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The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
by Eric HofferA stevedore on the San Francisco docks in the 1940s, Eric Hoffer wrote philosophical treatises in his spare time while living in the railroad yards. The True Believer -- the first and most famous of his books -- was made into a bestseller when President Eisenhower cited it during one of the earliest television press conferences.Completely relevant and essential for understanding the world today, The True Believer is a visionary, highly provocative look into the mind of the fanatic and a penetrating study of how an individual becomes one.
Mistress of the Elgin Marbles: A Biography of Mary Nisbet, Countess of Elgin
by Susan NagelThe remarkable Mary Nisbet was the Countess of Elgin in Romantic-era Scotland and the wife of the seventh Earl of Elgin. When Mary accompanied her husband to diplomatic duty in Turkey, she changed history. She helped bring the smallpox vaccine to the Middle East, struck a seemingly impossible deal with Napoleon, and arranged the removal of famous marbles from the Parthenon. But all of her accomplishments would be overshadowed, however, by her scandalous divorce. Drawing from Mary's own letters, scholar Susan Nagel tells Mary's enthralling, inspiring, and suspenseful story in vibrant detail.
The Downing Street Years: 1979–1990
by Margaret ThatcherThis first volume of Margaret Thatcher's memoirs encompasses the whole of her time as Prime Minister - the formation of her goals in the early 1980s, the Falklands, the General Election victories of 1983 and 1987 and, eventually, the circumstances of her fall from political power. She also gives frank accounts of her dealings with foreign statesmen and her own ministers.
River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
by Peter HesslerA New York Times Notable BookWinner of the Kiriyama Book PrizeIn the heart of China's Sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, lies the remote town of Fuling. Like many other small cities in this ever-evolving country, Fuling is heading down a new path of change and growth, which came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident. Hessler taught English and American literature at the local college, but it was his students who taught him about the complex processes of understanding that take place when one is immersed in a radically different society.Poignant, thoughtful, funny, and enormously compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a city that is seeking to understand both what it was and what it someday will be.
Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 & the Passengers & Crew Who Fought Back
by Jere Longman“A powerful reconstruction of the flight’s final moments. . . . Made me think of John Hersey’s Hiroshima.” — New York Times Book ReviewThedefinitive story of the courageous men and women aboard Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, and of the day that forever changed the way Americans view the world and themselves.Of the four horrific hijackings on September 11, Flight 93 resonates as one of epic resistance. At a time when the United States appeared defenseless against an unfamiliar foe, the gallant passengers and crew of Flight 93 provided for many Americans a measure of victory in the midst of unthinkable defeat. Together, they seemingly accomplished what all the security guards and soldiers, military pilots and government officials, could not—they thwarted the terrorists, sacrificing their own lives so that others might live.The culmination of hundreds of interviews with family members and months of investigation,this powerful and deeply moving book is a lasting testament to American heroes.
The Making of the President, 1972 (The Landmark Political Series)
by Theodore H. White“[White] revolutionized the art of political reporting.” —William F. BuckleyThe Making of the President 1972 is the fourth book in Theodore H. White’s landmark series, a riveting account of the 1972 presidential campaign and Richard M. Nixon’s precedent-shattering landslide victory. White had made history with his groundbreaking narrative The Making of the President 1960, winning the Pulitzer Prize for revolutionizing the way that presidential campaigns were reported. Now, The Making of the President 1972—back in print, freshly repackaged, and with a new foreword by Cokie Roberts—joins Theodore Sorensen’s Kennedy, White’s The Making of the President 1960, 1964, and 1968, and other classics in the burgeoning Harper Perennial Political Classics series.
Bush vs. the Beltway: The Inside Battle Over War in Iraq
by Laurie MylroieAs the postwar debate continues, a leading expert reveals the obstacles that stood between the United States and the fall of Saddam Hussein -- many of them within the U.S. government itself Laurie Mylroie's previous books, the number one New York Times bestseller Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf (coauthored with Judith Miller) and The War Against America, were influential in building the case against Iraq. Now Mylroie reveals the story behind the buildup to Operation Iraqi Freedom -- a story known to few outside of Washington.Combining important new research with an insider's grasp of Beltway politics, Mylroie describes how the CIA and the State Department have systematically discredited critical intelligence about Saddam's regime, including indisputable evidence of its possession of weapons of mass destruction. She reveals how major elements of the case against Iraq -- including information about possible links to al Qaeda and evidence of potential Iraqi involvement in the fall 2001 anthrax attacks -- were prematurely dismissed by these agencies for cynical reasons. Mylroie traces how the very idea of state-sponsored terrorism was pronounced dead after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, giving states like Iraq an open ing to underwrite terrorism without being detected. And she demonstrates that the war with Iraq was not only justifiable -- but the necessary and moral course of action.Bush vs. the Beltway also includes an authoritative essay by Professor Robert F. Turner of the University of Virginia School of Law, who makes the case that -- based on not only standing U.N. resolutions but the totality of circumstances surrounding Saddam's regime -- the war was justified on both legal and moral grounds. As the world enters a new era in international relations, one in which the new realities of terror mingle deceptively with eternal truths about war, intelligence, tyranny, and evil, Bush vs. the Beltway offers sobering lessons in the realities of twenty-first-century conflict.
The Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism
by Roger D. Hodge“The Mendacity of Hope should help wake up all those Obama-voters who've been napping while the wars escalate, the recession deepens, and the environment goes straight to hell.” —Barbara EhrenreichFrom the former editor-in-chief of Harper's Magazine comes a bold manifesto exposing President Obama's failure to enact progressive reform at home and abroad. National Magazine Award finalist Roger Hodge makes a hard-hitting case against Obama's failure to deliver on the promises of his campaign. The first book-length critique of the Obama's presidency from a prominent member of the left, The Mendacity of Hope will strike a chord with anyone stirred by the words of Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Frank Rich. It's the book that every frustrated progressive in America has been waiting to read.
Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto
by Dick Armey Matt KibbeThis groundbreaking manifesto is essential reading for tea party activists--or any American seeking to understand what the Tea Party is fighting for and what's next for the movement. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe have been on the front lines of one of the fastest-growing and most influential political phenomena in recent memory: the Tea Party movement. As the leaders of the advocacy organization FreedomWorks, they have helped guide and give voice to hundreds of thousands of activists from across the country and have a strong vision for the future of this powerful grassroots uprising. United by a strong belief in limited government and individual liberty, Tea Party members are changing the American political landscape. Unlike mainstream media accounts that observe the Tea Party movement from the outside looking in, Give Us Liberty chronicles the roots and rise of a new breed of taxpayer activism in the voices of those who were there. Discover the personalities that drove the first meetings, the unknown candidates whose principled stand earned them unlikely victories, the march that gathered more than a million activists, and the bedrock beliefs that brought them together. In this national call to action, Armey and Kibbe provide an intimate history of the movement, explain how citizens can join the cause, and chart the future of the Tea Party--and America. Give Us Liberty also contains a battle-tested, step-by-step guide to organizing and effecting change in any community.
Talking to the Enemy: Faith, Brotherhood, and the (Un)Making of Terrorists
by Scott Atran“Atran explores the way terrorists think of themselves and teaches us, at last, intelligent ways to think about terrorists.”—Christopher Dickey, Newsweek Middle East Editor and author of Securing the CityTalking to the Enemy by Scott Atran is an eye-opening and important book that offers readers a startling look deep inside terror groups. Based on the author’s unprecedented access to and in-depth interviews with terrorists and jihadis—including Al Qaeda, Hamas, and Taliban extremists, as well as members of other radical Islamic terror organizations—Talking to the Enemy provides fresh insight and unexpected answers to why there are people in this world willing to kill and die for a cause. A riveting, compelling work in the tradition of The Looming Tower and Terror in the Name of God, Talking to the Enemy is required reading for anyone interested in making the world a safer, more secure place for everyone.
The Women Jefferson Loved
by Virginia Scharff“A focused, fresh spin on Jeffersonian biography.” —Kirkus ReviewsIn the tradition of Annette Gordon-Reed’s The Hemingses of Monticello and David McCullough’s John Adams, historian Virginia Scharff offers a compelling, highly readable multi-generational biography revealing how the women Thomas Jefferson loved shaped the third president’s ideas and his vision for the nation. Scharff creates a nuanced portrait of the preeminent founding father, examining Jefferson through the eyes of the women who were closest to him, from his mother to his wife and daughters to Sally Hemings and the slave family he began with her.
Never Again?
by Abraham FoxmanThe ongoing war on terror, instability in the Middle East, and a faltering world economy are capturing headlines everywhere. But through it all runs a disturbing current of which many people are only dimly aware.Anti-Semitism, which had been on the decline worldwide since the end of World War II, has over the past few years made a perilous return. How could the twenty-first century -- the new millennium launched with such optimism just a few short years ago -- have so quickly been marred by the emergence of age-old hatreds, now armed with the powers of global terrorism?As national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham H. Foxman fights against the menace of intolerance every day. As a result of the disturbing events of the last few years, he is convinced that we currently face as great a threat to the safety and security of the Jewish people as we faced in the 1930s. Foxman writes: "Within living memory, we’ve seen what can happen when a nation or a continent experiences an unrestrained outbreak of anti-Semitism. The Jews of the world -- and all people of goodwill who share their desire for a just and free society -- learned a series of critical lessons from the tragic history of the twentieth century. Today, we understand how important it is to recognize the emergence of new forms of anti-Semitism so that we can warn the world and stave off the worst effects."Anti-Semitism remains a pernicious form of ethnic and religious intolerance, with consequences for all of humankind. In communities from the United States to the Middle East, Europe to South Africa and Latin America, Jews are being persecuted in old and new ways. Exploring the history of anti-Semitism and providing the first comprehensive examination of the new rampant anti-Jewish sentiment worldwide, Never Again?? offers a crucial discussion of the steps that must be taken to prevent this century from witnessing a replay of the horrors of the last.
Mad As Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System
by Scott Rasmussen Doug SchoenToday’s raucous revolt against Washington and Wall Street is a classic populist uprising. In Mad as Hell, political pollsters Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen discuss how the Tea Party movement is fundamentally remaking our two-party system and what it means for the future of American politics. For political junkies of every stripe—from both the left and the right side of the aisle—Mad as Hell is mandatory reading.
Against All Odds: My Life of Hardship, Fast Breaks, and Second Chances
by Scott BrownThe extraordinary personal journey of a man who, against all odds, rose to become one of America's most surprising and promising new political figures. Scott Brown's greatest win did not occur on a cold January election night in 2010 when he came from behind to capture the U. S. Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for nearly fifty years; it began when he survived a savage beating at the drunken, dirty-fingernail hands of a stepfather when he was barely six years old, while trying to protect his mother. In this gripping memoir of resilience and redemption, Brown tells the story of his difficult, often nomadic childhood, shunted from house to apartment, and town to town, seventeen times over his first eighteen years. He somehow thrived despite a largely absent father, who married four separate times. So did his mother, in relationships frequently stained with alcohol, anger, and even violence. For nearly two decades' growing up, Brown endured innumerable hardships and challenges, even stealing food to eat. He was periodically sent off to live with relatives, his possessions wrapped in a few old blankets. Saved by basketball, he was the boy who shoveled snow from the public courts to shoot hoops alone in the frozen cold. With clear-eyed conviction and unflinching candor, Brown tells the story of his own bad-boy days, of the coaches who mentored him, and of how he found a way out of familial chaos through the swish of a ball in the net, winning a starting slot on the Tufts varsity basketball team as a freshman player and becoming the tenth-highest scorer to graduate in the school's history. His rise from there was even more improbable: a first-year law student and member of the Massachusetts National Guard, he was picked as Cosmopolitan magazine's "America's Sexiest Man" and was vaulted into the glamorous world of New York modeling at the height of the 1980s. But the man who was once ushered into the backrooms of Studio 54 returned to Massachusetts to continue with his military and legal training, settle down, raise a family, and soon found an unlikely path that would lead him to national political stardom. Here, too, are the secrets from the unprecedented Senate race that captured the country's imagination and how Scott Brown won his remarkable victory. Poignant, heartfelt, humorous, and profound, this is the story of one man's dream and his determination to fight for a better future.
Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR--and How America Was Changed Forever
by Steven NealPolitical conventions in years past were more than pep rallies for preselected candidates -- they were suspenseful, no-holds-barred battles for the nomination. In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the man who would become one of America's most beloved presidents, was far from a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination at the party's convention in Chicago. Using new sources of information, award-winning reporter Steve Neal weaves the compelling story of how FDR finally got the nod along with the personalities of the day who influenced the decision, including Joseph P. Kennedy, Al Smith, Huey Long, and William Randolph Hearst.
Churchill Defiant: Fighting On
by Barbara LeamingNew York Times bestselling biographer Barbara Leaming has written a riveting political dramaof the last ten years of Winston Churchill's public life. In Churchill Defiant, Leaming tells the tumultuous behind-the-scenes story of Churchill's refusal to retire after his 1945 electoral defeat, and the bare-knuckled political and personal battles that ensued. Her ground-breaking biography Jack Kennedy: The Education of a Statesman, was the first to detail Churchill's extraordinary influence on Kennedy's thinking. Now in Churchill Defiant, Leaming gives us a vivid and compelling narrative that sheds fresh light on both the human dimension of Winston Churchill and on the struggles and achievements of his final years. At last, in Leaming's eloquent account, we understand the tangled web of personal relationships and rivalries, the intricate interplay of past and present, the looming sense of history that makes the story of these years as fascinating as anything in the extraordinary century-long saga of Winston Churchill's life.
Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption
by Jules Witcover"When I got knocked down by guys bigger than me . . . [my mother] sent me back out and demanded that I bloody their nose so I could walk down the street the next day."—Joe BidenIn this, the first definitive biography of Vice President Joe Biden, renowned journalist Jules Witcover examines the fascinating life of a man who, with his tenacity, outspokenness, and charming smile, has shaped Washington politics for the past forty years and who now serves as the forty-seventh vice president of the United States.Raised in the working-class towns of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, and with lackluster grades in school and no particular goals other than to play sports or, fleetingly, to become a priest, Biden shocked the nation in 1972 when he became one of the youngest elected senators in U.S. history. From that point forward, he carved a legacy for himself as one of the most respected legislators in the country. Biden's record in Congress was impressive. He chaired three Senate committees, confronted Slobodan Miloševic head-on as a war criminal, and conducted the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court justices. After voting for the 2002 Senate resolution to use force in Iraq, he later called for its repeal and became an outspoken critic of the conduct of the war.Yet for all of Biden's achievements in the Senate, his life has been filled with tragedy and countless challenges. Within two months of being elected in 1972, Biden lost his wife, Neilia, and his young daughter in a tragic accident—a loss that brought him to the nadir of despair and shook his resolve to stay in politics. And even after Biden vowed to continue his career, his tenure was marked by two brain aneurysms and career-threatening verbal gaffes. Then, after being considered among the front-runners in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries, Biden was accused of plagiarism for a speech he made at the Iowa State Fair. He dropped out of the race to the sounds of Washington pundits chattering that the presidency would never be his. Through it all, Biden survived and ran—and eventually dropped out—again in the 2008 primaries. But even with this defeat, Barack Obama recognized Biden's vast experience in domestic and foreign affairs, and selected him to be his running mate.Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption is based on exhaustive research by one of Washington's most prolific journalists. In drawing on numerous exclusive interviews with Biden's confidants and family members, as well as President Obama and Vice President Biden, Witcover has gone beyond conventional biography to track the forces that have shaped a man who, with his plainspoken style and inspiring life story, has resonated with millions of Americans and whose work is now influencing the Obama-Biden administration and shaping America.
Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama's Attack on Our Borders, Economy, and Security
by Michael SavageNo longer can we be Barack Obama's sheeple and let the American Dream be trampled, beaten, and burned to the ground Trickle Up Poverty, by bestselling author and revered radio host Dr. Michael Savage, is your best defense against the Obamanomics that are dragging the middle class, and everyone else, into a Marxist-Socialist death spiral. The Savage manifesto you hold in your hands shows how Obama is circumventing the Constitution to push through his radical agenda-and, most important, how we can restore our country to the power and prestige that Barack Obama and his corrupt and degenerate "czars" are trying to destroy. The Naked Marxist can and must be stopped. Obama's trickle up poverty is infecting all that we hold to be true and self-evident. Here's how: Impoverishing the Middle Class: Obama's confiscatory taxes, the socializing of our health-care system, and other legislative initiatives are taking away our earnings and our power to choose how we live our lives and putting it in the hands of corrupt and pro-Socialist cohorts. Erasing Our Border with Mexico: The Homeland Security department that can't shoot straight is gutting the Constitution in the name of protecting illegal aliens when it should be focusing on keeping out the terrorists and drug dealers. Defunding the Military and Putting Our Troops in Harm's Way: Obama's beatnik policy of taking apart our nuclear arsenal and destroying NASA, while implementing PC Rules of Engagement that don't allow our troops to protect themselves, is dangerously weakening our security and ending our military dominance. Lining the Pockets of His Wall Street Buddies: While our 401(k)'s suffer, Obama and his Wall Street heavy contributors are creating their own legislation that is driving down stock prices while allowing his biggest campaign contributors to make trillions of dollars. Propagandizing the Media: Once a forum for free speech, Obama's administration has systematically overrun the media in a hostile takeover with threats and false promises that serve only to pull the wool over the sheeple's eyes. Ignoring the Tea Party-the Voice of the People: No longer a representative government, Obama is blatantly disregarding, and even suppressing, the fastest-growing collective voice in the nation right now-that of the patriotic Tea Party. His Union-Crony Purple Shirts have shown up at town-hall meetings and peaceful protests to intimidate and antagonize the democratic process. We are dangerously close to losing the nation we love, but it's not too late. If you buy only one book to learn and react to what Obama the Destroyer has done and plans on doing to America, this is it!
Stalin's Last Crime
by Vladimir Naumov Jonathan BrentA new investigation, based on previously unseen KGB documents, reveals the startling truth behind Stalin's last great conspiracy. On January 13, 1953, a stunned world learned that a vast conspiracy had been unmasked among Jewish doctors in the USSR to murder Kremlin leaders. Mass arrests quickly followed. The Doctors' Plot, as this alleged scheme came to be called, was Stalin's last crime. In the fifty years since Stalin's death many myths have grown up about the Doctors' Plot. Did Stalin himself invent the conspiracy against the Jewish doctors or was it engineered by subordinates who wished to eliminate Kremlin rivals? Did Stalin intend a purge of all Jews from Moscow, Leningrad, and other major cities, which might lead to a Soviet Holocaust? How was this plot related to the cold war then dividing Europe, and the hot war in Korea? Finally, was the Doctors' Plot connected with Stalin's fortuitous death? Brent and Naumov have explored an astounding arra of previously unknown, top-secret documents from the KGB, the presidential archives, and other state and party archives in order to probe the mechanism of on of Stalin's greatest intrigues -- and to tell for the first time the incredible full story of the Doctors' Plot.
Fire In the East
by Paul BrackenOn May 11, 1998, India began testing nuclear weapons. The world will never be the same. The Indian test of five atomic bombs, and the Pakistani tests that answered a few weeks later, marked the end of the arms control system that has kept the world from nuclear war for half a century. As Paul Bracken, professor of management and political science at Yale University, explains in this landmark study, they signal the reemergence of something the world hasn't seen since the sixteenth century-modern technologically adept military powers on the mainland of Asia. In Fire in the East, Professor Bracken reveals several alarming trends and secrets, such as how close Isreal actually came to a germ warfare attack during the Gulf War, why "globalization" will spur the development of weapons of mass destruction, how American interests are endangered by Asian nationalism, and how to navigate what he names the second nuclear age. Fire in the East is a provocative account of how the Western monopoly on modern arms is coming to an end, and how it will forever transform America's role on the stage of international politics.
Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI
by Peter Lance"A chilling account of a killer who slipped through the hands of a daft justice system….Triple Cross chronicles one of the most vicious spies of our time."—Toronto SunIn the years prior to 2001, no single agent of al Qaeda was more successful in compromising the U.S. intelligence community than Ali Mohamed. For almost two decades the former Egyptian army commando succeeded in living a double life—marrying an American woman, becoming a naturalized citizen, and infiltrating the CIA in Europe, the Green Berets at Fort Bragg, and the FBI in California—even as he helped orchestrate the campaign of terror that culminated in the 9/11 attacks.Triple Cross is award-winning investigative reporter Peter Lance's chilling true account of the career of the master spy known to his al Qaeda brothers as "Ali the American"—an explosive narrative revealing the gaping holes in our nation's security net. Finally, coming off his previous FBI exposé, Cover Up, Lance also chronicles the collapse of the Brooklyn murder trial of former FBI agent Lin DeVecchio, a case that could well have revolutionized public understanding of the background of 9/11.
Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda
by Sean HannityBarack Obama and his radical team of self-professed socialists, fringe activists, and others are trying to remake the American way of life. They have used their new Democratic majority to launch an alarming assault on our capitalist system—while abandoning the war on terror, undermining our national security, and weakening our position in the eyes of our enemies. The "candidate of change" is threatening to change our country irreparably, and for the worse—if we don't act to stop him now.Sean Hannity has been sounding the alarms about Obama and his agenda from the start. Now—in his first new book in six years—he issues a stirring call to action. Hannity surveys all the major Obama players—from the president's affiliation with radical theology to his advisers' history of Marxist activism, repression of the media, support for leftist dictators, and worse. He exposes their resulting campaign to dismantle the American free-market system and forfeit our national sovereignty. But he draws on the examples of Ronald Reagan and the GOP's Contract with America to show how conservatives can unite behind this country's most cherished principles and act now to get America back on the right track—while we still can.
Why We Rule!
by Rob Cohen David WollockPlymouth Rock meets Kid Rock in Why We Rule! an irreverent and unabashedly patriotic celebration of the United States of America. Inspiring, educational, and almost as much fun as getting high and watching TV! Why do we love our country so much? We're the home of the free, the land of the brave, and the wacky inventors of everything from toilet paper to People magazine. Join us as we take one giant leap for mankind with lists, stats, and facts on: Rock 'n' Roll From Elvis to Britney . . . the lindy hop to hip-hop! Hollywood The best flicks, from Jaws to Deep Throat! Inventions The internet, martinis, and the slinky! Medicine Pioneers in kidney transplants and breast implants! Eats Home of hot apple pie, and hot pizza delivered in thirty minutes or less! Sexy Chicks From Angelina Jolie to the Statue of Liberty! #1 In Nobel prizes, Olympic gold medals, and worldwide production of salt! If that's not enough, how about celebrating our entrepreneurial spirit, landing on the moon, hot-and-cold running showers, big national monuments, and oh, yeah . . . a little thing called freedom.
Reagan Diaries, Volume 2: November 1985–January 1989
by Ronald Reagan Douglas BrinkleyVolume Two of the daily diaries of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.
Reagan Diaries, Volume 1: January 1981–October 1985
by Ronald Reagan Douglas BrinkleyVolume One of the daily diaries of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.