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Política sin anestesia
by Mónica GarcíaPolítica sin anestesia es el primer libro de Mónica García, política revelación de la izquierda madrileña. Médica, madre, mujer. Tres palabras que no solo eran un eslogan de campaña electoral, sino que definían a la persona que encarnaba la candidatura de Más Madrid a la presidencia de la Comunidad de Madrid. Mónica García, anestesista del hospital público 12 de Octubre, fue arrastrada por las mareas que siguieron al 15M y entró en política, como tantos ciudadanos de a pie en aquel ciclo histórico. En este libro, Mónica García cuenta en primera persona el largo camino que la llevó del quirófano a la Asamblea de Madrid; desde las reuniones familiares en las que se debatía sobre política hasta el resultado histórico en las elecciones que la convirtieron en líder de la oposición, pasando por grandes manifestaciones en defensa de la Sanidad Pública, campeonatos de atletismo o su experiencia de la maternidad. Y lo hace sin anestesia, sin enmascarar emociones tan dolorosas como las que aún le provoca el recuerdo de los pasillos de los hospitales colapsados, en los que afloraba la desesperación durante los peores momentos de la pandemia. Un testimonio honesto, no exento de ironía y humor, en el que ajusta cuentas con aquellos que fueron negligentes, al tiempo que reflexiona sobre la banalización de la política o la degradación del debate en una realidad que algunos tratan de convertir en un lugar cada vez más individualista y competitivo. Política sin anestesia es el relato vehemente y apasionado de una mujer dispuesta a poner alma, corazón y cerebro en la lucha por un mundo más solidario, más compasivo, más justo. Mejor.
Política: Nuevomexicanos and American Political Incorporation, 1821–1910
by Phillip B. GonzalesPolítica offers a stunning revisionist understanding of the early political incorporation of Mexican-origin peoples into the U.S. body politic in the nineteenth century. Historical sociologist Phillip B. Gonzales reexamines the fundamental issue in New Mexico’s history, namely, the dramatic shift in national identities initiated by Nuevomexicanos when their province became ruled by the United States. Gonzales provides an insightful, rigorous, and controversial interpretation of how Nuevomexicano political competition was woven into the Democratic and Republican two-party system that emerged in the United States between the 1850s and 1912, when New Mexico became a state. Drawing on newly discovered archival and primary sources, he explores how Nuevomexicanos relied on a long tradition of political engagement and a preexisting republican disposition and practice to elaborate a dual-party political system mirroring the contours of U.S. national politics.Política is a tour de force of political history in the nineteenth-century U.S.–Mexico borderlands that reinterprets colonization, reconstructs Euro-American and Nuevomexicano relations, and recasts the prevailing historical narrative of territorial expansion and incorporation in North American imperial history. Gonzales provides critical insights into several discrete historical processes, such as U.S. racialization and citizenship, integration and marginalization, accommodation and resistance, internal colonialism, and the long struggle for political inclusion in the borderlands, shedding light on debates taking place today over Latinos and U.S. citizenship.
Políticamente Incorrecto
by Linda HendersonVivimos en un tiempo de gigantes avances tecnológicos, más de lo que el mundo ha vivido jamás. Más como la historia lo ha probado, cada nuevo descubrimiento o cambio social no es necesariamente en pos del beneficio de comunidades más pequeñas o para el mundo a gran escala. Albert Einstein, un pacifista de toda la vida, al darse cuenta de que sus descubrimientos por consiguiente conllevarían la creación de la bomba atómica, se arrepintió de haberlos pensado. Un colega científico, llamado Leo Szilard (de Long Island, Nueva York), explicó cómo una reacción explosiva podría ser producida en uranio en láminas de grafito por medio de neutrones liberados a partir de fisión nuclear. Einstein, honestamente nunca pensó en la posibilidad de crear un arma destructiva. Sólo porque un descubrimiento, o una nueva ley es aprobada, ¿es ésta una indicación de que el ser humano ha llegado a un nuevo nivel de entendimiento y de que esta nueva forma de pensar o vivir es en verdad para la mejora de la humanidad? La autor de Políticamente Incorrecto, L.M. Henderson, sugiere muchos de los cambios sociales que hemos experimentado en décadas pasadas no benefician al individuo ni producen mejora alguna a escala global. Todos buscamos una identidad, un propósito y significancia. De acuerdo a Políticamente Incorrecto, las cuestiones acerca de cada uno de nosotros/as pueden ser respondidas sin recurrir a Dios. Las decisiones recientes de la Supreme Court (Corte Suprema) de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica están progresivamente llevándonos a un camino de destrucción. Los padres fundadores de Norteamérica sabían de donde procedía su esperanza, y no fue por la Libertad de hacer lo que quisiesen o para aprobar leyes justificando conductas destructivas. Politicamente Incorrecto le enculturizará y le señalará donde el veradero camino de la Libertad está. ¡Usted puede encaminarse a su destino, la gran persona que siempre estuvo destinado a ser!
Políticamente indeseable
by Cayetana Álvarez de ToledoEl esperado libro de Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo «Solo cuando los políticos digamos en público lo mismo que afirmamos en privado, sólo cuando reconozcamos la degradación de nuestro oficio, sólo cuando nos veamos retratados en el implacable espejo de los hechos, sólo entonces seremos capaces de rescatar la democracia de las mandíbulas del populismo». Políticamente indeseable es una mezcla de crónica sobre la decepción política, ensayo sobre las amenazas a la democracia y encantadores retazos de memoria familiar. En una época envilecida por el culto a los sentimientos, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, la política española más libre y brillante de su generación, se fija un objetivo insólito: la redención de su oficio a través de la razón y la verdad. «Luché contra lo indeseable en la política hasta que me convirtieron en políticamente indeseable».
Políticas: Latina Public Officials in Texas
by Valerie Martinez-Ebers Sonia R. García Irasema Coronado Sharon A. Navarro Patricia A. JaramilloIn the decades since Latinas began to hold public office in the United States in the late 1950s, they have blazed new trails in public life, bringing fresh perspectives, leadership styles, and policy agendas to the business of governing cities, counties, states, and the nation. As of 2004, Latinas occupied 27.4 percent of the more than 6,000 elected and appointed local, state, and national positions filled by Hispanic officeholders. The greatest number of these Latina officeholders reside in Texas, where nearly six hundred women occupy posts from municipal offices, school boards, and county offices to seats in the Texas House and Senate.In this book, five Latina political scientists profile the women who have been the first Latinas to hold key elected and appointed positions in Texas government. Through interviews with each woman or her associates, the authors explore and theorize about Latina officeholders' political socialization, decision to run for office and obstacles overcome, leadership style, and representational roles and advocacy. The profiles begin with Irma Rangel, the first Latina elected to the Texas House of Representatives, and Judith Zaffirini and Leticia Van de Putte, the only two Latinas to serve in the Texas Senate. The authors also interview Lena Guerrero, the first and only Latina to serve in a statewide office; judges Linda Yanes, Alma Lopez, Elma Salinas Ender, Mary Roman, and Alicia Chacón; mayors Blanca Sanchez Vela (Brownsville), Betty Flores (Laredo), and Olivia Serna (Crystal City); and Latina city councilwomen from San Antonio, El Paso, Dallas, Houston, and Laredo.
Pomo Oz: Fear and Loathing Downunder
by Niall LucyDemonstrating how ideas are in short supply and critical thinking is under attack in the present day, this unique study pits the author’s brand of humor and intellect against conservative power brokers. Arguing the notion that free thought—not free trade—is the basis of democracy, these exciting and provocative essays engage with the most contentious issues of today.
Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and South India under French Rule: From François Martin to Dupleix 1674-1754
by J.B.P. MoreThis is a study of the colonization of Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and South India by the French during the eighteenth century, and their interactions with the Indian rulers and populations in the political, economic, social and religious spheres. French Governors based in Pondicherry since François Martin up to Dupleix never acquired any territory for France through outright conquest. They or their masters in France never had any grand plan to establish a French empire in India. Some Indian rulers were friendly with the French and the English as it served their interests. The study demonstrates that the French colonizers and missionaries would not have survived in India without the collaboration of the Indian dubashes, merchants, certain Indian rulers and military men.This collaboration was not on an equal footing, as the sepoys, merchants and dubashes were always subordinate and submissive to the Europeans. Even Ananda Ranga Poullé, the most famous of the Indian dubashes had to resort to the art of flattery to be in the good books of his ‘master’. European arrival and presence in India heralded the beginning of a cultural clash between the Europeans and Indians, in which the former had the upper hand. There was never any partnership or ‘master-bania’ relationship between the French and the Indians. Instead, the relationship had all the trappings of a ‘master-subordinate’ relationship, where the subordinate even though he might be a dubash was always at the mercy of the colonizers. The element of force, aggressivity and violence was omnipresent in European presence and expansion in India, in the political, economic and religious fields.Please note: This title is co-published with X. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Pontiff: The Vatican, the KGB, and the Year of the Three Popes
by Gordon Thomas Max Morgan-WittsThe story of Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II—and an assassination plot—by the New York Times–bestselling coauthors of The Day the World Ended. The Vatican has remained one of the last unexamined mysteries of the modern world. For centuries, pomp and pageantry have hidden from view the dramatic, sometimes sinister, realities that haunt the office of Supreme Pontiff and the men who make up his papacy. Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts now bring their tremendous investigative talent to this most secret of institutions, offering us an unrivaled portrait and day-to-day account of the lives, personalities, and relationships of the three most recent popes: an equally fine account of the hour-by-hour deliberations of the closely guarded conclaves at which two popes were elected in the fateful year of 1978; and a remarkable rendering of the concrete issues facing the institutional papacy—in foreign affairs, economic matters, and the human factor—the highly individual ambitions, loyalties, and hatreds that characterize the men and women who serve the Holy Father. The result is a book that is ahead of the world&’s headlines, a book that makes headlines of its own. Not only have the authors brought the world of the Vatican into the open, their sleuthing has uncovered several major news stories. Pontiff includes a day-to-day account of the assassination attempt by Mehmet Ali Agca upon John Paul II: Agca&’s history and family, his right-wing political connections, his activities and jailing in Turkey, his escape from jail aided by the KGB, his movements through terrorist training camps in Libya and Syria, and a complete investigation of the Bulgarian connection that led to the shooting in St. Peter&’s Square. Here, also, is the story of John Paul II&’s involvement with the creation of Solidarity in Poland, and his almost-daily secret contacts with Lech Walesa, as well as the unprecedented letter to Brezhev threatening his resignation from the papal throne. In addition, owing to the authors&’ intricate web of connections at the Vatican (including many cardinals), the book contains previously unknown information about the man entrusted with the Church&’s money, Paul Marcinkus, and his relationship with the shadowy Michele Sindona. Pontiff is a fascinating revelation of a world previously unknown to us, and an intimate view of a few men in Rome trying to lead an increasingly unwilling world to their own vision of salvation.
Poor Health: Social Inequality before and after the Black Report (British Politics and Society)
by Virginia Berridge Stuart BlumeThe 1980 Black Report by Sir Douglas Black has kept health inequalities at the forefront of the public health agenda. This volume explores the history and development of studies and concern over health inequalities especially in relation to the 1980 report.
Poor Jews: An American Awakening
by Naomi Levine and Martin HochbaumThe popular image of the Jewish community is that it consists primarily of members of the middle and upper middle classes. But this image is far from true. Poor Jews: An American Awakening shatters, once and for all, the stereotype of Jewish affluence.Citing national data and descriptions of the life-styles of the Jewish poor, the authors reveal unique social characteristics of the Jewish poor—including the surprising statistic that over two-thirds of the members of this group are past the age of sixty, thus experiencing the compounded disadvantage of being poor, elderly, and deserted by the young, mobile Jewish community.Reasons for the "invisibility" of Jewish poverty are examined, as well as how the Jewish community has responded to poverty within its own ethnic group and Jewish attitudes toward the welfare state and charity. The lack of Jewish participation in antipoverty programs is cited, along with measures which will bring them fully into this and other federal and state programs.
Poor Joshua: The DeShaney Case and Child Abuse in America
by John R. HowardIn DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services, a bitterly divided Supreme Court rejected a claim brought on behalf of five-year old Joshua DeShaney, left permanently disabled after sustained abuse, despite regular home visits by social workers charged with monitoring his welfare. In its decision the court asserted that the state has no duty to shield citizens from private violence, even those involved in their lives and knowing of their distress. Poor Joshua tracks the story from its origins in small town Wisconsin to the Supreme Court and chronicles the tragic consequences of the majority decision. John R. Howard shows how that decision became the rock on which later child abuse cases foundered, and how it echoes today in every newspaper story about society's failure to protect children. The continuing vitality of DeShaney, he argues, derives from a persistent sense that the decision is legally incorrect and profoundly at odds with the underlying values of the Constitution. The case is also about different visions of our social order and the relationship between "law" and "justice." Howard summarizes the substantial law review literature critical of the DeShaney decision and erects the scaffolding for a counterargument bringing law into a closer alignment with justice.
Poor Kids In A Rich Country: America's Children In Comparative Perspective
by Lee Rainwater Timothy M. SmeedingIn comparing the situation of American children in low-income families with their counterparts in other wealthy countries, Lee Rainwater and Timothy M. Smeeding provide a powerful perspective on the dynamics of child poverty in the United States.
Poor Man's Fortune: White Working-Class Conservatism in American Metal Mining, 1850–1950
by Jarod RollWhite working-class conservatives have played a decisive role in American history, particularly in their opposition to social justice movements, radical critiques of capitalism, and government help for the poor and sick. While this pattern is largely seen as a post-1960s development, Poor Man's Fortune tells a different story, excavating the long history of white working-class conservatism in the century from the Civil War to World War II. With a close study of metal miners in the Tri-State district of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, Jarod Roll reveals why successive generations of white, native-born men willingly and repeatedly opposed labor unions and government-led health and safety reforms, even during the New Deal. With painstaking research, Roll shows how the miners' choices reflected a deep-seated, durable belief that hard-working American white men could prosper under capitalism, and exposes the grim costs of this view for these men and their communities, for organized labor, and for political movements seeking a more just and secure society. Roll's story shows how American inequalities are in part the result of a white working-class conservative tradition driven by grassroots assertions of racial, gendered, and national privilege.
Poor Man's Fortune: White Working-Class Conservatism in American Metal Mining, 1850–1950
by Jarod RollWhite working-class conservatives have played a decisive role in American history, particularly in their opposition to social justice movements, radical critiques of capitalism, and government help for the poor and sick. While this pattern is largely seen as a post-1960s development, Poor Man's Fortune tells a different story, excavating the long history of white working-class conservatism in the century from the Civil War to World War II. With a close study of metal miners in the Tri-State district of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, Jarod Roll reveals why successive generations of white, native-born men willingly and repeatedly opposed labor unions and government-led health and safety reforms, even during the New Deal. With painstaking research, Roll shows how the miners' choices reflected a deep-seated, durable belief that hard-working American white men could prosper under capitalism, and exposes the grim costs of this view for these men and their communities, for organized labor, and for political movements seeking a more just and secure society. Roll's story shows how American inequalities are in part the result of a white working-class conservative tradition driven by grassroots assertions of racial, gendered, and national privilege.
Poor Parents: Social Policy and the 'Cycle of Deprivation' (Routledge Library Editions: Social Administration & Social Policy)
by Bill JordanOriginally published in 1974, this book provides a critique of official policy towards families with young children living on low incomes and looks in detail at some of the myths prevalent in the public debate – both political and academic – about the ‘cycle of deprivation’, a phrase coined by Sir Keith Joseph (British Politician, 1918-1994). One of these myths is that it is possible to provide, on a selective basis, the best services for the poorest members of the community. Anthe is that the poorest group is the one which is in most need of every kind of social service. A third is that the more generous provision of social services to areas with high concentrations of poor families can reduce tensions and conflicts between social groups. The author contends that these myths are being used to obscure the fact that the persistent force behind post-war social policy is none other than the spirit of the Poor Law.
Poor People's Knowledge: Promoting Intellectual Property in Developing Countries
by J. Michael Finger Philip SchulerHow can we help poor people earn more from their knowledge-rather than from their sweat and muscle alone? This book is about increasing the earnings of poor people in poor countries from their innovation, knowledge, and creative skills. Case studies look at the African music industry; traditional crafts and ways to prevent counterfeit crafts designs; the activities of fair trade organizations; biopiracy and the commercialization of ethnobotanical knowledge; the use of intellectual property laws and other tools to protect traditional knowledge. The contributors' motivation is sometimes to maintain the art and culture of poor people, but they recognize that except in a museum setting, no traditional skill can live on unless it has a viable market. Culture and commerce more often complement than conflict in the cases reviewed here. The book calls attention to the unwritten half of the World Trade Organization's Agreement on the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). TRIPS is about knowledge that industrial countries own, and which poor people buy. This book is about knowledge that poor people in poor countries generate and have to sell. It will be of interest to students and scholars of international trade and law, and to anyone with an interest in ways developing countries can find markets for cultural, intellectual, and traditional knowledge.
Poor People's Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail
by Frances F. Piven Richard A. ClowardHave the poor fared best by participating in conventional electoral politics or by engaging in mass defiance and disruption? The authors of the classic Regulating The Poor assess the successes and failures of these two strategies as they examine, in this provocative study, four protest movements of lower-class groups in 20th century America: -- The mobilization of the unemployed during the Great Depression that gave rise to the Workers' Alliance of America -- The industrial strikes that resulted in the formation of the CIO -- The Southern Civil Rights Movement -- The movement of welfare recipients led by the National Welfare Rights Organization.
Poor People's Politics: Peronist Survival Networks and the Legacy of Evita
by Javier Auyero"Political clientelism" is a term used to characterize the contemporary relationships between political elites and the poor in Latin America in which goods and services are traded for political favors. Javier Auyero critically deploys the notion in Poor People's Politics to analyze the political practices of the Peronist Party among shantytown dwellers in contemporary Argentina. Looking closely at the slum-dwellers' informal problem-solving networks, which are necessary for material survival, and the different meanings of Peronism within these networks, Auyero presents the first ethnography of urban clientelism ever carried out in Argentina. Revealing a deep familiarity with the lives of the urban poor in Villa Paraso, a stigmatized and destitute shantytown of Buenos Aires, Auyero demonstrates the ways in which local politicians present their vital favors to the poor and how the poor perceive and evaluate these favors. Having penetrated the networks, he describes how they are structured, what is traded, and the particular way in which women facilitate these transactions. Moreover, Auyero proposes that the act of granting favors or giving food in return for votes gives the politicians' acts a performative and symbolic meaning that flavors the relation between problem-solver and problem-holder, while also creating quite different versions of contemporary Peronism. Along the way, Auyero is careful to situate the emergence and consolidation of clientelism in historic, cultural, and economic contexts. Poor People's Politics reexamines the relationship between politics and the destitute in Latin America, showing how deeply embedded politics are in the lives of those who do not mobilize in the usual sense of the word but who are far from passive. It will appeal to a wide range of students and scholars of Latin American studies, sociology, anthropology, political science, history, and cultural studies.
Poor Places, Thriving People: How the Middle East and North Africa Can Rise Above Spatial Disparities
by World BankGeographical differences in living standards are a pressing concern for policymakers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Economies of agglomeration mean that production is most efficient when concentrated in leading areas. So how can the region reduce spatial disparities in well-being without compromising growth? The solution to spatial disparities lies in matching the policy package to a lagging area's specific characteristics. Key questions include: is the lagging area problem really as serious as one thinks; is it a problem of low economic opportunity or of poor human development; are lagging area populations close enough to agglomerations to benefit from spillovers; and is there manifest private investor interest? Drawing on the World Bank's 2009 World Development Report, Reshaping Economic Geography, the book proposes 3 policy packages. First, all lagging areas can benefit from a "level playing-field for development" and investment in people. Geographic disparities in the policy environment are a legacy of MENA's history, and gaps in human development are a major component of spatial disparities. Smart policies for the investment environment, health, education, social transfers and urban development can therefore close spatial gaps in living standards. Second, lagging areas that are close to economic agglomeration can benefit from spillovers - provided that they are connected. MENA's expenditure priority is not necessarily long-distance primary connections, but infrastructure maintenance and short-distance connections such as rural roads and peri-urban networks. Public-private partnerships can also bring electronic connectivity to lagging areas. Third, shifting regional development policy away from spatial subsidies towards the facilitation of cluster-based growth will increase the chance of cost-effective impacts. The final chapter of the book examines the institutional prerequisites for effective spatial policy. It argues that MENA's centralized/sectoral structures are not always adapted to governments' spatial development agendas, and describes alternative institutional options.
Poor Relief or Poor Deal?: The Social Fund, Safety Nets and Social Security (Studies in Cash & Care)
by Trevor BuckThe social fund has been a controversial instrument of social policy in the UK since its introduction in 1988. This book brings together new research and debate on the role and effect of the social fund in relieving poverty, and introduces evidence from the wider European field to allow comparison to be made with other countries' experience of providing a 'safety net' for their poorest citizens. This book opens up for wider discussion the question of how to provide help for disadvantaged groups and individuals at times of financial crisis. Addressing practical questions about how such schemes work (or fail to work) effectively, the book also provides the basis for more general consideration of the overall objectives which they are expected to meet. This will contribute to new thinking about the policy goals of the social fund and other emergency payment schemes, and their role in meeting broader aspirations such as cohesion, inclusion and social justice.
Poor Representation: Congress and the Politics of Poverty in the United States
by Kristina C. MilerTens of millions of Americans live in poverty, but this book reveals that they receive very little representation in Congress. While a burgeoning literature examines the links between political and economic inequality, this book is the first to comprehensively examine the poor as a distinct constituency. Drawing on three decades of data on political speeches, party platforms, and congressional behavior, Miler first shows that, contrary to what many believe, the poor are highly visible to legislators. Yet, the poor are grossly underrepresented when it comes to legislative activity, both by Congress as a whole and by individual legislators, even those who represent high-poverty districts. To take up their issues in Congress, the poor must rely on a few surrogate champions who have little district connection to poverty but view themselves as broader advocates and often see poverty from a racial or gender-based perspective.
Poor Richard
by James DaughertyThis lively text exemplifies both the man and the artist. Benjamin Franklin lived in turbulent times and met those times head-on with passion and gusto. James Daugherty—ever the patriot himself—has captured that essential nature of Franklin in his energetic and dramatic three-color lithographs that reveal the neophyte as he faces the fresh soil of a young nation filled with optimism and promise. From his Quaker childhood to his early days as printer's apprentice to runaway, to stranger in the City of Brotherly Love, to the "Water American" in London, Ben's youth was filled with adventures and challenges that taught him invaluable lessons about human nature. These lessons would serve him well as he grew to be a leader of the young colonies as they faced the tyranny of Britain. As a leader in the American Revolution he was indispensable as an ambassador to England and later France where he won the hearts of the nation by his simple Quaker wisdom and geniality. All these things were accomplished while he pursued his interests as scientist, inventor, and prolific author. In everything he did, Franklin was always compelled by how he might best serve his fellow man.
Poor Things: How Those with Money Depict Those without It
by Lennard J. DavisFor generations most of the canonical works that detail the lives of poor people have been created by rich or middle-class writers like Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, or James Agee. This has resulted in overwhelming depictions of poor people as living abject, violent lives in filthy and degrading conditions. In Poor Things, Lennard J. Davis labels this genre “poornography”: distorted narratives of poverty written by and for the middle and upper classes. Davis shows how poornography creates harmful and dangerous stereotypes that build barriers to social justice and change. To remedy this, Davis argues, poor people should write realistic depictions of themselves, but because of representational inequality they cannot. Given the obstacles to the poor accessing the means of publication, Davis suggests that the work should, at least for now, be done by “transclass” writers who were once poor and who can accurately represent poverty without relying on stereotypes and clichés. Only then can the lived experience of poverty be more fully realized.
Poor Women, Poor Children: American Poverty in the 1990s
by RodgersThis work presents the most recent data on poverty, family structure and participation in welfare programmes. It analyses the causes for the continuing rise in female-headed households, the high rates of poverty among such families, and evaluates past, present and future reform policies.
Poorer Richard's America: What Would Ben Say?
by Tom Brokaw Tom BlairFor decades, Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack provided sage advice and commentary on eighteenth-century America. Now, a modern businessman reflects-writing as Benjamin Franklin-on what America has become. Federal and personal debt are ballooning beyond sustainable levels. Our futures are being jeopardized. Partisan bickering and the entrenched powers of special interests have made it nearly impossible for a real leader to lead. Where is a good American to turn? How about to the man who wrote this timeless observation: "A small leak will sink a great ship"? Ben is back! With his signature intelligence and wit (not to mention a good sprinkling of aphorisms both old and new), Benjamin Franklin, through Tom Blair, moves from the national deficit to Wall Street, from health care to marital bliss. The result is electrifying.