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The Good Fight: Why Liberals—and Only Liberals—Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again
by Peter BeinartIn this passionate, provocative book, Peter Beinart offers a bold new vision and sounds the call for liberals to revive the spirit that once swept America and inspired the world.
The Great Awakening
by Jim WallisNow in paperback: the bestselling author of God's Politics revives our hope in a politics that reflects our highest common values and offers a roadmap for solving our biggest social problems.
The Conservative Soul: The Politics Of Human Difference
by Andrew Sullivan"As engaging as it is provocative. . . . Sullivan’s book should be read closely by liberals as well as conservatives.” — Jonathan Raban, The New York Review of BooksOne of the nation's leading political commentators makes an impassioned call to rescue conservatism from the excesses of the Republican far right, which has tried to make the GOP the first fundamentally religious party in American history. Today's conservatives support the idea of limited government, but they have increased government's size and power to new heights. They believe in balanced budgets, but they have boosted government spending, debt, and pork to record levels. They believe in national security but launched a reckless, ideological occupation in Iraq that has made us tangibly less safe. They have substituted religion for politics and damaged both.In this bold and powerful book, Andrew Sullivan makes a provocative, prescient, and heartfelt case for a revived conservatism at peace with the modern world, and dedicated to restraining government and empowering individuals to live rich and fulfilling lives.
My Holocaust
by Tova ReichMaurice and Norman Messer, father-and-son business partners, know a good product when they see it. That product is the Holocaust, and Maurice, a Holocaust survivor with an inflated personal history, and Norman, enjoying vicarious victimhood as a participant in the second-generation movement, proceed to market it enthusiastically. Not even the disappearance of Nechama, Norman's daughter and Maurice's granddaughter, into the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz, where she is transformed into a nun, Sister Consolatia of the Cross, deters them from pushing their agenda. Father and son embark on a tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, which Maurice-now the driving force behind the most powerful Holocaust memorialization institution in America-organizes to soften up a potential major donor, and which Norman takes advantage of to embark on a surrealistic search for his daughter. At the death camp they run into assorted groups and individuals all clamoring for a piece of the Holocaust, including Buddhist New Agers on a retreat, Israeli schoolchildren on a required heritage pilgrimage, a Holocaust artifact hustler, filmmakers, and an astonishing collection of others. All hell breaks loose when Maurice's museum is taken over by a coalition of self-styled victims seeking Holocaust status, bringing together a vivid cast of all-too-human characters, from Holocaust professionals to Holocaust wannabees of every persuasion, in the fevered competition to win the grand prize of owning the Holocaust. An inspiringly courageous and shockingly original tour-de-force, My Holocaust dares to penetrate territory until now considered sacrosanct in its brilliantly provocative and darkly comic exploration of the uses and abuses of memory and the meaning of human suffering.
Understanding Iraq
by William R. PolkThe Dramatic History of Iraq in One Concise Volume The destinies of Iraq and America will be tightly intertwined into the foreseeable future due to the U.S. incursion into this complex, perplexing desert nation -- the latest in a long history of violent outside interventions. A country sitting atop the world's largest supply of crude oil, Iraq will continue to play an essential role in global economics and in Middle Eastern politics for many decades to come. Therefore, it is more important than ever for Westerners to have a clear understanding of the volatile, enigmatic "Land of Two Rivers" -- its turbulent past and its looming possibilities. In this acutely penetrating and endlessly fascinating study, acknowledged Middle East authority William R. Polk presents a comprehensive history of the tumultuous events that shaped modern Iraq, while offering well-reasoned judgments on what we can expect there in the years to come.
The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs
by Madeleine AlbrightDoes America, as George W. Bush has proclaimed, have a special mission, derived from God, to bring liberty and democracy to the world? How much influence does the Christian right have over U.S. foreign policy? And how should America deal with violent Islamist extremists? <P><P> Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state and bestselling author of Madam Secretary, offers a thoughtful and often surprising look at the role of religion in shaping America's approach to the world. Drawing upon her experiences while in office and her own deepest beliefs about morality, the United States, and the present state of world affairs, a woman noted for plain speaking offers her thoughts about the most controversial topics of our time.
Sharpe's Devil: Napoleon and South America, 1820-1821 (Sharpe #23)
by Bernard CornwellFrom New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell, another exciting adventure in the world-renowned Sharpe series, chronicling the rise of Richard Sharpe, a Private in His Majesty’s Army at the siege of Seringapatam. Five years after the Battle of Waterloo, Sharpe’s peaceful retirement in Normandy is shattered. An old friend, Don Blas Vivar, is missing in Chile, reported dead at rebel hands – a report his wife refuses to believe. She appeals to Sharpe to find out the truth.Sharpe, along with Patrick Harper, find themselves bound for Chile via St. Helena, where they have a fateful meeting with the fallen Emperor Napoleon. Convinced that they are on their way to collect a corpse, neither man can imagine that dangers that await them in Chile…
Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power
by Robert DallekIn this epic dual biography, one of our most distinguished scholars—the bestselling author of An Unfinished Life—probes the lives and times of two unlikely leaders whose partnership dominated American and world affairs and changed the course of historyRichard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were two of the most compelling, contradictory, and important leaders in America in the second half of the 20th century. Both were largely self-made men, brimming with ambition, driven by their own inner demons, and often ruthless in pursuit of their goals. Tapping into a wealth of recently declassified documents and tapes, Robert Dallek uncovers fascinating details about Nixon and Kissinger’s tumultuous personal relationship—their collaboration and rivalry—and the extent to which they struggled to outdo each other in the reach of foreign policy achievements. He also brilliantly analyzes their dealings with power brokers at home and abroad, including the nightmare of Vietnam, the brilliant opening to China, détente with the Soviet Union, the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East, the disastrous overthrow of Allende in Chile, and growing tensions between India and Pakistan, while recognizing how both men were continually plotting to distract the American public’s attention from the growing scandal of Watergate. Authoritative, illuminating, and deeply engrossing, Nixon and Kissinger provides a shocking new understanding of the immense power and sway these two men held in affecting world history.
Sharpe's Battle: The Battle of Fuentes de Onoro, May 1811 (Sharpe #12)
by Bernard CornwellFrom New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell, the twelth installment in the world-renowned Sharpe series, chronicling the rise of Richard Sharpe, a Private in His Majesty’s Army at the siege of Seringapatam. Quartered in a crumbling Portuguese fort, Richard Sharpe and his men are attacked by an elite French unit, led by an old enemy of Sharpe’s, and suffer heavy losses.The army’s high command blame Sharpe for the disaster and his military career seems to be ruined. His only hope is to redeem himself on the battlefield. So with his honour at stake, against an overwhelming number of French troops, Sharpe leads his men to battle in the narrow streets of Fuentes de Oñoro.
Hunter Killer (Arnold Morgan #8)
by Patrick RobinsonAmerican military forces race to prevent a coup in the Middle East in this thriller by the New York Times–bestselling author of Scimitar SL-2.Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading producer of oil, is on the brink of revolution. Inside the opulent palaces and lavish mansions, the royal family is ransacking the country’s dwindling coffers while the desert kingdom seethes with unrest. Appalled at his family’s extravagant lifestyle, Crown Prince Nasir vows to end the careless and destructive rule, and sets in motion a top-secret operation to destroy the Saudi oil industry and bankrupt the monarch. To do so, he must enlist the help of an ally, a naval power willing to help in return for a share of the wealth.Nasir turns to France, with its lethal Hunter Killer submarines, capable of inflicting devastating damage on the massive oil installations along the shores of the Red Sea and in the Persian Gulf. Objective: To shift the power structure of the world’s oil giant.Under the command of the mysterious and lethally effective Colonel Jacques Gamoudi—nicknamed “Le Chasseur,” or “The Hunter—the ferocious battle for the desert kingdom begins. As the world’s oil markets plunge into chaos, United States Admiral Arnold Morgan, former Security Adviser to the President, and Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Ramshawe are summonded to the White House, where they learn that Gamoudi has been joined by none other than Morgan’s archenemy, Hamas General Ravi Rashood, in the battle for the capital city of Riyadh.Now Le Chasseur becomes the hunted, by both French and American Special Forces—one trying to assassinate and silence him forever, the other desperate to take him alive and to force a public confession of France’s subversive actions.Praise for Patrick Robinson“An absolutely marvelous thriller writer.” —Jack Higgins“The new Frederick Forsyth.” —Guardian“Patrick Robinson is quickly replacing Tom Clancy as the preeminent writer of modern naval fiction.” —Florida Times-Union“One of the crown princes of the beach read-thriller.” —Stephen Coonts
Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West
by Benazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October 2007, after eight years of exile, hopeful that she could be a catalyst for change. Upon a tumultuous reception, she survived a suicide-bomb attack that killed nearly two hundred of her countrymen. But she continued to forge ahead, with more courage and conviction than ever, since she knew that time was running out—for the future of her nation, and for her life.In Reconciliation, Bhutto recounts in gripping detail her final months in Pakistan and offers a bold new agenda for how to stem the tide of Islamic radicalism and to rediscover the values of tolerance and justice that lie at the heart of her religion. With extremist Islam on the rise throughout the world, the peaceful, pluralistic message of Islam has been exploited and manipulated by fanatics. Bhutto persuasively argues that America and Britain are fueling this turn toward radicalization by supporting groups that serve only short-term interests. She believed that by enabling dictators, the West was actually contributing to the frustration and extremism that lead to terrorism. With her experience governing Pakistan and living and studying in the West, Benazir Bhutto was versed in the complexities of the conflict from both sides. She was a renaissance woman who offered a way out.In this riveting and deeply insightful book, Bhutto explores the complicated history between the Middle East and the West. She traces the roots of international terrorism across the world, including American support for Pakistani general Zia-ul-Haq, who destroyed political parties, eliminated an independent judiciary, marginalized NGOs, suspended the protection of human rights, and aligned Pakistani intelligence agencies with the most radical elements of the Afghan mujahideen. She speaks out not just to the West, but to the Muslims across the globe who are at a crossroads between the past and the future, between education and ignorance, between peace and terrorism, and between dictatorship and democracy. Democracy and Islam are not incompatible, and the clash between Islam and the West is not inevitable. Bhutto presents an image of modern Islam that defies the negative caricatures often seen in the West. After reading this book, it will become even clearer what the world has lost by her assassination.
The Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel
by Dalia SoferIn the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, rare-gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested, wrongly accused of being a spy. Terrified by his disappearance, his family must reconcile a new world of cruelty and chaos with the collapse of everything they have known. As Isaac navigates the tedium and terrors of prison, forging tenuous trusts, his wife feverishly searches for him, suspecting, all the while, that their once-trusted housekeeper has turned on them and is now acting as an informer. And as his daughter, in a childlike attempt to stop the wave of baseless arrests, engages in illicit activities, his son, sent to New York before the rise of the Ayatollahs, struggles to find happiness even as he realizes that his family may soon be forced to embark on a journey of incalculable danger.A page-turning literary debut, The Septembers of Shiraz simmers with questions of identity, alienation, and love, not simply for a spouse or a child, but for all the intangible sights and smells of the place we call home.
Scimitar SL-2 (Arnold Morgan #7)
by Patrick RobinsonTerrorists aim to create a mega-tsunami with a nuclear missile in this military thriller by the New York Times–bestselling author of Barracuda 945.Amid the Canary Islands lies the massive crater of the volcano Cumbre Vieja. Scientists theorize that one day the volcano will erupt, triggering a series of events that will lead to a tsunami higher than any in recorded history. This mega-tsunami, with waves of more than 150 feet in height, would ravage Europe, Africa, and ultimately the East Coast of the United States, causing immeasurable loss of life and destruction . . . After Professor Paul Landon, the world’s most prominent geophysicist, is found with a bullet in his head, it is discovered that Ravi Rashood—America’s nemesis and the former SAS officer who is now the head of Hamas—has hatched a diabolical plot against the West: to fire a nuclear-tipped guided cruise missile—Scimitar SL-2, named for the curved sword of the Muslim warrior Saladin—into Cumbre Vieja.U.S. Admiral Arnold Morgan, the retired National Security Adviser, and the Pentagon know it’s not a joke when Rashood, accompanied once again by his wife, the Palestinian Shakira, explodes Mount St. Helens. Morgan knows something even more horrific is to come. But stopping them won’t be easy.Rashood and his Hamas crew are deep in the ocean, in an undetectable sub, which he managed to procure from Russia via communist China. Perhaps worse, a new president, a weak-willed liberal in the White House, worries about taking a stand. As the terrorists’ deadline approaches, the newly implemented and unseasoned National Security team must consider the unthinkable. They must assume the daunting task of organizing a mass relocation of major population centers along the East Coast to safer ground.Morgan once again finds himself at the center of a desperate cat-and-mouse chase, battling his greatest enemy yet as he races against time to locate the silent underwater marauder and stop Rashood before the unimaginable happens . . . With his trademark authentic research and grasp of military hardware, geopolitics, and cutting-edge science, Patrick Robinson is at the top of his game with this tale.Praise for Scimitar S-2“What Robinson does do . . . is tell a great story, and tell it well, and scare the living vinegar out of you along the way. . . . Scimitar S-2may well be the most frightening book you will read all year.” —Bookreporter.com
Jingo: A Discworld Novel (City Watch #4)
by Terry Pratchett“Pratchett’s writing is a constant delight. No one mixes the fantastical and the mundane to better comic effect or offers sharper insights into the absurdities of human endeavor.” —Daily MailCommander Sam Vines, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, and their compatriots must fight for their country (or something like that) when Discworld goes to war in this wickedly funny Discworld novel from New York Times bestselling author Terry Pratchett.No one would dream of starting a war without a perfectly good reason . . . such as a “strategic” piece of old rock in the middle of nowhere known as Leshp. It isn’t much of an island that rises up one moonless night from the depths of the Circle Sea—just a few square miles of silt and some old ruins. Unfortunately, this historically disputed lump of earth is once again floating directly between two proud lands, Ankh-Morpork and the city of Al-Khali on the coast of Klatch. And that’s enough to ignite the inglorious international pastime known as “war.”It is, after all, every citizen’s right to bear arms to defend their own. Even if it isn’t technically their own. And even if they don’t have much in the way of actual weaponry. Pressed into patriotic service, Commander Sam Vimes thinks he should be leading his loyal watchmen, female watchdwarf, and lady werewolf into battle against local malefactors rather than against Klatchians. But war is, after all, simply the greatest of all crimes—and it’s Sir Samuel’s sworn duty to seek out criminal masterminds wherever they may be hiding . . . and lock them away.As two armies march, Vimes faces unpleasant foes who are out to get him . . . and that’s just the people on his side. The enemy might be even worse.The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Jingo is the 4th book in the City Watch collection and the 21st Discworld book.The City Watch series in order:Guards! Guards!Men at ArmsFeet of ClayJingoThe Fifth ElephantNight WatchThud!Snuff
Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib
by Seymour M. HershSince September 11, 2001, Seymour M. Hersh has riveted readers -- and outraged the Bush Administration -- with his explosive stories in The New Yorker, including his headline-making pieces on the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Now, Hersh brings together what he has learned, along with new reporting, to answer the critical question of the last four years: How did America get from the clear morning when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center to a divisive and dirty war in Iraq?In Chain of Command, Hersh takes an unflinching look behind the public story of the war on terror and into the lies and obsessions that led America into Iraq. Hersh draws on sources at the highest levels of the American government and intelligence community, in foreign capitals, and on the battlefield for an unparalleled view of a critical chapter in America's recent history. In a new afterword, he critiques the government's failure to adequately investigate prisoner abuse -- at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere -- and punish those responsible. With an introduction by The New Yorker's editor, David Remnick, Chain of Command is a devastating portrait of an administration blinded by ideology and of a president whose decisions have made the world a more dangerous place for America.
Sharpe's Fury: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811 (Sharpe #11)
by Bernard CornwellFrom New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell, the eleventh installment in the world-renowned Sharpe series, chronicling the rise of Richard Sharpe, a Private in His Majesty’s Army at the siege of Seringapatam. In the winter of 1811, the war seems lost. Spain has fallen to the French, except for Cadiz, now the Spanish capital and itself under siege. Inside the city walls an intricate diplomatic dance is taking place and Richard Sharpe faces more than one enemy.The small British force is trapped by a French army, and their only hope lies with the outnumbered redcoats outside refusing to admit defeat. There, in the sweltering horror of Barrosa, Sharpe will meet his old enemy Colonel Vandal once again.
The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism
by Ron Suskind“A touching story. . . . Suskind is a skilled reporter. . . The moral of Suskind’s story, in short, is that nothing suceeds like truthfulness.” — The Washington Post Book World“Suskind’s reporting continues to make him an indispensable chronicler of the Bush/Cheney debacle.” — Tim Rutten, The Los Angeles Times“Ron Suskind does not think small. . . . A sweeping examination of moral authority in a global world and how a post-9/11 America seems to have lost its way.” — The Boston Globe“A bombshell book.” — The Today Show“An explosive new book.” — MSNBC.com“There is much more to learn from Suskind’s reporting, including new evidence that Bush and other officials knew there were no WMD in Iraq.” — Joe Conason, Salon“An ambitious attempt to weave all the strands of our current conflict into a unified whole. . . . Ron Suskind’s new book has earned buzz because of his arresting argument that the Bush administration actually forged evidence to buttress its case for war.” — Andrew Sullivan“Moving. . . . Mr. Suskind is a prodigiously talented craftsman. . . . It’s all here: a cast of characters that sprawls across class and circumstance to represent the totality of a historical moment. . . . These hard times, Mr. Suskind’s book suggests, call for a nonfiction Dickens.” — The New York Observer“Outstanding. . . . A searching, globe-hopping masterpiece of investigative journalism and empathetic prose. Amidst the ‘arabesque’ of richly drawn characters, Suskind reveals a few bombshell discoveries regarding the Bush Administration’s irresponsibility and outright lies.” — The Huffington Post“The leading chronicler of the forty-third president.” — Esquire“Ron Suskind has traced the history of the Bush years with a novelist’s ear. Now he looks at the tragedy through the eye of the victims.” — The American Prospect“Suskind is a brilliant reporter and his investigation into the post- 9/11, pre-Iraq war period makes you think you’re reading about it for the first time. . . . It’s damning. Give this man another Pulitzer Prize.” — Christopher Buckley, The Daily Beast“Incisive. . . . No journalist has more ably explored the dark crevices of the Bush administration’s foreign policy. . . . Suskind has shown that faith -- the wrong kind of faith, anyway -- can produce disaster.” — Salon“Extraordinary. . . . If Mr Suskind is correct, laws have been broken and President George W. Bush and/or Dick Cheney are implicated. . . . This is—or ought to be—a Watergate-sized scandal.” — Clive Crook, The Financial Times“Startling. . . . Chilling. . . . A reportorial feat. . . . Suskind skillfully traces several interwoven stories of cultural clashes and cross-pollination, all of them pursuing the questions of whether America and the Muslim world can ever look past their differences and find understanding.” — Michael Crowley, The New York Times Book Review“Complex, ambitious, provocative, risky. . . . In a crowded, highly talented field, Mr. Suskind bids fair to claim the crown as the most perceptive, incisive, dogged chronicler of the inner workings of the Bush administration.” — Mark Danner, The New York Times“A vivid snapshot of a year, 2006-2007, in the life of a nation whose leaders have betrayed its high moral purpose. One of Suskind’s Washington players cries into the darkness, “Can the great beast self-correct?” Can America, Suskind asks, recover its missionary rectitude? He clearly thinks it can.” — The Sunday Times (London)
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
by Jeff SharletThey insist they are just a group of friends, yet they funnel millions of dollars through tax-free corporations. They claim to disdain politics, but congressmen of both parties describe them as the most influential religious organization in Washington. They say they are not Christians, but simply believers. Behind the scenes at every National Prayer Breakfast since 1953 has been the Family, an elite network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. Their goal is "Jesus plus nothing." Their method is backroom diplomacy. The Family is the startling story of how their faith-part free-market fundamentalism, part imperial ambition-has come to be interwoven with the affairs of nations around the world.
Sharpe's Prey: Richard Sharpe and the Expedition to Denmark, 1807 (Sharpe #5)
by Bernard Cornwell"The greatest writer of historical adventures today." —Washington PostCritically acclaimed, perennial New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell (Agincourt, The Fort, the Saxon Tales) makes real history come alive in his breathtaking historical fiction. Praised as "the direct heir to Patrick O'Brian" (Agincourt, The Fort), Cornwell has brilliantly captured the fury, chaos, and excitement of battle as few writers have ever done—perhaps most vividly in his phenomenally popular novels following the illustrious military career of British Army officer Richard Sharpe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In Sharpe's Prey, Sharpe must prove his mettle once again after performing courageously on Wellesley's battlefields in India and the Iberian Peninsula, as he undertakes a secret mission to Copenhagen, Denmark in 1807 to prevent a resurgent Napoleon from capturing the Danish fleet. Perhaps the San Francisco Chronicle said it best: "If only all history lessons could be as vibrant."
Nelson Mandela
by Kadir NelsonThis stunning picture book biography of Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson is a receipient of the Coretta Scott King Honor award. In this picture book biography, award-winning author and illustrator Kadir Nelson tells the story of Mandela, a global icon, in poignant free verse and glorious illustrations. It is the story of a young boy's determination to change South Africa, and of the struggles of a man who eventually became the president of his country by believing in equality for all people, no matter the color of their skin. Readers will be inspired by Mandela's triumph and his lifelong quest to create a more just world. An author's note at the back retells the story of Mandela's fight against apartheid in simple prose, and takes the story further, including Mandela's Nobel Peace Prize. A short bibliography lists additional sources for readers who want to find out more.
Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View
by Stanley MilgramThis book presents Milgram's fascinating and troubling chronicle of his classic study and a vivid and persuasive explanation of his conclusions.
A Home on the Field: How One Championship Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America
by Paul CuadrosA Home on the Field is about faith, loyalty, and trust. It is a parable in the tradition of Stand and Deliver and Hoosiers—a story of one team and their accidental coach who became certain heroes to the whole community.For the past ten years, Siler City, North Carolina, has been at the front lines of immigration in the interior portion of the United States. Like a number of small Southern towns, workers come from traditional Latino enclaves across the United States, as well as from Latin American countries, to work in what is considered the home of industrial-scale poultry processing. At enormous risk, these people have come with the hope of a better life and a chance to realize their portion of the American Dream. But it isn't always easy. Assimilation into the South is fraught with struggles, and in no place is this more poignant than in the schools. When Paul Cuadros packed his bags and moved south to study the impact of the burgeoning Latino community, he encountered a culture clash between the long-time residents and the newcomers that eventually boiled over into an anti-immigrant rally featuring former Klansman David Duke. It became Paul's goal to show the growing numbers of Latino youth that their lives could be more than the cutting line at the poultry plants, that finishing high school and heading to college could be a reality. He needed to find something that the boys could commit to passionately, knowing that devotion to something bigger than them would be the key to helping the boys find where they fit in the world. The answer was soccer. But Siler City, like so many other small rural communities, was a football town, and long-time residents saw soccer as a foreign sport and yet another accommodation to the newcomers. After an uphill battle, the Jets soccer team at Jordan-Matthews High School was born. Suffering setbacks and heartbreak, the majority Latino team, in only three seasons and against all odds, emerged poised to win the state championship.
Nemesis: The True Story: Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle That Brought Down the Kennedys
by Peter EvansPeter Evans's biography of Aristotle Onassis, Ari, metwith great acclaim when it was published in 1986. Ariprovided the world with an unprecedented glimpse of theGreek shipping magnate's orbit of dizzying wealth, twistedintrigues, and questionable mores. Not long after the bookappeared, however, Onassis's daughter Christina and hislongtime business partner Yannis Georgakis hinted toEvans that he had missed the "real story" -- one that provedOnassis's intrigues had deadly results. "I must begin,"Georgakis said, "with the premise that, for Onassis, BobbyKennedy was unfinished business from way back..."His words launched Evans into the heart of a story thattightly bound Onassis not to Jackie's first husband, but tohis ambitious younger brother Bobby. A bitter rivalryemerged between Bobby and Ari long before Onassis andJackie had even met. Nemesis reveals the tangled thread ofevents that linked two of the world's most powerful men intheir intense hatred for one another and uncovers thesurprising role played by the woman they both loved. Theirpower struggle unfolds against a heady backdrop ofinternational intrigue: Bobby Kennedy's discovery of theGreek shipping magnate's shady dealings, which led him tobar Onassis from trade with the United States; Onassis'sattempt to control much of Saudi Arabia's oil; Onassis'suntimely love affair with Jackie's married sister LeeRadziwill; and his bold invitation to First Lady Jackie tojoin him on his yacht -- without the president. Just as theself-made Greek tycoon gloried in the chance to stir thewrath of the Kennedys, they struggled unsuccessfully tobreak his spell over the woman who held the key to all oftheir futures. After Jack's death, Bobby became ever closerto Camelot's holy widow, and fought to keep her frommarrying his sworn rival. But Onassis rarely failed to getwhat he wanted, and Jackie became his wife shortly afterBobby was killed.Through extensive interviews with the closest friends,lovers, and relatives of Onassis and the Kennedys, longtimejournalist Evans has uncovered the shocking culmination ofthe Kennedy-Onassis-Kennedy love triangle: AristotleOnassis was at the heart of the plot to kill Bobby Kennedy.Meticulously tracing Onassis's connections in the world ofterrorism, Nemesis presents compelling evidence that hefinanced the assassination -- including a startling confessionthat has gone unreported for nearly three decades. Alongthe way, this groundbreaking work also daringly paintsthese international icons in all of their true colors. FromEvans's deeply nuanced portraits of the charismatic Greekshipping magnate and his acquisitive iconic bride to hisprobing and revelatory look into the events that shaped anera, Nemesis is a work that will not be soon forgotten.
Violent Politics: A History of Insurgency, Terrorism, & Guerrilla War, from the American Revolution to Iraq
by William R. PolkIn the current Middle East, insurgency tactics are used with frequency and increasing success. But guerrilla war-fare is not just the tool of modern-day terrorists. Its roots stretch back to our very own revolution.In Violent Politics, William Polk takes us on a concise, brilliant tour of insurgencies throughout history, starting with the American struggle for independence, when fighters had to battle against both the British and the loyalists, those colonists who sided with the monarchy. Instinctively, in a way they probably wouldn't have described as a coherent strategy, the rebel groups employed the tactics of insurgency.From there, Polk explores the role of insurgency in several other notable conflicts, including the Spanish guerrilla war against Napoleon, the Irish struggle for independence, the Algerian War of National Independence, and Vietnam. He eventually lands at the present day, where the lessons of this history are needed more than ever as Americans engage in ongoing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq—and beyond.
A View from the Eye of the Storm: Terror and Reason in the Middle East
by Haim HarariIn 2004, internationally known physicist Haim Harari was invited to address the advisory board of a major multinational corporation. In a short speech he offered a penetrating analysis of the components of terror, and presented a passionate call for a new era in the Middle East. The speech, entitled "A View from the Eye of the Storm," was not intended for publication, but when a copy was leaked and posted onto the Internet, it caused a worldwide sensation, eventually being translated into more than half a dozen languages. Now—as the modern era of Islamic terror continues to unfold—Harari reaches further, to offer this serious yet accessible survey of the landscape of Middle Eastern war and peace at this challenging crossroads in history.Moving beyond the sterile discourse of foreign affairs journals, Harari encourages the world to view the Middle East through the eyes of a "proverbial taxi driver," a man on the street whose wisdom (and sense of humor) outstrips that of the experts. And, as he observes, to anyone familiar with the Middle East from a taxi driver's perspective, the "persistent ugly storm" engulfing the Arab world is far more than a territorial battle with Israel: It is an "undeclared World War III" that rages from Bali to Madrid, from Nairobi to New York, from Buenos Aires to Istanbul, and from Tunis to Moscow. The sad result is that much of the Arab world has become an "unprecedented breeding ground for cruel dictators, terror networks, fanaticism, incitement, suicide murders, and general decline." And unless the free nations of the world mobilize to stop it, Harari argues, this new world war will continue to cause bloodshed on all continents.As a fifth-generation Israeli-born observer, Harari includes a thorough response to the conventional wisdom about Middle Eastern affairs, including a frank dissection of the media's lopsided portrait of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Drawing on his family's two centuries of life in the Middle East, he offers a compelling catalog of the steps necessary to reach a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians—steps, he writes, that are "inevitable—not because everybody accepts them today, but because all sides must accept them before peace can be achieved." And he urges the civilized world to combat terror by isolating its state sponsors, blocking its funding, and promoting education, women's equality, and human rights reform.Eloquent in its simplicity, written with passion, humor, and the directness of a scientist who has spent a lifetime explaining his work to the general public, A View from the Eye of the Storm is that rare book with the power to change hearts and minds.