009-12-04T03:12:00.000-08:00

Journey to Chernobyl: Encounters in a Radioactive Zone

Author: Glenn Alan Cheney

Glenn Cheney arrived in Kiev during those first days when the Soviet Union ceased to exist and Ukraine was reborn. Almost immediately he found himself talking with scientist, journalist, refugees, engineers, top-level government officials, doctors, environmentalists, parents of sick children and people living just a few kilometers from the Chernobyl complex. He heard stories about the disaster that went far beyond what had appeared in the Western press. The reports of atrocities, epidemics, tyrannyand dispair blend with a most unsual travelogue, considerable humor and KGB intrigue.

Publishers Weekly

In 1991, Cheney, who teaches writing at Connecticut College, went to Ukraine to learn the circumstances of the world's deadliest nuclear accident and to interview the people who were affected by it. In this brief, informal report, this self-appointed investigator describes his travel adventures (with an expired visa) and his encounters with officials and victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe. Cheney made a daring visit to the nuclear ghost town of Propyat, originally built for Chernobyl's workers, and relates how they were forced to abandon their homes and possessions to escape the effects of nuclear radiation. The statistics are not yet confirmed, but evidence Cheney gathered indicates that at least 8000 people died as a result of the meltdown, with another 30,000 presently suffering from diseases related to radiation. His poignant account humanizes the events of April 26, 1986, at Chernobyl. Photos. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Cheney (composition, Connecticut Coll.) traveled to Russia and Ukraine on a UN-sponsored mission in December 1991, at the time the USSR formally split apart. The ensuing confusion made it easier for him to come and go as he pleased and to talk freely with persons near Chernobyl who were eager to share their experiences of the 1986 explosion and their fears for their futures. Neither a nuclear nor a Soviet expert, he discerns no pattern among these stories except a probable government cover-up; his evidence for this allegation is nothing new. Even the medical personnel he interviewed admitted that the health problems they saw could have been caused as much by poverty, malnutrition, and alcohol abuse as by radiation exposure. At times Cheney's primary interest in describing his arduous travels causes his focus to drift from the effects of radiation exposure on the populace. Not recommended. [For another account, see Alla Yaroshinskaya's Chernobyl, reviewed on p. 204.Ed.] Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York

Canadian Immigration Made Easy: How to immigrate into Canada ( All Classes ) with Employment Search Strategies for Skilled Workers

Author: Tariq Nadeem

At the moment this is the only publication in the market which covers every class of Canadian Immigration under the latest Immigration and Refugee Protection Act(IRPA). This book provides guidelines to prepare and file your immigration application under every immigration class.

At the moment this is the only publication in the market which covers every class of Canadian Immigration under the latest Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). This book provides guidelines to prepare and file your immigration application under every immigration class.

A combination of Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Canadian Immigration under new policy and employment search strategies designed by an industry veteran and inspected by Human Resources Development of Canada (HRDC) makes this publication unique. The settlement part of the guide is a must read added gift for new immigrants which will help them to successfully settle in any part of Canada.

From the Author
This book has the potential to turn you into an immigration consultant.

About the Author
The Author is a Mechanical Engineer and Cisco Certified Network and Design professional (CCNP, CCDP, A+) with more then 14 years of experience in his field of expertise with multi-national companies especially in Middle East. He arrived in Canada as an immigrant and faced numerous surprises and challenges as well as suffering a number of losses.

The Author has a flare to help and teach, he wishes to save new immigrants from potential losses and miseries by sharing the wealth of information that he has gathered while immigrating and settling in Canada. After interviewing hundreds of new immigrants from various countries, the author has come to the conclusion that the root cause of all the problems and loss of hard earned money is the lack of information before arriving in Canada.

So by compiling this publication he is giving everything to new or potential immigrants to access their eligibility under every immigration class and submit their immigration application by themselves in a professional manner. Also start working towards their eligibility for employment in Canada and explore or secure a job offer or small business while their cases are in process.

The Author can be reached at tariq_nadeem@sympatico.ca for advise or feedback upon his publication.

American Government or The Human Potential for Peace

2009-12-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

American Government: Using MicroCase? ExplorIt

Author: Barbara Norrander

This Windows-compatible package includes access to MicroCase® datasets and workbook. You make your own decisions about the issues as you analyze and interpret current NES and GSS data.

Acknowledgements. Preface. Getting Started. Part I: Foundations. 1. "One Nation:" The History and Politics of Region. 2. Federalism: "A More Perfect Union." 3. "Of the People:" An Interested and Informed Public. Part II: Freedom: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights. 4. Civil Liberties: Free Speech. 5. Civil Rights: Equality. Part III: Government and the Individual. 6. Public Opinion and Political Socialization. 7. The Media. 8. Political Participation. 9. Political Parties. 10. Elections. 11. Interest Groups and PACs. Part IV: Institutions. 12. The Congress. 13. The Presidency. 14. The Bureaucracy. 15. The Courts. Appendix A: Variable Names and Sources.

The Human Potential for Peace: An Anthropological Challenge to Assumptions about War and Violence

Author: Douglas P Fry

In The Human Potential for Peace: An Anthropological Challenge to Assumptions about War and Violence, renowned anthropologist Douglas P. Fry shows how anthropology--with its expansive time frame and comparative orientation--can provide unique insights into the nature of war and the potential for peace. Challenging the traditional view that humans are by nature primarily violent and warlike, Professor Fry argues that along with the capacity for aggression humans also possess a strong ability to prevent, limit, and resolve conflicts without violence. Raising philosophy of science issues, the author shows that cultural beliefs asserting the inevitability of violence and war can bias our interpretations, affect our views of ourselves, and may even blind us to the possibility of achieving security without war. Fry draws on data from cultural anthropology, archaeology, and sociology as well as from behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology to construct a biosocial argument that challenges a host of commonly held assumptions.
The Human Potential for Peace includes ethnographic examples from around the globe, findings from Fry's research among the Zapotec of Mexico, and results of cross-cultural studies on warfare. In showing that conflict resolution exists across cultures and by documenting the existence of numerous peaceful societies, it demonstrates that dealing with conflict without violence is not merely a utopian dream. The book also explores several highly publicized and interesting controversies, including Freeman's critique of Margaret Mead's writings on Samoan warfare; Napoleon Chagnon's claims about the Yanomamo; and ongoing evolutionary debates about whether"hunter-gatherers" are peaceful or warlike. The Human Potential for Peace is ideal for undergraduate courses in political and legal anthropology, the anthropology of peace and conflict, peace studies, political sociology, and the sociology of war and violence. Written in an informal style with numerous entertaining examples, the book is also readily accessible to general readers.

Access Denied or Hatreds Kingdom

2009-12-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering

Author: Ronald J Deibert

Many countries around the world block or filter Internet content, denying access to information--often about politics, but also relating to sexuality, culture, or religion--that they deem too sensitive for ordinary citizens. Access Denied documents and analyzes Internet filtering practices in over three dozen countries, offering the first rigorously conducted study of this accelerating trend.

Internet filtering takes place in at least forty states worldwide including many countries in Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. Related Internet content control mechanisms are also in place in Canada, the United States and a cluster of countries in Europe. Drawing on a just-completed survey of global Internet filtering undertaken by the OpenNet Initiative (a collaboration of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, and the University of Cambridge) and relying on work by regional experts and an extensive network of researchers, Access Denied examines the political, legal, social, and cultural contexts of Internet filtering in these states from a variety of perspectives. Chapters discuss the mechanisms and politics of Internet filtering, the strengths and limitations of the technology that powers it, the relevance of international law, ethical considerations for corporations that supply states with the tools for blocking and filtering, and the implications of Internet filtering for activist communities that increasingly rely on Internet technologies for communicating their missions.

Reports on Internet content regulation in fortydifferent countries follow, with each country profile outlining the types of content blocked by category and documenting key findings.

Contributors:

Ross Anderson, Malcolm Birdling, Ronald Deibert, Robert Faris, Vesselina Haralampieva, Steven Murdoch, Helmi Noman, John Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski, Mary Rundle, Nart Villeneuve, Stephanie Wang, and Jonathan Zittrain

Book review: The Menopause Diet Daily Journal or Freedom from Allergy Cookbook

Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism

Author: Dore Gold

Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. and internationally known Middle East expert, uses previously unpublished intelligence documents to piece together the links between the current wave of global terrorism-from the World Trade Center to Bali, Indonesia-and the ideology of hatred taught in the schools and mosques of Saudi Arabia.

	List of Maps
	Introduction: The Roots of Terror	1
Ch. 1	Violent Origins: Reviving Jihad and the War Against the Polytheists	17
Ch. 2	Countering the Wahhabi Menace	31
Ch. 3	"White Terror": The Ikhwan and the Rise of the Modern Saudi Kingdom	41
Ch. 4	Building the Modern Saudi State: Oil, the Palestine Question, and the Americans	57
Ch. 5	Reactivating Wahhabism	73
Ch. 6	The Hothouse for Militant Islamic Radicalism	89
Ch. 7	Wahhabism Reasserts Itself	105
Ch. 8	Wahhabism's Global Reach	125
Ch. 9	Countdown to September 11 : The Gulf War and Wahhabism's New Outburst in the 1990s	157
Ch. 10	The Hatred Continues	185
	Conclusion: Ending the Hatred	213
App	Saudi Support for Terrorism: The Evidence	229
	Notes	253
	Glossary	285
	Acknowledgments	289
	Index	293

The Battle of Mogadishu or Cape Wind

2009-11-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

The Battle of Mogadishu: First-Hand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger

Author: Matthew Eversmann

It started as a mission to capture a Somali warlord. It turned into a disastrous urban firefight and death-defying rescue operation that shocked the world and rattled a great nation. Now the 1993 battle for Mogadishu, Somalia-the incident that was the basis of the book and film Black Hawk Down-is remembered by the men who fought and survived it. Six of the best in our military recall their brutal experiences and brave contributions in these never-before-published, firstperson accounts.

"Operation Gothic Serpent," by Matt Eversmann: As a "chalk" leader, Eversmann was part of the first group of Rangers to "fast rope" from the Black Hawk helicopters. It was his chalk that suffered the first casualty of the battle.

"Sua Sponte: Of Their Own Accord," by Raleigh Cash: Responsible for controlling and directing fire support for the platoon, Cash entered the raging battle in the ground convoy sent to rescue his besieged brothers in arms.

"Through My Eyes," by Mike Kurth: One of only two African Americans in the battle, Kurth confronted his buddies' deaths, realizing that "the only people whom I had let get anywhere near me since I was a child were gone."

"What Was Left Behind," by John Belman: He roped into the biggest firefight of the battle and considers some of the mistakes that were made, such as using Black Hawk helicopters to provide sniper cover.

"Be Careful What You Wish For," by Tim Wilkinson: He was one of the Air Force pararescuemen or PJs-the highly trained specialists for whom "That Others May Live" is no catchphrase but a credo-and sums up his incomprehensible courage as "just holding up my end of the deal on a bad day."

"OnFriendship and Firefights," by Dan Schilling: As a combat controller, he was one of the original planners for the deployment of SOF forces to Mogadishu in the spring of 1993. During the battle, he survived the initial assault and carnage of the vehicle convoys only to return to the city to rescue his two closest friends, becoming, literally, "Last Out."

With America's withdrawal from Somalia an oft-cited incitement to Osama bin Laden, it is imperative to revisit this seminal military mission and learn its lessons from the men who were there and, amazingly, are still here.

Go to: Starfish and the Spider or The Richest Man Who Ever Lived

Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound

Author: Wendy Williams

When Jim Gordon set out to build a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, he knew some people might object. But there was a lot of merit in creating a privately funded, clean energy source for energy-starved New England, and he felt sure most people would recognize it eventually. Instead, all Hell broke loose. Gordon had unwittingly challenged the privileges of some of America's richest and most politically connected people, and they would fight him tooth and nail, no matter what it cost, and even when it made no sense.

Cape Wind is a rollicking tale of democracy in action and plutocracy in the raw as played out among colorful and glamorous characters on one of our country's most historic and renowned pieces of coastline. As steeped in American history and local color as The Prince of Providence; as biting, revealing and fun as Philistines at the Hedgerow, it is also a cautionary tale about how money can hijack democracy while America lags behind the rest of the developed world in adopting clean energy.

The New York Times - Robert Sullivan

If HBO is looking to develop a series based on environmental politics, then Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound is a natural for the option, with the Kennedys sitting in for the Sopranos, Nantucket Sound for the Meadowlands and phrases like "environmental impact statement" replacing "swimming with the fishes."

Boston Globe

Colorful storytelling about the tribulations of siting a renewable energy project . . . Yes, this book is lots of fun.

Hartford Courant

The authors took a potentially dull subject and have turned it into an entertaining read . . . A crisply written, well-told story.

EnergyBiz

The book is a captivating read‹and perfect if you find yourself headed to the beach in coming weeks. If you get to Cape Cod, send us a digital picture of yourself holding up the book with the playgrounds of Jack Welch, William Koch, the Mellons, DuPonts and Kennedys in the background.

Eva Lautemann - Library Journal

Williams and Whitcomb, both journalists and Cape Cod residents, have written a caustic firsthand report of the political maneuvers involving Cape Wind, a proposed wind energy project. In 2001, Boston energy entrepreneur Jim Gordon proposed building America's first offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound using 130 wind turbines to produce 420 megawatts of renewable energy for the Cape Cod region. Because the Northeast lacks indigenous fossil fuels and has an aging electrical grid, Gordon thought his wind farm would be welcomed. Instead, using the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) argument, some of America's most wealthy residents living on the cape's south shore and others with Nantucket connections, including Sen. Edward Kennedy and former Gov. Mitt Romney, launched a well-funded opposition. A grassroots backlash by those who perceived this interference as a hijacking of the democratic process responded, and the Cape Wind battle was under way. This well-written and well-researched work shows the challenges of evolving past our reliance on fossil fuels and is recommended for all New England libraries and all alternate energy collections.

Notes on the State of Virginia or Barack Obama

2009-11-29T06:12:00.000-08:00

Notes on the State of Virginia

Author: Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson published one book, Notes on the State of Virginia, and ever since, it has been the touchstone for understanding Jefferson's ideas about republican government, the environment, education, race and slavery, and Native-white relations. This edition is the first to present these issues as fundamentally inseparable matters. A collection of lively documents accompanies the core text of the Notes, and charts the evolution of the book in the revolutionary crucible and during the heady early days of the new nation. An introduction by David Waldstreicher places the work in the contexts of the Revolution and the social and cultural history of Jefferson's Virginia, with particular attention to developing ideas about race and nature. A chronology of the life and career of Thomas Jefferson and selected bibliography also add to the pedagogical benefits of this volume.

Part One Introduction: Nature, Race, and Revolution in Jefferson’s America Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia
* Virginia’s Jefferson
* Virginia’s Revolution Law and War
* Notes on the State of Virginia and the State of America Nature
* Native Genius
* Captive Nations
* From Weather to Race
* The Strange History of a Book
* Part II Documents
* Thomas Jefferson, Resolutions of the Freeholders of Albemarle County, July 26, 1774
* Lord Dunmore, Proclamation of Freedom to Slaves and Servants, November, 1775
* The Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson’s Draft with Congress’s Changes, July 4, 1776
* Francois Marbois, Queries Concerning Virginia, November, 1780
* Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Jean Baptiste DuCoigne, Kaskaskia Chief, June, 1781
* Thomas Jefferson, An Anonymous Letter for European Newspapers, November, 1784
* Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Marquis de Chastellux, June 7, 1785
* Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Richard Price, August 7, 1785
* Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Marquis de Chastellux, September 2, 1785
* Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Archibald Stuart, January 25, 1786
* Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1787 London Edition
* Benjamin Banneker, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, August 19, 1791
* Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Benjamin Banneker, August 30, 1791

Look this: Take Care of Yourself Guide to Treating Your Familys Most Common Symptoms or Heart Healthy for Life

Barack Obama: The New Face of American Politics (Women and Minorities in Politics Series)

Author: Martin Dupuis

Barack Obama's election to the U.S. Senate in 2004 is one of the most interesting and colorful political campaigns in recent history. His rousing keynote address at the Democratic National Convention that same year made his name a household word. The "Obama for Illinois" crusade offers important insights into American politics. The authors explore the role of money, political party, ethnicity, religion, and the issues facing our society today. Obama's straightforward policy recommendations, message of hope and inclusion, and charismatic style propelled him to the national spotlight. Obama has the potential to shape America and to reshape U.S. politics as he campaigns for the White House.

Obama's state senate career and his decision to enter the U.S. Senate race are examined in this book. Despite a primary field of six competitors, Obama received more than half of the Democratic vote, defeating a multimillionaire and the state comptroller, a well-known figure in the Democratic Party. The general election imploded for the Republicans in the first few weeks of the campaign when it was revealed that their candidate was embroiled in a sex scandal. Alan Keyes, the ultraconservative, outspoken African American who had run for president twice and for the U.S. Senate from Maryland, was recruited to challenge Obama. But Obama, whose skill with the media and whose ability to raise funds was evident even in those early days of his career, easily won the race with 70 percent of the vote. The authors analyze Obama's ability to speak to the concerns of multiple constituencies by appealing to a coalition of voters that transcends race, class, and gender. At the start of his presidential run, Obama gives new meaning to the American dream.

Ann Burns - Library Journal

Presidential candidate Obama is the only African American in the U.S. Senate. Here, Dupuis (political science, Univ. of Central Florida) and Boeckelman (politics, Western Illinois Univ.) show how his stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, his policy recommendations, and his charismatic style have put him in the national spotlight.

Almanac of Political Corruption Scandals and Dirty Politics or One Soldiers Story

2009-11-28T01:00:00.000-08:00

Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals and Dirty Politics

Author: Kim Long

Watergate. Billygate. Iran-Contra. Teapot Dome. Monica Lewinsky.American history is marked by era-defining misdeeds, indiscretions, and the kind of tabloid-ready scandals that politicians seem to do better than anyone else. Now, for the first time, one volume brings together 300 years of political wrongdoing in an illustrated history of politicians gone wild—proving that today’s scoundrels aren’t the first, worst, and surely won’t be the last….

From high crimes to misdemeanors to moments of licentiousness and larceny, this unique compendium captures in complete, colorful detail the foibles, failings, peccadilloes, dirty tricks, and astounding blunders committed by politicians behaving badly. Amid stories of brawlers, plagiarists, sexual predators, tax evaders, and the temporarily insane, this almanac tells all about:

•The only (so far!) president to be arrested while in office: Ulysses S. Grant, who was allegedly issued a ticket for racing his horse and buggy through the streets of Washington, D.C.

•The former New Jersey state senator David J. Friedland, who disappeared during a scuba diving accident in 1985. It turns out he staged the accident and served nine years in prison after being captured in the Maldives.

•Tape-recorded instructions from highbrow president Franklin Delano Roosevelt on how his staff should carry out some low-down political tricks

•The bizarre story of U.S. congressman Robert Potter, who castrated two men he suspected of having affairs with his wife. Potter won election to the state house while in jail—but was kicked out for cheating at cards.

•Texascongressman Henry Barbosa Gonzalez: he was charged with assault in 1986 after he shoved and hit a man who called him a communist. Gonzalez was seventy years old at the time.

At once shocking and hilariously funny, here’s a book that exposes the history of American politics, warts and all—and makes for hours of jaw-dropping, fascinating, illuminating reading.

Interesting book: Group Discussion or Content Rights for Creative Professionals

One Soldier's Story: A Memoir

Author: Bob Dol

At last, in his own words, Bob Dole tells his legendary World War II story -- a personal odyssey of tremendous courage, sacrifice, and faith.

In One Soldier's Story, Bob Dole tells the moving, inspirational story of his harrowing experience in World War II, and how he overcame life-threatening injuries long before rising to the top of the U.S. Senate. As a platoon leader in the famed 10th Mountain Division, twenty-one-year-old Bob Dole was gravely wounded on a hill in the Italian Alps just two weeks before the end of the war. Trying to pull his radioman to safety during a fire-fight against a fortified German position, Dole was hit with shrapnel across his right shoulder and back. Over the next three years, not expected to survive, he lapsed in and out of a coma, lost a kidney, lost the use of his right arm and most of the feeling in his left arm. But he willed himself to live. Drawing on nearly 300 never-before-seen letters between him and his family during this period, Dole offers a powerful, vivid portrait of one man's struggle to survive in the closing moments of the war. With insight and candor, Dole also focuses on the words, actions, and selfless deeds of countless American heroes with whom he served, including two fellow injured soldiers who later joined him in the Senate, capturing the singular qualities of his generation. He speaks here not as a politician, but as a wounded G.I. who went on to become one of our nation's most respected statesmen. In doing so, he gives us a heartfelt story of uncommon bravery and personal faith -- in himself, his fellow man, and a greater power. This is the World War II chronicle that America has been waiting for.

The New York Times - William Grimes

One Soldier's Story is really two stories, plainly told, with a generous sprinkling of family letters. The first is a harrowing tale of wartime courage and suffering. But Mr. Dole devotes nearly as much attention to describing his childhood years in Russell, which he describes as "a quintessential Midwestern community, a picture postcard of rustic values and plainspoken wisdom." Heartfelt and highly idealized, this picture of small-town life in the Midwest before the war takes on a kind of mythic power. Mr. Dole held tight to his all-American vision throughout his ordeal, and indeed, has rarely failed to mention Russell - its people and its values - when articulating his political philosophy or his personal struggles.

Publishers Weekly

This affecting memoir chronicles the Republican senator's arduous coming of age through the early 1950s. After a poor but for him idyllic childhood in Russell, Kans., Dole arrived at college and then the army during World War II a sunny, callow young man; his letters home-many reprinted here-are preoccupied with Mom's cooking, college sports and fraternity hijinks. The story darkens and deepens when he is sent to Italy and, near the end of the war, gravely wounded by a German shell blast that leaves him all but paralyzed with spinal cord damage and a maimed shoulder. The bulk of the book is taken up with Dole's agonizing three-year convalescence. His restrained but poignant account details his painfully slow struggle to regain the use of his legs and arms, the strain put on his family by his physical helplessness and his reluctant coming to terms with the ruin of his once handsome and athletic body. The book is very much a political autobiography, full of tributes to faith, family and hard work, but the harrowing experiences that put these ideals to the test elevate Dole's memoir above mere boilerplate. Photos. (Apr. 12) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In April 1945, three weeks before Germany surrendered in World War II, 21-year-old Lt. Robert Dole suffered near-fatal wounds to his shoulder and spinal cord from German machine-gun fire as he tried to pull his radioman to safety. In this often moving book, based on the 300 letters Dole exchanged with his family, he tells the story of his three-year ordeal to relearn how to walk and use his arms. In addition, he describes his childhood in Russell, KS, and his years as a three-sport athlete at Kansas University. While being treated at Percy Jones Army Medical Hospital in Michigan, he began lifelong friendships with fellow war heroes Phillip Hart and Daniel Inouye, who would become fellow senators as well. Dole largely attributes his remarkable recovery, which included two near-death infections and nine operations, to his faith, the values instilled by his parents, and his sense of humor. He concludes with his poignant tribute to the World War II generation at the 2004 dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. Writing without the anger about inferior medical care for veterans that distinguishes Ron Kovic's Vietnam memoir, Born on the Fourth of July, Dole has produced a journal of hope and recovery that will resonate with its readers. Highly recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/04.]-Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Sixty years after the fact, the former senator and presidential candidate recounts the wartime incident that left him wounded for life-and that gave him "a ferocious determination to take the next step." At the outset of this nicely written memoir, Dole protests that the handle "the greatest generation" is not one that his generation claimed for itself. "Truth be told," he says, "we were ordinary Americans fated to confront extraordinary tests. Every generation of young men and women who dare face the realities of war . . . is the greatest generation." He warms up to the title in time, however, while recalling a poor childhood on the Kansas plains, made more complicated by the arrival of the Depression; by the time he arrived in Italy as a new lieutenant, he had already faced plenty of character-building tests. Dole, whom later parodists have portrayed as being thin-skinned, admits to being a little put off early on at not being embraced by the mountain troops under his command; but, considering the low life expectancy of field unit commanders, he reckons, "No wonder the forty or so men of the 2nd Platoon didn't go out of their way to get to know me when I arrived. They figured I wouldn't be around long." They were right: while assaulting Hill 913 on the German line on April 14, 1945, Dole was severely wounded by a high-explosive shell fragment, with multiple injuries to his upper body. His account of the years-long process of recovery takes up much of his story, and Dole delivers it with grace and economy: he writes movingly, for instance, that he has viewed his full body in a mirror fewer than half a dozen times in 60 years ("I don't need any more reminders"), and he offers, without atrace of mawkishness, a fine brief on what the Rodgers and Hammerstein song "You'll Never Walk Alone" means to him. For all his reluctance to lay claim to hero or greatest-generation status, Dole deserves accolades. So, too, does his memoir. Author tour

Public Opinion or Grover Cleveland

2009-11-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

Public Opinion

Author: Walter Lippmann

A penetrative study of democratic theory and the role of citizens in a democracy, this classic by a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner offers a prescient view of the media's function in shaping public perceptions. It changed the nature of political science as a scholarly discipline and introduced concepts that continue to influence political theory.

Grover Cleveland

Author: Henry F Graff

A fresh look at the only president to serve nonconsecutive termsHaving run for President three times, gaining the popular vote majority each time—despite losing the electoral college in 1892—Cleveland was unique in the line of nineteenth-century Chief Executives. Graff revives Cleveland’s rags-to-riches story, explaining how he fought to restore stature to the office in the wake of several weak administrations. A fascinating account of the political world that created American leaders before the advent of modern media.

Publishers Weekly

In this brief, excellent volume written for Arthur Schlesinger's American Presidents series, Columbia professor emeritus Graff (The Tuesday Cabinet) picks up the often neglected Grover Cleveland, dusts him off and reminds us how substantial he was. After serving as mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York, Cleveland (1837-1908) was the first Democrat to be elected president after the Civil War. He forced America's railroad titans to return 81,000,000 western acres previously granted by the federal government and regulated them with the Interstate Commerce Act. Although defeated in the electoral college by Benjamin Harrison in 1888, Cleveland won the popular vote, which set the stage for his return to the presidency in 1892 in the midst of nationwide depression. As usual, Cleveland acted decisively. He repealed the inflationary Sherman Silver Purchase Act and, with the aid of Wall Street, maintained the Treasury's gold reserve. When Chicago railroad strikers violated an injunction against further disruption, Cleveland dispatched federal troops. Cleveland's no-nonsense treatment of the strikers stirred many Americans, as did the way he forced Great Britain to accept arbitration of a disputed boundary in Venezuela. But many of Cleveland's hard-hitting policies during the depression proved unpopular in the long term; in 1896, his party nominated William Jennings Bryan for the presidency. In clean, matter-of-fact prose, Graff sums up the plainspoken Cleveland as a man of action and uncompromising integrity a man who, though publicly identified as the father of a bastard child, nevertheless restored dignity to the office of the president in the wake of several weak administrations. (Aug. 20) Forecast: Because Cleveland lacks the popular appeal of Teddy Roosevelt or James Madison (with bios already published in this series), this fine volume may be more for completists. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

As part of the "American Presidents" series under the editorial direction of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., distinguished historian Graff (America: The Glorious Republic, to 1877) offers new insight into a President who is often overlooked. Best known as the only President to serve two nonconsecutive terms, Cleveland does indeed deserve Graff's fresh examination. The 1888 Presidential election was marked by one of the earliest and most virulent attacks on the personal behavior of a candidate when Cleveland was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock. But the candidate took full responsibility for the child (an act Graff refers to as "the gold standard" for such circumstances), and in the end the incident did not cause Cleveland to lose the election. Graff's examination of the 1888 election is one of the finest short reviews of that peculiar race available. Cleveland had a narrow view of the President's powers and did not exert the more expansive leadership that would characterize later Presidents. But he was an able administrator and pursued a clean-government agenda. This slim volume is a valuable addition to the literature on the Presidency and is a compelling argument for taking Cleveland seriously as a President. For political collections of public libraries.-Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Slender but deftly sketched assessment of our 22nd and 24th president. Physically imposing in life, Grover Cleveland is largely forgotten now, except for the oddity that he was the only president to have served two nonconsecutive terms in office (1885-89 and 1893-97). He deserves better from historians, argues Graff (Professor Emeritus, History/Columbia Univ.), who points out Cleveland's political domination of his time: a politician of integrity, sincerity, and decency at a time of widespread political corruption. As such, Cleveland won the popular vote for president three times in a row-he lost the electoral vote to Benjamin Harrison in 1888-and was revered by millions of his contemporaries. Compelled to forego college after the early death of his father, the young Cleveland settled down to read law in Buffalo. Cleveland quickly rose to prominence as a Buffalo attorney, and his close relationship with influential New York Democratic kingmaker Daniel Manning resulted in short, successful stints as mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York. In these early jobs, he established the themes of sound administration, resistance to pork-barrel politics, and general fairness that distinguished him later as president. In that office, he saw civil-service reform of government and articulated a foreign policy of fair play-he disapproved of the coup that overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy, for instance-that contrasted with the imperialism of successor Teddy Roosevelt. In Graff's study, striking differences between Cleveland's era and ours emerge: pretending disinterest while subordinates ran the campaign, Cleveland and his opponents passively "stood" for office instead of running for it. In addition,Cleveland was a "gray personality" whose coarse appearance, heavy body, and unspectacular memorized speeches might have disqualified him for the presidency in the age of television. Graff does not see Cleveland as a visionary figure, but as a transition between the 19th century's ideal of a limited presidency and our more expansive modern view of the office. An absorbing study of an undeservedly forgotten president.

Hedgehogs and Foxes or To Change China

2009-11-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

Hedgehogs and Foxes: Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations

Author: Abraham Zaleznik

In this compelling look at charismatic leaders and their leadership styles, Abraham Zaleznik asserts that leaders are either 'hedgehogs,' who view leadership as a single-minded track driven by unwavering rules, or 'foxes,' who assess and re-evaluate their goals and strategies based on ever-changing factors in business, politics, and culture. Covering dynamic personalities from Dwight Eisenhower to Martin Luther King, Jr., Zaleznik draws illuminating conclusions about psycho-politics and negotiations of power and command, celebrating innovative problem-solving skills.

New interesting book: Abnormal Pap Smears or The Womens Migraine Survival Guide

To Change China: Western Advisors in China, 1620-1960

Author: Jonathan D Spenc

"To change China" was the goal of foreign missionaries, soldiers, doctors, teachers, engineers, and revolutionaries for more than three hundred years. But the Chinese, while eagerly accepting Western technical advice, clung steadfastly to their own religious and cultural traditions. As a new era of relations between China and the United States begins, the tales in this volume will serve as cautionary histories for businessmen, diplomats, students, or any other foreigners who foolishly believe that they can transform this vast, enigmatic country.

"A fascinating popular book. . . . Mr. Spence has given these careers fascinating first-person detail. He is a skilled craftsman." (John K. Fairbank, The New York Review of Books)

	List of Illustrations	vii
	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	xiii
1.	Schall and Verbiest: To God Through the Stars	3
2.	Peter Parker: Bodies or Souls	34
3.	Ward and Gordon: Glorious Days of Looting	57
4.	Lay and Hart: Power, Patronage, Pay	93
5.	Martin and Fryer: Trimming the Lamps	129
6.	Edward Hume: Yale for China	161
7.	Mikhail Borodin: Life in the Sun	184
8.	Todd and Bethune: Overcome All Terrors	205
9.	Chennault, Stilwell, Wedemeyer: A Compass for Shangri-La	228
10.	The Last Rounds: U.S.A. and U.S.S.R.	279
	Conclusion	289
	Chapter Notes	294
	Index	327

Tinder Box or Disaster Medicine

2009-02-21T23:01:00.000-08:00

Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903

Author: Anthony P Hatch

This is the one-hundredth anniversary year of the worst single building fire and the most horrible theater disaster in US history.At a Christmas week matinee December 30, 1903, more than 600 people, mostly women and children, perished in less than 30 minutes in a five-week-old theater that was advertised as being "Absolutely Fireproof" and one of the most luxurious playhouses ever built in America—the epitome of Twentieth Century luxury, comfort and safety. Rushed to completion because of corporate greed, the Iroquois opened in Chicago's Loop without exit signs, firefighting equipment, sprinkler system, fire alarm, telephone, a completed ventillation system and exterior fire escapes because city buiding inspectors had been paid off in free tickets and fire department and other officials looked the other way. Published warnings went unheeded. When fire broke out from a short circuit in a backstage spotlight, the panicked audience found itself locked in by untrained ushers and though leading comedian Eddy Foy begged for calm, people trampled one another in a mad dash to escape and piled up at exit doors that, even when broken open, swung in rather than out. Hundreds jumped or were pushed from the incomplete fire escapes into what became known as "Death Alley." The disaster, which for 1903 had the impact that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, stunned the world, closed theaters and ultimately resulted in fundamental changes in building and safety codes now taken for granted, such as illuminated exits signs, panic bars, doors that swing out, not in and fire retardant materials. However, questions remain as to whether today's theaters and movie houses are any safer in a panic situation, and some fire experts interviewed by the author say that another Iroquois disaster could again occur.

Author Biography: Anthony P. Hatch, a native New Yorker raised in Chicago, is a former print, wire service and broadcast newsman. He began investigating the Iroquois disaster in 1961 while he was with CBS News. He was interested in the similarities between the Iroquois and the Titanic disaster which occured nine years later. He was able to get eyewitness details from five elderly men directly involved in the Iroquois horror: a cub reporter for a Chicago newspaper who covered the theater's opening night and returned five weeks later to report on the disaster; a fireman who fought the blaze and later became Chicago fire commissioner; a wire service reporter called in from his beat at the stock yards; a Northwestern student who helped carry out the living and dead and a child who escaped from the theater by being passed, hand over hand, above the heads of fleeing adults. Hatch currently is general manager of public radio station KSFR in Santa Fe and teaches broadcast news at the University of New Mexico's School of Communications and Journalism. His written articles have appeared in The Nation, TV Guide, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and the Santa Fe New Mexican. This is his first book.

Interesting textbook: Burst of Flavor or Romance of Wine

Disaster Medicine

Author: David Hogan

Written by more than 30 emergency physicians with first-hand experience handling medical care during disasters, this volume is the only single comprehensive reference on disaster medicine. It provides the information that every emergency department needs to prepare for and handle the challenges of natural and manmade disasters. The contributors present guidelines for assessing the affected population's health care needs, establishing priorities, allocating resources, and treating individuals. Coverage encompasses a wide range of natural, industrial, technologic, transportation-related, and conflict-related disasters, with examples from around the world. This edition has more illustrations and more information on weapons of mass destruction and explosions.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Lisa N Rapoport, MD, MS(University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine)
Description:The authors begin this book with the very simple (but difficult) question, "what is a disaster?" and continue with basic explanations of types of disasters and their management, and finish with specific problems and situations that may be encountered in a disaster. This updates the 2002 edition, and includes data and experience from both the tsunami disaster and Hurricane Katrina.
Purpose:The purpose is to educate and prepare medical practitioners for a disaster by explaining concepts pertaining to disasters and the groundwork needed to comprehend and prepare. It is a huge and lofty goal but very necessary, and the book succeeds in meeting it. It is also very readable, providing many real-life examples that illustrate points and concepts, which in turn animates the book more than one would anticipate.
Audience:The book is directed at any public health or potential disaster relief practitioner and is accessible to any audience. The authors clearly have extensive knowledge of the field, and the list of contributors is impressive.
Features:The six sections cover basic concepts such as defining what a disaster is; how to plan for one; different types of disasters; and how to educate about disasters. It is clear that the authors have gathered world experts in the field because they consistently use examples of real disasters to explain concepts and theories. One of the strongest points of the book is the way it describes and makes real complex theories that may otherwise be difficult to grasp.
Assessment:This is a good quality book -- well written, well substantiated, and clearly organized. Furthermore, as an emergency medicine resident physician, I feel the subject matter is vital to my training and future practice.

Battleground Chicago or Poor Peoples Movements

2009-02-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

Battleground Chicago: The Police and the 1968 Democratic National Convention

Author: Frank Kusch

The 1968 Democratic Convention, best known for police brutality against demonstrators, has been relegated to a dark place in American historical memory. Battleground Chicago ventures beyond the stereotypical image of rioting protestors and violent cops to reevaluate exactly how—and why—the police attacked antiwar activists at the convention.
Working from interviews with eighty former Chicago police officers who were on the scene, Frank Kusch uncovers the other side of the story of ’68, deepening our understanding of a turbulent decade.

“Frank Kusch’s compelling account of the clash between Mayor Richard Daley’s men in blue and anti-war rebels reveals why the 1960s was such a painful era for many Americans. . . . to his great credit, [Kusch] allows ‘the pigs’ to speak up for themselves.”—Michael Kazin

“Kusch’s history of white Chicago policemen and the 1968 Democratic National Convention is a solid addition to a growing literature on the cultural sensibility and political perspective of the conservative white working class in the last third of the twentieth century.”—David Farber, Journal of American History

Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail

Author: Richard A Cloward

Have the poor fared best by participating in conventional electoral politics or by engaging in mass defiance and disruption? The authors of the classic Regulating The Poor assess the successes and failures of these two strategies as they examine, in this provocative study, four protest movements of lower-class groups in 20th century America:
— The mobilization of the unemployed during the Great Depression that gave rise to the Workers' Alliance of America
— The industrial strikes that resulted in the formation of the CIO
— The Southern Civil Rights Movement
— The movement of welfare recipients led by the National Welfare Rights Organization.

Amped or Pocket Idiots Guide to Your Carbon Footprint

2009-02-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

Amped: A Soldier's Race for Gold in the Shadow of War

Author: Bill Briggs

"When above-the-knee amputeeswalk, we generate seven to nine times the force of our body weight right into the point where the prosthesis meets our residual leg. For me, that's almost 1,500 pounds slamming into that socket."

For any amputee, learning to walk with a prosthetic leg is a painful, grueling ordeal. Soon after army medic Kortney Clemons, who lost his right leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, began the process, he had more than walking in mind. He wanted to run, and run fast. Barely three years after the awful attack that changed his life forever, he aimed to join the elite corps of international athletes vying for gold in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. His account of his recovery from this catastrophic wound and his drive to become the first Iraq veteran to win Paralympic gold is one of the most remarkable, inspiring, and compelling stories in the history of sports.

Acknowledgments.

Author’s Note.

PART I: BLOOD AND TEARS.

Chapter One: Medic Down.

Chapter Two: Southern Roots.

Chapter Three: Missing Pieces.

Chapter Four: Into the Void.

Chapter Five: Baby Steps.

PART II: WEARING THE COLORS.

Chapter Six: Vision of Hope.

Chapter Seven: Off and Running.

Chapter Eight: Big Lift.

Chapter Nine: Precious Time.

Chapter Ten: History and Headlights.

Chapter Eleven: Heavy Lessons.

Chapter Twelve: Full Circle.

Book review: Le Rapport d'ASHE-ERIC Higher Education, la Compréhension et le fait de Faciliter le Changement D'organisation au 21e siècle :la Recherche Récente et la Conceptualisation, Vol.4

Pocket Idiot's Guide to Your Carbon Footprint

Author: Nancy Grant

Take the first step toward a better environment.

Awareness of global climate change has reached critical mass around the world, and people are looking to see how the choices they make affect the environment. This highly practical and easy-to-use reference helps readers understand how to do their part to combat global warming in simple but effective ways.

• Clear explanations of the relationship between energy use and carbon emissions, and an individual's carbon "footprint"
• The topic is gaining momentum on a worldwide basis
• Easy-to-use, with accessible information

Federalism or Arrogant Capital

2009-02-18T03:59:00.000-08:00

Federalism: Political Identity and Tragic Compromise

Author: Malcolm Feeley

"This is a brilliant book that all who consider are interested in the Constitution---judges, lawyers, and professors---must read."
---Erwin Chemerinsky, Alston and Bird Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science, Duke University School of Law

"Professors Feeley and Rubin clearly define what is and is not federal system. This book should be required for serious students of comparative government and American government."
---G. Ross Stephens, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Missouri, Kansas City

"At last, an insightful examination of federalism stripped of its romance. An absolutely splendid book, rigorous but still accessible."
---Larry Yackle, Professor of Law, Boston University

"A thought-provoking book on the nature of national-state relations in the United States federal system."
---Joseph F. Zimmerman, Professor of Political Science, Rockefeller College, University at Albany

Federalism refers to a system in which a centralized national government shares power with member states. Beyond this most basic definition, however, scholars debate the applications and implications of the term. Joining the concept of identity from political science with legal principle, Malcolm M. Feeley and Edward Rubin propose a theory of federalism and test the relevance of federalism for the United States today.

Essentially, federalism represents a compromise among groups who refuse to yield autonomy yet acknowledge the benefits of forming a nation. As in the African and Asian nations forged from former colonies, federalism allows the member states---often dominated by ethnic minorities---to remain largely self-governing. In this way, a youngnation can avoid secession and civil war while the people within its borders gradually abandon their local identities and come to view themselves as citizens of the nation.

The United States, Feeley and Rubin remind us, faced a similar situation in the eighteenth century as thirteen regionally distinct, ethnically diverse, and highly independent British colonies came together to found a nation. Despite the Civil War and the upheaval of the Civil Rights Movement, the federalist strategy ultimately succeeded. For the United States in the early twenty-first century, thanks to the rise of a strong national identity and a ubiquitous bureaucracy, federalism has become obsolete. This bold argument is certain to provoke controversy.

Malcolm M. Feeley is Claire Sanders Clements Dean's Chair Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Edward Rubin is Dean of the Vanderbilt University Law School and the school's first John Wade-Kent Syverud Professor of Law.

Interesting book: The Hacker Crackdown or Network Maturity Model

Arrogant Capital: The Acclaimed Indictment of Entrenched Washington

Author: Kevin Phillips

Washington -- mired in bureaucracy, captured by the money power of Wall Street, and dominated by 90,000 lobbyists, 60,000 lawyers, and the largest concentration of special interests the world has ever seen -- has become the albatross that our Founding Fathers feared: a swollen capital city feeding off the country it should be governing. Using history as a chilling warning, Kevin Phillips compares the paralysis in today's Washington to that of formerly mighty and arrogant capitals like Rome and Madrid. Unchecked, Washington will -- like other great powers before it -- lead the country to its inevitable decline and fall.

Kevin Phillips's unique blueprint for a revolution in politics and government puts Washington on notice and sounds a cry for immediate action, offering a wide variety of remedies -- some quasi-revolutionary, others more moderate, but all controversial.

	Preface to the Paperback Edition	xi
	Acknowledgments	xxix
I	The End of Self-Renewal in Washington and in American Politics
1	Washington and the Late-Twentieth-Century Failure of American Politics	3
2	Imperial Washington: The Power and the Glory--And the Betrayal of the Grass Roots	27
II	The Critical Shortcomings of U.S. Politics, Parties, and Government
3	The Crisis No One Can Discuss: U.S. Economic and Cultural Decline--And What It Means	69
4	The Financialization of America: Electronic Speculation and Washington's Loss of Control over the "Real Economy"	95
5	The Principal Weaknesses of American Politics and Government	139
6	The Fading of Anglo-American Institutions and World Supremacy	173
III	The Revolutionary 1990s and the Restoration of Popular Rule in America
7	The 1990s: Converging Revolutionary Traditions and Post-Cold War Jitters	205
8	Renewing America for the Twenty-first Century: The Blueprint for a Political Revolution	227
	Notes and Sources	271
	Index	279

Human Services in Contemporary America or Nationalism Reader

2009-02-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

Human Services in Contemporary America

Author: William R Burger

HUMAN SERVICES IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA presents a complete overview of the helping field, its available programs, and the practical skills you can use in your career. The author presents the history and practice of human services through the lens of a social problems and policy perspective. From one chapter to the next, you'll begin to understand how social, economic and political issues may affect you as a human service worker as well as the people you service. Real-life examples in every chapter highlight material on social policy. Useful information on selected careers within the field are discussed, along with the necessary training and licensor information you'll need if you decide to pursue that career direction. You'll find the book's website to be a great study aid to help you master the concepts of the course.

Booknews

Gives a realistic and multidisciplinary understanding of the helping professions, looking at the many roles of human services, people who seek help, and programs available to those in need. There is a strong focus on social policy issues and their impact on workers and clients. This fifth edition contains new material on career paths, managed care, welfare reform, and the disparity between rich and poor. Burger chairs the department of behavioral sciences and human services at Kingsborough Community College, where Youkeles is professor emeritus. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

	Preface	ix
Chapter 1	Human Services in the United States Today	1
	Introduction	2
	Human Needs: Focus on Human Services	2
	The Role of Primary Social Supports in Meeting Needs	6
	An Overview of Human Services	8
	Sources of Need Satisfaction	19
	Falling Through the Safety Net	19
	Political Controversy and Human Services	21
	The Impact of Contemporary Problems on Needs	31
	Summary	62
	Additional Reading	63
	References	64
Chapter 2	Groups in Need	69
	Introduction	70
	America's Poor	70
	The Unemployed	77
	Children in Need	79
	The Elderly	87
	People with Disabilities	95
	Persons with Mental Illness	99
	Substance Abusers	106
	Criminals	114
	The Homeless	125
	Persons Living with HIV/AIDS	129
	Summary	133
	Additional Reading	134
	References	135
Chapter 3	Human Services in Historical Perspective	141
	Introduction	142
	Prehistoric Civilization	142
	Early Civilizations	143
	The Middle Ages	145
	The Renaissance	147
	Human Welfare Services since the Renaissance	148
	Mental Health Services since the Renaissance	155
	2000 and Beyond	163
	Additional Reading	166
	References	167
Chapter 4	Theoretical Perspectives	169
	Introduction	170
	Scientific Theory	170
	Theories about Human Disorders	171
	Models of Dysfunction	173
	The Medical Model	173
	The Human Services Model	180
	Issues Underlying Conflict between Models	182
	The Holistic Trend in Medical Theory	183
	Schools of Therapy	186
	The Psychoanalytic Viewpoint	186
	The Humanistic Perspective	194
	The Behaviorist Model	198
	Which Theory Is Best?	208
	Alternative Paths to Personal Fulfillment	208
	Systems Theory	210
	Does Psychotherapy Work?	211
	Additional Reading	212
	References	213
Chapter 5	The Human Services Worker	216
	Introduction	217
	Different Styles of Helping Relationships	217
	Characteristics of Effective Helpers	219
	Basic Helping Skills	224
	Factors That Influence the Use of Skills	232
	Values	233
	Human Rights, the Law, and Human Services	239
	The Worker in Group Settings	242
	The Worker in the Community	245
	Additional Reading	250
	References	251
Chapter 6	Careers in Human Services	253
	Introduction	254
	Generalist Human Services Work	254
	Therapeutic Recreation	259
	Creative Arts Therapy	260
	Psychiatric Nursing	262
	Occupational Therapy	264
	Clinical Psychology	267
	Counseling	271
	Social Work	278
	Psychiatry	282
	Professional Organizations	284
	Additional Reading	286
	References	287
Chapter 7	Social Policy	288
	Introduction	289
	What Is Social Policy?	289
	Social Policy in the Past	290
	Social Policy in Modern Times	291
	Purpose and Types of Social Policy	293
	The Scope of Social Policy	293
	The Making of Social Policy	295
	Factors in Establishing Social Policy	300
	The Implementation of Social Policy	307
	Critical Thinking Activities	310
	Additional Reading	316
	References	317
Chapter 8	Prevention in Human Services	319
	Introduction	320
	Defining Prevention and Its Targets	320
	Prevention in the Past	321
	Levels of Prevention	325
	Why an Emphasis on Primary Prevention Is Crucial	329
	Primary Prevention Strategies	334
	Obstacles to the Development of Primary Prevention Programs	337
	Conclusion	340
	Additional Reading	340
	References	341
Chapter 9	Current Controversies and Issues	343
	Introduction	344
	The Clash of Values in Social Policies	344
	Government: How Much Support for the Needy?	348
	Target Populations: The Struggle for Support	349
	Professionalism in the Human Services	354
	Deinstitutionalization: Does It Work?	358
	The Role of Human Services Workers	360
	Whom Do Human Services Workers Serve?	361
	A Basic Reading and Thinking Skill	363
	References	364
	Glossary	367
	Author Index	377
	Subject Index	381

Nationalism Reader

Author: Omar Dahbour

The proclamation of a "New World Order," hailed at the end of the cold war, coincided with an eruption of nationalism. The withering of the bipolar balance of power has created a vacuum that has been filled by a new tide of ethnic conflict in the former Soviet Union, Bosnia, Somalia, and elsewhere. Despite general recognition of this resurgent phenomenon, there is neither widespread awareness nor expert consensus on the meaning and origins of nationalism. The Nationalism Reader depicts the historical evolution of nationalist thought in the words of leading political actors and thinkers. But this anthology is more than merely a useful reference book. By classifying the question of nationalism according to conflicting political perspectives, its introductory essay and organization show that liberalism, conservatism, and socialism each oscillates between a universalist (or a semi-universalist) conception of human rights and nationalism. In this respect, the selection of texts presented here sheds new theoretical light on the study of nationalism, as well as presenting major European, American, and Third World contributions to nationalist thought.

Booknews

Adopting the position that nationalism is a "modern emotional effusion" aroused by the nation-state, this anthology traces the development of nationalism from the Enlightenment to the contemporary period. Topics include liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and internationalism; anti-colonialism and national liberation movements; American perspectives; and contemporary debate on the subject. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

No Child Left Behind and the Transformation of Federal Education Policy 1965 2005 or The Al Qaeda Connection

2009-02-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

No Child Left Behind and the Transformation of Federal Education Policy, 1965-2005

Author: Patrick J McGuinn

Education is intimately connected to many of the most important and contentious questions confronting American society, from race to jobs to taxes, and the competitive pressures of the global economy have only enhanced its significance. Elementary and secondary schooling has long been the province of state and local governments; but when George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, it signaled an unprecedented expansion of the federal role in public education.

This book provides the first balanced, in-depth analysis of how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law. Patrick McGuinn, a political scientist with hands-on experience in secondary education, explains how this happened despite the country's long history of decentralized school governance and the longstanding opposition of both liberals and conservatives to an active, reform-oriented federal role in schools. His book provides the essential political context for understanding NCLB, the controversies surrounding its implementation, and forthcoming debates over its reauthorization.

Using education as a case study of national policymaking, McGuinn also shows how the struggle to define the federal role in school reform took center stage in debates over the appropriate role of the government in promoting opportunity and social welfare. He places the evolution of the federal role in schools within the context of broader institutional, ideological, and political changes that have swept the nation since the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, chronicles the concerns raised by the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, and shows how education became a major campaign issue for both parties in the 1990s. McGuinn argues that the emergence of swing issues such as education can facilitate major policy change even as they influence the direction of wider political debates and partisan conflict.

McGuinn traces the Republican shift from seeking to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education to embracing federal leadership in school reform, then details the negotiations over NCLB, the forces that shaped its final provisions, and the ways in which the law constitutes a new federal education policy regime-against which states have now begun to rebel. He argues that the expanded federal role in schools is probably here to stay and that only by understanding the unique dynamics of national education politics will reformers be able to craft a more effective national role in school reform.

This book is part of the Studies in Government and Public Policy series.

Book review: Breads or Joanne Weirs More Cooking in the Wine Country

The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalpse

Author: Paul L Williams

In his acclaimed exposé, Osama's Revenge: The Next 9/11, terrorism expert Paul L. Williams revealed the likelihood of nuclear terrorism on American soil. Now in this chilling sequel Williams further explores the shocking dimensions of the international terrorist threat to Americans.

Williams reveals persuasive evidence that al Qaeda has now established connections with the Sicilian Mafia, which is helping to finance terrorism through the sale of Number Four heroin, the present drug of choice in Europe and the United States. In addition, through its ties to the Chechen Mafia, the group responsible for the heinous attack on a Russian school, al Qaeda has managed to obtain nuclear weapons from poorly secured and carelessly guarded storehouses in Russia.

Perhaps the most disturbing evidence uncovered by Williams is the relation of al Qaeda to an obscure Salvadoran street gang, which calls itself Mara Salvatrucha and has expanded exponentially. In exchange for big money, this violent group of anarchic thugs has smuggled weapons of mass destruction and sleeper agents across the Mexican border onto American soil, or what they refer to as the land of the "Great Satan."

No other book deals with the connection between international, extremist Islamic terrorism and organized crime-a connection that has made possible the establishment of a well-financed branch of al Qaeda in Latin America and the creation of terrorist cells in major metropolitan areas throughout the United States. Williams convincingly demonstrates that by means of this network Bin Laden is now in a position to execute his dream of an American Hiroshima, an apocalyptic act of mass murder within the borders of the United States. Though vigorously working to prevent such an attack, many military experts and security officials concede the probability of nuclear terrorism in America, perhaps in the immediate future.

What People Are Saying

Michael Levine
"While congress sticks its collective heads in holes and mainstream media does its usual penguin walk, the mushroom clouds of nuclear terror grow more defined on our horizon. Dr. Paul L. Williams is one of a precious few investigative journalists with the real facts and the courage to sound the alarm. . . before it is too late. This is a MUST read for every American."
—retired DEA agent, author of NY Times bestseller Deep Cover, and the host of New York City's, The Expert Witness Radio Show

Neil J. Kressel
"Nothing is more dangerous for America -- or the world -- than the alliance between international terrorism and organized crime. By calling attention to this linkage, Paul L. Williams has, once again, shown himself to be a national resource in the battle against Osama and his henchmen."
—Ph.D., author of Mass Hate: The Global Rise of Genocide and Terror

Paul R. Schiffer
"I have interviewed dozens of Defense and Terror experts on my radio broadcasts over the years. None of them comes close to the depth, insight, and frightening details of Mr. Williams in exposing the tentacles of terror gripping our planet."
—Radio talk show host, "The Schiffer Report" on Righttalk.com

James E. Beasley Jr.
"Dr. Williams' most recent work thoroughly and thoughtfully expounds on his prior work and places in context how the end of the Cold War, Wahabism, and the decision making based on political considerations rather than true needs have placed the West in a precarious position; this book, as troubling as its contents may be, is an important read which not only the public, but more importantly, our politicians should read and understand so they may act accordingly."
—M.D., Esq. whose practice involves international terrorism litigation on behalf of 9/11 victims.

	Preface : an interview with Osama bin Laden	9
	Introduction : why we fight America	15
Pt. 1	The Islamic mafia
Ch. 1	The young lion and the dream of the American Hiroshima	25
Ch. 2	The good life among the Taliban	45
Ch. 3	From Albania to the atom bomb	57
Ch. 4	The three wars	67
Pt. 2	The crown jewels
Ch. 5	The loose nukes	81
Ch. 6	The five-year intermission	97
Ch. 7	Enter Dr. Evil	105
Pt. 3	From hell to South America
Ch. 8	Welcome, Osama, to South America	119
Ch. 9	Too little, too late	139
Ch. 10	The terrorists and the gangbangers	153
Ch. 11	The sleeper cells	171
Ch. 12	Amen, America	191
	Epilogue : the doomsday clock	201
App	Al Qaeda's search for weapons of mass destruction	207

Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays or Unmaking the Public University

2009-02-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays

Author: Oakeshott

Rationalism in Politics, first published in 1962, has established the late Michael Oakeshott as the leading conservative political theorist in modern Britain. This expanded collection of essays astutely points out the limits of "reason" in rationalist politics.

Oakeshott criticizes ideological schemes to reform society according to supposedly "scientific" or rationalistic principles that ignore the wealth and variety of human experience. "Rationalism in politics, " says Oakeshott, "involves a misconception with regard to the nature of human knowledge." History has shown that it produces unexpected, often disastrous, results. "Having cut himself off from the traditional knowledge of his society, and denied the value of any education more extensive than a training in a technique of analysis, " the Rationalist succeeds only in undermining the institutions that hold civilized society together. In this regard, rationalism in politics is "a corruption of the mind."

Interesting textbook: The Mighty Wurlitzer or Black Identities

Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class

Author: Christopher Newfield

An essential American dream—equal access to higher education—was becoming a reality with the GI Bill and civil rights movements after World War II. But this vital American promise has been broken. Christopher Newfield argues that the financial and political crises of public universities are not the result of economic downturns or of ultimately valuable restructuring, but of a conservative campaign to end public education’s democratizing influence on American society. Unmaking the Public University is the story of how conservatives have maligned and restructured public universities, deceiving the public to serve their own ends. It is a deep and revealing analysis that is long overdue.

Newfield carefully describes how this campaign operated, using extensive research into public university archives. He launches the story with the expansive vision of an equitable and creative America that emerged from the post-war boom in college access, and traces the gradual emergence of the anti-egalitarian “corporate university,” practices that ranged from racial policies to research budgeting. Newfield shows that the culture wars have actually been an economic war that a conservative coalition in business, government, and academia have waged on that economically necessary but often independent group, the college-educated middle class. Newfield’s research exposes the crucial fact that the culture wars have functioned as a kind of neutron bomb, one that pulverizes the social and culture claims of college grads while leaving their technical expertise untouched. Unmaking the Public University incisively sets the record straight, describing aforty-year economic war waged on the college-educated public, and awakening us to a vision of social development shared by scientists and humanists alike.

What People Are Saying

Anthony Grafton
In a crowd of recent works dedicated to the changing university and its place in society, Newfield's rich, cogently argued and readable book stands out. This is that rare thing, truly critical history: a solidly researched book that is at once a fine example of the sort of scholarship that the American university still makes possible and a serious argument about the university. --(Anthony Grafton, author of The Footnote: A Curious History)

David L. Kirp
Newfield's argument is original, his evidence varied and rich, and his historical narrative coherent. He situates the university in its broadest social context, and shows that the 'culture wars,' far from being a sideshow, have in fact cleverly been fomented by conservatives to reshape the values of the university, the world-view of its graduates, and the economy which it significantly shapes and which shapes it. --(David L. Kirp, author of Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education)

American Armageddon or McCain

2009-02-13T07:08:00.000-08:00

American Armageddon: How the Delusions of the Neoconservatives and the Christian Right Triggered the Descent of America - and Still Imperil Our Future

Author: Craig Unger

The presidency of George W. Bush has led to the worst foreign policy decision in the history of the United States -- the bloody, unwinnable war in Iraq. How did this happen? Bush's fateful decision was rooted in events that began decades ago, and until now this story has never been fully told.
From Craig Unger, the author of the bestseller House of Bush, House of Saud, comes a comprehensive, deeply sourced, and chilling account of the secret relationship between neoconservative policy makers and the Christian Right, and how they assaulted the most vital safeguards of America's constitutional democracy while pushing the country into the catastrophic quagmire in the Middle East that is getting worse day by day.
Among the powerful revelations in this book:

Why George W. Bush ignored the sage advice of his father, George H.W. Bush, and took America into war.
How Bush was convinced he was doing God's will.
How Vice President Dick Cheney manipulated George W. Bush, disabled his enemies within the administration, and relentlessly pressed for an attack on Iraq.
Which veteran government official, with the assent of the president's father, protested passionately that the Bush administration was making a catastrophic mistake -- and was ignored.
How information from forged documents that had already been discredited fourteen times by various intelligence agencies found its way into President Bush's State of the Union address in which he made the case for war with Iraq.
How Cheney and the neocons assembled a shadow national security apparatus and created a disinformation pipeline to mislead Americaand start the war.

A seasoned, award-winning investigative reporter connected to many back-channel political and intelligence sources, Craig Unger knows how to get the big story -- and this one is his most explosive yet. Through scores of interviews with figures in the Christian Right, the neoconservative movement, the Bush administration, and sources close to the Bush family, as well as intelligence agents in the CIA, the Pentagon, and Israel, Unger shows how the Bush administration's certainty that it could bend history to its will has carried America into the disastrous war in Iraq, dooming Bush's presidency to failure and costing America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Far from ensuring our security, the Iraq War will be seen as a great strategic pivot point in history that could ignite wider war in the Middle East, particularly in Iran.
Provocative, timely, and disturbing, The Fall of the House of Bush stands as the most comprehensive and dramatic account of how and why George W. Bush took America to war in Iraq.

Go to: Apprendimento informale: Riscoprendo le vie naturali che ispirano l'innovazione e la prestazione

McCain: The Myth of a Maverick

Author: Matt Welch

John McCain is one of the most familiar, sympathetic, and overexposed figures in American politics, yet his concrete governing philosophy and actual track record have been left curiously unexamined, mostly because of the massive distractions in his official biography, but also because of his ingenious strategy of talking ad infinitum to each and every access-craving media person who happens by. The more he has spouted, the less journalists have bothered trying to see through the fog.

McCain gives the voting public what it wants but can’t find -- a flesh-and-bones political portrait of a man onto whom people are forever projecting their own ideological fantasies. It is a psychological key for decoding his allegedly ‘maverick’ actions, and the first realistic assessment of what a John McCain presidency may look like. McCain will quickly lay out in overlapping detail the root cause of the senator’s worldview: his personal transformation from underachieving punk to war hawk uber-patriot, in which he used the "higher power" of American nationalism to save his life and soul.

As McCain wrenches himself inside-out in pursuit of the prize that eluded him in 2000, McCain will look behind the war hero, behind the maverick reformer. Journalist and pundit Matt Welch brings to this project an investigative eye and a coolly analytical mindset to provide Republicans, Democrats and Independents a picture of the man in full before they enter the voting booth in 2008.

For the Soul of Mankind or Rethinking American History in a Global Age

2009-02-12T01:55:00.000-08:00

For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War

Author: Melvyn P Leffler

“A highly relevant and much-needed historical study . . . One of the best books on the period to have been written.” —The Economist

To the amazement of the public, pundits, and even the policymakers themselves, the ideological and political conflict that endangered the world for half a century came to an end in 1990. How did that happen? What had caused the cold war in the first place, and why did it last as long as it did? To answer these questions, Melvyn P. Leffler homes in on four crucial episodes when American and Soviet leaders considered modulating, avoiding, or ending hostilities and asks why they failed. He then illuminates how Reagan, Bush, and, above all, Gorbachev finally extricated themselves from the policies and mind-sets that had imprisoned their predecessors, and were able to reconfigure Soviet-American relations after decades of confrontation.

The Washington Post - Richard Rhodes

He tells a good story. Leffler explains in his introduction that For the Soul of Mankind is a narrative of five momentous Cold War episodes rather than a full history. The first episode, about Stalin, Truman and the origins of the Cold War, feels perfunctory—Leffler published an excellent book on the subject, The Preponderance of Power, in 1992. But the University of Virginia historian finds his voice in energetic examinations of the promising turmoil in the Politburo following Stalin's death in 1953, the near-Armageddon of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the erosion of detente in the Carter years and the end of the Cold War at the hands of Gorbachev, Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

Publishers Weekly

Drawing on extensive research in American and Soviet archives, Bancroft Prize-winner Leffler (A Preponderance of Power) offers a scintillating account of the forces that constrained Soviet and American leaders in the second half of the 20th century. Leffler begins by admitting that he was shocked by the rapid demise of communism. If Reagan and Gorbachev could end the Cold War, why hadn't earlier leaders been able to do so? To answer that question, Leffler examines five crucial moments when Washington and Moscow "thought about avoiding or modulating the extreme tension" between them. At the end of WWII, Leffler says, Stalin thought that cooperation with the West might be preferable to entrenched hostility. Yet he and Truman were pressed by an "international order that engendered... fear" to make decisions that led to Cold War and shaped policy for decades. Leffler examines why Eisenhower and Malenkov couldn't wipe the slate clean after Stalin's death; how Khrushchev, Kennedy and Johnson reacted to the pressures of international allies and domestic political enemies; why détente foundered under Carter and Brezhnev, and what circumstances allowed leaders of the 1980s to focus on common interests rather than differences. Leffler has produced possibly the most readable and insightful study of the Cold War yet. 47 b&w illus., 6 maps. (Sept.)

Kirkus Reviews

The Cold War began under murky and not entirely planned circumstances governed by individual personalities. So, writes Leffler (History/Univ. of Virginia; The Specter of Communism: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1917-1953, 1994, etc.), did it end, thanks to two personalities in particular. The U.S. and the Soviet Union made sometimes uncomfortable allies in the war against Hitler, but they were allies all the same. When that war ended, Leffler observes, there was a world to divide up; Stalin had his agenda, but so did Harry Truman, who demanded that America enjoy 85 percent of any given pie rather than a nice 50-50 split. Stalin took a dim view of that math; and in all events, when the U.S. announced that it would never again be caught napping or give up its military superiority, and that it would "hold the atomic bomb as a 'sacred trust' for all mankind," Stalin felt hemmed in, even blackmailed. Leffler does a creditable job of depicting the ensuing Cold War from the point of view of the Soviet leadership as well as from the already well-documented American one, and he turns up surprises: one, for instance, that the Soviet leadership, urged along by Lavrentiy Beria, was exploring the possibility of allowing German to reunify as a neutral power, a far better alternative in his mind than "a permanently unstable socialist Germany whose survival relied on the support of the Soviet Union." That plan went nowhere: Stalin died; Beria was executed; and another generation of East-West confrontation would ensue. Leffler's interest lies in the personalities of the leaders who enabled detente, and finally an end to the Cold War-foremost among them, in his assessment, MikhailGorbachev, who "made the most fundamental alterations in his own thinking" in order to accept a fundamental shift in the world's political order. (Reagan had something to do with it, too, writes Leffler. But Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev? Useless.)A well-balanced and illuminating history of the Cold War.

List of Illustrations     ix
List of Maps     xiii
Acknowledgments     xv
Introduction     3
The Origins of the Cold War, 1945-48: Stalin and Truman     11
Stalin the Revolutionary     11
Stalin in World War II     20
Truman     37
Stalin and Truman     48
International Anarchy     57
Politics at Home     70
Allies and Clients     75
Ideology, Personality, and the International System     79
The Chance for Peace, 1953-54: Malenkov and Eisenhower     84
Stalin's Death     84
Eisenhower's Response     95
Turmoil in the Kremlin     114
A Chance for Peace?     122
Arms Control, Germany, and Indochina     138
Fear and Power     147
Retreat from Armageddon, 1962-65: Khrushchev, Kennedy, and Johnson     151
At the Brink     151
Khrushchev's Retreat     158
Kennedy Bides His Time     174
Give Peace a Chance     182
Starting Anew and Ending Abruptly     192
Johnson's Agonies and Choices     201
From Armageddon Back to Cold War     224
The Erosion of Detente, 1975-80: Brezhnev and Carter     234
Brezhnev and Detente     234
A New Face in Washington, an Old One in Moscow     259
Clients, Hegemons, and Allies     273
The China Card     288
Iran and Afghanistan     299
The Vienna Summit     311
Nicaragua and Afghanistan     319
The End of Detente     334
The End of the Cold War, 1985-90: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Bush     338
Morning in America     339
Twilight in Moscow     365
Arms Reductions     374
The Troops Come Out     403
New Thinking, Old Thinking     414
The Wall Comes Down     427
Two Countries Become One     439
Gorbachev, Reagan, and Bush     448
Conclusion     451
Notes     469
Bibliography     545
Index     571

Books about: Introduction à l'Économétrie

Rethinking American History in a Global Age

Author: Thomas Bender

In rethinking and reframing the American national narrative in a wider context, the contributors to this volume ask questions about both nationalism and the discipline of history itself. The essays offer fresh ways of thinking about the traditional themes and periods of American history. By locating the study of American history in a transnational context, they examine the history of nation-making and the relation of the United States to other nations and to transnational developments. What is now called globalization is here placed in a historical context.
A cast of distinguished historians from the United States and abroad examines the historiographical implications of such a reframing and offers alternative interpretations of large questions of American history ranging from the era of European contact to democracy and reform, from environmental and economic development and migration experiences to issues of nationalism and identity. But the largest issue explored is basic to all histories: How does one understand, teach, and write a national history even as one recognizes that the territorial boundaries do not fully contain that history and that within that bounded territory the society is highly differentiated, marked by multiple solidarities and identities?
Rethinking American History in a Global Age advances an emerging but important conversation marked by divergent voices, many of which are represented here. The various essays explore big concepts and offer historical narratives that enrich the content and context of American history. The aim is to provide a history that more accurately reflects the dimensions of American experience and better connects the past withcontemporary concerns for American identity, structures of power, and world presence.

The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich or Disobedience and Democracy

2009-02-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich: The Ss Butcher of Prague

Author: Callum A MacDonald

If anyone warranted assassination during World War II, the man to know was Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942)—chief of the security police, rabid anti-Semite, architect of the Final Solution, ruthless overlord of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, and Hitler's most likely successor. In 1941, at the height of the Nazi's seeming invincibility, the Czech government-in-exile launched a desperate operation to kill Heydrich. From the assassins' training in England to their Thermopylae-like last stand in the flooded crypt of a Prague church, and the Nazi's savage reprisals (including the obliteration of two villages), The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich brilliantly recounts one of World War II's most daring and tragic missions.

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

The most complete account to date. . . gripping in its narrative drive. -- New York Times

Library Journal

Here's one who didn't get away. Quite the contrary, Heydrich, the perfect Nazi--if there could be such a thing--was assassinated in 1942 by Czech patriots who planted a bomb in his car. MacDonald's 1989 volume, which reads like a good thriller, follows this plot to kill the head of the Nazi security police.

Booknews

In 1941, at the height of the Third Reich's seeming invincibility, the Czech government launched an operation to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, chief of security police and ruthless overlord of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. This volume recounts the operation from the assassins' training in England to their successful attempt and their last stand in a flooded crypt in a Prague church. Includes b&w photos. This is an unabridged republication of a work first published in 1989 under the title The Killing of SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Interesting book: Study Guide to Accompany Fund of Corp Fin or Scenario Driven Planning

Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies of Law and Order, Vol. 1

Author: Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn's cogent defense of civil disobedience, with a new introduction by the author. In this slim volume, Zinn lays out a clear and dynamic case for civil disobedience and protest, and challenges the dominant arguments against forms of protest that challenge the status quo. Zinn explores the politics of direct action, nonviolent civil disobedience, and strikes, and draws lessons for today.

Killing Hope or Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch

2009-02-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II-Updated Through 2003

Author: William Blum

Is the United States a force for democracy? In this classic and unique volume that answers this question, William Blum serves up a forensic overview of U.S. foreign policy spanning sixty years. Remarks from the previous edition: "Far and away the best book on the topic."-Noam Chomsky "A valuable reference for anyone interested in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy."- Choice "I enjoyed it immensely."-Gore Vidal "The single most useful summary of CIA history."-John Stockwell "Each chapter I read makes me more and more angry."-Helen Caldicott "A very useful piece of work, daunting in scope, important."-Thomas Powers, author and Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist "A very valuable book. The research and organization are extremely impressive."-A.J. Langguth, author and former New York Times bureau chief For those who want the details on our most famous -actions (Chile, Cuba, Vietnam, to name a few), and for those who want to learn about our lesser-known efforts (France, China, Bolivia, Brazil, for example), this book provides a window on what our foreign policy goals really are. William Blum is the author of Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower .

Book about: The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov or The Anatomy of Fascism

Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch: The Panama Canal Treaties and the Rise of the Right

Author: Adam Clymer

Considered one of America's engineering marvels, the Panama Canal sparked intense debates in the 1970s over the decision to turn it back over to Panama. In this remarkable and revealing tale, noted journalist Adam Clymer shows how the decision to give up this revered monument of the "American century" stirred emotions already rubbed raw by the loss of the Vietnam War and shaped American politics for years.

Jimmy Carter made the Canal his first foreign policy priority and won the battle to ratify the Panama Canal treaties. But, Clymer reveals, the larger war was lost. The issue gave Ronald Reagan a slogan that kept his 1976 candidacy alive and positioned him to win in 1980, helped elect conservative senators who made a Republican majority, and fueled the overall growth of conservatism.

In telling the story of America's reconsideration of the 1903 treaty that gave it control of the Canal "in perpetuity," Clymer focuses on the perspectives of six key players: Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker, political candidate Gordon Humphrey, and Terry Dolan of the National Conservative Political Action Committee. His narrative illuminates many aspects of American politics during the Ford and Carter years—especially regarding Senate elections—that have been largely overlooked. And his chronicling of the emergence of political action committees on the right reveals their often-awkward relationship with the GOP and the uneasy alliances that helped the Republicans win control of the Senate in 1980.

Clymer explores how the uproar over the Canal episode foreshadowed perennial partisan attacks over intense, emotional issues fromabortion to gun control to same-sex marriage. He also shows that people who hated the idea of giving up the canal gave birth to the NCPAC approach of beating up on an incumbent long before an election, often assisted by independent spending and outside advertising.

As Clymer argues, "The Panama Canal no longer divides Panama. But the fissures it opened 30 years ago have widened; they divide the United States." His even-handed account offers new insight into the "Reagan Revolution" and highlights an overlooked turning point in American political history.

The Washington Post - H. W. Brands

Clymer…provides fascinating detail, in explaining how several conservative candidates for Congress successfully leveraged the canal against their more liberal opponents.

Publishers Weekly

Former New York TimesWashington correspondent Clymer (Edward M. Kennedy) argues in this straightforward, able account that Jimmy Carter's loss in the 1980 presidential election can largely be attributed to his widely unpopular negotiations to return the Panama Canal to Panama. America was demoralized after Vietnam, and many citizens were opposed to giving up the canal, long a symbol of American progress and power. Conservatives seized on the issue. As early as 1975, Reagan condemned returning the canal as a sign of American weakness, declaring with his characteristic simple directness: "we bought it, we paid for it, we built it and we intend to keep it." Clymer also examines several Senate races in which incumbents who had voted to give up the canal were unseated by right-wingers. Although Clymer acknowledges that many forces contributed to the rise of the Right, his relentless focus on the canal is tendentious at times. Still, Clymer makes an innovative contribution to the growing literature that seeks to explain how conservatism triumphed after Goldwater. 20 photos. (Mar.)

What People Are Saying

Richard Norton Smith
Long acknowledged to be a top-flight journalist, Clymer turns out to be a thoughtful and probing historian as well. Above all, he is a gifted storyteller, whose colorful cast includes dictators and diplomats, politicians in search of an issue, and presidents in search of a legacy. Great history is all about perspective, and that's exactly what this book supplies. (Richard Norton Smith, Presidential historian)

Tom Brokaw
A fascinating political whodunit about the place of the Panama Canal in the conservative campaign to sink the ship of congressional liberals. (Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation)

David A. Keene
A first-rate effort by a top-notch political reporter. (David A. Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union)

Tom Brokaw

A fascinating political whodunit about the place of the Panama Canal in the conservative campaign to sink the ship of congressional liberals.

Richard Norton Smith

Long acknowledged to be a top-flight journalist, Clymer turns out to be a thoughtful and probing historian as well. Above all, he is a gifted storyteller, whose colorful cast includes dictators and diplomats, politicians in search of an issue, and presidents in search of a legacy. Great history is all about perspective, and that's exactly what this book supplies. (Richard Norton Smith, Presidential historian)

David A. Keene

A first-rate effort by a top-notch political reporter. (David A. Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union)

Preface: "Pluck and Luck Conquered All": A Canal for the American Century     ix
"In Perpetuity": Years of Dispute and Diplomacy     1
"No Constituency to Help": President Ford Negotiates     10
"What a Shot in the Arm!": Ford Upsets Reagan Despite the Canal     19
"We Bought It. We Built It. It's Ours and We Are Going to Keep It": The Canal Issue Brings Reagan's Recovery     25
"Thank God for Those People in 1976 Who Headed Off That Loss of Freedom": Reagan Loses but Wins Republican Hearts     33
"Delay Invites Violence": Carter Inherits and Seizes the Issue     40
"I Wanted to Treat Panama Fairly": Carter Underestimates American Dismay     45
"Conservatives Can't Lose": The Canal Unifies the Right     53
"Draw the Line at the Big Ditch": The Anti-Treaty Message     61
"What If They're Right?": Reagan Holding Back     70
"Why Now? And Why Me?": Howard Baker and the Treaties     75
"Be Tolerant and Patient in Bringing People Around": Byrd's Advice While in Panama     82
"A Measure of Our Strength, Not Our Weakness": The Senate Advises and Consents     90
"Come On and Watch Me Lose My Seat": Gordon Humphrey and the New Right Sink Tom McIntyre     106
"I Haven't Found Anybody in Iowa That's for the Treaties": Roger Jepsen on the Issue That Made the Difference     117
"We Supported the Tough Conservative, the Business PAC Was Always for the Establishment": The PACmen Come     130
"A Group Like Ours Could Lie through Its Teeth and the Candidate It Helps Stays Clean": NCPAC Takes on Incumbents     140
"ACU Could Go Out of Business by Election Day": The Canal Cuts Both Ways     154
"I Hope That It's Over as an Issue": Reagan on the Canal after Ratification     164
"They Never Wanted to See Another Panama Canal Ad": The North Carolina Senate Campaign     171
"Is Idaho Up for Grabs?": The Canal, NCPAC, and Steve Symms Defeat Frank Church     180
"Cold Water on Some of His Supporters": The Canal Finishes a Weakened Talmadge     190
"A Senate Majority Made All the Difference in the World": Canal-Elected Senators and Baker Give Reagan a Chance to Govern     197
"We've Made a Difference": Reagan Changed the Nation, without the Canal     204
Notes     213
An Essay on Sources     259
Acknowledgments     265
Index     269

We the People or Lawyers of the Right

2009-02-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

We the People: An Introduction to American Politics, Texas Edition

Author: Benjamin Ginsberg

Emphasizing the relevance of politics and government in everyday life, We the People provides tools to help students think critically about American government and politics. The Sixth Edition has been carefully updated to reflect most recent developments, including the ongoing conflict in Iraq and the 2006 midterm elections. Complemented by a rich package of multimedia tools for instructors and students, including a new video-clip DVD, We the People is now more pedagogically effective than ever.

New interesting textbook: Dreams Symbols and Homeopathy or The Whats Happening to My Body Book for Girls

Lawyers of the Right: Professionalizing the Conservative Coalition

Author: Ann Southworth

A timely and multifaceted portrait of the lawyers who serve the diverse constituencies of the conservative movement, Lawyers of the Right explains what unites and divides lawyers for the three major groups—social conservatives, libertarians, and business advocates—that have coalesced in recent decades behind the Republican Party.
Drawing on in-depth interviews with more than seventy lawyers who represent conservative and libertarian nonprofit organizations, Ann Southworth explores their values and identities and traces the implications of their shared interest in promoting political strategies that give lawyers leading roles. She goes on to illuminate the function of mediator organizations—such as the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy—that have succeeded in promoting cooperation among different factions of conservative lawyers. Such cooperation, she finds, has aided efforts to drive law and the legal profession politically rightward and to give lawyers greater prominence in the conservative movement. Southworth concludes, though, that tensions between the conservative law movement’s elite and populist elements may ultimately lead to its undoing.

Gray Ghost or Our Constitution

2009-02-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

Gray Ghost: The Life of Colonel John Singleton Mosby

Author: James A Ramag

Confederate John Singleton Mosby forged his reputation on the most exciting of military activities -- the overnight raid. Mosby possessed a genius for guerrilla and psychological warfare, taking control of the dark to make himself the "Gray Ghost" of Union nightmares.

For more than twenty-seven months Mosby led daring raids behind Union pickets and created false alarms up and down the Potomac. Although he never commanded more than four hundred men, his forces were regularly overestimated, once by a factor of forty. Union officials dispatched more than seventy search and destroy missions against him, but he retained the tactical advantage until Lee's surrender at Appomattox ended the war.

Mosby's dynamic personality, forged in childhood, was the foundation for his success as a guerrilla chief, but it was also his greatest weakness. Attempting to repeat patterns of heroic conflict after the war, he threw away his status as a leading southern hero and sacrificed a lucrative law practice to support the Republican party and U.S. Grant's campaign for the presidency.

Forced into exile from his native Virginia, Mosby again charged into controversy. During his service as U.S. consul in Hong Kong, he worked to reform the office and single-handedly exposed the corruption of his predecessors. When his bosses in the State Department balked, Mosby sent information directly to President Hayes and, eventually, exposed the wrong-doing to the Washington Post.

In retirement, Mosby continued in his well-worn role of underdog by authoring the first defense of Jeb Stuart's actions at Gettysburg, exposing Lee's role in the debacle.

Library Journal

The extraordinary life of Confederate guerrilla John Singleton Mosby defies belief. Ramage (Northern Kentucky Univ.; Rebel Raider: The Life of General John Hunt Morgan) casts Mosby, whose raiders harassed Union rear columns and supply trains in the Shenandoah Valley, as the stoic icon of the Lost Cause who never hesitated to employ stealth, terror, and pillage against an equally resolute foe. Mosby never had more than 400 irregulars under his command, yet his raids occupied an enemy force many times that number. As an attorney in postwar Virginia, Mosby attempted to unite state conservatives behind Republican presidents Grant and Hayes and was spurned as a turncoat. He then took a number of Republican appointments, including U.S. consul in Hong Kong and assistant attorney in the Justice Department. In his later years, he lectured and wrote about his wartime experiences before passing away in 1916 at 82, fully redeemed on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. Painstaking research, dramatic illustrations, and a useful bibliographic essay add to this absorbing biography. Highly recommended.--John Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Athens Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A comprehensive biography of the Confederate guerrilla leader (1833–1916), with an emphasis on his Civil War exploits. Ramage's (History/Northern Kentucky Univ.; Rebel Raider: The Life of General John Hunt Morgan, not reviewed) well-documented volume charts the progress of Mosby from a boyhood victim of playground bullies to an icon of the Confederacy. Proceeding in fairly chronological fashion, Ramage focuses on Mosby's stunning career as a guerrilla leader, a man who was shot several times (once in the groin—the bullet remained in his body), who quoted Lord Byron while he harassed the Union troops relentlessly despite repeated attempts to capture or kill him. Ramage is most at ease in these sections, moving steadily (if unspectacularly) through descriptions of strategies and firefights that generally end with Mosby's men stealing Union horses and supplies (which they divided among themselves), killing enemy soldiers, and disappearing into the woods like, well, gray ghosts. The author credits Mosby with innovations in guerrilla strategy (e.g., in close combat, his cavalry used two handguns each instead of the traditional saber) and more than once characterizes him as "one of the most brilliant minds in the history of guerrilla war." The final 66 pages deal with Mosby's long post–Civil War life. He was, among other things, a private attorney, US consul in Hong Kong, an employee of the US Interior and Justice departments, a popular lecturer and writer. He even portrayed himself in a lost silent film. Ramage sometimes slips into the biographer's trap—admiring his subject so thoroughly that he can utter only a rare discouraging word about Mosby, who owned slaves and once shotan unarmed classmate. Also unconvincing is the cereal-box psychology Ramage applies to Mosby—viz., his boyhood battles with bullies explain his ferocious fighting spirit. A volume that will become the standard reference on Mosby—intelligent and thorough, but at times flattering rather than analytical. (32 b&w illustrations, 7 maps, not seen)

1	Mosby's Weapon of Fear	1
2	The Weakling and the Bullies	11
3	"Virginia is my mother."	28
4	Scouting behind Enemy Lines	36
5	Capturing a Yankee General in Bed	58
6	Miskel's Farm	77
7	Featherbed Guerrillas	96
8	Unguarded Sutler Wagons	105
9	Masquerading as the Enemy	120
10	Seddon's Partisans	131
11	Mosby's Clones in the Valley	147
12	Th. Night Belonged to Mosby	165
13	Blue Hen's Chickens and Custer's Wolverines	184
14	The Lottery	201
15	Sheridan's Mosby Hunt	216
16	Sheridan's Burning Raid	228
17	Apache Ambuscades, Stockades, and Prisons	243
18	"All that the proud can feel of pain"	262
19	Grant's Partisan in Virginia	271
20	Hayes's Reformer in Hong Kong	285
21	Stuart and Gettysburg	300
22	Roosevelt's Land Agent in the Sand Hills	318
23	The Gray Ghost of Television and Film	333
	Conclusion	344
	Notes	349
	Bibliographic Essay	401
	Acknowledgments	407
	Index	411

Book about: Reel Food or Man Catchin Meals

Our Constitution: What It Says, What It Means

Author: Donald A Ritchi

An in-depth look at the entire text of the U. S. Constitution, annotated with detailed explanations of its terms and contents. Each Amendment and Article is accompanied by sidebar material on the history of its application, including profiles of important Supreme Court cases, texts of related primary source documents, and contemporary news articles. Double page timelines for several of the Articles and all the Amendments highlight important events and legal cases. Visually stunning, with facsimile reproductions of primary source documents, paintings, phots, and historical artifacts, Our Constitution is perfect for history students.

VOYA

Superbly organized, clearly written, and attractively illustrated, this book is an excellent resource for a general study of the Constitution or a starting point for in-depth research. The introduction and five short chapters outline the necessity for a constitution, the type of government it created, the rights it protected, how it expanded, and the struggle interpreting and implementing it. Following this overview, the examination of the actual document begins using the pattern, What It Says (actual words) and What It Means (the explanation). After the Preamble, the seven articles and the twenty-seven amendments are then divided into manageable sections for closer discussion. Article 1, Section 8, clauses 9-11 gives Congress the ability to create a lower federal court system, the right to enact laws to protect American shipping on the seas, and the right to declare war. The ensuing explanation is straightforward, and two sidebars-Formal Declarations of War and A Police Action in Korea (a military response but not a formal declaration of war)-reinforce understanding. An illustrated War Powers Timeline summarizes military responses from 1801 (piracy) to Terrorism in 2001 and acts as another learning tool. Appendixes contain short biographies of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and outline twenty-one Supreme Court Decisions that have shaped the Constitution. Further Reading (subdivided into topics such as Amending the Constitution) facilitates specific research. Web sites and a list of Museums and Historic sites related to the constitution also provide opportunities for expanded study. The text supplemented by sidebars, political cartoons, and time lines is informative andinteresting, but the organizational pattern of this reference is its strong suit. This book is an essential purchase for schools, libraries, civic organizations, and private citizens concerned about protecting the rights and liberties guaranteed under the Constitution.

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-This appealing, well-organized volume begins with five chapters of background (Why have a constitution? How has it changed?) and then goes on to discuss the preamble, articles, and amendments, using a "What It Says" (word for word) and "What It Means" format. Every spread contains photos, reproductions, and sidebars, all of which invite students to read and understand this living document. The amendments section has time lines of events and court decisions in which the amendment has been cited. For example, the Sixth Amendment (speedy and public trial) includes the "Scottsboro Boys" Trial in 1932, a decision about excluding Mexican Americans from a jury in 1954, questions about jury size from a 1970 decision, and the 2001 presidential order that permits military trials of suspected terrorists. The substantial back matter includes an excellent Constitutional glossary, a lengthy annotated list for further reading, two pages of annotated Web sites, and a listing of museums and historic sites related to the Constitution. Far more thorough and engaging in format than Cathy Travis's Constitution Translated for Kids (Synergy, 2006), this is an excellent, well-documented addition for most libraries.-Linda Beck, Indian Valley Public Library, Telford, PA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Africa since 1940 or The Constitution of the United States of America

2009-02-05T23:53:00.000-08:00

Africa Since 1940: The Past of the Present

Author: Frederick Cooper

Frederick Cooper's latest book on the history of decolonization and independence in Africa helps students understand the historical process from which Africa's current position in the world has emerged. Bridging the divide between colonial and post-colonial history, it shows what political independence did and did not signify and how men and women, peasants and workers, religious leaders and local leaders sought to refashion the way they lived, worked, and interacted with each other.

	List of plates
	List of figures
	List of maps
	List of tables
	Preface
1	Introduction: from colonies to Third World	1
2	Workers, peasants, and the crisis of colonialism	20
3	Citizenship, self-government, and development: the possibilities of the post-war moment	38
4	Ending empire and imagining the future	66
	Interlude: rhythms of change in the post-war world	85
5	Development and disappointment: social and economic change in an unequal world, 1945-2000	91
6	The late decolonizations: southern Africa 1975, 1979, 1994	133
7	The recurrent crises of the gatekeeper state	156
8	Africa at the century's turn: South Africa, Rwanda, and beyond	191
	Index	205

Books about: Renewed Each Day Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy or Listening to Patients

The Constitution of the United States of America

Author: Sam Fink

219 years ago you were given the right to practice the religion of your choice. 219 years ago you were given the right to say what you wanted without persecution. 219 years ago it was written that your house and property were secure from unreasonable search and seizure. 219 years ago you were given the right to a public trial. 219 years ago, fifty-five men you will never know sat in a sweltering hot room as they fought and argued for you. 219 years ago you were given your rights as a citizen of the United States.
This fall, as we return again to the ballot box to decide the course of our country’s congressional and state leadership, every voter must find their way back to that room in Philadelphia. Welcome Books is proud to provide a map.
The Constitution of The United States of America, inscribed and illustrated by the master calligrapher Sam Fink, brings to life the issues underlying the triumphs of this abiding document. Originally published in pen and ink for Random House in 1987, Sam has, at the request of Welcome Books, gone back to the original black-and-white art and painted it entirely, creating a full-color masterpiece. Each amendment, each article, each word so thoughtfully placed in the Constitution has been given Sam’s profound touch. With a powerful intelligence and a wonderful sense of humor, he has provided us with an entry point, allowing us to read this essential document better, more clearly.
Welcome Books is honored to present a full-color limited edition of Sam’s startling work as well as a trade edition, exquisitely designed and produced – matching in its manufacture the stunning quality of Sam’s ambition and thegravitas and significance of the original document.
The Constitution of The United States of America is the document we must read again and again. There is no more important document in our country. It is the document we must have an intimate knowledge of. It is the document that we must never forget.
219 years ago, you were entrusted with a living document. Have you kept it safe?
To begin, we must read it. This, Sam, in his direct and unadorned way, respectful and loving, helps us do.

Dream in Color or My American Journey

2009-02-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

Dream in Color: How the Sбnchez Sisters Are Making History in Congress

Author: Linda Sanchez

By sharing moments from their childhood in Southern California, Linda and Loretta will pass on the values and traditions they learned from their parents--Mexican immigrants who, despite not having graduated high school themselves, made sure all seven of their children went to and graduated from college--that enabled them to conquer challenges and make history. They will speak frankly on the professional highs and lows, successes and scandals that constitute their distinguished careers, and show that the key to realizing your dreams is, above all else, always be true to yourself.

Often considered Congress's Odd Couple, these warm witty sisters are not only perfect role models for young Latinas in the US, but for all young women looking to break out and create a brighter future for themselves.

Publishers Weekly

In this joint memoir, congresswomen Linda and Loretta Sanchez present their compelling story-noteworthy not only for their history-making achievements (including first sisters or women of any relation to serve together in Congress, first woman and person of color to represent a district in Orange County, first Latina on the House Judiciary Committee and first Head Start child to be elected to Congress) but also for its "American Dream" aspect-their parents immigrated from Mexico and despite lacking a formal education managed to send their seven children to college. Interweaving childhood vignettes with accounts of serving in Congress, both from California, this refreshing book evades many of the tropes of the typical political memoir-perhaps because these two women are not typical politicians. "Having the courage of your convictions," writes Linda, "that is tested a lot in the Congress.... I'm not paranoid about losing office, so there's no need for me to compromise my values." The Sanchez sisters vividly demonstrate the power of hard work and steady determination in this inspiring portrait of an extraordinary family. (Sept.)

Library Journal

The lives of the Sánchez sisters seem almost too good to be true, but the road to Capitol Hill for these successful Latinas (both Democrats) was paved with hard work, determination, and, most important, dedicated Mexican-immigrant parents who confidently believed that this is the land of opportunity. Loretta had been a successful financial manager before she won California's 47th congressional district seat in 1996. Her younger sister, Linda, was a labor-relations attorney before she became the newly created California 39th congressional representative in 2003. Loretta is the ranking female Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and Linda is the first Latina to serve on the House Judiciary Committee. Written as a first-person dialog with Loretta's words printed in serif type and Linda's in sans serif, the book describes growing up in a family of seven children, who helped each other and their parents make sense of American culture and its educational systems. Each sister describes her struggle to win elective office and fight against sexism and racism in the halls of Congress as well as among some of their campaigns' opponents. Their story is fascinating and uplifting and deserves wide readership. Highly recommended for all public libraries.-Jill Ortner, SUNY at Buffalo Libs.

My American Journey

Author: Colin Powell

"A GREAT AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY . . . AN ENDEARING AND WELL-WRITTEN BOOK."
--The New York Times Book Review
Colin Powell is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he joined the Army. The rest is history--Vietnam, the Pentagon, Panama, Desert Storm--but a history that until now has been known only on the surface. Here, for the first time, Colin Powell himself tells us how it happened, in a memoir distinguished by a heartfelt love of country and family, warm good humor, and a soldier's directness.
MY AMERICAN JOURNEY is the powerful story of a life well lived and well told. It is also a view from the mountaintop of the political landscape of America. At a time when Americans feel disenchanted with their leaders, General Powell's passionate views on family, personal responsibility, and, in his own words, "the greatness of America and the opportunities it offers" inspire hope and present a blueprint for the future. An utterly absorbing account, it is history with a vision.
"The stirring, only-in-America story of one determined man's journey from the South Bronx to directing the mightiest of military forces . . . Fascinating."--The Washington Post Book World
"Eloquent."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review
"PROFOUND AND MOVING . . . . Must reading for anyone who wants to reaffirm his faith in the promise of America."
--Jack Kemp
The Wall Street Journal
"A book that is much like its subject--articulate, confident, impressive, but unpretentious and witty. . . . Whetheryou are a political junkie, a military buff, or just interested in a good story, MY AMERICAN JOURNEY is a book well worth reading."
--San Diego Union Tribune
"Colin Powell's candid, introspective autobiography is a joy for all with an appetite for well-written political and social commentary."
--The Detroit News

From the Paperback edition.

Library Journal

The story of Powell's rise from humble beginnings in Harlem to the corridors of power in Washington is one worth hearing. This abridgment touches Powell's high points: an average school career, the ROTC program that inspired him to military life, service in a divided Germany, and painful lessons learned in Vietnam. Powell's swift rise through the Pentagon bureaucracy made him a key figure in Desert Storm, the invasion of Panama, the Iran-contra affair, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the debate over gays in the military. He closes with indefinite comments about a future role in politics, positioning himself as a "fiscal conservative with a social conscience." Recommended for public libraries, where Powell's serviceable reading and the program's concise format will be popular.-Linda Bredengerd, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lib., Bradford, Pa.

School Library Journal

YA-The eminently readable journey of one African American boy from a close-knit neighborhood in the South Bronx through his rise to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to civilian retirement. Powell was neither an athlete nor a scholar; his childhood centered around his home, friends, and church. Later, in college, he found his niche. ROTC offered structure and purpose. A recounting of his army career and the support offered by family and friends are the primary focus of this work. Challenges, lessons learned, and opportunities opened by each posting are shared. Commanding officers, selected business contracts, and four presidents are introduced and evaluated, almost all in a positive light. Powell's involvement with and analysis of national and international affairs, from Vietnam to the Clinton administration, are succinctly and objectively recounted. Scattered throughout the book are personal rules of conduct and occasional incidents of particular kindnesses and of racism. Teens are given an opportunity to spend some time with a thoughtful, positive leader. They can share one participant's view of recent history and gain one perspective on our country's current needs.-Barbara Hawkins, Oakton High School, Fairfax, VA

Labor Relations or Lyndon B Johnson

2009-02-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

Labor Relations: Striking a Balance

Author: John W Budd

John Budd continues to present the most dynamic, engaging approach to understanding labor relations in the 21st century with Labor Relations, 2/e. Budd’s well-received and award-winning presentation shows labor relations as a system for striking a balance between employment relationship goals (efficiency, equity, and voice) and between the rights of labor and management. Labor Relations moves beyond a process-based focus in studying this topic by placing the discussion of contemporary U.S. processes into the context of underlying themes: what are the goals of the system; are those goals being fulfilled; and are reforms needed. Central topics are placed in the broader context of the goals of the employment relationship, conflicting rights, and the environment of the 21st Century. Budd’s broader context therefore makes labor relations more engaging and relevant to students. It also allows instructors to raise important “big picture” ideas that go beyond mere how-to descriptions.

New interesting textbook: Asias Giants or US Trade Policy

Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President

Author: Robert Dallek

Robert Dallek's brilliant two-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson has received an avalanche of praise. Michael Beschloss, in The Los Angeles Times, said that it "succeeds brilliantly." The New York Times called it "rock solid" and The Washington Post hailed it as "invaluable." And Sidney Blumenthal in The Boston Globe wrote that it was "dense with astonishing incidents."
Now Dallek has condensed his two-volume masterpiece into what is surely the finest one-volume biography of Johnson available. Based on years of research in over 450 manuscript collections and oral histories, as well as numerous personal interviews, this biography follows Johnson, the "human dynamo," from the Texas hill country to the White House. We see LBJ, in the House and the Senate, whirl his way through sixteen- and eighteen-hour days, talking, urging, demanding, reaching for influence and power, in an uncommonly successful congressional career. Then, in the White House, we see Johnson as the visionary leader who worked his will on Congress like no president before or since, enacting a range of crucial legislation, from Medicare and environmental protection to the most significant advances in civil rights for black Americans ever achieved. And we see the depth of Johnson's private anguish as he became increasingly ensnared in Vietnam.
In these pages Johnson emerges as a man of towering intensity and anguished insecurity, of grandiose ambition and grave self-doubt, a man who was brilliant, crude, intimidating, compassionate, overbearing, driven: "A tornado in pants." Gracefully written and delicately balanced, this singular biography reveals both the greatness and the tangled complexities of one ofthe most extravagant characters ever to step onto the presidential stage.

Library Journal

Few modern presidents have been the subject of as many excellent biographies as Lyndon Johnson, and this abridgment of Dallek's masterly two-volume biography, Lone Star Rising and Flawed Giant, is a welcome addition to the literature. Dallek (An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963) offers a rarity-a brief but thorough life of Johnson, now 30 years after his death. This abridgment is aimed at students who may be daunted by Dallek's lengthy two volumes or Robert Caro's projected four-volume investigation. (Caro's third volume, Master of the Senate, received the Pulitzer Prize.) This book is also excellent for all readers who want a refresher or introduction to Lyndon Johnson. Dallek skillfully discusses Johnson's political triumphs (civil and voting rights, Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education) and failures (Vietnam, the promise to end poverty) and portrays his complex, larger-than-life personality. He concludes that Lyndon Johnson will be remembered as a President who mirrored the best and the worst of his memorable times. See also Irwin and Debi Unger's LBJ: A Life, another worthy one-volume treatment. Dallek's abridgement is no replacement for his two-volumes, based on 14 years of research, but it is a fine addition for all public libraries.-Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

	Preface	ix
1	The Making of a Politician	1
2	The Congressman	36
3	The Senator	72
4	The Vice President	112
5	From JFK to LBJ	145
6	"Landslide Lyndon"	171
7	King of the Hill	190
8	Foreign Policy Dilemmas	208
9	Retreat from the Great Society	227
10	"Lyndon Johnson's War"	251
11	A Sea of Troubles	272
12	Stalemate	295
13	Last Hurrahs	318
14	Unfinished Business	343
15	After the Fall	362
	Suggestions for Further Reading	379
	Index	382

End of Reform or A Bed for the Night

2009-02-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War

Author: Alan Brinkley

When Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Democratic party won a landslide victory in the 1936 elections, the way seemed open for the New Deal to complete the restructuring of American government it had begun in 1933. But, as Alan Brinkley makes clear, no sooner were the votes counted than the New Deal began to encounter a series of crippling political and economic problems that stalled its agenda and forced an agonizing reappraisal of the liberal ideas that had shaped it - a reappraisal still in progress when the United States entered World War II. The wartime experience helped complete the transformation of New Deal liberalism. It muted Washington's hostility to the corporate world and diminished liberal faith in the capacity of government to reform capitalism. But it also helped legitimize Keynesian fiscal policies, reinforce commitments to social welfare, and create broad support for "full employment" as the centerpiece of postwar liberal hopes. By the end of the war, New Deal liberalism had transformed itself and assumed its modern form - a form that is faring much less well today than almost anyone would have imagined a generation ago. The End of Reform is a study of ideas and of the people who shaped them: Franklin Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, Harold Ickes, Henry Morgenthau, Jesse Jones, Tommy Corcoran, Leon Henderson, Marriner Eccles, Thurman Arnold, Alvin Hansen. It chronicles a critical moment in the history of modern American politics, and it speculates that the New Deal's retreat from issues of wealth, class, and economic power has contributed to present-day liberalism's travails.

Publishers Weekly

A central tenet of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, at least through 1937, was the belief that government's mission is to counterbalance the structural flaws and inequalities of modern industrial capitalism. But in FDR's second term, argues Columbia professor of American history Brinkley (Voices of Protest), this goal was abandoned, and after 1945 liberals turned away from the early New Deal's experiments in statist planning and antimonopoly crusades. Instead, a new liberalism that has since dominated much of American political life embraced the belief that the key to a successful society is economic growth through high consumption. Brinkley identifies the hallmarks of this new liberalism as commitment to a compensatory welfare system, Keynesian fiscal policies for increasing public spending and a ``rights-based'' emphasis on personal liberties and entitlements for various groups. The author provides a revealing look at FDR's inner circle, weighing its members' rhetoric against their accomplishments and against the ideological attenuation of New Deal philosophy. (Feb.)

Library Journal

Brinkley's latest book complements his earlier Voices of Protest (LJ 4/1/82), a celebrated study of popular 1930s movements led by Huey Long and Father Coughlin. As in Voices, Brinkley is concerned with a lost tradition in American reform, but now he examines the altogether different milieu of the economists and officials who shaped federal economic policy during the latter period of the New Deal and World War II. This was a period, he argues, when liberals abandoned any real interest in restructuring U.S. political economy as liberalism gave up its quarrel with concentrated economic power and instead embraced a more constructed concept of reform based upon Keynesian ideas and attention to consumption rather than production. This is a major reinterpretation of the New Deal; a graceful, careful, and accessible study of difficult terrain in economic history and a timely historical backdrop to the position of liberalism in the 1990s. This book will receive wide attention among historians and beyond and should be an automatic purchase for all academic and most public libraries.-Robert F. Nardini, North Chichester, N.H.

Interesting textbook: Mental Health Outcome Evaluation or Measuring and Improving Organizational Productivity

A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis

Author: David Rieff

Timely and controversial, A Bed for the Night reveals how humanitarian organizations are often betrayed and misused, and have increasingly lost sight of their purpose. Drawing on firsthand reporting from war zones around the world, David Rieff shows us what aid workers do in the field and the growing gap between their noble ambitions and their actual capabilities for alleviating suffering. He describes how many humanitarian organizations have moved from their founding principle of neutrality, which gave them access to victims, to encouraging the international community to take action to stop civil wars and ethnic cleansing. By calling for intervention, humanitarian organizations risk being seen as taking sides in a conflict and thus jeopardizing their access to victims. And by overreaching, the humanitarian movement has allowed itself to be hijacked by the major powers. Rieff concludes that if humanitarian organizations are to do what they do best -- alleviate suffering -- they must reclaim their independence.

Publishers Weekly

Noted journalist Rieff (Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West) presents a painful, urgent and penetrating discussion of a crisis most of us didn't even know existed and yet which cuts to the heart of the West's role in some of the most violent world events of the past decade. He will shake readers' complacency about the relief work done by organizations like Oxfam, CARE and Doctors without Borders, crushing the belief that humanitarian aid is a panacea for all the world's ills. Rieff rejects "the false morality play" that, in any given conflict, there are victimizers and innocent victims, and that it is always clear who is who. In Rwanda, for instance, he reports that aid workers went into refugee camps threatened with cholera-but the "victims" they helped, the Hutu refugees, were in fact the killers who had committed, and were planning to resume, the genocide of the Tutsis. Rieff's despair over such incidents is palpable, but his rage is reserved for the Western governments that fund, and exploit, the aid organizations. In his most potent chapters, Rieff excoriates the U.S. and its European allies for hiding behind a "fig leaf" in Bosnia and Rwanda, offering humanitarian aid in lieu of taking effective, i.e., military, action, to end genocide. Rieff shows how humanitarian organizations have colluded in their own exploitation by Western donor governments, as they have become confused about their mission and purpose. Originally, he explains, these groups were independent, politically neutral agents, with the limited goal of bringing relief in famine or war. But simply bringing relief-and making no change in the political and economic realities that create need-can be frustrating work. Hoping to increase their effectiveness, some aid organizations have espoused larger goals, such as human rights or even opposing oppressive governments-as in the war in Afghanistan, in which aid groups took orders from the U.S. and in effect became part of the military effort that brought down the Taliban. Much of what Rieff says will be unpalatable particularly to some on the left-for instance, his assertion that development aid creates dependency in recipient countries and that humanitarian aid is a latter-day version of the "white man's burden"; and his conviction that wars-including the war in Afghanistan-can be necessary and just. None of his criticism of humanitarian groups diminishes his admiration for those he calls "the last of the just" for their dedication and courage in aiding the needy. Still, he writes of the current state of the world, "I see little if any empirical basis for optimism." Readers may share his despair, but they will come away from this passionate, eloquent argument with a distinctly clearer understanding of the complex moral issues facing humanitarian aid in a world filled with brutality and suffering. (Oct. 10) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Rieff, a veteran journalist and author of several books (Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West), has been a "witness" to several world human disasters (e.g., AIDS and the civil wars in Africa; ethnic cleansing in Bosnia) and has many doubts that the world can become an international community, such as Woodrow Wilson envisioned. His criticism of "independent humanitarianism" is that the movement is both politically na ve and too vulnerable to political power. Humanitarian organizations respond to human rights concerns by applying the doctrine of political neutrality and ignoring the political context of world crises, which, Rieff argues, has often resulted in greater losses of life. He cites the Red Cross's efforts in World War II to save the lives of Allied and Axis POWs while ignoring the Nazi mass murder of Jews and other minorities. He also discusses in great detail the more recent genocidal campaigns in Somalia and Rwanda, demonstrating how efforts by the United States, the United Nations, and humanitarian organizations to lessen suffering ignored the cause of the killing "a government whose raison d'etre was the infliction of suffering." In addition, he analyzes the Serbian ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and implies that were it not for NATO military action and U.S. support of this, the results would have mirrored the fiascos in Africa. Finally, he discusses the U.S. war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and the humanitarian effort accompanying it, and he concludes that without eliminating the Taliban, attempts to diminish human suffering would be at best irrelevant. An opinionated, provocative dissent from consensus views. For most academic and larger public libraries. Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa Coll. Lib Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The Third World is a heap of severed limbs, the aid the First World offers but the smallest of Band-Aids: so argues journalist Rieff in this lucid polemic. "Any adult who does not understand that the world is an unjust place, even in its treatment of catastrophe, is a fool or a dreamer." Thus Rieff (Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West, 1995) establishes the tone of his emphatically unstarry-eyed look at relief efforts in places such as Rwanda and Kosovo. Rieff's argument follows provocative lines: humanitarian relief organizations working in such places are in crisis, as even its most committed proponents recognize, in part because they have been co-opted by the major powers, which in turn have made human rights central to foreign policy. In the theater of aid-as-realpolitik, relief too often plays into the wrong hands, propping up corrupt governments and creating a pattern of infantilizing dependency; as one aid worker observes, "aid too often does nothing to alter-and very often reinforces-the fundamental circumstances that produced the needs it temporarily meets." Rieff urges, among other things, that we shed fairy-tale views of a world of tyrants and oppressed; as he observes, many of the Hutu refugees who fled Rwanda in 1994 had merrily slaughtered their Tutsi compatriots before packing their bags, which does not lessen their need-only their supposed status as innocent victims. Just so, he argues, the UN's insistence that all sides were villains in the Balkans, "while false in the instance"-the Serbs, in his view, having been the clear aggressors-"was right about any number of conflicts in the world, from Tajikistan to Burundi." All of which is not to say that the Westshould stop trying to ease the world's suffering. But, Rieff urges, humanitarian NGOs can do their stated jobs only if they act independently, not as arms of the new world order, and the major powers would do better to remove tyrants at gunpoint than deliver powdered milk to faraway places. A sober treatise, burning with righteous indignation. Rieff makes a solid if impious case for humanitarian reform, one that ought to generate much discussion.

	Introduction	1
Sect. 1	Designated Consciences
1	The Humanitarian Paradox	31
2	The Hazards of Charity	57
3	A Saving Idea	91
Sect. 2	Dreams and Realities
4	Bosnia	123
5	Rwanda	155
Sect. 3	The Death of a Good Idea
6	Kosovo	197
7	Afghanistan	231
8	Endgame or Rebirth?	267
	Conclusion	303
	A Note on Sources	337
	A Note on Major Humanitarian Organizations	343
	Humanitarian and International Organizations	347
	Acknowledgments	349
	Index	353

Che or The Voice of Reason

2009-02-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Che: The Diaries of Ernesto Che Guevara

Author: Ernesto Che Guevara

The book of the new, two-part biopic on Che Guevara starring Benicio Del Toro as the legendary revolutionary.

Director Steven Soderbergh has based his two Che movies (Che: The Argentine and Che: Guerrilla) on two classic diaries written by Che Guevara: Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War (an account of the guerrilla movement led by Fidel Castro that overthrew the Batista dictatorship in 1959) and Bolivian Diary (Che's famous, unfinished diary discovered in his backpack when he was captured and killed in Bolivia in October 1967).

Che: Guerrilla Diaries includes a selection from each book, showing the young Argentine's evolution from the wide-eyed medical student of the Motorcycle Diaries-era to the revolutionary hero the world knows as Che.

Features:

Key excerpts from Che's Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, his final Bolivian Diary, his fiery address to the UN General Assembly, and interviews with US journalist Lisa Howard and CBS' Face the Nation during his visit to New York in December 1964.
Che's first encounter with Fidel Castro in Mexico, when he immediately commits himself to join the guerrilla expedition to Cuba.
The dramatic moment when Che has to decide his future either as a doctor or a guerrilla fighter, symbolized by the choice of two backpacks: one with medicine, the other with ammunition.
Che's poetic letter to his parents before he sets out on the fateful Bolivia mission.
Maps, chronology, and a useful glossary.
Thirty-six pages of original photos from the period and stills from themovie.
Movie tie-in cover.
Blurbs by Benicio del Toro and Steven Soderbergh.

Also published in Spanish this season is Che: Diarios Guerrilleros, 978-1-921235-48-1.

Go to: Geschäft in der Handlung mit Echtzeitupdates

The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought, Vol. 5

Author: Ayn Rand

Between 1961, when she gave her first talk at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston, and 1981, when she gave the last talk of her life in New Orleans, Ayn Rand spoke and wrote about topics as different as education, medicine, Vietnam, and the death of Marylin Monroe. In The Voice of Reason, these pieces, written in the last decades of Rand's life are gathered in book form for the first time. With them are five essays by Leonard Peikoff, Rand's longtime associate and literary executor. The work concludes with Peikoff's eipolgue, "My Thirty Years With Ayn Rand: An Intellectual Memoir," which answers the question "What was Ayn Rand really like?" Important reading for all thinking individuals, Rand's later writings reflect a life lived on principle, a probing mind, and a passionate intensity. This collection communicates not only Rand's singular worldview, but also the penetrating cultural and political analysis to which it gives rise.

Publishers Weekly

Rand's strident right-wing rhetoric is on display in these posthumously collected essays. Upholding egoistic self-interest as the wellspring of capitalism, she derides liberals ``crawling on their stomachs to Moscow'' and targets ``psychologizers'' who excuse the behavior of ``college-campus thugs'' and criminals; in her estimation, the modern arts are a ``sewer.'' Novelist ( Atlas Shrugged ) and self-styled Objectivist philosopher, Rand, who died in 1982, staunchly opposes a ``mixed economy,'' a term which seems to stand for anything contrary to unregulated monopoly capitalism. Liberals should appreciate her diatribe against the Catholic Church's opposition to birth control and abortion. Her eulogy of Marilyn Monroe is sentimental and silly, while her argument to the effect that no psychologically balanced woman would want to be U.S. president is old-fashioned. In supplementary essays, Peikoff, an Objectivist follower of Rand, condemns the New Right's religious zeal and attacks socialized medicine. (Jan.)

The House or Wilsons Ghost

2009-01-30T21:48:00.000-08:00

The House: The History of the House of Representatives

Author: Robert V Remini

Throughout America's history, the House has played a central role in shaping the nation's destiny. In this incomparable single-volume history, distinguished historian Robert V. Remini traces the institution from a struggling, nascent body to the venerable powerhouse it has become since America's rise on the world stage. The essential drama of democracy—the struggle between principle and pragmatism—is showcased throughout the book, and through it the history of America's successful experiment with democracy unfurls.

Publishers Weekly

National Book Award winner Remini (Andrew Jackson) offers the definitive history of "the People's House." Envisioned as the more democratic half of America's bicameral legislature, the House first convened on April 1, 1789. As Remini shows, in the early decades, Henry Clay's leadership was crucial-his willingness to go head-to-head with the Monroe administration helped establish the House's power and autonomy. During the Civil War, the House provided crucial support for the Union by passing legislation to print greenbacks and create a military draft. Remini treats the 16 black congressmen who served during Reconstruction in t a few, general paragraphs; this particular era in the institution's history deserves more attention. Turning to the 20th century, Remini examines the House's response to the Great Depression, the Cold War, civil rights, Vietnam and Watergate. His concluding chapter addresses the "Conservative Revolution" of the 1980s and `90s. Here Newt Gingrich gets the spotlight: he was determined to give the House a more prominent position in the legislative process, but also helped usher in "an era of incivility and personal attack and partisanship" that, says Remini, continues today. Written at the instruction of Congress,, this tome is highly readable though encyclopedic. B&w photos. (May 1) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

The U.S. House of Representatives, with two centuries of history and 11,750 cumulative members, conceivably could be chronicled in one volume, but this official history-the straitjacket of one volume and one author was imposed-does not do the job. Remini, a distinguished historian of antebellum America, with more than ten books on Andrew Jackson to his name, is not an obvious choice for the project. Often he can only push the narrative along by reciting election returns and sprinkling irrelevancies such as information on flappers into the text as if he forgot his intended subject. It is a book a mile wide and an inch deep presenting little the well-read student of American history won't already know. Remini wanted to appeal to scholars, but the lack of a bibliography or suggestions for further inquiry is notable, while his footnotes never give citations to the many laws and court cases described. In spite of these flaws, the book does fill a need and is an optional purchase for public libraries.-Michael O. Eshleman, Kings Mills, OH Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

New interesting book: Supplement Shopper or Natural Medications for Psychiatric Disorders

Wilson's Ghost: Reducing the Risk of Conflict, Killing, and Catastrophe in the 21st Century

Author: Robert S McNamara

With Wilson's Ghost, Robert S. McNamara and James G. Blight deliver an impassioned plea and a decisive and multi-faceted program for making the 21st century a more peaceful century than the last. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the war that has followed, have made their argument even more imperative. In a provocative synthesis of the pragmatic, historical, and philosophical arguments for avoiding war and achieving a sustainable peace, McNamara and Blight put forth a plan for realizing Woodrow Wilson's dream. The plan begins with a moral imperative that establishes the reduction of human carnage as a major goal of foreign policy across the globe, and details the necessity of adopting new policies to support that goal.

McNamara and Blight argue that now is the time for a radical approach to reducing the risk of human carnage, and they demonstrate why we cannot afford to fail in this effort.

Library Journal

Former Secretary of Defense McNamara is 85 and still atoning for his role in the Vietnam conflict (see In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, LJ 4/15/95). His new book, written with international relations expert Blight, takes the ideas and idealism of Woodrow Wilson and sets forth a moral and multilateral formula for achieving peace in the world. The authors advocate the importance of "democratic decision-making" in U.S. foreign policy and increased empathy toward Russia and China. They also warn that the plague of communal violence within nations poses a dilemma for the United States and international organizations, as intervention might not lead to a satisfactory solution of the conflict. McNamara and Blight are especially eloquent in their pleas to end the threat of nuclear catastrophe, and McNamara inserts his personal reflections on the Cuban missile crisis (as well as on the lost opportunities for an early resolution in Vietnam). The authors critique major foreign policy theories and develop a convincing "Wilsonian" framework for U.S. policy. This stimulating and challenging work will do much to redeem McNamara's legacy; recommended for academic and large public libraries. Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

President Kennedy's former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and coauthor Blight (international studies, Brown U.) offer suggestions as to how the United States could and should change its foreign policy and defense policy to incorporate the core objectives of post-WWI Wilsonian ideals. They suggest that the United States make the end of war a major goal of foreign policy and argue that while the U.S. will have to provide leadership, it must not apply its economic, political, or military policy unilaterally. In order to successfully maintain a peaceful world, they believe that a complete rapprochement with China and Russia is necessary in order to prevent the real dangers of Great Power conflict. In addition they offer suggestions towards strengthening the U.N. in a move towards true multilateralism in the reduction of communal violence and the threat from nuclear weapons. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

	Preface to the Paperback Edition
	A Note from Robert McNamara
	A 21st-Century Manifesto: Choose Life over Death
	Prologue: Wilson's Tragedy, and Ours	3
1	A Radical Agenda: The U.S. Role in Global Security in the 21st Century	17
2	Preventing Great Power Conflict: Bringing Russia and China in from the Cold	59
3	Reducing Communal Killing: Intervention in "Dangerous, Troubled, Failed, Murderous States"	113
4	Avoiding Nuclear Catastrophe: Moving Steadily and Safely to a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World	169
5	Reducing Human Carnage: An Agenda for the 21st Century	217
	Epilogue: Listening to Wilson's Ghost	227
	Afterword to the Paperback Edition: Wilson's Ghost in the Post-9/11 World	231
	Notes	277
	Acknowledgments	303
	About the Authors	307
	Index	309

The Speculation Economy or Walter White

2009-01-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

The Speculation Economy: How Finance Triumphed over Industry

Author: Lawrence E Mitchell

American businesses today are obsessed with the price of their stock, and no wonder. The consequences of even a modest decrease can be so dire that some executives would rather damage their corporation's long-term health than allow quarterly returns to fall below projections. But how did this situation come about? When did the stock market become the driver of the American economy? Lawrence E. Mitchell identifies the moment in American history when finance triumphed over industry. He shows how the birth of the giant modern corporation spurred the rise of the stock market and how, by the dawn of the 1920s, the stock market left behind its business origins to become the very reason for the creation of business itself.

What People Are Saying

Joel Seligman
"Mitchell highlights two of the most pivotal events in our history of modern finance: the rise of Wall Street and investment banking as a key factor in American capitalism and the federal government's response to the ever more complex role of finance capitalism. Mitchell's writing is graceful, comprehensive, and persuasive that as significant as the story of trusts and the trustbusters has been, the rise of finance capitalism and ultimately its federal coordination through such agencies as the Federal Reserve System and the Securities and Exchange Commission may be even more important."--(Joel Seligman, President, University of Rochester and author, the Transformation of Wall Street)

Harvey J. Goldschmid
"Lawrence Mitchell's new work is full of fresh insight about the rise of what he calls 'American corporate capitalism.' Anyone interested in the development of our modern financial markets will be richly rewarded by a careful reading."--(Harvey J. Goldschmid, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia University, former Member, United States Securities and Exchange Commission)

Stephen M. Bainbridge
"Professor Mitchell's provocative thesis is that the development of the modern American public corporation was not an organic process but rather occurred almost overnight at an identifiable point in time and as a result of identifiable political and economic forces. This important new work helps us understand the forces that continue to shape the dominant form of economic actor of our time."--(Stephen M. Bainbridge, William D. Warren Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law)

Charlie Cray
"An impressive work of legal, economic and historical scholarship that will enrich today's debate over corporate accountability and regulatory policy."--(Charlie Cray, director of the Center for Corporate Policy and co-author of The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy)

Books about: Yoga for Suits or Optimum Nutrition for the Mind

WALTER WHITE: THE DILEMMA OF BLACK IDENTITY IN AME

Author: Thomas Dyja

"Thomas Dyja's fascinating and compelling biography of Walter White takes us into the personal and political world of this fair-skinned, blond and blue-eyed, brash and impulsive, stylish and complex man. His story is about one of the few individuals in American history who devoted himself completely to the concept of a color-blind nation, yet lost the delicate balance between ambition and advocacy that had been his trademark." In restoring Walter White to his place in the story of the African-American struggle, Thomas Dyja fills the void between Booker T. Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He also confronts some of the thorniest issues between blacks and whites in America.

Publishers Weekly

Once known as "Mr. NAACP," Walter White and his contributions to African-American history have been lost in the margins of memory. Dyja (The Moon in Our Hands) offers a straightforward biography of the light-skinned, blue-eyed, blond-haired black man who served as executive secretary of the NAACP for the "complex and pivotal decades" from 1931 to 1955. White's daring made him an unparalleled investigator into the horrendous violence and systematic peonage that characterized the decades before WWII. His accomplishments were history making: desegregation of the armed forces owes a debt to his investigations into the treatment of black soldiers in Europe and the Pacific; the Legal Defense Fund owes much to White's focus on litigation. Usefully but often controversially, this "man of few theories and many tactics, remained squarely, sanely and consistently down the middle for almost four decades" and kept the NAACP along that same path. As in White's life, the NAACP holds the center, but Dyja attends to White's place as a writer of the Harlem Renaissance and to his more intimate life, including his "last act"-White's marriage to a white woman that, according to the author, "cost him his place in history." (Nov.)

Kirkus Reviews

Compact, insightful biography seeks to restore the historical importance of the energetic, light-skinned NAACP secretary whose leadership laid the groundwork for the civil-rights movement. As a result of forced sexual relations on both sides of his family, Walter White (1893-1955) was only 5/32nds black. Some historians have seen the blue-eyed, blond-haired activist as "a freak of nature who somehow used his fair skin to deceive both white and black America," writes Dyja (The Moon in Our Hands, 2005, etc.). The author portrays White as a witty, ambitious man who had the courage and passion to challenge Jim Crow segregationist laws. Raised black but able to pass for white, he used this as a tool when he joined the NAACP in 1918 to investigate the growing number of lynchings in the South. Risking his own life numerous times, he lured lynchers into proudly confessing murder and torture to a man they thought was white. He wrote articles and gave incendiary talks to highlight his findings, using the mass media to gradually turn Americans against lynching. In New York, White was an early member of the Harlem Renaissance, though his literary success was limited; he wrote an anti-lynching novel (Fire in the Flint, 1924) and encouraged other writers to portray African-American life in all its complexity. He became secretary of the NAACP in 1931 and incessantly championed civil rights, making the cover of Time in 1938. He effectively blocked the Supreme Court nomination of John Parker, who supported black disenfranchisement; his relentless pressure resulted in Truman's landmark 1948 executive orders ending discrimination in federal employment and requiring equal opportunity in the armed forces. Hiscrowning legacy was the 1954 Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated schooling. White's 1949 marriage to a white woman gave ammunition to critics who diminished his role in African-American history by saying he never believed he was black, but Dyja successfully shows that he transcended narrow definitions of race and worked for humanity. Able tribute to a boundary-smashing activist.

What People Are Saying

Manfred Berg
"Walter White, the longtime executive secretary of the NAACP, is one of the most complex and yet fascinating characters of the black freedom struggle. While many historians have dismissed White as an opportunistic self-promoter, Thomas Dyja's elegantly written biography provides the reader with an empathetic and judicious portrait of a man who was passionately devoted to the cause of racial advancement but as an individual aspired to move beyond the limitations of race."--(Manfred Berg, author of The Ticket to Freedom)

Ted Widmer
"Thomas Dyja's gripping biography of Walter White has restored an essential American life. With impeccable research, acute sensitivity and literary grace, Dyja has restored one of the most important links in the long chain of events and causes that brought Americans, at long last, into the the bright sunshine of civil and human rights."--(Ted Widmer, author of Ark of the Liberties)

Kenneth Robert Janken
"In prose that moves effortlessly across the page, Thomas Dyja captures the energy and accomplishments of Walter White, one of the most important and effective African American leaders of the last century."--(Kenneth Robert Janken, author of Walter White: Mr. NAACP)

Devin Fergus
"Dyjas's crisply-written biography is a fascinating, concise history of arguably the most effective civil rights leader of his time. Dyjas's timely and nimble effort identifies the gap between one person's proximity to power and a community's failure to ever actualize it--a dilemma that continues to plague civil rights leaders and by extension black America today. As the inaugural text for this new series, Walter White is an auspicious beginning for The Library of African American Biography, which will crucially introduce and familiarize future generations of readers to the most important people of the African American experience."--(Devin Fergus, author of Liberalism, Black Power, and the Making of American Politics, 1965-1980)

Structural Approach to Direct Practice in Social Work or Enduring Debate

2009-01-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

Structural Approach to Direct Practice in Social Work: A Social Constructionist Perspective

Author: Gale Goldberg Wood

This classic text introduces students to the structural approach of social work practice, which assumes that many clients' problems arise from harmful social forces. By focusing on the construction of such realities as poverty, racism, and domestic violence, the structural approach counters the focus on individual change that is so common in our age of managed care and corporatization.

For this edition Gale Goldberg Wood and Carol T. Tully have recast the text from the perspective of contemporary social constructionism without altering its main message and organization. They have added six new chapters, covering ethics, the role of the social worker as therapist and community organizer, learning and working within the organization, and the paradigm dilemma. In addition, case studies now include greater detail about the client's social context.

Though much has changed since the first edition of this book was published, the need for well-trained, compassionate social workers remains. The Structural Approach to Direct Practice in Social Work continues to be an essential resource for practitioners who wish to help their clients confront oppressive social realities and affect system change through political action.

Book about: Naomis Guide to Aging Gratefully or Daily Word for Healing

Enduring Debate: Classic and Contemporary Readings in American Politics

Author: David T Canon

The most comprehensive reader available for courses in American government, The Enduring Debate, Fourth Edition, balances classic and contemporary selections from a variety of scholarly and popular sources. In addition, each chapter presents at least two readings in debate-style format, encouraging students to read critically and to explore the different sides of an issue.

University of California, Irvine - Mark P. Petracca

The best selection yet of readings necessary for an introduction to American politics and highly appropriate for undergraduates.

Bloomsburg University - Gloria T. Cohen-Dion

This is an excellent book; presenting the issues before the "debate" from several different perspectives is a fine idea.

Making Sense of the Molly Maguires or Shame of the Cities

2009-01-27T06:08:00.000-08:00

Making Sense of the Molly Maguires

Author: Kevin Kenney

Twenty Irish immigrants, suspected of belonging to a secret terrorist organization called the Molly Maguires, were executed in Pennsylvania in the 1870s for the murder of sixteen men. Ever since, there has been enormous disagreement over who the Molly Maguires were, what they did, and why they did it, as virtually everything we now know about the Molly Maguires is based on the hostile descriptions of their contemporaries.
Arguing that such sources are inadequate to serve as the basis for a factual narrative, author Kevin Kenny examines the ideology behind contemporary evidence to explain how and why a particular meaning came to be associated with the Molly Maguires in Ireland and Pennsylvania. At the same time, this work examines new archival evidence from Ireland that establishes that the American Molly Maguires were a rare transatlantic strand of the violent protest endemic in the Irish countryside.
Combining social and cultural history, Making Sense of the Molly Maguires offers a new explanation of who the Molly Maguires were, as well as why people wrote and believed such curious things about them. In the process, it vividly retells one of the classic stories of American labor and immigration.

Shame of the Cities

Author: Lincoln Steffens

First printed more than a century ago, this muckraking classic attacked corrupt election practices and shady dealings in businesses and city governments across the nation. Taking a hard look at the unprincipled lives of political bosses, police corruption, graft payments, and other notorious political abuses of the time, the book set the style for future investigative reporting. Invaluable to students and teachers of early twentieth-century American history, the volume remains an inspiration for all reform-minded journalists.

Rome Wasnt Burnt in a Day or The Price of Fire

2009-01-26T00:48:00.000-08:00

Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day: The Real Deal on How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Other Washington Barbarians are Bankrupting America

Author: Joe Scarborough

With big-spending Democrats at their side, President George Bush and his "conservative" Republican Congress have controlled the government's checkbook while the national debt has skyrocketed past seven trillion dollars. That's right, $7,000,000,000,000. How has the party of Reagan become the party of big-government spending? Now former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough delivers a scathing indictment of Republicans and Democrats alike in the same informed, hard-hitting, and entertaining style fans of Scarborough Country have come to admire. Having had a ringside seat during his four terms in the House of Representatives, Scarborough gives the inside scoop on how Washington really works and on the spending orgy the Republicans have fueled the last ten years.

The story begins with Newt Gingrich's Contract with America and the Republicans promising to balance the budget and reform Washington. It culminates with a Republican president continually rubber-stamping pork-filled appropriations bills that squander taxpayer dollars. That is, unless you think it's necessary to spend millions of dollars on research into "alternative salmon products" in Alaska, or the study of crickets in Utah, or of sea turtles in Hawaii. Sadly, these instances merely hint at the gross spending by Congress.

From confrontations with the Fat White Pink Boys (political operatives who put the sick in sycophant) to flights on Air Force One and a tell-tale discussion with President Bush about how to balance the budget, Joe Scarborough has seen all that he can take and now calls on his fellow Republicans to stop turning their backs on the ideals Ronald Reagan fostered that were once the backbone of this proud party. Important, timely, and a call to arms, Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day shows just how imperative it is that Washington politicians of all stripes stop mortgaging the country's economic future for their own ill-gotten gains.

Publishers Weekly

Elected to Congress in 1994 as a Contract with America revolutionary, Scarborough spent six years representing the Florida panhandle, and currently hosts the MSNBC political talk show Scarborough Country. His book is part memoir, part political treatise that purports to explain how various "Washington barbarians" are bankrupting America. Full of partisan and reformer zeal, the freshman class of 1994 set out on its crusade to reform Congress and reduce government spending. However, the crusaders met their Saladin in President Clinton and his skillful use of the veto pen. The House freshmen were further disillusioned when their leadership opted for compromise rather than continued confrontation following the government shutdown in 1995. Scarborough bitterly compares the Republican leadership to the pigs in George Orwell's Animal Farm-indistinguishable from the corrupt Democratic bosses they had ousted. His account of the Republican Congress is well told from the perspective of the House freshmen, but Scarborough never asks the hard questions about why the Gingrich Republicans became so unpopular with voters. Similarly, the book's promise to reveal the "real deal" about why government spending continues to rise, is nothing more than the revelation that interest groups, lobbyists and politicians collude on government spending because it is in their mutual self-interest. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

	Introduction	1
Chapter 1	The Real Deal	13
Chapter 2	Barbarians at the Gate	33
Chapter 3	Battling the Imperial Congress	51
Chapter 4	Capitol Offense	77
Chapter 5	Not a Dime's Worth of Difference	91
Chapter 6	Becoming the Imperial Congress	105
Chapter 7	The Easter Rising	121
Chapter 8	Fat White Pink Boys	137
Chapter 9	Why Washington Always Wins	149
Chapter 10	How to Fix It	171
	Epilogue	183

Interesting book: Dirección Estratégica:Texto y Casos

The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia

Author: Benjamin Dangl

New social movements have emerged in Bolivia over the "price of fire"-access to basic elements of survival like water, gas, land, coca, employment, and other resources. Though these movements helped pave the way to the presidency for indigenous coca-grower Evo Morales in 2005, they have made it clear that their fight for self-determination doesn't end at the ballot box. From the first moments of Spanish colonization to today's headlines, The Price of Fire offers a gripping account of clashes in Bolivia between corporate and people's power, contextualizing them regionally, culturally, and historically.

Benjamin Dangl has worked as an independent journalist throughout Latin America, writing for publications such as Z Magazine, The Nation, and The Progressive. He is the editor of TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, an online magazine covering activism and politics in Latin America. Benjamin won a 2007 Project Censored Award for his coverage of US military operations in Paraguay.

"Price of Fire is not yet another bleak 'tell-all' account of globalization, its pages are filled with stories of resistance, struggle and, above all, hope."-Teo Ballve, editor of the NACLA Report on the Americas and co-editor of Dispatches from Latin America

"Ben Dangl takes the reader on an unforgettable and inspiring journey through Bolivia and neighboring countries, providing a window on the revolutionary struggles of the poor and dispossessed, and particularly on the resurgence of indigenous resistance and leadership."-Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Blood on theBorder: A Memoir of the Contra War

"Most Americans know nothing of Bolivia, an ignorance that only plays into the hands of empire. Ben Dangl's book is both informative and inspiring, a cure for the apathy that grows from that ignorance. A must-read for those already interested in solidarity with Latin America and indigenous people."-Tom Hayden, author of The Zapatista Reader and Street Wars

"Ben Dangl has found himself under the skin of the Bolivian freedom struggle: he accurately represents its constraints, its opportunities, and its hopes."-Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World

"With great empathy and lucid prose, Dangl captures the exemplary courage that has put Latin America in the vanguard of the new internationalism and has made it one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dismal global landscape."-Greg Grandin, author of Empire's Workshop

"Price of Fire by Ben Dangl informs, outrages, and builds hope. People's movements for societal betterment in South America are an inspiration for human rights activists worldwide and Dangl gives us a full serving of encouragement and hope. He documents how historical imperialism, dominated my US corporate/government capital interests, is being successfully challenged by indigenous activists. Price of Fire is the story of cultural resistance from the street to international geo-political alliances. I highly recommend this book for working people, students, and radical democrats to hear the voices of South American people and their chronicle of grassroots democratic empowerment."-Peter Phillips, Professor Sociology, Sonoma State University, Director Project Censored, and co-editor with Dennis Loo of Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney

The Lost Executioner or Top Secret Tourism

2009-01-24T19:36:00.000-08:00

The Lost Executioner: A Journey to the Heart of the Killing Fields

Author: Nic Dunlop

"In Cambodia, between 1975 and 1979, some two million people died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Twenty years later, not one member had been held accountable for the genocide. Haunted by the image of one of them, Comrade Duch, photographer Nic Dunlop set out to bring him to life, and thereby to account. "I needed to understand how a seemingly ordinary man from one of the poorer parts of Cambodia could turn into one of the worst mass murderers of the twentieth century." The result, The Lost Executioner, is an unforgettable, illuminating document that, by bearing witness, captivates us all with its revelation." Weaving seamlessly between past and present, Dunlop unfolds the history of Cambodia as a filter for understanding its tragic last forty years. He makes clear how much responsibility the United States must share, through failed political alliances and the illegal bombing of Cambodia, for the bloodshed that followed. Guided by witnesses Dunlop teases out the details of Duch's transformation from sensitive schoolchild and dedicated teacher to the revolutionary killer who later slipped quietly back into village life. From the temples of Angkor to the prisons of Pol Pot's regime, to his unexpected meeting with Duch himself, Dunlop's special vision as a photographer enlarges our own. The Lost Executioner is a blend of history and testimony - and a vivid reminder that, whether in the killing fields of Cambodia or the deserts of Darfur, if we turn our backs on genocide, we must bear a collective guilt.

Publishers Weekly

Long preoccupied by the Cambodian genocide in the late 1970s at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, Irish-born and Thailand-based photojournalist Dunlop homed in on Comrade Duch, head of the Khmer Rouge secret police and Pol Pot's chief executioner, who had vanished. How had a well-educated schoolteacher (born Kaing Guek Eav) become commandant of a torture center and complicit in the deaths of an estimated 20,000 political prisoners? asks Dunlop in this measured but horrifying book, a chronicle of his dogged efforts to understand the carnage and bring about justice. With Duch at the book's core, the author (who worked in Cambodia throughout the '90s) weaves a contemporary account of a war-ravaged nation into the history of its ancient past and rumination on terror in the name of ideology. Dunlop also deepens his story with thoughtful-and very personal-commentary on photography and violence. In 1999, Dunlop found and confronted Duch, who voluntarily confessed to his role in the Khmer Rouge. Though Duch was then charged and imprisoned, he has not yet been brought to trial. Cambodia's labyrinthine politics can occasionally be difficult to digest, but Dunlop's personal quest for international justice holds the narrative together. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Haunted by photographs of prisoners at the Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia, where in the late 1970s many thousands were tortured and all but seven perished, Irish-born photojournalist Dunlop searched for its commandant, the zealous Cambodian executioner who was called Comrade Duch. In this historical account of his quest and the Khmer Rouge's genocidal reign in Cambodia and its aftermath, Dunlop interweaves stories of both the victims and the perpetrators, the indifference and the ignorance of the West, as well as his own personal journey to understand how and why the horrific happened and why the world seemingly turned a blind eye. Dunlop's search leads him, in 1999, to one Hang Pin, a born-again Christian relief worker and schoolteacher whom he soon realizes is Comrade Duch. When confronted by Dunlop, Duch admits his guilt: "My unique fault is that I didn't serve God, I served men, I served communism." Comrade Duch is still in prison awaiting trial. His photo and confession to the authorities were published, but Dunlop wonders if that did more to stifle the truth than bring about justice. Well written, harrowing, and blunt, this book is recommended for public and academic libraries.-Patti C. McCall, Albany Molecular Research Inc., NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A photographer/journalist charts the brutal, sanguinary history of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge and chases down one of its most savage officials, who now sits in prison awaiting trial. The kindless commandant of S-21, the most unforgiving of Khmer Rouge prisons, was a man of several names-Kaing Geuk Eav, his birth name; Comrade Duch, his Khmer Rouge name; Hang Pin, his name during his years in hiding, when he taught math and English in remote villages, declared himself saved by Jesus and worked for a relief agency. During his years as commandant, only a handful of prisoners survived. It's miraculous that any did. The methods of torture-60 lashes for urinating or defecating without permission, among them-bespeak both the vast dimensions of the terror and the unlimited abilities of people to imagine ways to torment one another. One of the most disturbing moments in Dunlop's narrative is an interview with a former prison guard whose lack of affect is both stunning and frightening. Many thousands died while in the care of Duch in ways horrible to imagine. Dunlop features interviews with victims and victimizers, including Duch himself, whom the author helped apprehend. Dunlop tells, as well, the sad recent history of Cambodia; at times, he is unable to restrain his disgust. He notes, for example, that the United Nations forces and bureaucrats, in the country in the early 1990s to supervise a cease-fire and monitor elections, spent $92 million on air-conditioned Land Cruisers for themselves but only $20 million on road and bridge repairs. Biography, memoir and history of unspeakable darkness.

Interesting book: Defying Dixie or Unexpected George Washington

Top Secret Tourism: Your Travel Guide to Germ Warfare Laboratories, Clandestine Aircraft Bases and Other Places in the United States You're Not Supposed to Know About

Author: Harry Helms

Here is the unseen America of government facilities and installations protected by a wall of secrecy, deception, and misinformation. It includes huge, isolated areas (some larger than the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island), along with innocuous office buildings located in the middle of major cities. This "other America" has an enormous impact on your life, but you probably have little idea of its extent, scope, and power.

This book invites you to visit this top-secret America. Listings are by state, and each facility/site entry gives its history, discusses the activities carried on there, explores various rumors, and provides maps and directions to every location.

Author Harry Helms visited and photographed a number of sites in this book. None of the intelligence here was taken from classified sources; everything was on the public record and obtained by patient digging. Since the 9/11 attacks, much of this information was removed from public dissemination. To those who think a book like this discloses vital government secrets, Helms says: "Get real. If I can find this stuff out, the Russians, Chinese, and various terrorist groups also found it out a long time before I did."

Adventurous travelers and truth-seekers will want to know how to navigate within top-secret America.

When Grownups Play at War or The Communist Manifesto

2009-01-23T14:23:00.000-08:00

When Grownups Play at War: A Child's Memoir

Author: Ilona Flutsztejn Gruda

It was the last summer before the war- the war that was to change millions of lives. I was nine years old, and while the grownups talked of the tragedy to come, we children played as we always had, not realizing it would never be the same again. From a splendid blue September sky, the German planes began to drop their bombs on Poland…

Books about: Bomb Scare or Pacifism as Pathology

The Communist Manifesto

Author: Karl Marx

Critically and textually up-to-date, this new edition of the classic translation (Samuel Moore, 1888) features an introduction and notes by the eminent Marx scholar David McLellan, prefaces written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels subsequent to the original 1848 publication, and corrections of errors made in earlier versions. Regarded as one of the most influential political tracts ever written, The Communist Manifesto serves as the foundation document of the Marxist movement. This summary of the Marxist vision is an incisive account of the world-view Marx and Engels had evolved during their hectic intellectual and political collaboration of the previous few years.

Multiculturalism or To End A War

2009-01-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

Multiculturalism

Author: Charles Taylor

A new edition of the highly acclaimed book Multiculturalism and "The Politics of Recognition," this paperback brings together an even wider range of leading philosophers and social scientists to probe the political controversy surrounding multiculturalism. Charles Taylor's initial inquiry, which considers whether the institutions of liberal democratic government make room--or should make room--for recognizing the worth of distinctive cultural traditions, remains the centerpiece of this discussion. It is now joined by Jürgen Habermas's extensive essay on the issues of recognition and the democratic constitutional state and by K. Anthony Appiah's commentary on the tensions between personal and collective identities, such as those shaped by religion, gender, ethnicity, race, and sexuality, and on the dangerous tendency of multicultural politics to gloss over such tensions. These contributions are joined by those of other well-known thinkers, who further relate the demand for recognition to issues of multicultural education, feminism, and cultural separatism.

Praise for the previous edition:

Preface (1994) ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
PART ONE 1 Introduction Amy Gutmann 3
The Politics of Recognition Charles Taylor 25
Comment Susan Wolf 75
Comment Steven C. Rockefeller 87
Comment Michael Walzer 99
PART TWO 105
Struggles for Recognition in the Democratic Constitutional State Jurgen Habermas Translated by Shierry Weber Nicholsen 107
Identity, Authenticity, Survival: Multicultural Societies and Social Reproduction K. Anthony Appiah 149
Contributors 165
Index 169

Books about: San Luis Obispo County Wineries or Meat Club Cookbook

To End A War

Author: Richard Holbrook

When President Clinton sent Richard Holbrooke to Bosnia as America's chief negotiator in late 1995, he took a gamble that would eventually redefine his presidency. But there was no saying then, at the height of the war, that Holbrooke's mission would succeed. The odds were strongly against it. This book is Holbrooke's gripping inside account of his mission, of the decisive months when, belatedly and reluctantly but ultimately decisively, the United States reasserted its moral authority and leadership and ended Europe's worst war in over half a century. To End a War reveals many important new details of how America made this historic decision.

Chris Hedges

Holbrooke's To End a War is an engaging, witty and dramatic account....More than that, it is an impassioned plea for Washington to use the military might at its disposal to intervene when societies break down, to take a leadership role in the world and to reject the notion that putting an end to gross human rights abuses is a goal that must inevitably differ from pragmatic, self-interested foreign policy....The strength of the book is its wealth of anecdotes and detail, which instill life into the characters who wander on and off the stage.-- New York Times Book Review

The New York Times Book Review - Chris Hedges

The strength of the book is its wealth of anecdotes and detail, which instill life into the characters who wander on and off the stage.

Thomas E. Ricks

...[S]hould be read by anyone who still believes that the relationship between the U.S. military and its political overseers is healthy.... —The Washington Monthly

Publishers Weekly

American negotiator Holbrooke offers a fast-paced, first-person account of the American-led diplomatic initiative that ended the bloodshed of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia in 1995. A veteran of the Vietnam peace talks, one-time ambassador to Germany and assistant secretary of state, Holbrooke guides readers through "fourteen weeks... filled with conflict, confusion, and tragedy before... success." This is a penetrating portrait of modern diplomacywhat the author describes as "something like a combination of chess and mountain climbing." Spurred on by the deaths of three colleagues on his negotiating team (their armored personnel carrier toppled over a cliff on a treacherous approach to Sarajevo), Holbrooke hammers out a cease-fire in an intensive shuttle among the three Balkan presidents, and then presides over the three-week cloistered peace conference in Dayton, Ohio. He covers the elements of crafting effective foreign policy: coordination among various agencies and personalities in Washington; dealing with European allies; ensuring that military and diplomatic efforts work in concert; negotiating with ethnic nationalist leaders; "spinning" the press; and selling the peace plan to a skeptical Congress and public. While he provides scant background into the historical roots of the Balkan conflict, Holbrooke details the various stages of the negotiating process and vividly describes the Balkan leaders: the arrogant Tudjman, the sly Milosevic and the bickering and disorganized Bosnian Muslims. Although often self-justifying, Holbrooke acknowledges several errors, such as allowing the Bosnian Serb entity to retain the "blood-soaked name" of Republika Srpska. Still, his achievement in forging peace in Bosnia is beyond question, and his account of that process is essential for understanding how American power can be brought to bear on the course of history. (June)

Library Journal

The chief U.S. negotiator of the Dayton accords gives the inside story.

Tom Gjelten

Unavoidably, his behind-the-scenes story of the negotiations is a self-promoting account. To End a War is also one of the most important and readable diplomatic memoirs of recent times. Holbrooke writes vividly of his dramatic encounters with the Balkan leaders. -- The Washington Post Book World

Richard Bernstein

To End a War is, in sum, an important book containing many lessons about the possibilities and limitations of diplomacy.... He has written a straightforward account of a historic achievement that was largely his own, telling frankly and precisely and with a minimum of throat-clearing exactly how that achievement came about. -- The New York Times

Thomas E. Ricks

...[S]hould be read by anyone who still believes that the relationship between the U.S. military and its political overseers is healthy.... -- The Washington Monthly

Chris Hedges

The strength of the book is its wealth of anecdotes and detail, which instill life into the characters who wander on and off the stage. -- The New York Times Book Review

Time

A compelling accountof life-and-death negotiation—the personal dynamics, the theatrical gestures, the unexpected snags, the leaks...A classic exercise in lock-up, great power diplomacy...A riveting book.

The Economist

Richard Holbrooke is the Quentin Tarrantino of diplomacy...peppered with amusing anecdotes and shrewd insights.

Kirkus Reviews

A riveting and forthright insider account of the Dayton accords and their aftermath, by their primary architect. For Holbrooke, a proponent of the use of force to end the Bosnian crisis, the assignment as assistant secretary of state during Clintonþs first administration (1994þ96) offered an opportunity to implement changes he had long advocated. The core of Holbrooke's report, and by far the most vibrant and disarming, is his candid account of the Dayton accords that ended the war. "The negotiations," he writes, "were simultaneously cerebral and physical, abstract and personal something like a combination of chess and mountain climbing." To End a War captures this mood precisely; Holbrooke offers gripping tales of marathon 24-hour sessions, scenes of the Balkan leaders screaming at one another and at the Americans, and offers unforgettable portraits of Milosevic, Izetbegovic, and Tudjman. The place seethes with frustration. When Anthony Lake comments that this is "the craziest zoo I've ever seen," Holbrooke feels satisfied that he has "understood the special weirdness of Dayton." The consummate diplomat and team member, Holbrooke tells not only of his own fiercely dedicated work but graciously praises and documents the efforts of negotiators, diplomats, politicians, and humanitarian workers who continue to take part in making and implementing policy. While not exactly literary, Holbrooke's memoir is both highly literate and informed, as well as notably readable. Quotations appear from W.H. Auden, Kierkegaard, and Melville, among others. Itþs also steeped in the tradition of diplomatic memoirs by eminent diplomat/authors such as Henry Kissinger and Harold Nicolson.While limiting his discussion to the Balkans and the Dayton accords, Holbrooke always has an eye to the broader picture, drawing frequent historical comparisons. A diplomatic memoir of uncommon honesty and insight and a sobering tale for those who dismiss the Dayton accords as an unjust peace. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) (Author tour)

What People Are Saying

Arthur Schlesinger
"This brilliant and remarkable book is both an absorbing firsthand narrative of the Balkan Conflict and an invaluable contribution to the history of our time."

Fritz Stern
"Written with sagacity and wisdom, To End a War tellsus about politics in the Balkans and in Washington, about our European allies, and about the intricacies of diplomatic negotiations."

Henry Kissinger
"Whether one agrees with him or not on Bosnia, Richard Holbrooke's book is must reading."

George F. Kennan
"What Richard Holbrook has given us in this impressive diplomatic memoir is a vivid and well-written account of the heroic efforts put forward by the author himself and the small team he headed to spare the troubled Balkan region further bloodshed and horror, and to bring the endanged peoples of Bosnia hope, security, and normalcy of life."

Leslie Gelb
"A real-life diplomatic thriller: the inside story of how peace came to Bosnia. An indispensable guide for future peacemakers."

Leslie Stahl
"A riveting, unpudownable account of how Holbrooke and his team cajoled the leaders of the various factions in Bosnia into signing a peace accord. This is not a book about dry policy prescriptions or march-along history. It is an adventure involving physical danger, moral quandaries, psychological gamesmanship, and high drama. Richard Holbrooke is a spirited, generous writer and a master storyteller."

US Citizenship Test or Practical Ethics

2009-01-21T03:58:00.000-08:00

U.S. Citizenship Test

Author: Gladys Alesi

This manual has been updated to include explanations of recently instituted government procedures and regulations that pertain to application for United States citizenship. Progressive exercises, in addition to providing a review of information needed for the test, build practice in using spoken and written English. Topics include reviews of U.S. history, geography, and government, explanation of application procedures, advice on filling out citizenship application forms, and up-to-date information on eligibility for naturalization.

New interesting textbook: Tecnología Conducida Comercial

Practical Ethics

Author: Peter Singer

Peter Singer's remarkably clear and comprehensive Practical Ethics has become a classic introduction to applied ethics since its publication in 1979 and has been translated into many languages. For this second edition the author has revised all the existing chapters, added two new ones, and updated the bibliography. He has also added an appendix describing some of the deep misunderstanding of and consequent violent reaction to the book in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland where the book has tested the limits of freedom of speech. The focus of the book is the application of ethics to difficult and controversial social questions.

Minority Populations and Health or Beyond the Fields

2009-01-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Health Disparities in the United States

Author: Thomas A LaVeist

"The text is state-of-the-art in its analysis of health disparities from both domestic and international perspectives. Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Health Disparities in the United States is a welcome addition to the field because it widens access to the complex issues underlying the health disparities problem. "-- Preventing Chronic Disease/CDC, October 2005

"This is a very comprehensive, evidence-based book dealing with the health disparities that plague the United States. This is a welcome and valuable addition to the field of health care for minority groups in the United States."-- Doody's Publishers Bulletin, August 2005

"Health isn’t color-blind. Racial minorities disproportionately suffer from some diseases, but experts say race alone doesn’t completely account for the disparities. Newsweek's Jennifer Barrett Ozols spoke with Thomas LaVeist, director of the Center for Health Disparities Solutions at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and author of the upcoming book, "Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Health Disparities in the U.S." (Jossey-Bass) about race and medicine. "-- MSNBC/Newsweek interview with author Thomas L. LaVeist, February 2005

"The book is readable and organized to be quickly read with specifics readily retrievable. It is comprehensive and visual."-- Journal of the American Medical Association, September 2005

Minority Populations and Health is a textbook that offers a complete foundation in the core issues and theoretical frameworks for the development of policy and interventions to address race disparities in health-related outcomes. This bookcovers U.S. health and social policy, the role of race and ethnicity in health research, social factors contributing to mortality, longevity and life expectancy, quantitative and demographic analysis and access, and utilization of health services. Instructors material available at

Doody Review Services

Reviewer: Penny Wolfe Moore, RNC, PhD (Southwestern Adventist University)
Description: This book focuses on the health disparities of minority populations in the United States, using many tables and charts (no color) that illustrate main points very well.
Purpose: The author had taught courses on health inequality for several years but could not find a comprehensive book, so he wrote this especially to meet that classroom need. He meets his objective, and the book is also useful for community health planners and educators.
Audience: It was written with undergraduate and graduate students in mind but a wider audience exists. Community health educators and community developers will find this book very useful. Anyone working on the Healthy People 2010 objectives will need this as a reference.
Features: This book offers a comprehensive discussion of the many factors leading to health disparities related to racial/ethnic issues. The healthcare needs of minority groups are explored with many strategies presented. Theory is linked to research and implications for action are included. Many charts and tables are included that summarize material and give more meaning to research findings.
Assessment: This is a very comprehensive, evidence-based book dealing with the health disparities that plague the United States. The problems are identified and then followed by strategies for action. This is a welcome and valuable addition to the field of healthcare for minority groups in the United States.

Rating

4 Stars! from Doody

1	Historical aspects of race/ethnicity and health	1
2	Conceptual issues in race/ethnicity and health	15
3	The demography of American racial/ethnic minorities	30
4	The epidemiological profile of racial/ethnic minorities	53
5	Mental health	83
6	Health care services among racial/ethnic groups	108
7	Theories of racial/ethnic differences in health	133
8	Socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic differences in health	157
9	Behavior and health	180
10	African American health issues	205
11	American Indian and Alaska Native health issues	223
12	Asian and Pacific Islander health issues	242
13	Hispanic/Latino health issues	260
14	Addressing disparities in health and health care	283

Book about: Story of Wine or The Get With The Program Guide to Fast Food and Family Restaurants

Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century

Author: Randy Shaw

Cesar Chavez is the most prominent Latino in United States history books, and much has been written about Chavez and the United Farm Worker's heyday in the 1960s and '70s. But left untold has been their ongoing impact on 21st century social justice movements. Beyond the Fields unearths this legacy, and describes how Chavez and the UFW's imprint can be found in the modern reshaping of the American labor movement, the building of Latino political power, the transformation of Los Angeles and California politics, the fight for environmental justice, and the burgeoning national movement for immigrant rights. Many of the ideas, tactics, and strategies that Chavez and the UFW initiated or revived--including the boycott, the fast, clergy-labor partnerships and door-to-door voter outreach--are now so commonplace that their roots in the farmworkers' movement is forgotten.

This powerful book also describes how the UFW became the era's leading incubator of young activist talent, creating a generation of skilled alumni who went on to play critical roles in progressive campaigns. UFW volunteers and staff were dedicated to furthering economic justice, and many devoted their post-UFW lives working for social change. When Barack Obama adopted "Yes We Can" as his 2008 campaign theme, he confirmed that the spirit of "Si Se Puede" has never been stronger, and that it still provides the clearest roadmap for achieving greater social and economic justice in the United States.

Publishers Weekly

Bay Area community organizer Shaw (Reclaiming America) examines the enduring influence of the United Farm Workers' model of grassroots organization, which he pointedly credits with the majority of labor's successes since the 1960s and a wellspring of 21st-century movements for democratic rights. He retells the story of Cesar Chavez and the UFW's unprecedented success in mobilizing a broad coalition as well as winning political clout and material gains for workers through such tactics as boycotts, appeals to spiritual values, fasting and community-centered organizing. Shaw describes a generation of young activists passing through the UFW's crucible of idealism, sacrifice and individual initiative, and into a lifetime of service to social justice causes; indeed, it was the very success of the UFW's campaigns that contributed, ironically, to a gradual power drain on the union in the 1980s. Leading organizers and political strategists like Susan Sachen and Marshall Ganz went on to work for other unions like SEIU or were hired away by mainstream electoral campaigns. Finally, Shaw evaluates the capacities of today's labor movement to build on the UFW's legacy of self-directed, on-the-ground training, political solidarity and far-reaching social idealism. (Jan.)

Ikes Spies or In Pursuit of Reason

2009-01-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

Ike's Spies: Eisenhower and the Espionage Establishment

Author: Douglas Brinkley

About the Author:
Ambrose, Stephen E. is Director Emeritus of the Eisenhower Center, retired Boyd Professor of History at the University of New Orleans, and president of the National D-Day Museum. He is the author of many books, including Americans at War, Citizen Soldier, and Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West.

In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson

Author: Noble E Cunningham Jr

"A major contribution." Washington Post
The authoritative single-volume biography of Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the most significant figure in American history. He was a complex and compelling man: a fervent advocate of democracy who enjoyed the life of a southern aristocrat and owned slaves, a revolutionary who became president, a believer in states' rights who did much to further the power of the federal government. Drawing on the recent explosion of Jeffersonian scholarship and fresh readings of original sources, IN PURSUIT OF REASON is a monument to Jefferson that will endure for generations.

Publishers Weekly

Cunningham succeeds admirably in his biography of Jefferson, intended for both scholars and general readers. The University of Missouri historian conveys not only the details of Jefferson's career as a politician and polymath, but the evolution of his thinking as expressed in Notes on the State of Virginia and other writings. He shows that Jefferson's belief in ``the sufficiency of reason for the care of human affairs'' sustained his political principles and his faith in progress and education. Cunningham, author of earlier books on the man and his era (The Image of Thomas Jefferson in the Public Eye, etc.), writes well and with evident authority in this rich work. Photos not seen by PW. History Book Club main selection. (May 29)

Library Journal

Finally we have a sensible one-volume biography of America's most multifaceted Founding Father. Cunningham, an expert on Jefferson's politics and presidency, has admirably condensed the variegated life and tumultuous times into a manageable and readable book. Cunningham's Jefferson is a man occasionally given to emotional turmoilas on the death of his wife and his flirtation with Maria Coswaybut mainly he is a personification of the Enlightenment's faith in human reason, progress, and education. It is a traditional interpretation, even conservativeJefferson's faults and mistakes are downplayed or excusedbut consistent with the weight of academic evidence. This is now the beginning biography for students and scholars alike. History Book Club main selection. Harry W. Fritz, History Dept., Univ. of Montana, Missoula

The Hinge of Fate or Exposing the Real Che Guevara

2009-01-19T03:40:00.000-08:00

The Hinge of Fate, Vol. 4

Author: Winston S Churchill

From uninterrupted defeat to almost unbroken success: a year when Rommel is gradually thrown back in North Africa, and in the Pacific the tide turns.

Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him

Author: Humberto Fontova

A critical biography of the iconic communist revolutionary, and an expose of the liberals who lionize him.

Nearly four decades after his death, it's impossible to avoid the image of Ernesto "Che" Guevara everywhere from T-shirts to cartoons. Liberals consider Che a revolutionary martyr who gave his life to help the poor of Latin America. Time named him one of the one hundred most influential people of the last century. And a major Hollywood movie is about to lionize him to a new generation.

The reality, as we learn from Cuban exile Humberto Fontova, is that Che wasn't really a gentle soul and a selfless hero. He was a violent Communist who thought nothing of firing a gun into the stomach of a woman six months pregnant whose only crime was that her family opposed him. And he was a hypocrite who lusted after material luxuries while cultivating his image as a man of the people.

Fontova reveals that Che openly talked about his desire to use nuclear weapons against New York City. Such was Che's bloodthirsty hatred that Fontova considers him the godfather of modern terrorism.

Exposing the Real Che Guevara is based on scores of interviews with survivors of Che's atrocities as well as the American CIA agent who interrogated Che just hours before the Bolivian government executed him.

The Challenge of Democracy or The Future of Freedom

2009-01-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

The Challenge of Democracy: Government in America

Author: Kenneth Janda

This complete introduction to American government offers a comprehensive program that integrates the core text with supporting materials to benefit both students and instructors. The Eighth Edition maintains the highly acclaimed, non-ideological framework, exploring three themes: freedom, order, and equality as political values; the majoritarianism v. pluralism debate; and the effect of globalization on U.S. politics.

Brief callouts in the text inform students of Talking Politics audio clips on the accompanying web site and the instructor and student CDs. Follow-up questions encourage students to think about what they hear and can be answered online and submitted to instructors via email.
The Looking to the Future feature invites students to consider trends in American government and then consider the implications of their answers.
Politics in a Changing World focuses on the effect of globalization on American government.
Can You Explain Why? features ask students to use critical-thinking skills to try and explain a political paradox, such as why Americans engage in more forms of political participation than people of other nationalities, yet don't vote as much.
Compared with What? boxes in every chapter ask students to evaluate facets of the U.S. political system as compared to those of other countries.

I. Dilemmas of Democracy
1. Freedom, Order, or Equality?
The Globalization of American Government
The Purposes of Government
A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Government
The Concepts of Freedom, Order, and Equality
Two Dilemmas of Government
Ideology and the Scope of Government
American Political Ideologies and the Purpose of Government
2. Majoritarian or Pluralist Democracy?
The Theory of Democratic Government
Institutional Models of Democracy
Democracy and Globalization
II. Foundations of American Government
3. The Constitution
The Revolutionary Roots of the Constitution
From Revolution to Confederation
From Confederation to Constitution
The Final Product
Selling the Constitution
Constitutional Change
An Evaluation of the Constitution
4. Federalism
Theories and Metaphors
Federalism's Dynamics
Ideology, Policymaking, and American Federalism
Federalism and Electoral Politics
Federalism and the American Intergovernmental System
Federalism and the International System
Federalism and Pluralism
III. Linking People with Government
5. Public Opinion and Political Socialization
Public Opinion and the Models of Democracy
The Distribution of Public Opinion
Political Socialization
Social Groups and Political Values
From Values to Ideology
The Process of Forming Political Opinions
6. The Media
People, Government, and Communications
The Development of the Mass Media in the United States
Private Ownership of the Media
Government Regulation of the Media
Functions of the MassMedia for the Political System
Evaluating the Media in Government
7. Participation and Voting
Democracy and Political Participation
Unconventional Participation
Conventional Participation
Participating Through Voting
Explaining Political Participation
Participation and Freedom, Equality, and Order
Participation and the Models of Democracy
8. Political Parties
Political Parties and Their Functions
A History of U.S. Party Politics
The American Two-Party System
Party Ideology and Organization
The Model of Responsible Party Government
9. Nominations, Elections, and Campaigns
The Evolution of Campaigning
Nominations
Elections
Campaigns
Explaining Voting Choice
Campaigns, Elections, and Parties
10. Interest Groups
Interest Groups and the American Political Tradition
How Interest Groups Form
Interest Group Resources
Lobbying Tactics
Is the System Biased?
IV. Institutions of Government
11. Congress
The Origin and Powers of Congress
Electing Congress
How Issues Get on the Congressional Agenda
The Dance of Legislation: An Overview
Committees: The Workhorses of Congress
Leaders and Followers in Congress
The Legislative Environment
The Dilemma of Representation
Pluralism, Majoritarianism, and Democracy
12. The Presidency
The Constitutional Basis of Presidential Power
The Expansion of Presidential Power
The Executive Branch Establishment
Presidential Leadership
The President as National Leader
The President as World Leader
13. The Bureaucracy
Organization Matters
The Development of the Bureaucratic State
Bureaus and Bureaucrats
Administrative Policymaking: The Formal Processes
Administrative Policymaking: Informal Politics
Problems in Implementing Policy
Reforming the Bureaucracy: More Control or Less?
14. The Courts
National Judicial Supremacy
The Organization of Courts
The Supreme Court
Judicial Recruitment
The Consequences of Judicial Decisions
The Courts and Models of Democracy
V. Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
15. Order and Civil Liberties
The Bill of Rights
Freedom of Religion
Freedom of Expression
The Right to Bear Arms
Applying the Bill of Rights to the States
The Ninth Amendment and Personal Autonomy
16. Equality and Civil Rights
Two Conceptions of Equality
The Civil War Amendments
The Dismantling of School Segregation
The Civil Rights Movement
Civil Rights for Other Minorities
Gender and Equal Rights: The Women's Movement
Affirmative Action: Equal Opportunity or Equal Outcome?
VI. Making Public Policy
17. Policymaking
Government Purposes and Public Policies
The Policymaking Process
Fragmentation and Coordination
The Nonprofit Sector
18. Economic Policy
Theories of Economic Policy
Public Policy and the Budget
Tax Policies
Spending Policies
Taxing, Spending, and Economic Equality
19. Domestic Policy
The Development of the American Welfare State
Social Security
Public Assistance
Health Care
Elementary and Secondary Education
Benefits and Fairness
20. Global Policy
Making Foreign Policy: The Constitutional Context
Making Foreign Policy: Organization and Cast
A Review of U.S. Foreign Policy
Global Policy Issue Areas
The Public and Global Policy
Appendix
The Declaration of Independence
Articles of Confederation
The Constitution of the United States of America
Federalist No. 10 (1787)
Federalist No. 51 (1788)
Presidents of the United States
Justices of the Supreme Court Since 1900
Party Control of the Presidency, Senate, and House of Representatives 1901–2005

The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad

Author: Fareed Zakaria

Liberty and Democracy. The two go hand in hand in popular thinking, fused by more than two hundred years of U.S. history. More democracy means more freedom. Or does it? At a time when democracy is transcendent, the one political system whose legitimacy is unquestioned, this deeply important book points out the tensions between democracy and freedom. It ranges widely through the past and present to remind us that we can have too much of a good thing. Take American democracy, in many peoples' minds the model for the rest of the world. Fareed Zakaria points out that the American form of democracy is one of the least democratic in use today. Members of the Supreme Court and the Federal Reserve -- institutions that fundamentally shape our lives -- are appointed, not elected. The Bill of Rights enumerates a set of privileges to which citizens are entitled no matter what the majority says. By restricting our democracy, we enhance our freedom. Nonetheless, we fall into the mistake of thinking, both at home and abroad, that the answer to our problems is always more democracy. But look at the post-Watergate reforms, which opened up politics. They brought into the halls of Congress not the voice of the people but the cries of special interests, well-organized minorities, and money. American government today is more democratic than ever before -- and also more dysfunctional. Abroad, the problem is that the spread of democracy has not produced a corresponding growth of liberty. We are seeing in many parts of the world, from Russia to Venezuela to the Palestinian Authority, a strange creature -- the elected autocrat. In the Arab world in particular we see societies trapped between repressive dictatorships and fanatical masses. Is there a way out? There is. Zakaria calls for a restoration of the balance between liberty and democracy and shows how liberal democracy has to be made effective and relevant for our times. Woodrow Wilson said the challenge of the twentieth century w

The New York Times

The Future of Freedom, however, is no polemic against elections. Rather, it is a calm antidote to the fervency of those who want to force elections down the throat of every society, no matter what its particular circumstances and historical experience. As any foreign correspondent knows, there are all kinds and gradations of dictators. Saddam Hussein cannot be compared to Gen. Pervez Musharraf, whose coup in Pakistan in 1999 led to an attempt at "radical political, social, educational and economic reform" that no elected politician would have dared. Nor can Lee Kuan Yew, who wrought an economic miracle in Singapore, be compared to another dictator, Robert Mugabe, whose thuggery and incompetency have brought Zimbabwe to the brink of famine and bankruptcy. Mr. Zakaria, far from extolling dictatorship, usefully reminds us of a complicated world that cannot be depicted as a Manichean divide between democratic and authoritarian. — Robert D. Kaplan

The Washington Post

The Future of Freedom s a work of tremendous originality and insight. — Timothy Noah

The New York Times Sunday Book Review

In his brave and ambitious book, Fareed Zakaria has updated Tocqueville. The Future of Freedom is brave because its central conclusion — that liberty is threatened by an excess of democracy — is deeply unfashionable and easily misrepresented. — Niall Ferguson

Publishers Weekly

Democracy is not inherently good, Zakaria (From Wealth to Power) tells us in his thought-provoking and timely second book. It works in some situations and not others, and needs strong limits to function properly. The editor of Newsweek International and former managing editor of Foreign Affairs takes us on a tour of democracy's deficiencies, beginning with the reminder that in 1933 Germans elected the Nazis. While most Western governments are both democratic and liberal-i.e., characterized by the rule of law, a separation of powers, and the protection of basic rights-the two don't necessarily go hand in hand. Zakaria praises countries like Singapore, Chile and Mexico for liberalizing their economies first and then their political systems, and compares them to other Third World countries "that proclaimed themselves democracies immediately after their independence, while they were poor and unstable, [but] became dictatorships within a decade." But Zakaria contends that something has also gone wrong with democracy in America, which has descended into "a simple-minded populism that values popularity and openness." The solution, Zakaria says, is more appointed bodies, like the World Trade Organization and the U.S. Supreme Court, which are effective precisely because they are insulated from political pressures. Zakaria provides a much-needed intellectual framework for many current foreign policy dilemmas, arguing that the United States should support a liberalizing dictator like Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf, be wary of an elected "thug" like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and take care to remake Afghanistan and Iraq into societies that are not merely democratic but free. (Apr.) Forecast: Zakaria has a weekly platform as a Newsweek columnist and high visibility as an analyst for ABC News. Reviews are guaranteed, and the controversial nature of Zakaria's thesis should encourage debate in the media. Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Foreign Affairs

The U.S. State Department has a Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor whose purpose is to "promote democracy as a means to achieve security, stability, and prosperity for the entire world" and "identify and denounce regimes that deny their citizens the right to choose their leaders in elections that are free, fair, and transparent." The Bush administration has already promised to bring democracy to Iraq after Saddam Hussein is ousted. And Americans regularly condemn China for being undemocratic and praise Russia for its democratic advances. Democracy is the way Americans distinguish the good guys from the bad, those regimes worth supporting from those not, and it is the first remedy prescribed for any country whose practices are disliked. But Fareed Zakaria, editor and columnist at Newsweek International, argues in The Future of Freedom that many developing societies initially fare best under what he calls "liberal authoritarian regimes," and that "what we need in [American] politics today is not more democracy but less."

Zakaria's provocative and wide-ranging book is eminently worth reading. If not entirely persuasive when dealing with contemporary American politics, he is correct that Americans' obsession with electoral democracy has clouded their understanding of countries such as Russia, China, and South Korea and led at times to disastrous policy choices. This case has been made before, but never as simply and clearly. His book displays a kind of argumentation, grounded in history and political philosophy, of which there is precious little these days, particularly among opinion columnists.

Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

The problem with democracy is that it lets just about everyone have a say. Or so would go an inelegant rendition of Newsweek International editor Zakaria's more sophisticated argument, which is akin to those of, say, Samuel Huntington and Francis Fukuyama in the Big Idea school of political criticism. Briefly, Zakaria holds that some of the features we take for granted in democracy, such as universal adult suffrage, are recent innovations that overlie, and now threaten to obscure, far more important aspects of "constitutional liberalism--the rule of law, private property rights, and . . . separated powers and free speech and assembly." These ideals, "best symbolized not by the mass plebiscite but the impartial judge," are the true hallmarks of democracy, but they are not the ones that Americans, at least, think of when that golden term is uttered, and not the ones that are called to mind when the talk turns to spreading one-man, one-vote democracy around the world, which is a peculiarly American project. ("Think of it this way," Zakaria intones, "if France had been the world's leading power for the last century, would 18-year-olds wearing jeans in restaurants come up to you and say, 'Hi, I'm John and I'll be your waiter today'?") The rest of the world, and particularly the Arab and Asian quarters, is not much interested in this power-sharing ideal--which in any event, by Zakaria's account, so often tends to lead to the tyranny of the majority and "the erosion of liberty, the manipulation of freedom, and the decay of a common life." Zakaria's arguments are, of course, arguable, but they are interesting and provocative at the same time. His passing notes are more intriguing, culled fromstatistical tables and academic journal articles, on the material and political conditions required if a democracy of any kind is to endure: per-capita income and GDP above $6,000, an independent judiciary, an incorrupt central bank. A fruitful argument against the politics of "simple-minded populism," eminently worthy of consideration and debate.

The Voice of Hope or Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World 1400 1800

2009-01-18T03:15:00.000-08:00

The Voice of Hope

Author: Aung San Suu Kyi

"The dialogues [in The Voice of Hope] express Aung San Suu Kyi's humor, erudition, wisdom and accessibility, and demonstrate why she has become a world spiritual leader."-The New York Times Book Review

"Reading this book, one can well understand why [Aung San Suu Kyi] has been compared to such heroes of freedom as Nelson Mandela and Vclav Havel."-San Francisco Chronicle

Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Prize Laureate, mother of two, and devout Buddhist, is one of the most inspiring examples of spiritually infused politics and fearless leadership that the world has ever seen. Daughter of the martyred Burmese national hero who negotiated Burma's independence from Britain in the 1940s, Aung San Suu Kyi was called upon to lead the pro-democracy movement in Burma in 1988. The movement was quickly and brutally crushed by the military junta, and Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest.

The Voice of Hope is a rare and intimate journey to the heart of her struggle. Over a period of nine months, Alan Clements, the first American ordained as a Buddhist monk in Burma, met with Aung San Suu Kyi shortly after her release from her first house arrest in July 1995. With her trademark ability to speak directly and compellingly, she presents here her vision of engaged compassion and describes how she has managed to sustain her hope and optimism.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League for Democracy, which achieved a decisive victory in the last Burmese national election, held in 1990. The junta has refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of that vote. She has lived under house arrest for twelve of thelast eighteen years.

Alan Clements is the author of Burma: The Next Killing Fields? and Burma's Revolution of the Spirit. Since completion of The Voice of Hope, he has been permanently blacklisted in Burma.

New interesting book: Workbook Std Trng F Estheticians or Backache

Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800

Author: John Thornton

This book explores Africa's involvement in the Atlantic world from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries. It focuses especially on the causes and consequences of the slave trade, in Africa, in Europe, and in the New World. Prior to 1680, Africa's economic and military strength enabled African elites to determine how trade with Europe developed. Thornton examines the dynamics that made slaves so necessary to European colonizers. He explains why African slaves were placed in significant roles. Estate structure and demography affected the capacity of slaves to form a self-sustaining society and behave as cultural actors. This second edition contains a new chapter on eighteenth century developments.

	Preface to the second edition
	Abbreviations
	Maps
	Source notes for Maps 1-3
	Introduction	1
1	The birth of an Atlantic world	13
2	The development of commerce between Europeans and Africans	43
3	Slavery and African social structure	72
4	The process of enslavement and the slave trade	98
5	Africans in colonial Atlantic societies	129
6	Africans and Afro-Americans in the Atlantic world: life and labor	152
7	African cultural groups in the Atlantic world	183
8	Transformations of African culture in the Atlantic world	206
9	African religions and Christianity in the Atlantic world	235
10	Resistance, runaways, and rebels	272
11	Africans in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world	304
	Index	335

The Populist Vision or Global Shift

2009-01-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

The Populist Vision

Author: Charles Postel

In the late nineteenth century, monumental technological innovations like the telegraph and steam power made America and the world a much smaller place. New technologies also made possible large-scale organization and centralization. Corporations grew exponentially and the rich amassed great fortunes. Those on the short end of these wrenching changes responded in the Populist revolt, one of the most effective challenges to corporate power in American history.
But what did Populism represent? Half a century ago, scholars such as Richard Hofstadter portrayed the Populist movement as an irrational response of backward-looking farmers to the challenges of modernity. Since then, the romantic notion of Populism as the resistance movement of tradition-based and pre-modern communities to a modern and commercial society has prevailed. In a broad, innovative reassessment, based on a deep reading of archival sources, The Populist Vision argues that the Populists understood themselves as--and were in fact--modern people, who pursued an alternate vision for modern America.
Taking into account both the leaders and the led, The Populist Vision uses a wide lens, focusing on the farmers, both black and white, men and women, while also looking at wager workers and bohemian urbanites. From Texas to the Dakotas, from Georgia to California, farmer Populists strove to use the new innovations for their own ends. They sought scientific and technical knowledge, formed highly centralized organizations, launched large-scale cooperative businesses, and pressed for reforms on the model of the nation's most elaborate bureaucracy - the Postal Service. Hundreds of thousands of Populist farm women soughteducation, employment in schools and offices, and a more modern life. Miners, railroad workers, and other labor Populists joined with farmers to give impetus to the regulatory state. Activists from Chicago, San Francisco, and other new cities provided Populism with a dynamic urban dimension
This major reassessment of the Populist experience is essential reading for anyone interested in the politics, society, and culture of modern America.

Interesting textbook: Berufsemissionen in der mit der Rede sprachigen Pathologie und Audiology

Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy

Author: Peter Dicken

Now in a substantially revised and updated fifth edition, this bestselling work is the definitive text on globalization. Peter Dicken provides a comprehensive, balanced yet critical account of globalization processes and their sweeping, highly uneven effects on people's lives. Each timely chapter has been extensively rewritten to reflect current globalization and antiglobalization debates, the latest empirical developments, and new ideas about the shaping and reshaping of production, distribution, and consumption in the world economy.

New in the Fifth Edition
*An entirely new case study on the agro-foods industries
*A substantially expanded discussion of problems of global governance (involving such institutions as the WTO, the World Bank, and the IMF) and the increasing role of global civil society organizations
*All statistical materials have been updated and are presented in nearly 250 specially designed figures and tables

List of Abbreviations     xvii
Preface to the Fifth Edition     xix
The Shifting Contours of the Global Economy     1
Questioning 'Globalization'     3
What in the world is going on?     3
Conflicting perspectives on 'globalization'     5
Unravelling the complexity of the new geo-economy: economies as networks     8
Production circuits; production networks     13
Even in a globalizing world, economic activities are geographically localized     21
Networks of networks     23
The geo-economy and the environment     25
Conclusion     29
Notes     30
Global Shift: The Changing Global Economic Map     32
What's new?: The imprint of past geographies     32
Roller-coasters and interconnections     35
The changing contours of the global economic map: global shifts in production, trade and direct investment     38
Conclusion     67
Notes     68
Processes of Global Shift     71
Technological Change: 'Gales of Creative Destruction'     73
Technology and economic transformation     73
Processes of technological change: an evolutionary perspective     74
The time-spaceshrinking technologies     78
Technological changes in products and processes     93
Geographies of innovation     98
Conclusion     103
Notes     104
Transnational Corporations: The Primary 'Movers and Shapers' of the Global Economy     106
The significance of the transnational corporation     106
Why firms transnationalize     107
How firms transnationalize     114
'Placing' firms: the myth of the 'global' corporation     124
Conclusion     135
Notes     135
'Webs of Enterprise': The Geography of Transnational Production Networks     137
The 'global-local' question: an oversimplified view of the TNC's dilemma     137
Configuring the firm's production network: the complex internal geographies of the TNC     140
TNCs within networks of externalized relationships     153
Regionalizing transnational production networks     168
Conclusion     171
Notes     171
'The State Is Dead...Long Live the State'     173
'Contested territory': the state in a globalizing economy     173
States as containers of distinctive cultures, practices and institutions     175
States as regulators of trade, foreign investment and industry     179
States as competitors     184
States as collaborators: the proliferation of regional integration agreements     187
Conclusion     204
Notes     205
'Doing It Their Way': Variations in State Economic Policies     207
From the general to the specific     207
A degree of convergence     207
The older industrialized economies: the United States and Europe     210
Japan     214
Newly industrializing economies     216
Conclusion     230
Notes     230
Dynamics of Conflict and Collaboration: The Uneasy Relationship between TNCs and States     232
The ties that bind     232
Bargaining processes between TNCs and states     236
Conclusion     245
Notes     246
The Picture in Different Sectors     247
'Fabric-ating Fashion': The Clothing Industries     249
The clothing production circuit     249
Global shifts in the clothing industries     250
Changing patterns of consumption     254
Production costs and technology     255
The role of the state and the Multi-Fibre Arrangement      260
Corporate strategies in the clothing industries     262
Regionalizing production networks in the clothing industries     267
Conclusion     276
Notes     276
'Wheels of Change': The Automobile Industry     278
The automobile production circuit     278
Global shifts in the automobile industry     280
Changing patterns of consumption     283
From mass production to lean production: technological change in the automobile industry     284
The role of the state     286
Corporate strategies in the automobile industry     289
Regionalizing production networks in the automobile industry     304
Conclusion     315
Notes     315
'Chips with Everything': The Semiconductor Industry     317
The semiconductor production circuit     317
Global shifts in the semiconductor industry     319
Changing patterns of consumption     321
Production costs and technology     323
The role of the state     326
Corporate strategies in the semiconductor industry     333
Regionalizing production networks in the semiconductor industry: the case of East Asia     343
Conclusion      345
Notes     345
'We Are What We Eat': The Agro-Food Industries     347
Transformation of the food economy: the 'local' becomes 'global'     347
Agro-food production circuits     349
Global shifts in the agro-food industries     352
Consumer choices - and consumer resistances     358
Transforming technologies in agro-food production     360
The role of the state     363
Corporate strategies in the agro-food industries     367
Conclusion     376
Notes     376
'Making the World Go Round': Financial Services     379
Money counts     379
The structure of the financial services industries     381
The dynamics of the market for financial services     383
Technological innovation and the financial services industries     384
The role of the state: regulation and deregulation in financial services     387
Corporate strategies in financial services     390
Geographical structures of financial services activities     397
Conclusion     407
Notes     408
'Making the Connections, Moving the Goods': The Logistics and Distribution Industries     410
'Whatever happened to distribution in the globalization debate?'     410
The structure of the logistics and distribution industries     411
The dynamics of the market     414
Technological innovation and the logistics and distribution industries     414
The role of the state: regulation and deregulation in the logistics and distribution industries     420
Corporate strategies in the logistics and distribution industries     423
Logistics 'places': key geographical nodes on the global logistics map     430
Conclusion     432
Notes     432
Winning and Losing in the Global Economy     435
Winning and Losing: An Introduction     437
From processes to impacts     437
The contours of economic development     440
Making a living in the global economy     449
The 'double exposure' problem     450
Conclusion     452
Notes     452
Good or Bad?: Evaluating the Impact of TNCs on Home and Host Economies     454
A counterfactual dilemma     454
TNCs and 'home' economies: potential impacts of outward investment     456
TNCs and 'host' economies: potential impacts of inward investment     459
Conclusion     473
Notes     474
Making a Living in Developed Countries: Where Will the Jobs Come From?     475
Increasing affluence - but not everybody is a winner     475
What is happening to jobs and to incomes?     476
Why is it happening?     486
What is being done?     492
Conclusion     499
Notes     499
Making a Living in Developing Countries: Sustaining Growth, Enhancing Equity, Ensuring Survival     501
Some winners - but mostly losers     501
Heterogeneity of the developing world     502
Sustaining growth and ensuring equity in newly industrializing economies     511
Ensuring survival and reducing poverty in the least developed countries     518
Conclusion     522
Notes     522
Making the World a Better Place     524
'The best of all possible worlds'?     524
Globalization and its 'discontents': emergence of a global civil society?     525
Global governance structures     528
Two key concerns: labour standards and environmental regulation     540
To be 'globalized' or not to be 'globalized': that is the question     545
What might the future be? What should the future be?     546
Notes     553
Bibliography      555
Index     585
About the Author     600

Dangerous Nation or Justice as Fairness

2009-01-17T04:50:00.000-08:00

Dangerous Nation: America's Foreign Policy from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

Author: Robert Kagan

Most Americans believe the United States had been an isolationist power until the twentieth century. This is wrong. In a riveting and brilliantly revisionist work of history, Robert Kagan, bestselling author of Of Paradise and Power, shows how Americans have in fact steadily been increasing their global power and influence from the beginning. Driven by commercial, territorial, and idealistic ambitions, the United States has always perceived itself, and been seen by other nations, as an international force. This is a book of great importance to our understanding of our nation’s history and its role in the global community.

New interesting book: Personalmanagement

Justice as Fairness: A Restatement

Author: John Rawls

This book originated as lectures for a course on political philosophy that Rawls taught regularly at Harvard in the 1980s. In time the lectures became a restatement of his theory of justice as fairness, revised in light of his more recent papers and his treatise Political Liberalism (1993). As Rawls writes in the preface, the restatement presents "in one place an account of justice as fairness as I now see it, drawing on all [my previous] works." He offers a broad overview of his main lines of thought and also explores specific issues never before addressed in any of his writings.

Rawls is well aware that since the publication of A Theory of Justice in 1971, American society has moved farther away from the idea of justice as fairness. Yet his ideas retain their power and relevance to debates in a pluralistic society about the meaning and theoretical viability of liberalism. This book demonstrates that moral clarity can be achieved even when a collective commitment to justice is uncertain.

Library Journal

Rawls set out his contractualist conception of justice in A Theory of Justice and revised it in a later edition. From 1974 to 1989, he published articles whose theses varied somewhat from the detailed account of that work. In this self-contained attempt to reconcile the differences, he reorganizes his "original position" argument; revises his liberty principle to emphasize that there is not a single "liberty" that governments should aim at, but a set of liberties that ground citizens' powers to form and act from conceptions of justice and of a fully worthwhile life; and reanalyzes justice as fairness, so as to emphasize its political aspects. This book is the capstone to a half-century's deep thinking about its subject and will reward careful study. Recommended for most libraries. Robert Hoffman, York Coll., CUNY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

	Editor's Foreword
	Preface
Pt. I	Fundamental Ideas	1
1	Four Roles of Political Philosophy	1
2	Society as a Fair System of Cooperation	5
3	The Idea of a Well-Ordered Society	8
4	The Idea of the Basic Structure	10
5	Limits to Our Inquiry	12
6	The Idea of the Original Position	14
7	The Idea of Free and Equal Persons	18
8	Relations between the Fundamental Ideas	24
9	The Idea of Public Justification	26
10	The Idea of Reflective Equilibrium	29
11	The Idea of an Overlapping Consensus	32
Pt. II	Principles of Justice	39
12	Three Basic Points	39
13	Two Principles of Justice	42
14	The Problem of Distributive Justice	50
15	The Basic Structure as Subject: First Kind of Reason	52
16	The Basic Structure as Subject: Second Kind of Reason	55
17	Who Are the Least Advantaged?	57
18	The Difference Principle: Its Meaning	61
19	Objections via Counterexamples	66
20	Legitimate Expectations, Entitlement, and Desert	72
21	On Viewing Native Endowments as a Common Asset	74
22	Summary Comments on Distributive Justice and Desert	77
Pt. III	The Argument from the Original Position	80
23	The Original Position: The Set-Up	80
24	The Circumstances of Justice	84
25	Formal Constraints and the Veil of Ignorance	85
26	The Idea of Public Reason	89
27	First Fundamental Comparison	94
28	The Structure of the Argument and the Maximin Rule	97
29	The Argument Stressing the Third Condition	101
30	The Priority of the Basic Liberties	104
31	An Objection about Aversion to Uncertainty	106
32	The Equal Basic Liberties Revisited	111
33	The Argument Stressing the Second Condition	115
34	Second Fundamental Comparison: Introduction	119
35	Grounds Falling under Publicity	120
36	Grounds Falling under Reciprocity	122
37	Grounds Falling under Stability	124
38	Ground against the Principle of Restricted Utility	126
39	Comments on Equality	130
40	Concluding Remarks	132
Pt. IV	Institutions of a Just Basic Structure	135
41	Property-Owning Democracy: Introductory Remarks	135
42	Some Basic Contrasts between Regimes	138
43	Ideas of the Good in Justice as Fairness	140
44	Constitutional versus Procedural Democracy	145
45	The Fair Value of the Equal Political Liberties	148
46	Denial of the Fair Value for Other Basic Liberties	150
47	Political and Comprehensive Liberalism: A Contrast	153
48	A Note on Head Taxes and the Priority of Liberty	157
49	Economic Institutions of a Property-Owning Democracy	158
50	The Family as a Basic Institution	162
51	The Flexibility of an Index of Primary Goods	168
52	Addressing Marx's Critique of Liberalism	176
53	Brief Comments on Leisure Time	179
Pt. V	The Question of Stability	180
54	The Domain of the Political	180
55	The Question of Stability	184
56	Is Justice as Fairness Political in the Wrong Way?	188
57	How Is Political Liberalism Possible?	189
58	An Overlapping Consensus Not Utopian	192
59	A Reasonable Moral Psychology	195
60	The Good of Political Society	198
	Index	203

Jesus and Nonviolence or Clementine Churchill

2009-01-16T15:37:00.000-08:00

Jesus and Nonviolence (Facets Series): A Third Way

Author: Walter Wink

More than ever, Walter Wink believes, the Christian tradition of nonviolence is needed as an alternative to the dominant and death-dealing "powers" of our consumerist culture and fractured world. In this small book Wink offers a precis of his whole thinking about this issue, including the relation of Jesus and his message to politics and nonviolence, the history of nonviolent efforts, and how nonviolence can win the day when others don't hesitate to resort to violence or terror to achieve their aims.

Clementine Churchill: The Biography of a Marriage

Author: Mary Soames

Clementine Churchill — shy, passionate, and high-strung — shunned publicity but was in the limelight throughout her adult life. As a young woman, her character, intelligence, and good looks won the attention of the impetuous Winston Churchill. Their courtship was swift, but their marriage proved immensely strong, spanning many of the major events of the twentieth century. Written with affection and candor by the Churchills' daughter Mary Soames, this revised and updated biography of a lionhearted couple's life together is not only of historic interest but deeply moving.

American Speeches Revolution to Civil War or Abraham Lincoln

2009-01-16T05:25:00.000-08:00

American Speeches Revolution to Civil War: Political Oratory from the Revolution to the Civil War, Vol. 1

Author: Ted Widmer

Public speeches have profoundly shaped American history and culture, transforming not only our politics but also our language and our sense of national identity. This volume (the first of an unprecedented two-volume collection) gathers the unabridged texts of 45 eloquent and dramatic speeches delivered by 32 American public figures between 1761 and 1865, beginning with James Otis's denunciation of unrestrained searches by British customs officials-hailed by John Adams as the beginning of the American Revolution-and ending with Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Rich in literary allusions, vivid imagery, and emotional appeals, political oratory flourished during this period in Congress and at campaign rallies, public meetings, and reform conventions, and reached a wider audience through newspapers and pamphlets.

Included are Patrick Henry's "liberty or death" speech, George Washington's appeal to mutinous army officers, and Henry Lee's eulogy of Washington. Speeches by John Randolph and Henry Clay capture the political passions of the early republic, while three addresses by Daniel Webster-his first Bunker Hill oration, his second reply to Hayne, and his controversial endorsement of the Compromise of 1850-demonstrate the eloquence that made him the most renowned orator of his time.

Speeches by figures who did not hold office are included as well: union leader Ely Moore attacking economic aristocracy; woman's rights speeches by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth; Henry Highland Garnet's incendiary call for slave rebellion; Frederick Douglass's scathing "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" John C. Calhoun's defense of slavery, Charles Sumner's "The Crime Against Kansas," Alexander Stephens' "Corner-Stone" speech, and several speeches by Abraham Lincoln reflect the sectional conflicts that culminated in the Civil War. Each volume contains biographical and explanatory notes, and an index.

Books about: Food Plants of China or Olive Oil

Abraham Lincoln: A Biography

Author: Benjamin P Thomas

In this one-volume biography, Benjamin P. Thomas presents all the significant events and achievements in the life of one of the greatest presidents, and greatest men, in American history—Abraham Lincoln. Aside from the usually myth-making of this American figure, i.e. his humble upbringing by a pioneer family; his diligent dedication to self-education; and his remarkable rise from small town lawyer to presidential candidate, Thomas also gives the full account of a skillful politician and complicated man, who took on an enormous amount of personal and public responsibility during the greatest crisis in our nation's history. Hence, there is no doubt that Abraham Lincoln: A Biography is the complete resource for learning about the makings of a truly great American hero.

Tactical Medicine or Criminal Procedure

2009-01-14T08:09:00.000-08:00

Tactical Medicine: An Introductory To Law Enforcement Emergency Care

Author: Ian McDevitt

An experienced street paramedic gives a detailed crash course in the administration of emergency care under the most life-threatening conditions. Tactical Medicine is an excellent introduction to providing critical medical care when lives hang in the balance - both yours and your patients'. Learn the three stages of tactical medicine; the vital priorities of administering first aid under fire; the realities of setting up an efficient triage system; the must-have equipment and supplies for a tactical medical kit; the best methods for transporting your gear while on the scene; the differences between law enforcement and military field care; and much more. Whether you are a medic assigned to a SWAT team or military unit, an EMT thinking of entering police work or just someone who is interested in this dynamic field of medicine, you will benefit from this book.

Booknews

Addressing field medics assigned to police SWAT teams, Mcdevitt (a former infantry officer and practicing paramedic) describes the stages of administering emergency care under life threatening situations. He also discusses proper equipment, equipment carry systems, general care of the team, K9 emergency care, choosing the medic, and training. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

	Introduction	1
Chapter 1	The Stages of Tactical Medicine	7
Chapter 2	Patient Assessment	13
Chapter 3	Controlling Bleeding	17
Chapter 4	Stabilizing Breathing	23
Chapter 5	Disability and Mobility	31
Chapter 6	Triage	37
Chapter 7	Environmental Emergencies	41
Chapter 8	The Tactical Medical Kit	47
Chapter 9	Carry Systems	59
Chapter 10	General Care of the Team	67
Chapter 11	Improvisation	75
Chapter 12	Delivering K9 First Aid	77
Chapter 13	Choosing Your Team's Medic	81
Chapter 14	Training	87
	Conclusion	91
Appendix	Gear Distributors	93

Interesting textbook: Report from Ground Zero or The Third Reich in Power

Criminal Procedure: Investigation and Right to Counsel

Author: Ronald Jay Allen

Designed to meet the need for a short survey course or a traditional investigation course, this sophisticated cases-and-notes book is derived from the authors' successful Compredensive Criminal Procedure. By concentrating on the investigation stage without detouring into other areas, this new casebook offers the scope and depth of coverage necessary for a thorough course, in a straightforward and accessible presentation.

Comprehensive and current, the casebook addresses:

policing materials

due process and the right to counsel

prosecutorial charging decisions

grand juries

plea bargaining and sentencing, topics often overlooked in other books but crucial to an understanding of criminal procedure

Criminal Procedure: Investigation and Right to Counsel gives both students and instructors what they need:

detailed coverage of the Fourth Amendment

excellent cases, selected and edited to portray the key issues

outstanding authorship from a team of recognized leaders who blend a wide range of backgrounds and expertise

'law and society' approach, grounded in empirical research and the true impact of court decisions

thoughtful, thematic organization

well-written notes that challenge students to think about the ideas and questions raised

appropriate balance of explanatory text and secondary material, which keeps the book to a manageable length

Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate or Memo to the President

2009-01-13T20:36:00.000-08:00

Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate: From Policy Practice to Social Justi

Author: Bruce S Jansson

Go beyond the ordinary, with Bruce Jansson's groundbreaking look at the ins-and-outs of conducting policy-practice. BECOMING AN EFFECTIVE POLICY ADVOCATE gives you hands-on experience building the skills that will empower you to implement policy reform as an effective social work practitioner Jansson includes case studies and examples that illustrate how and why policy is important as well as a toolbox of strategies to help you implement policy reform over the course of your own career. And to enhance your course experience, this text features access to CengageNOW, an integrated online suite of services and resources that will help you save time, focus your study, and get the grade you want!

Booknews

Encouraging social workers and social work students to become participants in efforts to build a more humane society, this text shows how effective policy practitioners combine solid research and analysis with political skills to get their proposals approved by decision makers. The book guides readers through the process of agenda setting, problem analysis, and proposal writing through policy enactment, implementation, and assessment. This fourth edition presents two new models of policy practice, a new chapter on ballot- based policy advocacy, an expanded discussion of ideology, and new Web topics and exercises. The author is affiliated with the University of Southern California. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Book review: Führung, Management und Berufspraxis für den LPN/LVN säugend: In der Nährschule und Darüber hinaus

Memo to the President: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership (Updated Edition)

Author: Madeleine Albright

The next president will face the daunting task of repairing America's core relationships and tarnished credibility after the damage caused during the past eight years. In Memo to the President, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright offers provocative ideas about how to confront the myriad challenges awaiting our newly elected commander-in-chief. Secretary Albright's advice is candid and seasoned with humor and stories from her years in office, blending lessons from the past with forward-looking suggestions about how to make full use of presidential power without repeating the excesses of the Bush administration and how to revive America's commitment to its founding ideals.

Police Procedure and Investigation or Thunder Run

2009-01-13T10:23:00.000-08:00

Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers

Author: Lofland

Not everything you see on your favorite crime show is accurate. In fact, a lot of it is flat out wrong. Police Procedure & Investigation helps you get your facts straight about the inner workings of law enforcement.

With a career in law enforcement that spanned nearly two decades, author Lee Lofland is a nationally acclaimed expert on police procedures and crime scene investigations who consults regularly with best-selling authors and television producers. Now you can benefit from his years of experience with Police Procedure & Investigation.

This comprehensive resource includes:

More than 80 photographs, illustrations, and charts showing everything from defensive moves used by officers to prison cells and autopsies
Detailed information on officer training, tools of the trade, drug busts, con air procedures, crime scene investigation techniques, and more
First-person details from the author about his experiences as a detective, including accounts of arrests, death penalty executions, and criminal encounters

Police Procedure & Investigation is the next best thing to having a police detective personally assigned to your book!

Foreword     XV
Preface     1
Law Enforcement in America     4
The Police Academy     25
Police Officers: Their Duties and Equipment     39
Detectives     67
Arrest and Search Procedures     92
Homicide, Murder, and Manslaughter     117
Crime Scene Investigation     129
Fingerprinting     152
DNA     167
Autopsy     183
Drugs, Not Money, are the Root of All Evil     205
Tell It to the Judge: Courts and the Legal Process     233
Prisons and Jails     271
Con Air: Coffee, Tea, or Handcuff Key?     308
The Death Penalty     318
C.S....I Don't Think So     330
Epilogue     340
Glossary of Terms     341
Police 10 Codes     346
Drug Quantity Table     349
Federal Sentencing Table     360
Index     362

Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad

Author: David Zucchino

Thunder Run is the story of the bold assault on Baghdad by the Spartan Brigade of the Third Infantry Division. With fewer than a thousand men, and facing Iraqi forces dug into bunkers and buildings, the brigade punched a hole through the heart of Baghdad with a high-speed charge to Saddam Hussein's Presidential Palace and Republican Guard headquarters. Many Iraqi soldiers fled or surrendered during the onslaught, but significant numbers stood and fought. Iraqi forces destroyed the brigade's command center, ambushed the brigade's resupply column, and even as it appeared that the brigade was seizing control of the capital on the battle's second day, a fierce counterattack across the Tigris River trapped an American company under withering fire and forced a retreat. Many Americans believe that Baghdad was taken with a minimum of effort. But for the Spartan Brigade it was a brutal and terrifying three days of urban warfare. The product of dozens of interviews, and with a foreword from best-selling author Mark Bowden, Thunder Run is a riveting firsthand account of how a single armored brigade of fewer than a thousand men was able to capture an Arab capital defended by one of the world's largest armies.

The Washington Post - Phillip Carter

Zucchino paints a vivid picture of the battle by stitching together the narratives of soldiers, officers, generals and Iraqis whom he interviewed during and after the war. As a result, his book goes far beyond the "first draft of history" that he filed from Baghdad in April 2003.

Publishers Weekly

Even a very short, victorious shooting war against a disorganized, dispirited, vastly outnumbered and underequipped enemy is hell. That is the central message that Los Angeles Times correspondent Zucchino brings home startlingly well in this riveting account of the American military's lightning capture of Baghdad in April 2003. Zucchino (The Myth of the Welfare Queen) is an experienced, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, and he shows off his reportorial skills in this reconstruction of the "lightning armored strike" in Iraq that the military refers to as a "thunder run." The narrative focuses on the men who commanded and battled in the tank battles as the Americans fought their way to Iraq's capital city. It is often not a pretty picture, nor one for the faint of heart, because Zucchino unhesitatingly and graphically describes the violent and grisly fates that befell hundreds, if not thousands, of Iraqi Republican Guard troops and fedayeen militiamen, their Syrian allies (at the border) and the unfortunate civilians who were killed or wounded by the deadly high-tech American armored vehicles and their well-trained crews. He also does not shy away from intimately describing the deaths and injuries of American troops. The Americans who fought their way into Baghdad engaged in, according to Zucchino's account, a vicious, if short-lived, war. While the Americans overwhelmed the Iraqis on the road to Baghdad, U.S. troops faced periodic stiff resistance; rocket-propelled grenades caused death and destruction among the crews in the Bradley fighting vehicles. Zucchino tells his story primarily from the American troops' point of view, but does include a section describing the experiences of a Baath Party militia leader and some Republican Guard officers in this high-quality example of in-depth and evocative war reporting. First serial to Men's Journal. Agent, Angela Brophy for Sterling Lord Literistic. (May 18) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Lincolns Sanctuary or The Dark Valley

2009-01-12T21:11:00.000-08:00

Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home

Author: Matthew Pinsker

After the heartbreaking death of his son Willie, Abraham Lincoln and his family fled the gloom that hung over the White House, moving into a small cottage in Washington, D.C., on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, a residence for disabled military veterans. In Lincoln's Sanctuary, historian Matthew Pinsker offers a fascinating portrait of Lincoln's stay in this place and tells the story of the president's remarkable growth as a national leader and a private man.
Lincoln lived at the Soldiers' Home for a quarter of his presidency, and for nearly half of the critical year of 1862, but most Americans (including many scholars) have not heard of the place. Indeed, this is the first volume to specifically connect this early "summer White House" to key wartime developments, including the Emancipation Proclamation, the firing of McClellan, the evolution of Lincoln's "Father Abraham" image, the election of 1864, and the assassination conspiracy. Through a series of striking vignettes, the reader discovers a more accessible Lincoln, demonstrating what one visitor to the Soldiers' Home described as his remarkable "elasticity of spirits." At his secluded retreat, the president complained to his closest aides, recited poetry to his friends, reconnected with his wife and family, conducted secret meetings with his political enemies, and narrowly avoided assassination attempts. Perhaps most important, he forged key friendships that helped renew his flagging spirits. The cottage became a refuge from the pressures of the White House, a place of tranquility where Lincoln could refresh his mind.
Based on research in rarely tapped sources, especially the letters and memoirs of people who lived orworked at the Soldiers' Home, Lincoln's Sanctuary offers the unexpected--a completely fresh view of Abraham Lincoln--through the window of a place that helped shape his presidency.

The Washington Post

… Lincoln's Sanctuary is a marvelous book, brimming with new information about the public and private lives of the Civil War president. The author tells a compelling story, based on thorough and impeccable research. Lincoln's Sanctuary makes a strong case that those who visit the Soldiers' Home, currently being restored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will gain a much deeper understanding of our greatest president. — Michael F. Bishop

Publishers Weekly

Lincoln spent more than one quarter of his presidency (all the fair weather months of 1862, '63 and '64) living not at the White House, but in a modest cottage on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, a residence for disabled veterans just outside the capital in Maryland. Drawing on previously obscure manuscript resources-including the letters of soldiers assigned to guard Lincoln at his retreat-Dickinson College historian Pinsker does a first-rate job of illuminating this previously little-known slice of Lincoln's life. Here we have Lincoln with his guard down and his coat tossed over the back of a couch. He and his son Tad (Willie was dead by this time, and older son Robert visited only rarely) shared meals and stories with the soldiers bivouacked about the grounds. Company K Sgt. Charles Derickson recalled that Lincoln used to enjoy coming over to the soldiers' camp for a cup of "army coffee" and a "plate of beans." At one point, when the troops received defective socks, their complaints got the president's attention; a corrupt federal contractor wound up in prison. In addition to providing up-close-and-personal views of the soldiers' "friendly father Abraham," Pinsker also gives vivid accounts of the various moments in Lincoln's public life that occurred at or involved the Soldiers' Home, such as the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the firing of McClellan. All told, this account comprises that most rare of things: a book that actually adds to the Lincoln literature, telling us stories we haven't heard before. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In an uncommonly original look at Lincoln during the war years, Pinsker (Dickinson Coll.) follows the War President to his "retreat" at the Soldiers' Home away from the daily noise, posturing, and politicking of the capital and finds there a serenity that allowed Lincoln to relax with his family, think through issues, conduct secret meetings with allies and enemies, and reinvigorate his resolve. Lincoln, the family man, and Mary Todd Lincoln appear in refreshing gaze in Pinsker's careful portraits of life at the cottage they occupied at the Soldiers' Home, a place akin to Camp David today. Also significant is Pinsker's discovery that the bond that developed between the publicly stern secretary of war Edwin Stanton and the seemingly more congenial president was formed as much by conversation and community at the Soldiers' Home as by common policy. But danger also lurked as Confederate forces threatened the sanctuary and an assassin narrowly missed Lincoln during his "commute" to the White House. Through Pinsker's probing inquiry into sources heretofore surprisingly underused, the ever elusive private Lincoln comes into new light. A book for our time and for all libraries.-Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

	Foreword
	Introduction: "I see the President"	1
Pt. 1	1862
Ch. 1	"Gone to the country"	21
Ch. 2	"Am I to have no rest?"	37
Ch. 3	"Forever free"	54
Ch. 4	"Capt. D and his company"	72
Pt. 2	1863
Ch. 5	"Mother very slightly hurt"	93
Ch. 6	"In fine whack"	108
Pt. 3	1864
Ch. 7	"Present at Fort Stevens"	127
Ch. 8	"Damned in Time & in Eternity"	146
Ch. 9	"Whatever is, is right"	163
	Conclusion: "There is something else there"	183
	Afterword	189
	Chronology: Lincoln at the Soldiers' Home	193
	Notes	205
	Bibliography	229
	Acknowledgments	239
	Index	243

New interesting textbook: Making and Using Flavored Vinegars or Classic Scots Cookery

The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s

Author: Piers Brendon

The 1930s were perhaps the seminal decade in twentieth-century history, a dark time of global depression that displaced millions, paralyzed the liberal democracies, gave rise to totalitarian regimes, and, ultimately, led to the Second World War. In this sweeping history, Piers Brendon brings the tragic, dismal days of the 1930s to life.

From Stalinist pogroms to New Deal programs, Brendon re-creates the full scope of a slow international descent towards war. Offering perfect sketches of the players, riveting descriptions of major events and crises, and telling details from everyday life, he offers both a grand, rousing narrative and an intimate portrait of an era that make sense out of the fascinating, complicated, and profoundly influential years of the 1930s.

Publishers Weekly

Brendon's latest book is ambitious, covering the world's convulsive descent from the economic and political chaos of the 1930s into the global slaughter of the war-torn 1940s. Taking his title from Churchill's address to Stalin on May 8, 1945, Brendon (Hurrell Froude and the Oxford Movement; etc.) analyzes the decade from the start of the Depression to the eve of WWII, a period of economic collapse in the democracies and aggressive totalitarianism in the nations that would ultimately form the Axis. Brendon traces how each of seven nations (the U.S., Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Russia and Japan) responded to the era's economic upheavals. In Germany, Italy and Japan the answer to the Depression was massive rearmament, to which the democracies responded, as Brendon details, with temporizing and appeasement. Brendon is especially interested in mechanisms for distorting the truth, including propaganda and censorship. His writing is superlative, his vocabulary precise and extensive; he displays remarkable talent for the revealing phrase and the polished anecdote. Each of the decade's personalities, from Hoover to Orwell, from Haile Selassie to Harry Hopkins, is pinned down in a trenchant sketch, and the dominant characters, such as Roosevelt, Mussolini and Hitler, are examined carefully. Most important, Brendon demonstrates why one cannot understand the appalling violence of the Second World War without first mastering the tumultuous decade in which the seeds of the war were planted. 24 pages of photos not seen by PW. Agent, Andrew Best. 50,000 first printing. (Oct) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

Relying on a wide variety of secondary sources, Brendon (Churchill Archives and Churchill Coll., Cambridge) surveys the domestic and international scenes in Britain, France, the United States, Japan, and the Soviet Union during the tumultuous 1930s. Although primarily a narrative, the book presents useful analytical insights into the causes and consequences of governmental policy in both dictatorships and democracies. Brendon advances no radical reworking of the historiography, but he offers useful perspectives into Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. His chapters on the United States and Great Britain give readers insight into the rise of totalitarianism and the maintenance of democracy during crisis. One of the book's main strengths is in demonstrating the interdependence of international events throughout the decade. Although the author focuses primarily on political and economic issues, he gives some analysis of everyday life. This well-written book is recommended for most libraries.--Frederic Krome, Jacob Rader Marcus Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

New York Times Book Review - Mark Mazower

Scattered throughout the book and enlivening its pages are numerous vivid vignettes of leading politicians...Brendon has read widely and synthesizes complex research in a readable and pleasing way.

New York Magazine - Logan Hill

[Brendon's] massive, donnish history of the Great Depression around the world is great for history geeks.

Kirkus Reviews

A majestic and highly readable history of the most distressing of decades.

China or Silence on the Mountain

2009-01-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise

Author: Susan Shirk

Once a sleeping giant, China today is the world's fastest growing economy--the leading manufacturer of cell phones, laptop computers, and digital cameras--a dramatic turn-around that alarms many Westerners. But in China: The Fragile Superpower, Susan L. Shirk opens up the black box of Chinese politics and finds that the real danger lies elsewhere--not in China's astonishing growth, but in the deep insecurity of its leaders. China's leaders face a troubling paradox: the more developed and prosperous the country becomes, the more insecure and threatened they feel.
Shirk, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for China, knows many of today's Chinese rulers personally and has studied them for three decades. She offers invaluable insight into how they think--and what they fear. In this revealing book, readers see the world through the eyes of men like President Hu Jintao and former President Jiang Zemin. We discover a fragile communist regime desperate to survive in a society turned upside down by miraculous economic growth and a stunning new openness to the greater world. Indeed, ever since the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and the fall of communism in the Soviet Union, Chinese leaders have been haunted by the fear that their days in power are numbered. Theirs is a regime afraid of its own citizens, and this fear motivates many of their decisions when dealing with the U.S. and other foreign nations. In particular, the fervent nationalism of the Chinese people, combined with their passionate resentment of Japan and attachment to Taiwan, have made relations with these two regions a minefield. It is here, Shirk concludes, in the tangledinteractions between Japan, Taiwan, China, and the United States, that the greatest danger lies.
Shirk argues that rising powers such as China tend to provoke wars in large part because other countries mishandle them. Unless we understand China's brittle internal politics and the fears that motivate its leaders, we face the very real possibility of avoidable conflict with China. This book provides that understanding.

The Washington Post - John Pomfret

At a time when much writing about China frothily presumes the unstoppable rise of a global titan, it is refreshing that a respected academic and former government official (Shirk was the deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia during the second Clinton administration) questions the notion that China is going to run the world. "China may be an emerging superpower," she writes, "but it is a fragile one"…Shirk has written an important book at an important moment, with the Beijing Olympics approaching and a new Chinese product scandal breaking practically every week.

The Economist

Ms. Shirk's magisterial book gazes down on China from above.

Book review: The Healing Foods or Apple Lovers Cook Book

Silence on the Mountain: Stories of Terror, Betrayal, and Forgetting in Guatemala

Author: Daniel Wilkinson

Silence on the Mountain is a virtuoso work of reporting and a masterfully plotted narrative tracing the history of Guatemala's thirty-six-year internal war, a conflict that claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people, the vast majority of whom died (or were "disappeared") at the hands of the U.S.-backed military goverment.

In 1993 Daniel Wilkinson, a young human rights worker, begins to investigate the arson of a coffee plantation's manor house by a band of guerrillas. The questions surrounding this incident soon broaden into a complex mystery that compels Wilkinson to seek out an impressive cross-section of the country's citizens, from coffee workers to former guerrillas to small-town mayors to members of the ruling elite. From these sources he is able to piece together the largely unwritten history of the long civil war, following its roots back to a land reform movement derailed by a U.S.-sponsored military coup in 1954 and, further back, to the origins of Guatemala's plantation system, which put Mayan Indians to work picking coffee beans for the American and European markets.
Silence on the Mountain reveals a buried history that has never been told before, focusing on those who were most affected by Guatemala's half-century of violence, the displaced native people and peasants who slaved on the coffee plantations. These were the people who had most to gain from the aborted land reform movement of the early 1950s, who filled the growing ranks of the guerrilla movement in the 1970s and 1980s, and who suffered most when the military government retaliated with violence.
Decades of terror-inspired fear have led Guatemalans to adopt a survival strategy of silence socomplete it verges on collective amnesia. Wilkinson's great triumph is that he finds a way for people to tell their stories, and it is through these stories -- dramatic, intimate, heartbreaking -- that we come to see the anatomy of a thwarted revolution that is relevant not only to Guatemala but to any country where terror has been used as a political tool.

The New Yorker

In 1993, Wilkinson, a recent Harvard graduate traveling in Guatemala, befriended the heiress of a coffee plantation there. Her family had abandoned the land in 1983, after guerrillas burned down the main house. Wilkinson's frustrated attempts to discover what prompted the arson became an extensive investigation, and as the author interviewed a cross section of Guatemalans -- from the former defense minister General Gramajo to eighty-year-old peasant farmers -- his friend's plantation emerged as a microcosm of Guatemala's hidden and terrible history. The author's style is taut and precise, but it is the Guatemalans themselves who speak with the greatest eloquence. After a massacre in the village of Sacuchum, where forty-four peasants had their throats slit by the Army for allegedly aiding the guerrillas, a witness describes a peasant pleading for his life before a military official: "Please, señor, God does not permit this," he cried, to which the captain replied, "Here there is no God! Here there is only the Devil."

Publishers Weekly

Written in the vein of a Robert Kaplan travel journal, this profound book traces the history of Guatemala's 36-year internal struggle through personal interviews that recount the heart-wrenching stories of plantation owners, army officials, guerrillas and the wretchedly poor peasants stuck in the middle. Wilkinson's narrative unfolds gradually, beginning with his quest to unlock the mysteries of the short-lived 1952 Law of Agrarian Reform, which saw the redistribution of land to the working class. He goes on to explain many of the causes and consequences of the country's political and social problems. At one point, Wilkinson vividly describes how the entire town of Sacuchum uncharacteristically gathered to recount for him and thus record for the outside world how the army raped, tortured and massacred members of the community because they were believed to have supported the guerrillas. Much of what's revealed in Wilkinson's account of the country's trials is hard to stomach, especially his description of CIA involvement in Guatemala. In many instances, Wilkinson's personal story gets in the way of the larger account he is trying to tell, and the book becomes more about him (he was just out of college in 1993, when he made the trip) than about events in Guatemala. However, this book is both easy to read and compelling, and Wilkinson's little self-indulgences are easily forgivable given the powerful subject matter and how well it is told by Wilkinson, now a lawyer with Human Rights Watch. B&w photos. Agent, Tina Bennett. (Sept. 26) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Faith of My Fathers or Human Resources Management for Public and NonProfit Organizations

2009-01-11T17:03:00.000-08:00

Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir

Author: John McCain

This memoir is the story of what McCain learned from his grandfather and father, and how their example enabled him to endure these hard years. It is a story of three imperfect men who faced adversity and emerged with their honor intact. Ultimately, Faith of My Fathers is a story of fathers and sons, what they give each other and what endures.

William J. Bennett

Faith of My Fathers is the powerful story of a war hero. In it we learn much of what matters most. As prisoner (and later Senator) McCain instructs us: Glory is not an end in itself, but rather a reward for valor and faith. And the greatest freedom and human fulfillment comes from engaging in a noble enterprise, larger than oneself. Faith of My Fathers teaches deep truths that are valid in any age-but truths that warrant special attention in our own.

Colin L. Powell

Faith of My Fathers is a gripping story of character and courage: character passed down from generation to generation by sterling examples of family bonds and devotion to duty; courage that ultimately comes from within, as John McCain learned in the brutal prison camps of North Vietnam. This is a sobering and glorious book that you won't be able to put down.

Talk - Seth Lipsky

...[A] refreshing reminder that at least one of our politicians has endured hardships greater than a special prosecutor....[A] timely testament to what might be called military morality. And that is something to ponder after a moment when President Clinton's decision to go to war in the Balkans wreaked nearly as much havoc among the Republicans as among the Serbs.

Publishers Weekly

As the 2000 presidential campaign heats up, Republican hopeful McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, weighs in with the most engrossing book to appear in a long time from a presidential candidate. Writing with Salter, his administrative assistant, McCain carefully avoids the pitfalls of self-promotion, knowing that he has a larger, more interesting story to tell than merely why he wants to be president. McCain is famous for the five years he endured as a prisoner in the Hanoi Hilton, the most notorious POW camp in Vietnam. Less well known are two other John McCains: his father and grandfather, both of whom served as admirals in the U.S. Navy. The military service of all three men forms the basis of this gripping, heartfelt reflection on war and naval culture. McCain's grandfather was a legendary old salt, a hard-drinking gambler who fought in WWII next to giants like Nimitz and Halsey. McCain's father was a submarine commander who rose to become commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific during the Vietnam War. Almost half the book is devoted to McCain's grueling tenure as a POW. When he was shot down over Hanoi in 1967, he broke both arms, one shoulder and one knee. During his imprisonment, McCain was tortured repeatedly and frequently locked in solitary confinement. The faith McCain avows is a simple one: "in God, country, and each other"--each other being his comrades at the Hanoi Hilton and, later, his fellow citizens. McCain's memoir is too good to be dismissed as simply another campaign book. It is a serious, utterly engrossing account of faith, fathers and military tradition. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This is the story of the McCains, a family with a distinguished history of naval service: John Sr. (also known as Slew or Popeye), John Jr., and John III, the author and currently the senior U.S. senator from Arizona. Senator McCain pays homage to his grandfather and father by relating tales of their significant contributions in World War II and, in the case of John Jr., Vietnam. He also relates, in very moving ways, the high moral and professional standards that these two men set for him and how he tried to emulate their lives by attending the Naval Academy and pursuing a career in the navy as a pilot. Nearly half of the book deals with the senator's five and a half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, captured after his plane was shot down. The reader learns in some detail the horrors inflicted on the future senator but also how he was able to remain strong during his long incarceration. As he is seriously considering a presidential run, anyone interested in learning more about John McCain would be well advised to read this book.--Thomas J. Baldino, Wilkes Univ., Wilkes Barre, PA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Conservative Republican presidential candidate John McCain offers a conveniently-timed biographical account of his years fighting, bonding with fellow soldiers, and suffering capture during the Vietnam War. He tirelessly credits his father and grandfather, both WWII naval officers whose stories he also tells, with his own accomplishments. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Talk - Seth Lipsky

National Review - Geoffrey Norman

It is, as they say, a good read, which even registered Democrats and just about anyone on the political spectrum right of Jane Fonda would find engaging, sometimes funny, and often profoundly moving.

Kirkus Reviews

A candid, moving, and entertaining memoir by the US senator from Arizona and potential presidential candidate.

What People Are Saying

William J. Bennett
Faith of My Fathers is the gripping story of a war hero. In it we learn much of what matters most. As prisoner (and later Senator) McCain instructs us: Glory is not an end in itself, but rather a reward for valor and faith. And the greatest freedom and human fulfillment comes from engaging in a noble enterprise, larger than oneself. Faith of My Fathers teaches deep truths that are valid in any age--but truths that warrant special attention in our own.

Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations

Author: Joan E Pynes

In this thoroughly revised and updated second edition of Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations, Joan E. Pynes--a respected authority in public administration--demonstrates how strategic human resources management is essential for proactively managing change in an environment of tighter budgets, competition from private organizations, the need to maintain and train a more diverse workforce, and job obsolescence brought about by shifts in technology. Complete with a free online instructor's manual, this new edition offers current compensation and budgetary guidance and helps practitioners navigate the newest legal and technological challenges and opportunities in human resource management.

Hezbollah or Churchills Folly

2009-01-11T06:51:00.000-08:00

Hezbollah: A Short History

Author: Augustus R Norton

Most policymakers in the United States and Israel have it wrong. Hezbollah isn't a simple terrorist organization--nor is it likely to disappear soon. Following Israel's war against Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, the Shi'i group--which combines the functions of a militia, a social service and public works provider, and a political party--is more popular than ever in the Middle East while retaining its strong base of support in Lebanon. And Hezbollah didn't merely confront Israel and withstand its military onslaught. Hezbollah's postwar reconstruction efforts were judged better than the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina--not by al-Jazeera, but by an American TV journalist. In Hezbollah, one of the world's leading experts on Hezbollah has written the essential guide to understanding the complexities and paradoxes of a group that remains entrenched at the heart of Middle East politics.

With unmatched clarity and authority, Augustus Richard Norton tells how Hezbollah developed, how it has evolved, and what direction it might take in the future. Far from being a one-dimensional terrorist group, Norton explains, Hezbollah is a "janus-faced" organization in the middle of an incomplete metamorphosis from extremism to mundane politics, an evolution whose outcome is far from certain. Beginning as a terrorist cat's-paw of Iran, Hezbollah has since transformed itself into an impressive political party with an admiring Lebanese constituency, but it has also insisted on maintaining the potent militia that forced Israel to withdraw from Lebanon in 2000 after almost two decades of occupation.

The most accessible, informed, and balanced analysis of the group yet written,Hezbollah is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the Middle East.

The Washington Post - Jonathan Finer

Twenty-five years ago, Hezbollah was a ragtag religious militia, founded under the thumb of Israel's long occupation of southern Lebanon and struggling against stronger rival groups for the hearts and minds of Lebanon's Shiite underclass. Today, Hezbollah is a political party, a social-service organization and a military power that emerged from a hard-fought standoff with the Israeli army last summer as the dominant player in Lebanon's politics and perhaps the most formidable nonstate actor in the Middle East.

Augustus Richard Norton's timely Hezbollah chronicles that dramatic evolution and its sweeping implications for the region and beyond. His lucid primer is the first serious reappraisal of the radical Shiite group since last summer's war shattered six years of relative calm on one of the world's most volatile frontiers.

Publishers Weekly

In this remarkably thorough, articulate portrait of Hezbollah, Norton, a Boston University anthropology and international relations professor and former U.S. Army officer and U.N. military observer, analyzes how the organization was formed, how it evolved and its current role in Lebanese politics. More than just an Iranian-funded terrorist organization, Hezbollah is a comprehensive provider of social services to Lebanon's disenfranchised Shiite masses, and a highly respected political player, known to forswear corruption. Formed in 1982 under Iranian tutelage, and prompted by the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Hezbollah has made a goal of fomenting Islamic revolution in Lebanon and authorizes violence to this end. In the 1990s, its policies in support of this goal began to include parliamentary participation. After the 2006 war with Israel, Hezbollah has emerged invigorated, flexing its military might and winning support through its rigorous postwar reconstruction. Norton's authoritative account is rooted in such important Middle East themes as the historical division between Sunni and Shiites and the origins of Iranian influence in Arab affairs. It is also personal, speckled with anecdotes from more than three decades of experience. Given the contentious subject, Norton's tone is remarkably even: Hezbollah is an organization he respects, but whose actions he does not condone. 10 b&w photos not seen by PW. (Apr.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Foreign Affairs

Although Hezbollah was founded roughly a quarter of a centuryago, no one is quite sure what, exactly, it is. The "A-team" of Islamist terrorist groups, as one U.S. official put it, or Lebanese Shiite freedom fighters? Cat's-paw of the Islamic Republic of Iran, or a distinctly Lebanese political grouping organized, just like others, along sectarian lines, with ties to specific outside powers? Religio-political movement with uncompromising ideological goals, or a well-organized political party in the welter of Lebanon's political pluralism? There is no better person to address these questions -- and, indeed, to demonstrate the fallacy of such stark either-or options -- than Norton, who has been studying Lebanon, and especially the Lebanese Shiites, for longer than Hezbollah has been in existence. He offers here a brisk and balanced history -- which is to say, he traces an evolution over time -- of Hezbollah while situating the party in the larger Lebanese and regional contexts.

Interesting textbook: The Emperor of Wine or Asian Bites

Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq

Author: Christopher Catherwood

As Britain's colonial secretary in the 1920s, Winston Churchill made a mistake with calamitous consequences. Scholar and adviser to Tony Blair's government, Christopher Catherwood chronicles and analyzes how Churchill created the artificial monarchy of Iraq after World War I, thereby forcing together unfriendly peoples under a single ruler. The map of the Middle East that Churchill created led to the rise of Saddam Hussein and the wars in which American troops fought in 1991 and 2003. Defying a global wave of nationalistic sentiment, and the desire of subject peoples to rule themselves, Winston Churchill put together the broken pieces of the Ottoman Empire and created a Middle Eastern powder keg. Inducing Arabs under the rule of the Ottoman Turks to rebel against their oppressors, the British and French during World War I convinced the Hashemite clan that they would rule over Syria. In fact, Britain had promised the territory to the French. To make amends, Churchill created the nation of Iraq and made the Hashemite leader, Feisel, king of a land to which he had no connections at all. Eight pages of photographs add to this fascinating history on Churchill's decision and the terrible legacy of the Ottoman Empire's collapse.

Publishers Weekly

This compelling volume raises eerie echoes of present-day Iraq. In the aftermath of WWI, France and Britain competed for the Mideastern leftovers of the Ottoman Empire. The British grabbed Palestine, attempted to set up puppet monarchies in Arabia and in 1921 cobbled together hostile peoples-Kurds and Sunni and Shiite Arabs-into the artificial and unstable kingdom of Iraq, ruled by the imposed Hashemite king Faisal. Cambridge historian Catherwood asserts that this form of indirect rule was "empire lite" as fashioned by Churchill, then colonial minister. The British, drained economically by the world war, were greedy for spoils and wanted the benefits of empire on the cheap. The vastness of Iraq proved impossible to govern by a reduced garrison. Catherwood, a consultant to Tony Blair's cabinet, sees contemporary parallels in the unlearned lessons of "imperial overreach." Unwanted paternalistic protectorates have a way of imploding, Catherwood notes. Churchill conceded wryly that Britain was spending millions "for the privilege of living on an ungrateful volcano out of which we are in no circumstances to get anything worth having." In a readable historical essay stretched into a short book, Catherwood demonstrates yet again that one generation's pragmatism can be a later generation's tragedy. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW. (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

How did things get so messy in Mesopotamia? In part, because of Iraq's founding at the hands Winston Churchill, "undoubtedly brilliant but utterly lacking in any kind of judgment."As Britain's colonial secretary in the early 1920s, Churchill was a principal in carving up the vast, now-fallen Ottoman Empire-which, Catherwood (History/Cambridge Univ.) suggests, sided with Germany in WWI after Churchill, then naval secretary, had requisitioned for his own fleet heavy warships due by contract to the Ottoman navy. Churchill did some of that carving with an eye to the old divide-and-conquer strategy: distribute the Kurds across several states, he seems to have thought, and they would make no trouble; let national lines slice through ethnic ones, and the residents of Iraq (and Palestine, for that matter) would be so busy squabbling with one another that they would have no energy to cause trouble outside their borders. So it was that modern Iraq arose, an artificial creation that encompassed three majority ethnic and religious groups (Shia and Sunni Muslims and Kurds), along with many minority groups, all headed by a Hashemite (Saudi) king whom Churchill selected with an eye to pliability. That was a mistake, Catherwood suggests, if an expedient one: "Choosing Feisal," he writes, "was far from being an Iraqi-centered solution-which would have entailed choosing the best person for Iraq, or, better still, letting the new Iraqis have a genuine say over how their new state was to be ruled." Given Mesopotamia's oil wealth, it was in Britain's interest to have such an ally in power, but Churchill was hampered by several unpleasant realities: King Feisal began to resist orders almost immediately, andChurchill had trouble keeping peace in the region because the British government was constantly trying to rule on the cheap. The legacy: after the British occupiers left, Iraq endured 58 governments in 37 years, "a sure sign of chronic, unresolved instability"-and a pattern of chaos ended only by the rise of Saddam Hussein. An impressive study on the making of modern Iraq, with all its crises and catastrophes. Agent: Gene Brissie/James Peters Associates

Cousins Wars or The China Price

2009-01-10T11:17:00.000-08:00

Cousins' Wars: Religion, Politics, Civil Warfare, and the Triumph of Anglo-America

Author: Kevin Phillips

The question at the heart of The Cousins’ Wars is this: How did Anglo-America evolve over a mere three hundred years from a small Tudor kingdom into a global community with such a hegemonic grip on the world today, while no other European power - Spain, France, Germany, or Russia - did? The answer to this, according to Phillips, lies in a close examination of three internecine English-speaking civil wars the English Civil War, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War. These wars between cousins functioned as crucial anvils on which various religious, ethnic, and political alliances were hammered out between the English-speaking cousin-nations, setting them on a unique two-track path toward world leadership - one aristocratic and aloof to dominate the imperial nineteenth century and the other more egalitarian and democratic to take over in the twentieth century. They also functioned as unfortunate and deadly cultural crucibles for African Americans, Native Americans, and the Irish.Phillips’s analysis shows exactly how these conflicts are inextricably linked and how they seeded each other. He offers often surprising interpretations that cut across the political spectrum - for instance, that the Constitution of the United States, while brilliant in many respects, was also a fatally flawed political compromise that contributed mightily in setting the stage for the final - and the bloodiest - cousins’ war: the American Civil War.With the new millennium upon us and triggering widespread assessment of our nation’s place in world history, The Cousins’ Wars provides just the kind of magisterial sweep and revisionist spark to ignitewidespread interest and debate. This grand religious, military, and political epic is the multi-dimensional story of the triumph of Anglo-America.

Lance Morrow

The Cousins' Wars makes a daringly bulky package of history. In busy conversational style Phillips bustles about his enormous thesis, rechecking the ropes and knots with which he has bound it. If he finds a knot he thinks too loose, he reties it three or four times. The result is fussy but immensely impressive. -- Time Magazine

New Yorker Magazine

[A] splendid book...Every step of the way, Phillips extracts news from history.

National Review - Michael Lind

His magnum opus...Phillips applies his trademark brand of scholarship to a subject grander than any before, with results that are always thought-provoking.

Publishers Weekly

Phillips (Arrogant Capital) is one of the most influential political analysts in America. In 1969, his The Emerging Republican Majority correctly predicted that the Republicans would become the majority party by taking control of the then Democratic South. Now, turning to the past, he offers this ambitious account of how "Anglo-America"--his term for the cultural and political axis and kinship of the U.S. and Britain--came to dominate the political, linguistic and economic shape of the world. His thesis is sweeping: a trio of wars--the English Civil War, the American Revolution and the U.S. Civil War--were a single crucible out of which a dominant Anglo-America emerged. In each of these "cousins' wars," maintains Phillips, the catalytic groups were similar: Puritans from Eastern England (East Anglia) in the 1640s; their Yankee descendants in New England in 1775 and 1860. Moreover, he argues, each of the three wars reaffirmed and spurred Anglo-America's expansionism, as well as the belief of British imperialists and American pioneers that they were God's chosen people with a manifest destiny to fulfill. Phillips emphasizes the plight of the cousins' wars' principal losers: black slaves and ex-slaves, Native Americans, the Irish. Interestingly, he counts Germans among the losers, arguing that Anglo-American ascendancy and waves of European emigration to the U.S. diminished the relative clout of German-Americans and thwarted Germany's expansionist ambitions. As in his political analyses, Phillips pays close attention to ethnic, religious, class and electoral divisions. At times, his thoroughness makes for slow, somewhat wonky going, but on balance this is a tremendously rewarding work full of startling connections and provocative syntheses. Agent, Bill Leigh. (Feb.)

Booknews

A sweeping history encompassing military, political, and religious themes in its discussion of how America evolved over 300 years into a powerful global community, and why other European powers did not. Phillips, a seasoned author of eight prior books, focuses on the English Civil War, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War in search of the factors contributing to America's position in the world today. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

The New York Times Book Review - Richard Brookhiser

A juicy, provocative account of where we have come from...Phillips's details are as marvelous as they are copious.

National Review - Michael Lind

His magnum opus...Phillips applies his trademark brand of scholarship to a subject grander than any before, with results that are always thought-provoking.

Books & Culture: A Christian Review - John Wilson

...[A] book with nerve to spare and a thesis sweeping and ambitious enough to send fastidious microhistorians into a tizzy....[A] feast of a book, not only for academics with a professional interest...but for all readers with a yen for full-blooded history.

Boston Globe - Joseph J. Ellis

An admirably feisty, take-no-prisoners book, in the spirit of Oliver Cromwell and William Tecumseh Sherman, that no serious students of English and American history ought to miss or dismiss.

Newsweek - Peter McGrath

Phillips....goes global, attempting an explanation of Anglo-American "hegemony" in the world. It lies, he says, in civil war....most interesting when it takes up the Civil War.

What People Are Saying

John M. Murrin
This is an elegant and provocative book...Not everyone will agree with everything Phillips says, but he does offer a bold synthesis that ought to stimulate public debate while it helps to enlighten us all.

Walter Dean Burnham
Kevin Phillips has done it again: he has surprised and delighted us...The Cousins' Wars is an exciting review of Anglo-America in the making.

Thomas Fleming
Kevin Phillips has written a remarkable book, tracing subterranean psychological and spiritual connections across decades of peace and war that most historians have ignored. His insights on the religious undercurrents of the American Revolution are particularly striking.
—(Thomas Fleming, author of Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Future of America)

Sean Wilentz
This is Kevin Phillips' masterwork. The Cousins' Wars is a brilliant examination of the political and religious underpinnings of Anglo—America. A big, exciting and noble undertaking.
—(Sean Wilentz, Professor of History, Princeton University)

Sean Wilentz
This is Kevin Phillips' masterwork. The Cousins' Wars is a brilliant examination of the political and religious underpinnings of Anglo-America. A big, exciting, and noble undertaking. -- Princeton University

Go to: Investment Management P or Japans Policy Trap

The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage

Author: Alexandra Harney

Alexandra Harney uncovers the truth about how China is able to offer such amazingly low prices to the rest of the world. She has discovered that intense pricing pressure from Western companies combined with ubiquitous corruption and a lack of transparency exacts an unseen and unconscionable toll in human misery and environmental damage.

Publishers Weekly

Dreaded by competitors, "the China price" has become "the lowest price possible," the hallmark of China's incredibly cheap, ubiquitous manufacturers. Financial Timeseditor Harney explores the hidden price tag for China's economic juggernaut. It's a familiar but engrossing tale of Dickensian industrialization. Chinese factory hands work endless hours for miserable wages in dusty, sweltering workshops, slowly succumbing to occupational ailments or suddenly losing a limb to a machine. Coal-fired power plants spew pollutants into nearly unbreathable air. Migrants from the countryside, harassed by China's hukousystem of internal passports, form a readily exploitable labor pool with few legal protections. The system is fueled by Western investment and, Harney observes, hypocrisy. Retailers like Wal-Mart impose social responsibility codes on their Chinese suppliers, but refuse to pay the costs of raising labor standards; the result is a pervasive system of cheating through fake employment records and secret uninspected factories, to which Western companies turn a blind eye. But Harney also finds stirrings of change; aided by regional labor shortages, rising wages and intrepid activists. Chinese workers are demanding-and gradually winning-more rights. Packed with facts, figures and sympathetic portraits of Chinese workers and managers, Harney's is a perceptive take on the world's workshop. (Mar. 31)

Morgen Witzel - The Financial Times Limited

Anyone running a company that outsources manufacturing to China, or is thinking of doing so, needs to read this book.

Kirkus Reviews

Financial Times reporter Harney paints a vivid portrait of factory life in the country that sells consumer goods for the lowest price possible. With a manufacturing workforce of 104 million people, China dominates global production of consumer goods, selling everything from clothing to computer parts at half or even one-fifth the amount that it would cost to make them in the United States. The author, who lives in Hong Kong, focuses on the consequences of China's ceaseless pursuit of economic growth, from unethical business practices to pollution to an epidemic of occupational diseases. Drawing on interviews, she takes us into factories and their dormitories to show youths who have flocked from the countryside to take dangerous manufacturing jobs. We meet 17-year-old Li Gang, who worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week to earn $39 monthly as a zagong ("dogsbody"), the lowest-ranking employee in a plastic-bag factory; and Li Luyuan, 20, who sleeps in cramped quarters with a dozen other girls, trying to save enough money from her job producing DVDs and sweaters to buy a new home for her parents. These migrants are taking legal action to win better working conditions, posing a challenge to efforts to maintain the China price. Harney brings us into model factories, where rules on working hours and product safety are followed, and into the "shadow" factories (often operated under contract to the same owners) where anything goes in the drive to produce cheaper products. Despite efforts by companies buying consumer goods from China to enforce a code of conduct, most suppliers falsify time cards, hide the use of unapproved materials and otherwise engage in dishonest practices. Western importersknow it and often look the other way. In the face of growing labor unrest and pollution, Chinese officials hope to move the economy away from reliance on exports by fostering domestic consumption. Essential reading for anyone concerned about how dangerous pet food and children's clothing manufactured in China make it into American stores.

What People Are Saying

Clyde Prestowitz
"With unusual insight and reportorial perseverance Alexandra Harney presents the inconvenient truths about China and globalization that flat worlders have overlooked. This book is very important and is a must read for those who want to understand how today's world really works."--(Clyde Prestowitz, President of the Economic Strategy Institute and the author of Three Billion New Capitalists)

Introduction: The Better Mousetrap     1
Hooked     18
The Five-Star Factory     33
The Physical Cost     56
The Gold Rush     88
The Stirring Masses     106
The Girls of Room 817     148
Accounts and Accountability     181
The New Model Factory     235
The Future of the China Price     272
Acknowledgments     291
Notes     295
Bibliography     313
Index     321

Communist Manifesto or Born on the Fourth of July

2009-01-10T01:05:00.000-08:00

Communist Manifesto: A Modern Edition

Author: Karl Marx

The focus of this modern edition is not primarily the vivid history of Marx and Engels' most important work. Rather, with a characteristically acute introduction by historian Eric Hobsbawm, it asserts the pertinence of the Manifesto today. Hobsbawm writes that 'the world described by Marx and Engels in 1848 in passages of dark, laconic eloquence, is recognizably the world we live in 150 years later'. He identifies the insights which underpin the Manifesto's startling contemporary relevance: the recognition of capitalism as a world system capable of marshalling production on a global scale; its devastating impact on all aspects of human existence, work, the family and the distribution of wealth; and the understanding that, far from being a stable, immutable system, it is, on the contrary, susceptible to enormous convulsions and crisis, and contains the seeds of its own destruction.

Library Journal

May 1 to honor the 150th anniversary of the original publication of Marx and Engels's masterpiece with this quality, affordable hardcover. This edition contains a new introduction by historian Eric Hobsbawn, who insists that the work should be read not only as a great work of literature but that, 150 years later, it still has much to teach us for the next millennium.

Interesting textbook: The Complete Guide to Online Stock Market Investing or AutoCAD 2008 for Interior Design Space Planning

Born on the Fourth of July

Author: Ron Kovic

"A great, courageous fellow, a man of deep moral convictions and an uncompromising disposition."-John Kerry on Ron Kovic

"As relevant as ever, this book is an education. Ron is a true American, and his great heart and hard-won wisdom shine through these pages." -Oliver Stone, filmmaker

"Born on the Fourth of July brings back the era of the Vietnam War at a time when the Establishment is trying to make the nation forget what they call the "Vietnam syndrome." Ron Kovic's memoir is written with poetic passion and grips your attention from the very first page to the last. It is a classic of antiwar literature and I hope it will be read by large numbers of young people, who will be both sobered and inspired by his story. -Howard Zinn

"If you want to understand the everlasting reverberations of our war in Vietnam and how it impacts our current events, you must read this book." -LARRY HEINEMANN

"There is no book more relevant in the 21st century to healing the wound of Vietnam, which continues to bring so much pain to our country, as reflected in the last presidential election . . . It remains to Kovic to remind us that history matters, and that the cost of our high follies persists." -ROBERT SCHEER, Los Angeles Times columnist

This New York Times bestseller (more than one million copies sold) details the author's life story (portrayed by Tom Cruise in the Oliver Stone film version)from a patriotic soldier in Vietnam, to his severebattlefield injury, to his role as the country's most outspoken anti-Vietnam War advocate, spreading his message from his wheelchair.

Library Journal

Now a benchmark of anti-Vietnam War literature, Kovic's best seller debuted in 1976. In a new introduction, Kovic draws parallels to the Iraq war. As powerful as ever. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

New and Old Wars or Health Program Planning and Evaluation

2009-01-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era

Author: Mary Kaldor

Mary Kaldor's New and Old Wars has fundamentally changed the way we understand contemporary war and conflict. In the context of globalization, this path-breaking book has shown that what we think of as war—that is to say, war between states in which the aim is to inflict maximum violence—is becoming an anachronism. In its place is a new type of organized violence which could be described as a mixture of war, organized crime and massive violations of human rights. The actors are both global and local, public and private. The wars are fought for particularistic political goals using tactics of terror and destabilization that are theoretically outlawed by the rules of modern warfare.

Kaldor's analysis offers a basis for a cosmopolitan political response to these wars, in which the monopoly of legitimate organized violence is reconstructed on a transnational basis and international peacekeeping is reconceptualized as cosmopolitan law enforcement.

Interesting book: Project Management or Crosstalk

Health Program Planning and Evaluation: A Practical, Systematic Approach for Community Health

Author: L Michele Issel

This book will help you to systematically develop thoughtfully implement, and rigorously evaluate health programs across a varitey of health disciplines.

	Preface
	Acknowledgments
Sect. 1	The Context of Health Program Development and Evaluation	1
Ch. 1	Health Program Development and Evaluation	3
Ch. 2	Relevance of Diversity and Disparities to Health Programs	37
Ch. 3	Planning for Health Programs and Services	73
Sect. 2	Developing Health Programs	113
Ch. 4	Community Health Assessment for Program Planning	115
Ch. 5	Program Theory and Interventions Revealed	151
Ch. 6	Program Objectives and Setting Targets	179
Sect. 3	Implementing Health Programs	211
Ch. 7	Logistics of Program Implementation	213
Ch. 8	Process Evaluation: Measuring Inputs and Outputs	237
Sect. 4	Evaluating the Impact and Outcome of Health Programs	277
Ch. 9	Planning the Methods for Evaluating Intervention Effects	279
Ch. 10	Choosing Designs for Impact Evaluation	319
Ch. 11	Analyzing and Interpreting Evaluation Data	357
Ch. 12	Qualitative Methods for Planning and Evaluation	387
Sect. 5	From Data to Decision	411
Ch. 13	Cost Analyses: The Basics	413
Ch. 14	Continuing the Cycle	437
	Index	467

	Editor's Note	xv
	Prologue	1
1.	Early Years	3
2.	A Career in Buffalo	12
3.	Governor of New York	21
4.	The Making of a President	43
5.	In the White House	67
6.	Defeated for Reelection	90
7.	An Interregnum	98
8.	The Return to Power	111
9.	End of the Road	130
	Epilogue	137
	Milestones	139
	Selected Bibliography	143
	Index	145

Ch. 1	From Abraham to Allenby	19
Ch. 2	The Arab revolt and the great betrayal	41
Ch. 3	How two men in London changed the world	63
Ch. 4	Churchill and his forty thieves	95
Ch. 5	Changing the map : the Cairo Conference of 1921	127
Ch. 6	Winston's bridge	161
Ch. 7	From Feisal to Saddam	215

Politics & Judaism Books

Special Forces or Commies

Special Forces: War Against Terrorism in Iraq

Commies: A Journey through the Old Left, the New Left and the Leftover Left

Publishers Weekly

Booknews

The Best of I F Stone or Europe as Empire

The Best of I. F. Stone

Europe as Empire: The Nature of the Enlarged European Union

Table of Contents:

Journey to Chernobyl or Canadian Immigration Made Easy

Journey to Chernobyl: Encounters in a Radioactive Zone

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Canadian Immigration Made Easy: How to immigrate into Canada ( All Classes ) with Employment Search Strategies for Skilled Workers

American Government or The Human Potential for Peace

American Government: Using MicroCase? ExplorIt

Table of Contents:

The Human Potential for Peace: An Anthropological Challenge to Assumptions about War and Violence

Access Denied or Hatreds Kingdom

Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering

Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism

Table of Contents:

The Battle of Mogadishu or Cape Wind

The Battle of Mogadishu: First-Hand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger

Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound

The New York Times - Robert Sullivan

Boston Globe

Hartford Courant

EnergyBiz

Eva Lautemann - Library Journal

Notes on the State of Virginia or Barack Obama

Notes on the State of Virginia

Table of Contents:

Barack Obama: The New Face of American Politics (Women and Minorities in Politics Series)

Ann Burns - Library Journal

Almanac of Political Corruption Scandals and Dirty Politics or One Soldiers Story

Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals and Dirty Politics

One Soldier's Story: A Memoir

The New York Times - William Grimes

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

Public Opinion or Grover Cleveland

Public Opinion

Grover Cleveland

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

Table of Contents:

Hedgehogs and Foxes or To Change China

Hedgehogs and Foxes: Character, Leadership, and Command in Organizations

To Change China: Western Advisors in China, 1620-1960

Table of Contents:

Tinder Box or Disaster Medicine

Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903

Disaster Medicine

Doody Review Services

Battleground Chicago or Poor Peoples Movements

Battleground Chicago: The Police and the 1968 Democratic National Convention

Table of Contents:

Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail

Amped or Pocket Idiots Guide to Your Carbon Footprint

Amped: A Soldier's Race for Gold in the Shadow of War

Table of Contents:

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Human Services in Contemporary America or Nationalism Reader

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