Practical Politics Books: 2008

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Taking on the System or Bottom Billion

Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era

Author: Markos Moulitsas Zuniga

As founder of one of the most influential political blogs, DailyKos, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga establishes the fundamental laws that govern today's new era of digital activism.

The Sixties are over—and the rules of power have been transformed. In order to change the world one needs to know how to manipulate the media, not just march in the streets. Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, otherwise known as "Kos," is today's symbol of digital activism, giving a voice to everyday people. In Taking on the System, Kos has taken a cue from his revolutionary predecessor's doctrine, Saul Alinksy's Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, and places this epic hand-book in today's digital era, empowering every American to make a difference in the 21st century.

As founder of the largest political blog in the nation, Kos knows how it's done, because he's done it with tremendous success. In Taking on the System, he shares practical guidelines on how grassroots movements can thrive in the age of global information, while referencing historical and present examples of the tragedy caused without those actions.

The walls between the people and the power—the so-called rabble and the so-called elite—are being torn down by technology, and a new army of amateurs are storming the barriers to effect political, cultural, and environmental transformation. Readers will come to understand how they too can change the world.

The Washington Post - Suki Casanave

Moulitsas's book is a call to join the fray, and it is peppered with examples of people who are managing, against the odds, to be heard.

Publishers Weekly

In this primer for activists in the digital age, Zúniga, founder of the influential lefty blog DailyKos, argues that if activists harness new technology such as blogs, podcasting and YouTube, they can "bypass the old-world gatekeepers to communicate to the masses" in order to bring about political change. Tidily organized into pithy directives, including mobilizing, reinventing the street protest and feeding the backlash, this informative and entertaining book-inspired by Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals-moves easily among the current campaign cycle, pop culture phenomena such as Stephen Colbert and the successes and failures of the progressive movement in America. Zúniga's pragmatic, inclusive tone takes the edge off his sometimes didactic insistence that "there's no reason anyone should whine or complain that they are being shut out of the system." It should be noted, however, that the book is targeted directly to other liberals and wastes no time with conciliatory measures toward the right. Anyone in his camp, however, will be rewarded by the read. (Sept.)

Library Journal

Zúniga, popular political blogger (dailykos.com) and reluctant leader of the netroots-those technocratic raiders now seen as a catalyzing political-action force fomenting populist action-gives us a set of tools and strategies for finding and exposing cracks within the social political-media system. With deft narrative ability, he insightfully dissects the hows and whys of many blog-driven political upsets over the past three years, from the unfortunate circuslike atmosphere unfolding around Cindy Sheehan outside of President Bush's ranch in Texas to the senatorial upset of George Allen in Virginia. Zúniga unfolds the nature and extent of netroots persistence, which is indicative of a seemingly new digital citizenship in which those with access to blogs as platforms can potentially expose and open gates to the democratic process. Zúniga's latest is focused more on practical tools and techniques of political action than his earlier Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics (with Jerome Armstrong). This book will be in demand in libraries serving communities with a blogosphere readership.-Jim Hahn, Univ. of Illinois Lib., Urbana

Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done about It

Author: Paul Collier

In the universally acclaimed and award-winning The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier reveals that fifty failed states--home to the poorest one billion people on Earth--pose the central challenge of the developing world in the twenty-first century. The book shines much-needed light on this group of small nations, largely unnoticed by the industrialized West, that are dropping further and further behind the majority of the world's people, often falling into an absolute decline in living standards. A struggle rages within each of these nations between reformers and corrupt leaders--and the corrupt are winning. Collier analyzes the causes of failure, pointing to a set of traps that ensnare these countries, including civil war, a dependence on the extraction and export of natural resources, and bad governance. Standard solutions do not work, he writes; aid is often ineffective, and globalization can actually make matters worse, driving development to more stable nations. What the bottom billion need, Collier argues, is a bold new plan supported by the Group of Eight industrialized nations. If failed states are ever to be helped, the G8 will have to adopt preferential trade policies, new laws against corruption, new international charters, and even conduct carefully calibrated military interventions. Collier has spent a lifetime working to end global poverty. In The Bottom Billion, he offers real hope for solving one of the great humanitarian crises facing the world today.
"Terrifically readable."
--Time.com
"Set to become a classic. Crammed with statistical nuggets and common sense, his book should be compulsory reading."
--The Economist
"If Sachs seems too saintly andEasterly too cynical, then Collier is the authentic old Africa hand: he knows the terrain and has a keen ear.... If you've ever found yourself on one side or the other of those arguments--and who hasn't?--then you simply must read this book."
--Niall Ferguson, The New York Times Book Review
"Rich in both analysis and recommendations.... Read this book. You will learn much you do not know. It will also change the way you look at the tragedy of persistent poverty in a world of plenty."
--Financial Times

The New York Times Sunday Book Review - Niall Ferguson

Although it stands on a foundation of painstaking quantitative research, The Bottom Billion is an elegant edifice: admirably succinct and pithily written. Few economists today can match Collier when it comes to one-liners. "A flagrant grievance is to a rebel movement what an image is to a business." Calling the present trade negotiations a "development round" is like calling "tomorrow's trading on eBay a 'development round.' " And "If Iraq is allowed to become another Somalia, with the cry 'Never intervene,' the consequences will be as bad as Rwanda." … As Collier rightly says, it is time to dispense with the false dichotomies that bedevil the current debate on Africa: " 'Globalization will fix it' versus 'They need more protection,' 'They need more money' versus 'Aid feeds corruption,' 'They need democracy' versus 'They're locked in ethnic hatreds,' 'Go back to empire' versus 'Respect their sovereignty,' 'Support their armed struggles' versus 'Prop up our allies.' " If you've ever found yourself on one side or the other of those arguments — and who hasn't? — then you simply must read this book.

Nicholas D. Kristof - The New York Times

The best book on international affairs so far this year.

Inside Delta Force or Masters of Chaos

Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit

Author: Eric L Haney

Now the inspiration for the CBS Television drama, "The Unit."

Delta Force. They are the U.S. Army's most elite top-secret strike force. They dominate the modern battlefield, but you won't hear about their heroics on CNN. No headlines can reveal their top-secret missions, and no book has ever taken readers inside—until now. Here, a founding member of Delta Force takes us behind the veil of secrecy and into the action-to reveal the never-before-told story of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-D (Delta Force).

Inside Delta Forece
The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit

He is a master of espionage, trained to take on hijackers, terrorists, hostage takers, and enemy armies. He can deploy by parachute or arrive by commercial aircraft. Survive alone in hostile cities. Speak foreign languages fluently. Strike at enemy targets with stunning swiftness and extraordinary teamwork. He is the ultimate modern warrior: the Delta Force Operator.

In this dramatic behind-the-scenes chronicle, Eric Haney, one of the founding members of Delta Force, takes us inside this legendary counterterrorist unit. Here, for the first time, are details of the grueling selection process—designed to break the strongest of men—that singles out the best of the best: the Delta Force Operator.

With heart-stopping immediacy, Haney tells what it's really like to enter a hostage-held airplane. And from his days in Beirut, Haney tells an unforgettable tale of bodyguards and bombs, of a day-to-day life of madness and beauty, and of how he and a teammate are called on to kill two gunmen targeting U.S. Marinesat the Beirut airport. As part of the team sent to rescue American hostages in Tehran, Haney offers a first-person description of that failed mission that is a chilling, compelling account of a bold maneuver undone by chance—and a few fatal mistakes.

From fighting guerrilla warfare in Honduras to rescuing missionaries in Sudan and leading the way onto the island of Grenada, Eric Haney captures the daring and discipline that distinguish the men of Delta Force. Inside Delta Force brings honor to these singular men while it puts us in the middle of action that is sudden, frightening, and nonstop around the world.

Publishers Weekly

Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit by Eric Haney, a founding member of Delta Force, redirects for young adults the contents of his book published in 2002 for adults with the same title (and the basis of David Mamet's forthcoming CBS television series, The Unit). Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Michele Winship - VOYA

The world lives in the shadow of terrorist threat, and even before September 11 bought the reality of that threat home to America, the United States government's elite counterterrorist unit, Delta Force, has been working behind the scenes to combat terrorist activity, particularly hostage rescue, throughout the world. A retired command sergeant major, Haney writes about his personal experience as a member of the inaugural Delta Force unit. An army ranger, Haney was chosen for the grueling selection process on the remote edges of Fort Bragg for the special unit whose existence and mission remains to this day shrouded in mystery. Through part one of his riveting narrative, Haney recounts every torturous step of "selection," while one by one his fellow recruits drop by the wayside and are quickly sent, under a vow of secrecy, back to their home units. Haney is one of the few men left standing after the final challenge. In part two, Haney details Delta Force Operator training, including Close Quarters Battle training where operators storm a room with hostages and terrorists, selectively removing threats through highly-tuned sniper skill. The story is riveting with scenes so vividly described that this book is difficult to put down. The memoir concludes with the final training exercise that officially creates the first Delta unit. Haney gives his readers an exclusive insider's perspective without revealing government secrets or including gratuitous violence, making this a book for adolescents that may end up on their parents' nightstands. VOYA CODES: 4Q 5P M J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday; Middle School, defined asgrades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2006, Delacorte, 192p., and PLB Ages 11 to 18.

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-An adaptation of the author's adult book with the same title (Dell, 2002). The first part of the book gives an overview of Haney's military career and his association with the force and describes the red tape and planning that was required of those who wished to create a new, secret military unit that officially did not exist. It also includes a description of the physical challenges required of those who were chosen to participate in what was a preliminary round of qualification tests. Those who were successful in all the tests were then eligible to participate in the actual selection process. The second half of the text shows the sometimes brutal challenges the successful candidates were required to complete and details some of the actual training sessions. The narration concludes with the unit being sent on a "dry run" scenario in order to practice newly acquired skills. Black-and-white photos and documents are included in a centerfold. The reading level is not extremely high, but the subject is more likely to be of interest to older readers. This is an excellent choice for students with military interests.-Eldon Younce, Harper Elementary School, KS Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A founding member's memoir of soldiering in the Army's antiterrorism unit. Developed in the late 1970s, the Delta Force is so secretive that it's surprising retired Sergeant Major Haney was permitted to write this account. The narrative's first half describes the qualities required for membership (a combination of Bond-esque savvy and Rambo-esque strength), Haney's "selection," and his training. The selection process demanded physical and mental endurance. Participants had to complete 18-mile and 40-mile marches to qualify for a unit about whose actual activities they had only the vaguest knowledge. Haney, already a happy career soldier, found his niche in this environment. He was comfortable with uncertainty, professional about completing his tasks, and demanding of himself. In training, he learned the skills of an assassin. Delta Force operators practiced storming terrorist-held buildings and shooting terrorists without injuring hostages. Once acquired, these skills took Haney all over the world. The Delta Force planned and attempted a rescue of Iranian hostages that was botched by faulty Navy aircraft. Haney worked on the American Ambassador's security detail in Lebanon just before the embassy there was bombed. He helped rescue missionaries in Sudan, participated in guerilla warfare in Honduras, and stormed the island of Grenada. These exploits, though sensational in their danger, become somewhat rote in the retelling. Whereas the early chapters are driven by the force of Haney's deepening love affair with the Army, later events seem stagnant despite all the derring-do. Once the uncertainty of selection and training are finished, a soldierly professionalism takes over. As Haney putsit, "No posturing, no sloganeering, no high fives, no posing, no bluster, and no bombast. Just a quiet determination to get the job done." That same creed permeates his book: doubts, fears, and emotion are subdued in favor of action. Perfect for military enthusiasts and Hollywood screenwriters

New interesting book: Chile or Customer Relations and Rapport

Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces

Author: Linda Robinson

Special Forces soldiers are daring, seasoned troops from America's heartland, selected in a tough competition and trained in an extraordinary range of skills. They know foreign languages and cultures and unconventional warfare better than any U.S. fighters, and while they prefer to stay out of the limelight, veteran war correspondent Linda Robinson gained access to their closed world. She traveled with them on the frontlines, interviewed them at length on their home bases, and studied their doctrine, methods and history. In Masters of Chaos she tells their story through a select group of senior sergeants and field-grade officers, a band of unforgettable characters like Rawhide, Killer, Michael T, and Alan -- led by the unflappable Lt. Col. Chris Conner and Col. Charlie Cleveland, a brilliant but self-effacing West Pointer who led the largest unconventional war campaign since Vietnam in northern Iraq.

Robinson follows the Special Forces from their first post-Vietnam combat in Panama, El Salvador, Desert Storm, Somalia, and the Balkans to their recent trials and triumphs in Afghanistan and Iraq. She witnessed their secret sleuthing and unsung successes in southern Iraq, and recounts here for the first time the dramatic firefights of the western desert. Her blow-by-blow story of the attack on Ansar al-Islam's international terrorist training camp has never been told before.

The most comprehensive account ever of the modern-day Special Forces in action, Masters of Chaos is filled with riveting, intimate detail in the words of a close-knit band of soldiers who have done it all.

author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys - James Bradley

Linda Robinson has gone beyond the headlines and the hype to bring us into [the Special Forces'] brotherhood.

author of See No Evil and Sleeping with the Devil - Robert Baer

This fascinating, dramatic account of the Special Forces... shows us the face of war in the 21st century.

Publishers Weekly

This impressively readable account chronicles the role of the U.S. Army's Special Forces (aka the Green Berets, a label they do not care for) over the past 15 years. Special Forces operations included Somalia, the first Gulf War, the Balkans, Afghanistan and once again the Gulf. The latter two operations are are allotted half the book, with the ongoing presence in Iraq being the forces' largest operation since Vietnam. Based on interviews with 30-odd operators, the book is a compelling group portrait of some of America's most dedicated warriors. A journalist specializing in national security subjects, particularly unconventional warfare, Robinson mostly shows the men performing their original role: organizing and training local friendlies to liberate their countries or at least achieve American goals. Recent achievements along those lines include organizing Shiite militias in Iraq and leading Kurdish forces to tie down Saddam's army in the north. Robinson also presents in some detail the new role of the Special Forces, one of major strategic significance: calling in aerial fire support on enemy targets in support of either U.S. or indigenous forces in distant lands. Still mostly secret, she finds even after careful investigation, is their work with the FBI after 9/11. Agent, Flip Brophy for Sterling Lord Literistic. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Raymond Puffer, Ph.D. - KLIATT

When President John F. Kennedy came into office, he immediately set out to develop the means to export American force, and American-style democracy, to unsettled and beleaguered corners of the world. His first official act in office was to order a jet transport to ferry large numbers of American troops wherever needed; virtually his second action was to overhaul an obscure US Army unit, its nearly moribund Special Forces. Both initiatives were highly successful, but the Green Berets will long outlast the airplane. Virtually adopted by their President, beefed up and togged out in distinctive headgear, the Special Forces became the best known of the world's elite military forces. Their accomplishments soon matched their public glamour. Most such units, like the Navy SEALs and the Army's Delta Force, are modern iterations of the British Commandos of WW II: tough, trained warriors designed for lightning raids against conventional enemy forces. The Green Berets do that too, but their first mission is to blend into an oppressed population and train them to attack and harass their oppressors. This demands a special kind of warrior, fluent in languages and equally at home with cultural anthropology, medicine, psychology, and social planning. Having said all that, the Berets do their share of direct fighting too. Author Linda Robinson, a skilled journalist, embedded herself with the clandestine warriors and followed them from place to place. What results are exciting, at times poignant, and always-intelligent observations of these men, their training, and their battles. Far from producing one of those mindless, hyped-up accounts of battle and death beloved by most chroniclers of war, Robinsontakes the reader into the minds and mindset of several warriors from the 1960s to the present, following the corps from training camp through a succession of the world's hotspots. The only complaint about the book is the title: these professionals are not battlefield brawlers--they are superb operators. KLIATT Codes: SA--Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2004, PublicAffairs, 388p. maps. index., Ages 15 to adult.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Civil Disobedience or Current Perspectives in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior

Civil Disobedience

Author: Henry David Thoreau

Originally published in 1849 as "Resistance to Civil Government," Thoreau's classic essay on resistance to the laws and acts of government that he considered unjust was largely ignored until the Twentieth Century when Mohanda Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and anti-Vietnam War activists applied Thoreau's principles.

Current Perspectives in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior

Author: Curt R Bartol

Description for FTN approval only.

This text is a dynamic reader that provides cutting-edge research in police and correctional psychology, the psychology of crime and victimization, and psychology as applied to criminal and civil courts. Addressing key topics in each of three major course areas--criminal behavior, forensic psychology, and psychology and law--the book highlights how forensic psychology has contributed to the understanding of criminal behavior and crime prevention. Editors Curt R. Bartol and Anne M. Bartol have assembled published journal articles, as well as commentaries written specifically for this book by forensics experts, to provide an overview of the wide array of prevalent theories in this field.

Includes updated articles and will feature a study site that includes relevant articles and old articles (that were replaced by the new ones) from the first edition

Provides students and instructors with first-hand reports from the fields of research

An introductory chapter opens the book, followed by Part introductions; all written by the book's editors.

The reader is designed to complement a variety of criminal justice, forensic psychology, and psychology and law textbooks.

Also available bundled with Bartols Forensic Psychology 2/e

Terminatrix or This Moment on Earth

Terminatrix: The Sarah Palin Chronicles

Author: Editors Of The Wasilla Iron Dog Gazett

The surprise nomination of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain's vice presidential running mate has rocked the country – and the world. Rumors flood the media and reporters from every major news organization have descended en masse on tiny Wasilla, Alaska, demanding to know, "Who is the real Sarah Palin? Is she really the dynamic straight-talking, gun-toting, corruption-fighting, omni-capable mother of five her supporters claim she is? What qualifications does she have for national office? What foreign policy experience qualifies her to succeed John McCain as president?"

We, the editors of the Wasilla Iron Dog Gazette, have known Sarah Palin all her life -- as a teenage basketball star, a beauty queen, a school board member, mayor, governor, and now vice presidential candidate—and so much more. The stories that have previously circulated about her barely scratch the surface. Indeed, if we wrote down everything we know, you probably wouldn't believe us. However, thanks to tireless investigative work and access to a crucial source close to the Governor, we have managed to obtain a private collection of family photos, published here for the first time. Some of them are annotated in the Governor's own hand, providing a fascinating running commentary on her life.

Who is the real Sarah Palin? Yes, she is a hockey mom with an extraordinary political story. But she is much, much more than that.

-- The Editors

This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future

Author: John Kerry

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

Introduction     vii
The Art of the Possible     1
A Body of Evidence     19
Abuse of Power     52
The Water of Life     79
Global Climate Change: The Decisive Decade     118
Drill, Then Drill Some More: Energy Opportunity Lost     146
Prospecting for the Future     170
Conclusion     196
Acknowledgments     203
The Energy Plan     205
What You Can Do     214
Notes     225
Index     246

Monday, December 29, 2008

Eyewitness to Power or Liberal Fascism

Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton

Author: David Gergen

From Nixon to Clinton, Watergate to Whitewater, few Americans have observed the ups and downs of presidential leadership more closely over the past thirty years than David Gergen. A White House adviser to four presidents, both Republican and Democrat, he offers a vivid, behind-the-scenes account of their struggles to exercise power and draws from them key lessons for leaders of the future.

Gergen begins Eyewitness to Power with his reminiscence of being the thirty-year-old chief of the White House speechwriting team under Richard Nixon, a young man at the center of the Watergate storm. He analyzes what made Nixon strong—and then brought him crashing down:

Why Nixon was the best global strategist among recent presidents. How others may gain his strategic sense. Gergen recounts how President Ford recruited him to help shore up his White House as special counsel. Here Gergen considers:

Why Ford is one of our most underrated presidents.
Why his pardon of Nixon was right on the merits but was so mishandled that it cost him his presidency. Even in his brief tenure, Ford offers lessons of leadership for others, as Gergen explains.

Though Gergen had worked in two campaigns against him, Ronald Reagan called him back to the White House again, where he served as the Gipper's first director of communications. Here he describes:

How Reagan succeeded where others have failed. Why his temperament was more important than his intelligence. How he mastered relations with Congress and the press.
The secrets of "the Great Communicator" and why his speeches were the most effective since those of John Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt.

In 1993, Bill Clinton surprised Gergen—and the political world—when he recruited the veteran of Republican White Houses to join him as counselor after his early stumbles. Gergen reveals:

Why Clinton could have been one of our best presidents but fell short. How the Bill-and-Hillary seesaw rocked the White House. How failures to understand the past brought Ken Starr to the door.
Why the new ways in which leadership was developed by the Clinton White House hold out hope, and what dangers they threaten.

As the twenty-first century opens, Gergen argues, a new golden age may be dawning in America, but its realization will depend heavily upon the success of a new generation at the top. Drawing upon all his many experiences in the White House, he offers seven key lessons for leaders of the future. What they must have, he says, are: inner mastery; a central, compelling purpose rooted in moral values; a capacity to persuade; skills in working within the system; a fast start; a strong, effective team; and a passion that inspires others to keep the flame alive.

Eyewitness to Power is a down-to-earth, authoritative guide to leadership in the tradition of Richard Neustadt's Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents.

Book Magazine

As a bipartisan adviser to four presidents, magazine editor, political analyst, lecturer and author, Gergen has remained in the government-media relations spotlight for some time. His book is not so much about the author's inside-the-beltway tenure as it is a series of lessons on leadership, both good and bad. As the new century opens, Gergen argues, a new age may be dawning in America, one that must be realized by the next president. Drawing upon his observations while serving in the White House, he lays out seven key points for the new chief executive to follow. Unfortunately, from "A Capacity to Persuade" to "Leadership Starts From Within," Gergen's points wind up sounding like good old-fashioned political common sense rather than advice to the leader of the twenty-first century.
—Rob Stout

Publishers Weekly

Few observers are as qualified to comment on the merits of presidential leadership as is Gergen, having served as a speechwriter and adviser to fourchief executives. In these finely etched tales of his time with Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, Gergen not only explains what made these men tick but also draws broader lessons on what makes for presidential greatness. It begins, he says, with strength of character; then a president must have a clear and compelling vision of what he wants to accomplish, and must be able to communicate this vision to the American people. Organizationally, he must be able to work with other centers of political power, particularly Congress; be decisive in his early actions in office; and have around him strong and prudent advisors. Finally, he must inspire. This is a lot to ask of any leader, and Gergen admits that none of those for whom he worked quite had it all, though in his estimation Reagan came closest. Both Nixon and Clinton were men of brilliance, he says, yet harbored deeply flawed characters; Ford was honest and capable but never quite defined his goals. Reagan, for all his considerable virtues--courage, conviction, vision--too often allowed his inattention to detail and hands-off management style to derail his intentions. While some may debate Gergen's assessments, his own eye for detail and knack for narrative are to be admired. He brings to life the everyday world of the presidency and provides telling portraits of these fallible yet fascinating leaders. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

Prominent national journalist Gergen is a familiar face on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and ABC's Nightline, among other outlets. He has moved in and out of government for more than 30 years, and here he offers his insights into the leadership qualities of the Presidents he served and those he witnessed, beginning with Richard Nixon and ending with Bill Clinton. As one might expect, Jimmy Carter does not fare well, though he is respected, while Ronald Reagan and Clinton do. Gergen first worked in the Nixon administration, but his loyalty does not prevent him from perceiving and describing the dark side of that regime. The author worked for Clinton for a time, and his observation is that the man had no mechanism for sorting out the input that was hitting his highly intelligent and capable mind. Still, he was a genius at inspiring his followers and persuading others that he cared deeply for them. Gergen found Gerald Ford to be an effective and honorable man, defeated by the events into which he was forced to play. The best leader chooses skilled operators whose strengths and conflicts bolster one another and give the President multiple perspectives from which to view the issues of the day. Stylishly written, this book would have been better if Gergen had not taken on the task of reading it himself; his enervating pacing and nearly lifeless intonation prove once again that it is not always wise. Recommended for modern political history collections. Don Wismer, Cary Memorial Lib., Wayne, ME Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Historic insider's insights into presidential qualities.

	Preface	11
	Richard Nixon	17
1	The Stuff of Shakespeare	19
2	The Bright Side	33
3	Why He Fell	65
	Gerald Ford	105
4	A Man of Character	107
	Ronald Reagan	149
5	The Natural	151
6	A Rooseveltian Style	194
7	Secrets of the Great Communicator	210
	Bill Clinton	249
8	Dreams and Disappointments	251
9	Riding the Roller Coaster	272
10	Assessing His Leadership	313
	Conclusion: Seven Lessons of Leadership	343
	Notes	353
	Acknowledgments	367
	Index	369

Look this: The Opposable Mind or The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

Author: Jonah Goldberg

“Fascists,” “Brownshirts,” “jackbooted stormtroopers”—such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?

Liberal Fascism offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left, and that liberals from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Hillary Clinton have advocated policies and principles remarkably similar to those of Hitler's National Socialism and Mussolini's Fascism.

Contrary to what most people think, the Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term “National socialism”). They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs. They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. They purged the church from public policy, promoted a new form of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life. The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia, and gun control. They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly, and maintained a strict racial quota system in their universities—where campus speech codes were all the rage. The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian, and Himmler was an animal rights activist.

Do these striking parallels mean thattoday’s liberals are genocidal maniacs, intent on conquering the world and imposing a new racial order? Not at all. Yet it is hard to deny that modern progressivism and classical fascism shared the same intellectual roots. We often forget, for example, that Mussolini and Hitler had many admirers in the United States. W.E.B. Du Bois was inspired by Hitler's Germany, and Irving Berlin praised Mussolini in song. Many fascist tenets were espoused by American progressives like John Dewey and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR incorporated fascist policies in the New Deal.

Fascism was an international movement that appeared in different forms in different countries, depending on the vagaries of national culture and temperament. In Germany, fascism appeared as genocidal racist nationalism. In America, it took a “friendlier,” more liberal form. The modern heirs of this “friendly fascist” tradition include the New York Times, the Democratic Party, the Ivy League professoriate, and the liberals of Hollywood. The quintessential Liberal Fascist isn't an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore.

These assertions may sound strange to modern ears, but that is because we have forgotten what fascism is. In this angry, funny, smart, contentious book, Jonah Goldberg turns our preconceptions inside out and shows us the true meaning of Liberal Fascism.

The New York Times - David Oshinsky

…the title of his book aside, what distinguishes Goldberg from the Sean Hannitys and Michael Savages is a witty intelligence that deals in ideas as well as insults—no mean feat in the nasty world of the culture wars.

Publishers Weekly

In this provocative and well-researched book, Goldberg probes modern liberalism's spooky origins in early 20th-century fascist politics. With chapter titles such as "Adolf Hitler: Man of the Left" and "Brave New Village: Hillary Clinton and the Meaning of Liberal Fascism"-Goldberg argues that fascism "has always" been "a phenomenon of the left." This is Goldberg's first book, and he wisely curbs his wry National Reviewstyle. Goldberg's study of the conceptual overlap between fascism and ideas emanating from the environmental movement, Hollywood, the Democratic Party and what he calls other left-wing organs is shocking and hilarious. He lays low such lights of liberal history as Margaret Sanger, apparently a radical eugenicist, and JFK, whose cult of personality, according to Goldberg, reeks of fascist political theater. Much of this will be music to conservatives' ears, but other readers may be stopped cold by the parallels Goldberg draws between Nazi Germany and the New Deal. The book's tone suffers as it oscillates between revisionist historical analyses and the application of fascist themes to American popular culture; nonetheless, the controversial arc Goldberg draws from Mussolini to The Matrixis well-researched, seriously argued-and funny. (Jan. 8)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Kirkus Reviews

Fascism isn't a right-wing phenomenon at all, argues National Review editor-at-large Goldberg in this lively polemic. Contemporary liberals are the true heirs of Hitler and Mussolini, he says. To prove his point, the author looks back to the early-20th-century rise of two radical international movements: communism and fascism. Both promised the destruction of a corrupt elite and rule by no-nonsense patriots who knew what the people wanted and would usher in utopia. Both were considered efficient, modern successors to moribund 19th-century parliamentary democracy. The American Left's pre-World War II admiration of communism is old news, but most readers will blink to learn of the gushing adulation Mussolini received from Americans across the political spectrum. Goldberg contends that the principles espoused by fascist leaders were similar to those of American progressivism. Liberals remember progressives as do-gooders who cleaned up the food supply and improved working conditions, which they did-but so did fascists. Like them, American progressives were racists and imperialists, stridently patriotic and anti-foreign. The world's first fascist regime, Goldberg maintains, was led by America's greatest progressive, Woodrow Wilson. His administration jailed thousands of dissenters, censored mail and newspapers and sent an army of semi-official badge-wearing goons to disrupt meetings and assault anyone who opposed America's participation in World War I. FDR and LBJ also practiced a gentle form of fascism, Goldberg insists, and 21st-century fascism is represented by-was there ever any doubt?-Hillary Clinton. Conservatives cannot be fascists, says the author, because they espouse a small federalgovernment that avoids meddling in citizens' lives and businesses. Goldberg admits, however, that conservative presidents from Reagan to Bush have happily used federal power to promote their own meddling agendas, realizing that voters would not tolerate a major shrinkage of the government. A partisan but entertaining historical analysis.

The One Percent Doctrine or King Kaiser Tsar

The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11

Author: Ron Suskind

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

King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War

Author: Catrine Clay

The extraordinary family story of George V, Wilhelm II, and Nicholas II: they were tied to one another by history, and history would ultimately tear them apart.
Drawing widely on previously unpublished royal letters and diaries, made public for the first time by Queen Elizabeth II , Catrine Clay chronicles the riveting half century of the overlapping lives of royal cousins George V of England, Wilhelm II of Germany, and Nicholas II of Russia, and their slow, inexorable march into conflict in World War I. They saw themselves as royal colleagues, a trade union of kings, standing shoulder to shoulder against the rise of socialism, republicanism, and revolution, and in 1914, on the eve of war, they controlled the destiny of Europe and the fates of millions of their subjects. Clay deftly reveals how intimate family details had deep historical significance, causing the tensions that abounded between them. At every point in her remarkable book, Clay sheds new light on a watershed period in world history.

Publishers Weekly

How did WWI happen? Was it the inevitable product of vast, impersonal forces colliding? Or was it a completely avoidable war that resulted from flawed decisions by individuals? Clay (Princess to Queen), a documentary producer for the BBC, inclines strongly to the latter explanation, and she brilliantly narrates how just three men led their nations to war. Forming a trade union of majesties, King George V (Britain), Kaiser Wilhelm II (Germany) and Czar Nicholas II (Russia) were cousins who together ruled more than half the world. They were a family, and thus subject to the same tensions and turmoil that afflict every family. They had "played together, celebrated each other's birthdays... and later attended each other's weddings," but still, while George and Nicholas were close, Wilhelm was something of an outsider—a feeling exacerbated by his paranoia and self-loathing. Over time, his sense of exclusion and humiliation would avenge itself on the family and eventually contributed strongly to the murder of Nicholas and the loss of his own throne. Clay's theory does have a hole—though not ruled by the "cousins," France and Austria-Hungary also played major roles in the outbreak of war—but that does not detract from the ingenuity and pleasure of her narrative. 35 b&w photos. (July)

Kirkus Reviews

Did sibling rivalry lead to the slaughter that was World War I? This psychobiography makes a good case in the affirmative. BBC documentarian Clay delivers only a bit of news, but lights up some of the shadows in the lives of the cousins who would become George V, Wilhelm II and Nicholas II. Georgie was a bit of a thickie, Willie a born victim and Nicky pleasing but ineffectual. Each, descended from Queen Victoria, had unusual burdens, but young Wilhelm had more than his share. Mauled by a doctor's forceps on delivery, he could not easily do some of the things other boys of his age and class did, such as ride a horse or shoot a bow. When Nicky and Georgie came over to Germany to play, they often left Willie out of the proceedings; moreover, Nicky never liked Willie personally, and he "was snubbed by his English relations, again and again and often with relish, feeding his paranoia and playing right into the hands of the Anglophobes," the Prussian nationalists who came to dominate his administration. Small wonder that as early as 1910, Germany was spoiling to go to war to avenge the slights against its thoroughly militarized (if, we learn, gay) emperor; small wonder that Wilhelm took the Triple Entente, which hemmed Germany between England and Russia, as a personal insult. Clay ventures that, though Tsar Nicholas was no help, George might have been able to negotiate a workable peace, since some difficult episodes with Queen Victoria had already demonstrated that Wilhelm was well capable of reason. As it happened, George was the only one of the cousins whose rule survived the vicious war that followed; the Bolsheviks executed Nicholas and his family, Wilhelm went into exile on the coast ofHolland, railing daily against socialists and Jews, and the world lurched on toward a still greater catastrophe. Readable, if something of a footnote to history.

Illustrations     ix
Acknowledgements     xi
Note on Dates and Spellings     xiii
Family Tree     xiv
Introduction     1
Willy's Bad Start     5
Georgie, the Second Son     23
Nicky, the Third Cousin     41
The Education of Three Royal Cousins     59
Family Dramas     77
Family Strife     94
I Bide My Time     109
Willy, the Kaiser     128
A Wedding and a Betrothal     148
Nicky and Willy     167
Turn of the Century     185
Uncle Bertie and his Two Nephews     205
Willy and Nicky in Trouble     225
Dangerous Disagreements     244
Scandals and Rivalries     263
George Inherits the Throne at Last     283
Three Cousins Go to War     303
The End     324
Epilogue     352
Notes     361
Bibliography     388
Index     395

Sunday, December 28, 2008

America or The Crisis of Islam

America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II): From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom

Author: William J Bennett

Respected scholar William Bennett reacquaints America with its heritage in the second volume of America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II). This engaging narrative slices through the cobwebs of time, memory, and prevailing cynicism to reinvigorate America with an informed patriotism.

New interesting book: Celiac Disease or The Secret of Scent

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror

Author: Bernard Lewis

In his first book since What Went Wrong? Bernard Lewis examines the historical roots of the resentments that dominate the Islamic world today and that are increasingly being expressed in acts of terrorism. He looks at the theological origins of political Islam and takes us through the rise of militant Islam in Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, examining the impact of radical Wahhabi proselytizing, and Saudi oil money, on the rest of the Islamic world.

The Crisis of Islam ranges widely through thirteen centuries of history, but in particular it charts the key events of the twentieth century leading up to the violent confrontations of today: the creation of the state of Israel, the Cold War, the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, the Gulf War, and the September 11th attacks on the United States.

While hostility toward the West has a long and varied history in the lands of Islam, its current concentration on America is new. So too is the cult of the suicide bomber. Brilliantly disentangling the crosscurrents of Middle Eastern history from the rhetoric of its manipulators, Bernard Lewis helps us understand the reasons for the increasingly dogmatic rejection of modernity by many in the Muslim world in favor of a return to a sacred past. Based on his George Polk Award–winning article for The New Yorker, The Crisis of Islam is essential reading for anyone who wants to know what Usama bin Ladin represents and why his murderous message resonates so widely in the Islamic world.

The New York Times

The Crisis of Islam is rich with the eloquence and erudition for which Lewis has become known and admired, even by his critics. Where this book is at its best is in showcasing his knowledge of the history, historiography, jurisprudence and customs of Islamic society in the Middle East. For this reason, his chapter ''The House of War,'' describing the theological basis for jihad and martyrdom, as well as their distortion by some fundamentalists to justify terrorism, is a gem. So too is ''Double Standards,'' which deals with America's own sordid relationship with Middle East tyrants. — Kenneth M. Pollack

The Washington Post

Lewis elegantly and concisely tracks the crisis that is besetting the Muslim world, particularly in the Middle East, soberly explaining that if al Qaeda's leaders "can persuade the world of Islam to accept their views and their leadership, then a long and bitter struggle lies ahead." Bin Laden has acquired a mantle of respectability among certain sections of the Muslim world because other Middle Eastern leaders are seen as compromised. By contrast, his sizable fan base sees him as courageous and incorruptible. For that reason, al Qaeda is not only a terrorist organization but also is morphing into something that approximates a mass movement subscribing to bin Laden's Manichean view that the West really is the enemy of Islam. One can only hope that the conduct of U.S. policy in Iraq, both during the war and afterward, will help to invalidate that view. — Peter Bergen

Publishers Weekly

This lean, muscular volume, an expansion of Lewis's George Polk Award-winning New Yorker article, sheds much-needed light on the complicated and volatile Middle East. To locate the origins of anti-American sentiment, Islamic scholar Lewis maps the history of Muslim anxiety towards the West from the time of the Crusades through European imperialism, and explains how America's increased presence in the region since the Cold War has been construed as a renewed cry of imperialism. In Islam, politics and religion are inextricable, and followers possess an acute knowledge of their own history dating back to the Prophet Mohammed, a timeline Lewis revisits. By so doing, the bestselling author of What Went Wrong? is able to cogently investigate key issues, such as why the United States has been dubbed the "Great Satan" and Israel the "Little Satan," and how Muslim extremism has taken root and succeeded in bastardizing the fundamental Islamic tenets of peace. Lewis also covers the impact of the Iranian Revolution and American foreign policy towards it, Soviet influence in the region and the ramifications of modernization, making this clear, taut and timely primer a must-read for any concerned citizen. (171 pages; 4 maps) (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, myriad articles and books have been published to explain how certain interpretations of Islam have led to the rise of terrorist groups in the Muslim world. In this book, well-known historian Lewis (emeritus, Princeton) continues the debate about the nature of Islam and the implications of politicized Islam for the West. An updated and expanded version of an article he wrote for The New Yorker in November 2001 (for which he received the prestigious George Polk Award), this, in many ways, continues the discussion of topics covered at greater length in the author's recent What Went Wrong?: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response. Here, Lewis covers the historical roots of contemporary malaise in the Muslim world, the role of Saudi Arabia in Islamic radicalism, and how grievances of radical Muslims against the West and its local allies-real or contrived-are formed. Recommended for large public libraries, but those already holding the more scholarly and historical What Went Wrong? may not need this.-Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, AL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-This is a clear, evenhanded overview of the geopolitical events and religious/cultural belief systems that underlie current tensions between the West and Muslim populations around the globe. An amplification of an article Lewis wrote for the New Yorker, the book spans more than 13 centuries but primary emphasis is on key happenings from the early 20th century to the present. Four pages of maps precede the text, illustrating the dramatic expansion of Islamic influence from the Age of the Caliphs (632-750 C.E.) to its zenith during the Ottoman Empire, followed by attrition and decline through the Age of Imperialism to current boundaries. Among the themes the author tackles are grievances over the modern-day presence of foreigners and "infidels" in holy lands, a discussion he places in historical context to explain the rise of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia, albeit without excusing the excesses of that movement's adherents. Fundamental differences in the way Islamic societies and the West approach religion and government are elucidated, with commentary on the ramifications for power structures. The issues are complex, but the writing is accessible to older high school students. John L. Esposito's The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (Oxford, 2003) is a valuable companion resource for academically reliable, paragraph-length identification of concepts, geographic place names, and people in the Lewis volume.-Lynn Nutwell, Fairfax City Regional Library, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The dean of Islamic studies in America ponders the current state of what is both a religion and a political system, and finds it wanting. Mainstream Islam, at least in its ideal form, is at a far remove from the headline-conquering visions of the Islamicists, whether they be the ayatollahs of Iran or the terrorists of al-Qaeda. But, suggests Lewis (Near Eastern Studies Emeritus/Princeton Univ.; The Multiple Identities of the Middle East, 1999, etc.), the fundamentalists may be well along in shifting the center toward the extreme: "The medieval assassins were an extremist sect, very far from mainstream Islam," he writes. "That is not true of their present-day imitators." Witness, Lewis writes, the ever-growing power of Wahhabism, the conservative strain of Islam that now dominates Saudi Arabia, which Lewis persuasively likens to the Ku Klux Klan. "The custodianship of holy places [in Saudi Arabia] and the revenues of oil have given worldwide impact to what would otherwise have been an extremist fringe in a marginal country," writes Lewis-an extremist fringe among whose notable products is Usama bin Ladin, as Lewis spells it, whose "declaration of war against the United States marks the resumption of the struggle for religious dominance of the world that began in the seventh century." The Islamicists have been able to turn the disaffection of the young and impoverished against not merely America, writes Lewis, but against their home governments, which, after all, have done little to produce healthy societies. (For in every measurable respect of social and material well-being, Lewis writes, the Islamic world lags "ever farther behind the West. Even worse, the Arab nations also lag behind themore recent recruits to Western-style modernity, such as Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.") Small wonder that so many young Muslims are so eager to fulfill the Quranic obligation of jihad, or "holy war," by striking out against the West-though, Lewis is quick to add, "at no point do the basic texts of Islam enjoin terrorism and murder." Expanded from Lewis's prizewinning New Yorker commentary following 9/11: an illuminating brief overview of Islam today.

The Echo from Dealey Plaza or Homicide

The Echo from Dealey Plaza: The True Story of the First African American on the White House Secret Service Detail and His Quest for Justice after the Assassination of JFK

Author: Abraham Bolden

From the first African American assigned to the presidential Secret Service detail comes a gripping and unforgettable true story of bravery and patriotism in the face of bitter hatred and unthinkable corruption.

Abraham Bolden was a young African American Secret Service agent in Chicago when he was asked by John F. Kennedy himself to join the White House Secret Service detail. For Bolden, it was a dream come true—and an encouraging sign of the charismatic president’s vision for a new America.

But the dream quickly turned sour when Bolden found himself regularly subjected to open hostility and blatant racism. He was taunted, mocked, and disparaged but remained strong, and he did not allow himself to become discouraged.

More of a concern was the White House team’s irresponsible approach to security. While on his tour of presidential duty, Bolden witnessed firsthand the White House agents’ long-rumored lax approach to their job. Drinking on duty, abandoning key posts—this was not a team that appeared to take their responsibility to protect the life of the president particularly seriously. Both prior to and following JFK’s assassination, Bolden sought to expose and address the inappropriate behavior and negligence of these agents, only to find himself the victim of a sinister conspiracy that resulted in his conviction and imprisonment on a trumped-up bribery charge.

A gripping memoir substantiated by recently declassified government documents, The Echo from Dealey Plaza is the story of the terrible price paid by one man for his commitment to truth and justice, as well as a shocking new perspective on thecircumstances surrounding the death of a beloved president.

The Washington Post - Bruce Watson

The Echo From Dealey Plaza contains no new information about the assassination, but it is a shocking story of injustice…Bolden suffered greatly at the hands of American jurisprudence, and his memoir helps set the record straight. More than 40 years after his nightmare, he cannot be blamed for merely laying out the basics and punctuating them with understated outrage. He never claims to be a professional writer, just a proud American deeply wronged.

Publishers Weekly

Despite the misleading subtitle, Bolden served only one month (June-July 1961) protecting JFK and his family. During that time, he experienced raw prejudice on the part of other agents and observed what he considered to be lax standards in presidential protection, notably, excessive drinking and womanizing by agents. Bolden then returned to Treasury Department investigations out of the Chicago office. Four months after Kennedy's assassination, Bolden stood accused of the attempted sale of Secret Service evidence files for a counterfeiting case to those being investigated and was subsequently found guilty. After several failed appeals, he served more than three years in federal prisons and was paroled. Bolden claims the charges were trumped up in order to silence his criticisms of JFK's protection, even though examination of the great crime in Dallas quickly progressed beyond Secret Service incompetence. Bolden asserts that the later House Select Committee on Assassinations confirmed his criticisms of the Secret Service. The author lumbers through all the motions and countermotions of his courtroom sessions, as well as every grim minute of his incarceration, with tedious outrage. Dealey Plaza has precious little to do with any of it.

Publishers Weekly

Conspiracy theories haunt the Kennedy assassination; Bolden offers a new one, concerning discrimination and evidence suppression. Becoming, in JFK's words, the "Jackie Robinson of the Secret Service," Bolden joined the White House detail in 1961. Already beset by racism (he once found a noose suspended over his desk), his idealism is further shattered by "the drinking and carousing" of other agents. Soon after the assassination, he receives orders that hint at "an effort to withhold, or at least to the color, the truth." He discovers that evidence is being kept from the Warren Commission and when he takes action, finds himself charged with "conspiracy to sell a secret government file" and sentenced to six years in prison, where both solitary confinement and the psychiatric ward await. That there was a conspiracy to silence him seems unarguable, but Bolden's prose is flat; so is his dialogue. This story is more enthralling than Bolden's telling of it, but the reader who sticks with it will enter a world of duplicitous charges and disappearing documents fit for a movie thriller. (Mar.)

Library Journal

Forty-five years after the JFK assassination, the interest in his murder continues unabated, and these two excellent books show in different ways-one scholarly and one personal-the assassination's relentless grip. Kaiser (history, Naval War Coll.; American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War ) presents a scrupulously researched account, which may be one of the best books yet on the assassination. Unlike David Talbot's Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years , Kaiser posits that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman although he did not act alone: the murder plot was hatched by Mafia bosses Santo Trafficante, John Roselli, and Sam Giancana as revenge for Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's relentless pursuit of the mob and for the vast sums of money they lost when Castro closed Cuba's mob-controlled casinos. Other startling revelations are that Oswald might have been a CIA agent, even though he was promised a large sum of money by the mob to kill Kennedy, and that Jack Ruby killed Oswald on orders from the Mafia, to which Ruby was connected. This detailed, often chilling account stands out among the overwhelming number of assassination books. Highly recommended for most public and all academic libraries.

Bolden's autobiography includes little mention of Kennedy's murder yet the assassination affected his life tragically. He was appointed personally by JFK as the first African American on the White House Secret Service detail (1960-64), and although he was a conscientious agent his role angered racist agents. Bolden was not on the Dallas detail but he was well aware of the lax security the agents provided because of their drinkingand womanizing. He first blew the whistle in October 1963 and then again reported poor security after the assassination. In 1964 he was convicted on trumped up charges of selling a government file and spent six years in jail. Much of the book engrossingly describes the trials and his harrowing years in prison. Ultimately, Bolden was vindicated when the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1976 that the Secret Service's protection was inadequate. He has worked for the last decades in private industry. Recommended for all public libraries.-Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Kirkus Reviews

Heart-rending, longtime-coming defense of his record by a Chicago detective who paid dearly for blowing the whistle on JFK's Secret Service. A native of St. Louis, the author became a Pinkerton detective and then a Chicago Secret Service agent. In 1961 President Kennedy handpicked Bolden for his personal detail in Washington. A self-described "racial pioneer" at each step of his professional career, he was immensely proud to serve as the first black agent on the presidential detail, and grateful for JFK's sincere commitment to racial equality. However, Bolden soon collided with the "ol' boys network." He endured crude racist caricatures drawn in his service manual, separate accommodations in a "Negro Motel," casual slurs by other agents and a shockingly blatant outburst by his superior: "You will always be nothing but a nigger. So act like one!" In early November 1963, responding to uneasy intuition and visions that had plagued him since childhood, Bolden told superiors that drinking was rampant within the ranks and that if a crisis occurred, the service could not act swiftly or appropriately to secure the president's safety. He was in Chicago at the time of the assassination, and after that found the Secret Service wary of his outspokenness. Framed for his role in busting a Chicago counterfeiting bond gang, he was forced to take a lie-detector test and arrested by the feds in May 1964. His first trial ended in a hung jury thanks to a lone black juror; in the second, an all-white jury found him guilty. Bolden was imprisoned for more than five years, mostly in the psychiatric ward of the Springfield Medical Center for Federal Prisoners. In September 1969, after a short stint at a prisoncamp in Alabama, Bolden was granted parole. Many documents in the case have vanished, but the author tirelessly reconstructs the record in his compelling, if somewhat tedious and repetitious look at an attempt to silence an honorable man. An astonishing tale of aborted justice.

Go to: Survival of the Sickest or 3 Hour Diet Cookbook

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

Author: David Simon

Edgar and Anthony Award Winner
Selected by the Literary Guild
"Remarkable...A true crime classic."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Enter the workday of real policemen. Follow fifteen detectives, three sergeants, and a lieutenant, whose job it is to investigate Baltimore's 234 murders. You will get a cop's-eye-view of the bureaucracy, the highs of success, the moments of despair, and the non-stop rush of pursuits, anger, banter, and violence that make up a cop's life. Now an acclaimed television series, this extraordinary book is the insider's look at what you have always wondered about.

Newsday

One of the most engrossing police procedural mystery books ever written, not only because the crimes and plots and personalities are real, but because Simon is a terrific writer.

Entertainment Weekly

Forget Ed McBain and Joseph Wambaugh, too. From the blood on the street to the repartee in the squad room, from autopsy etiquette to office politics, Simon gives us the homicide cop's beat—monstrous, draining, bleakly fascinating—as it's never been seen before.

Orlando Sentinel

Through wonderfully descriptive writing, Simon details the work of fifteen detectives, three sergeants and a lieutenant charged with investigating dozens of Baltimore's 234 murders that year....Simon takes readers inside the detectives' lives, describing the frustration of departmental red tape and politics, the bursts of energy and moments of despair....For a complete look at what it's like to investigate violence for a living, Homicide is well worth the time.

San Diego Union

This may be the best true-crime book, the best naked look at murder and cops and crime and life on the killing streets of big-city America in the late 20th century....A rich, revealing look at the twisted lives of killers and their victims and at the men who are obsessed with solving the most heinous and baffling murders.

Washington Post Book World

We seem to have an insatiable appetite for police stories....David Simon's entry is far and away the best, the most readable, reliable and relentless of them all....An eye for the scenes of slaughter and pursuit and an ear for the cadences of cop talk, both business and banter, lend Simon's account the fascination that truth often has....Fueled by coffee, cigarettes, and the drive to "put down" (i.e. close) cases, these heroes keep at it long after ordinary mortals would have lost heart.

San Francisco Chronicle

A frank, insightful, and meticulously detailed look at detectives and their work.

Publishers Weekly

Baltimore Sun reporter Simon spent a year tracking the homicide unit of his city's police, following the officers from crime scenes to interrogations to hospital emergency rooms. With empathy, psychological nuance, racy verbatim dialogue and razor-sharp prose, he offers a rare insider's look at the detective's tension-wracked world. Presiding over a score of sleuths is commander Gary D'Addario, "connoisseur of survival'' who grapples with political intrigue, massive red tape and "red balls'' (major, difficult cases). His detectives include Tom Pelligrini, obsessed with solving the rape-murder of an 11-year-old girl; Rich Garvey, whose "perfect year'' is upset by a murder case that collapses in court; and black, cosmopolitan Harry Edgerton, a lone wolf, son of a jazz pianist. This hectic daily log reveals the detective's beat on Baltimore's mean streets (234 murders in 1988) to be brutal, bureaucratic and, occasionally, mundane. (June)

Library Journal

As Richard Price says in his new introduction, Simon "camped out" with the Baltimore PD's homicide unit for a year while researching this no-punches-pulled look at murders and the cops who solve them. The 1985 title was the basis of the award-winning NBC drama of the same name. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

The city of Baltimore saw 234 murders in 1988. Allowed unlimited access to a shift of the city's homicide unit, police reporter Simon chronicles that year. The sociopaths, the crackheads, and their crimes are horrifying, but equal horrors are found in the attitudes of jurors in a case of the shooting and blinding of a policeman and in statistics showing the ultimate legal fates of those apprehended by the unit. Immersing his readers in cases, procedures, politics, and the detectives' personalities, Simon risks being sabotaged by the sheer scope of his account. Still, for those with strong stomachs and the willingness to work to keep the characters and dramas straight, he has produced a riveting slice of urban life. Recommended.-- Jim Burns, Pompano Beach City Lib., Fla.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Troublesome Young Men or The Family

Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England

Author: Lynne Olson

Acclaimed historian Lynne Olson’s collective biography explores one of the most important turning points in 20th-century history – the months leading up to Winston Churchill’s accession to Prime Minister and the decisive turning of the tide in Britain against the appeasement of Hitler.

They attended the same schools, went to the same country houses, married each other’s sisters. They were part of the small, clubby network that dominated English society. And now they were doing the unthinkable: trying to topple the man who led their own political party, prime minister Neville Chamberlain, from power.

It was early 1940, several months after Britain had declared war on Germany–and then had made clear it had little interest in fighting. Poland had been crushed, and Chamberlain, despite the treaties and the promises to Poland, had done nothing to save it. In Germany, military buildup continued unabated, as Hitler fine-tuned his plans for an assault on Western Europe.

In Britain there was doubt, suspicion, and despair. When war was declared, the country had braced itself: millions had been evacuated to the countryside; a blackout had been imposed–and for what? What was the justification?

A small group of dissidents within the Conservative Party drew together to fight Chamberlain and his policy of appeasing Hitler. They included the bookish Harold Macmillan, an unlikely rebel; Roland Cartland, most outspoken of the dissidents; and Anthony Eden, the Golden Boy of interwar politics and Chamberlain’s foreign secretary. The climax of months of conspiracy would come in May 1940, when the House of Commons gatheredto debate Britain’s defeat by Germany in Norway.

As the rebels worked feverishly to line up last-minute support, the dissidents feared that their odds of success were slim. Yet within days of their challenging Chamberlain over the conduct of the war in Norway, he was gone and Churchill was prime minister. Troublesome Young Men is the story of how that came to be–and of the men who made it happen.

The New York Times - Jon Meacham

Churchill was not alone in his opposition to Hitler during what he called his wilderness years, and therein lies the strength of Lynne Olson's brisk, engaging new book, Troublesome Young Men. Olson, a former White House correspondent for The Baltimore Sun, has given us a fascinating snapshot of the Tory "rebels," as she calls them, who ultimately opposed Neville Chamberlain and helped elevate the then-unbeatified Churchill.

The Washington Post - David Cannadine

…vivid and compelling…Troublesome Young Men describes and celebrates the efforts of Chamberlain's opponents within his own Conservative Party. These Tory rebels finally succeeded in bringing the prime minister down after a famous debate in the House of Commons in early May 1940 in which Leo Amery ended his powerful speech by quoting the terrible words that Oliver Cromwell had used to dismiss the Long Parliament 300 years before: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing! Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" Chamberlain grudgingly resigned, and Winston S. Churchill succeeded him, convinced that destiny had nurtured him and prepared him for what would soon be his finest hour. Yet while this may all seem inevitable in retrospect, there was nothing predestined about it at the time.

Publishers Weekly

In 1930s England, faced with the gathering menace of fascism, 30 or so junior members of Parliament understood that Hitler would not be dissuaded by Prime Minister Chamberlain's policy of appeasement. Their rebellion against their leader and the "elderly mediocrities" of their own Conservative Party is the subject of Olson's absorbing book. The forces opposed to Chamberlain were initially inhibited by party loyalty and the ferocious reprisals threatened against anyone who challenged the prime minister. Olson traces how Hitler's continuing depredations (Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland) served to recruit more insurgents in the House of Commons and galvanize those shamed by England's inaction. Olson's story picks up energy as she reviews the events of 1940, when at long last Chamberlain was replaced by Churchill. Olson is interested in the moral imperatives driving her protagonists. The dominant figure in the narrative, of course, is Churchill, who despised Chamberlain's defeatism but served loyally in his cabinet until Chamberlain's forced resignation. Infused with the sense of urgency felt by the young Tories, Olson's vivid narrative of a critical generational clash leaves the reader wondering what might have happened had they prevailed earlier on. (Apr.)

Jim Doyle - Library Journal

Here is the engrossing story of the British Tory dissidents, upper-class MPs who denounced Neville Chamberlain's attempts to mollify Hitler's ravenous territorial ambitions in pre-World War II Europe. The "Young Rebels" despised appeasement as a diplomatic strategy and sought to remove Chamberlain from office. As back benchers, they were expected to tow the Conservative Party line strictly enforced by Chamberlain and his Tory whip, David Margesson. Yet Ronald Cartland, Harold Macmillan, Bob Boothby, Harold Nicholson, and their like-minded colleagues risked political suicide in their frustrating attempts to oust Chamberlain and to make Winston Churchill prime minister. It was only after the outbreak of hostilities and the dual defeats in Norway and France that their concerns finally gained traction: Chamberlain stepped down and the indomitable Churchill became England's leader, vindicating the Young Rebels. Olson (Freedom's Daughters) does a superb job of capturing the smoked-filled, whiskey-soaked ambience of British politics and the web of personal relationships involved. While not sympathetic to Chamberlain's diplomatic strategy, she does convey the complexities of developing an effective foreign policy in a parliamentary government. For a more sympathetic view of Chamberlain's attempts to keep the peace, see Peter Neville's Hitler and Appeasement. Olson has crafted a seamless narrative that flows from primary and secondary sources and is a worthy addition to all World War II collections.

New interesting book: Firehouse or To Sleep with the Angels

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Author: Jeff Sharlet

They are "the Family" -- soldiers in the army of God, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power. Their base is a quiet, leafy estate along the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have reported from inside its walls. His experience with fundamentalist Christianity's elite corps launched him into a deeper examination of the movement's roots in American history, and its surprising allies past and present, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, dictators from Indonesia to El Salvador, and present-day politicians from both sides of the aisle. THE FAMILY dramatically revises conventional wisdom about American fundamentalism, revealing its crucial role in the unraveling of the New Deal, the creation of the Cold War, the no-holds-barred economics ofglobalization, and the slow but steady destruction of the wall of separation between church and state .

Part history, part investigative journalism, THE FAMILY is an eye-opening, elegantly written examination of the spiritual awakenings that have convulsed this nation, making a powerful case that these awakenings -- from Jonathan Edwards' belief that "We are sinners in the hands of an angry God" to today's alarming nexus of church and state -- are manifestations of an American mood that has been present since the beginning.

The author lived undercover with the Family at their house "Ivanwald" in Arlington, Virginia, and an article about his experience appeared as a feature article in Harper's (March 2003). His subsequent work on elite Christian fundamentalism has appeared regularly in Harper's and Rolling Stone.

Kirkus Reviews

An investigative journalist examines a Jesus-centered, fundamentalist network whose ambitions exceed "Al Qaeda's dream of a Sunni empire."It's hard to imagine a religious gathering more anodyne than the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Harper's and Rolling Stone contributing editor Sharlet (Journalism and Religious Studies/New York Univ. Center for Religion and Media; co-author: Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible, 2004), however, sees something sinister, a more than merely ceremonial moment marking the achievement of Abraham Vereide and his successor, Doug Coe, founders of a ministry specializing in the care and feeding of high government, industry and military officials, an elite fundamentalist corps known as "the Family." Sharlet traces the twin threads of the Family's origins in the evangelical teachings of Jonathan Edwards and Charles Grandison Finney and its commitment under Vereide and Coe to a painstaking, prayer-cell by prayer-cell conversion of the elite-prominent Americans such as Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, politicians from Melvin Laird to Sam Brownback-to its notion of a smiling, muscular, American Christ, enthusiastically capitalist, socially conservative and fiercely anti-communist. Unashamedly modeling their leadership training along lines favored by Hitler and Lenin, the Family has insinuated itself firmly into the ruling class, its theology better suited, Sharlet insists, to empire than to democracy. The author's discussion of the Family's beginning and growth and his lengthy disquisitions on other figures prominent in the evangelical movement-Frank Buchman, Billy Sunday, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Billy Graham, Charles Colson, James Dobson, Ted Haggard-alldemonstrate his acute understanding of the theocratic streak that has long run though American history. His firsthand, critical reporting on the Family's enclave in Arlington, Va., and on the evangelical boomtown of Colorado Springs testifies to his relentlessness and, yes, even courage. Finally, however, Sharlet fails to persuade us that this "guerilla force on the spiritual battlefield" poses any significant danger to the republic. Fine research and reporting diminished by overblown analysis. Agent: Kathleen Anderson/Anderson/Grinberg

The Gospel of Inclusion or How Starbucks Saved My Life

The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God and Self

Author: Carlton Pearson

Fourth-generation fundamentalist Carlton Pearson, a Christian megastar and host, takes a courageous and controversial stand on religion that proposes a hell-less Christianity and a gospel of inclusion that calls for an end to local and worldwide conflicts and divisions along religious lines.

The Gospel of Inclusion explores the exclusionary doctrines in mainstream religion and concludes that according to the evidence of the Bible and irrefutable logic, they cannot be true. Bishop Pearson argues that the controlling dogmas of religion are the source of much of the world's ills and that we should turn our backs on proselytizing and holy wars and focus on the real good news: that we are all bound for glory, everybody is saved, and if we believe God loves all mankind, then we have no choice but to have the same attitude ourselves.

The Gospel of Inclusion also tells the story of a powerful religious figure who watched everything he had crumble due to a scandal. Why? He didn't steal money nor did he have inappropriate sexual relationships. Following a revelation from God, he began to preach that a loving God would not condemn most of the human race to hell because they are not Christian. Hepreaches that God belongs to no religion. The Gospel of Inclusion is the journey of one man's quest to preach a new truth.

Book about: Diabetic Chefs Year Round Cookbook or Deliverance from Evil Spirits

How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else

Author: Michael Gates Gill

The riches-to-rags true story of an advertising executive who had it all, then lost it all-and was finally redeemed by his new job, and his twenty-eight-year-old boss, at Starbucks.

Publishers Weekly

Baker lends his talent to Gill's memoir, the subject of considerable industry buzz and the basis for a 2008 movie starring Tom Hanks. Baker's enunciation and cadence perfectly match the essence of Gill, a well-bred and erudite-yet down-on-his luck-advertising executive who discovers the true meaning of life while working as a Starbucks barista. Baker also delivers especially evocative performances of Gill's hardworking-but fun-loving-young colleagues Kester and Anthony. His portrayal of store manager and mentor Crystal seems slightly underwhelming given her character's pivotal role in the story. All in all, Baker remains true to the spirit of the material, and his rendition of the workplace banter should ring especially true with service industry veterans. Critics quick to dismiss the project for its high-concept elements will probably remain unmoved, but fans of such popular inspirational/motivational memoirs as Tuesdays with Morrieshould find the experience good to the last drop. Simultaneous release with the Gotham hardcover (Reviews, June 4). (Sept.)

Kirkus Reviews

When a formerly high-level exec hits rock bottom, he finds salvation behind the counter at Starbucks. Son of famed New Yorker editor Brendan Gill, the author was unceremoniously fired from J. Walter Thompson after 25 years as a creative director. While trying-and ultimately failing-to run his own consulting business, he engaged in a marriage-ending affair that left him broke as well as unemployed. He subsequently found himself drinking a latte at Starbucks during a "Hiring Open House." When a confident 28-year-old African-American woman offered him a job, Gill found himself transformed from a name-dropping, high-society hobnobber into an everyman who had to relate to people from all walks of life. In the fast-paced world of coffee purveyors, the only thing that counted was his ability to do the job and work alongside the other "partners" (Starbucks-speak for employees). At its core, the narrative is an inspirational story about someone who learned late-but not too late-in life that money and status aren't everything. If Gill is to be believed, Starbucks is a magical realm where people of all races, creeds and lifestyles intermingle, a place where customers treat baristas with respect bordering on hero worship. Unfortunately, what little enlightenment his memoir has to offer is swamped by Gill's mawkish tributes to a mega-corporation. Tom Hanks, whose production company has optioned the book, will have a tough time redeeming this nauseating paean. Way too much sugar. Film Rights to Playtone

What People Are Saying

Thomas Moore
How Starbucks Saved My Life is based on the simple idea that down-to-earth, humbling labor can help you re-orient your values and priorities and give you new life. It will speak to anyone in need of radical surgery on their worldview, and that includes most of us. Sit down with a cup of coffee and this book and entertain yourself toward enlightenment. (Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, Dark Nights of the Soul, and The Worth of Our Work)

Denis Waitley
I like my Starbucks, but I loved this book. It hit me emotionally and intellectually, right in the gut. The message, what the world needs to embrace most, made my cup runneth over! (Dr. Denis Waitley, author of The Seeds of Greatness)

Wayne Dyer
A great lesson in finding your highest self in the unlikeliest of places-- proof positive that there is no way to happiness-- rather, happiness is the way.

Friday, December 26, 2008

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism or The White Mans Burden

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism

Author: Christopher C Horner

This latest installment in the P.I.G. series provides a provocative, entertaining, and well-documented expose of some of the most shamelessly politicized pseudo-science we are likely to see in our relatively cool lifetimes.

What People Are Saying

"Finally, someone has written a definitive resource to debunk global warming alarmism."--(Senator James Inhofe (R.-Okla.), former chairman of the Environment & Public Works Committee)

Roger Helmer
"Chris Horner has been a staunch champion for common sense in the face of mounting media hysteria about the climate."--(Roger Helmer, member of European Parliament)

Look this: No Ordinary Time or The Complete Idiots Guide to American Government

The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good

Author: William Easterly

From one of the world's best-known development economists-an excoriating attack on the tragic hubris of the West's efforts to improve the lot of the so-called developing world

In his previous book, The Elusive Quest for Growth, William Easterly criticized the utter ineffectiveness of Western organizations to mitigate global poverty, and he was promptly fired by his then-employer, the World Bank. The White Man's Burden is his widely anticipated counterpunch-a brilliant and blistering indictment of the West's economic policies for the world's poor. Sometimes angry, sometimes irreverent, but always clear-eyed and rigorous, Easterly argues that we in the West need to face our own history of ineptitude and draw the proper conclusions, especially at a time when the question of our ability to transplant Western institutions has become one of the most pressing issues we face.

The Washington Post - David Ignatius

Easterly's dissection of the interventionist impulse of the Planners is powerful. His enthusiasm for the bottom-up successes of the Searchers is less so. He's looking hard for something encouraging to say, but it's a measure of the potency of his corrosive analysis that the good news isn't very convincing.

The New York Times - Virgina Postrel

Easterly asks the right questions, combining compassion with clear-eyed empiricism. Bono and his devotees should heed what he has to say.

Publishers Weekly

No one who attacks the humanitarian aid establishment is going to win any popularity contests, but, neither, it seems, is that establishment winning any contests with the people it is supposed to be helping. Easterly, an NYU economics professor and a former research economist at the World Bank, brazenly contends that the West has failed, and continues to fail, to enact its ill-formed, utopian aid plans because, like the colonialists of old, it assumes it knows what is best for everyone. Existing aid strategies, Easterly argues, provide neither accountability nor feedback. Without accountability for failures, he says, broken economic systems are never fixed. And without feedback from the poor who need the aid, no one in charge really understands exactly what trouble spots need fixing. True victories against poverty, he demonstrates, are most often achieved through indigenous, ground-level planning. Except in its early chapters, where Easterly builds his strategic platform atop a tower of statistical analyses, the book's wry, cynical prose is highly accessible. Readers will come away with a clear sense of how orthodox methods of poverty reduction do not help, and can sometimes worsen, poor economies. (Mar. 20) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Foreign Affairs

Be thine own palace, wrote John Donne, "or the world's thy jail." William Easterly does notinvoke this particular metaphor in The White Man's Burden, but this exciting — and excited — book is about the imprisonment of the world's poor in the trap of international aid, where "planners" have incarcerated the wretched of the earth. The poor may not have a "palace" to fall back on, battered as they are by grinding privation, massive illiteracy, and the scourge of epidemics. But Easterly — a former World Bank economist who now teaches at New York University — nevertheless argues that in the fight against global poverty, "the right plan is to have no plan."

In contrast to the typically well-meaning but allegedly always injurious "planners," the heroes of Easterly's book are those whom he calls "searchers." The division between the planners and the searchers, as seen by Easterly, could not be sharper: "In foreign aid, Planners announce good intentions but don't motivate anyone to carry them out; Searchers find things that work and get some reward. Planners raise expectations but take no responsibility for meeting them; Searchers accept responsibility for their actions. Planners determine what to supply; Searchers find out what is in demand. Planners apply global blueprints; Searchers adapt to local conditions. Planners at the top lack knowledge of the bottom; Searchers find out what the reality is at the bottom. Planners never hear whether the planned got what it needed; Searchers find out whether the customer is satisfied." The radical oversimplification in this overdrawn contrast leads Easterly to a simple summary of his book's thesis in its subtitle — Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good — which supplements a title borrowed from Rudyard Kipling's lyrical paean to high-minded imperialism.

Library Journal

According to this former World Bank research economist, the $2.3 trillion in aid that the West has poured into the Third World over 50 years hasn't helped because the approach is all wrong. The recipients have a better idea of what is needed than the planners. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A contrarian argument that humanitarian assistance seldom produces the desired results-and may even further poverty and hunger. Former World Bank economist Easterly has perhaps chosen an unfortunate title for his latest book, but there's a point to it. "Here's a secret," he writes: "anytime you hear a Western politician or activist say 'we,' they mean 'we whites'-today's version of the White Man's Burden." The humanitarian aid that moves from the First World to what Easterly calls the Rest almost always goes to the wrong places, a tragedy all its own given the magnitude of the macro-problem-namely, as he notes, that nearly three billion people live on less than two dollars a day each. Given this, top-down solutions that assume that only free markets can generate wealth are illusory, though that wishful thinking is understandable. More useful, Easterly writes, are top-down incentives to nurture good governments and isolate bad ones (although, as he notes, "aid shifts money from being spent by the best governments in the world to being spent by the worst"), while encouraging aid clients to develop social norms against crime, corruption and predation, and for property rights. More useful still are bottom-up solutions of various kinds; one of the most interesting that Easterly proposes is simply that "development vouchers" be given to the extremely poor, who may then redeem these at aid agencies in exchange for vaccinations, feed, drugs, medical attention, tools, seeds, food or whatever they might find most useful at the moment. In other words, imagine, Easterly proposes, giving the needy a voice in addressing their needs. Easterly's is not the only recent portrayal of humanitarianism incrisis (see David Rieff's A Bed for the Night, 2002), but it is unusual in suggesting solutions as well.

	Maps
	Introduction
I	Defining Islam	3
II	The House of War	29
III	From Crusaders to Imperialists	47
IV	Discovering America	64
V	Satan and the Soviets	82
VI	Double Standards	103
VII	A Failure of Modernity	113
VIII	The Marriage of Saudi Power and Wahhabi Teaching	120
IX	The Rise of Terrorism	137
	Afterword	165
	Notes	167
	Index	173

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era

The Washington Post - Suki Casanave

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Table of Contents:

Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done about It

The New York Times Sunday Book Review - Niall Ferguson

Nicholas D. Kristof - The New York Times

Inside Delta Force: The Story of America's Elite Counterterrorist Unit

Publishers Weekly

Michele Winship - VOYA

School Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces

author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys - James Bradley

author of See No Evil and Sleeping with the Devil - Robert Baer

Publishers Weekly

Raymond Puffer, Ph.D. - KLIATT

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Civil Disobedience

Current Perspectives in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior

Terminatrix: The Sarah Palin Chronicles

This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future

Table of Contents:

Monday, December 29, 2008

Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton

Book Magazine

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

Table of Contents:

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

The New York Times - David Oshinsky

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11

King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

Table of Contents:

Sunday, December 28, 2008

America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II): From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror

The New York Times

The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

School Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

Table of Contents:

The Echo from Dealey Plaza: The True Story of the First African American on the White House Secret Service Detail and His Quest for Justice after the Assassination of JFK

The Washington Post - Bruce Watson

Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

Newsday

Entertainment Weekly

Orlando Sentinel

San Diego Union

Washington Post Book World

San Francisco Chronicle

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Library Journal

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England

The New York Times - Jon Meacham

The Washington Post - David Cannadine

Publishers Weekly

Jim Doyle - Library Journal

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Kirkus Reviews

Table of Contents:

The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God and Self

How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews