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The Bishop's Pawn (Cotton Malone #13)
by Steve BerryThe first case of New York Times bestseller Steve Berry's iconic hero, Cotton Malone.History notes that the ugly feud between J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King, Jr., marked by years of illegal surveillance and the accumulation of secret files, ended on April 4, 1968 when King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. But that may not have been the case.Now, fifty years later, former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone must reckon with what really happened on that fateful day in Memphis.It all turns on an incident from eighteen years ago, when Malone, a young Navy lawyer trying hard not to live up to his maverick reputation, is asked by Stephanie Nelle at the Justice Department to help with an investigation. He soon discovers that the Department and the FBI are at war over a hugely valuable rare coin - and a cache of secret files containing explosive revelations about the King assassination, information that could ruin innocent lives and threaten the legacy of the civil rights movement's greatest martyr.Malone's decision to see his first case through to the end - from the clear waters of the Dry Tortugas to the halls of power in Washington D.C. itself - not only changes his own life, but the course of history.
The Bishop's Pawn (Cotton Malone #13)
by Steve BerryThis audiobook is an expanded, annotated 'writer's cut' edition of The Bishop's Pawn, including fascinating behind-the-scenes commentary read by author Steve Berry. On the 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, comes the explosive new thriller from international bestseller Steve Berry that sees Cotton Malone return to his very first case.History notes that the ugly feud between J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King, Jr., marked by years of illegal surveillance and the accumulation of secret files, ended on April 4, 1968 when King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. But that may not have been the case.Now, fifty years later, former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone must reckon with what really happened on that fateful day in Memphis.It all turns on an incident from eighteen years ago, when Malone, a young Navy lawyer trying hard not to live up to his maverick reputation, is asked by Stephanie Nelle at the Justice Department to help with an investigation. He soon discovers that the Department and the FBI are at war over a hugely valuable rare coin - and a cache of secret files containing explosive revelations about the King assassination, information that could ruin innocent lives and threaten the legacy of the civil rights movement's greatest martyr.Malone's decision to see his first case through to the end - from the clear waters of the Dry Tortugas to the halls of power in Washington D.C. itself - not only changes his own life, but the course of history.(P)2018 Macmillan Audio
The Bishop's Pawn (Cotton Malone Series #13)
by Steve Berry<P>History notes that the ugly feud between J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King, Jr., marked by years of illegal surveillance and the accumulation of secret files, ended on April 4, 1968 when King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. But that may not have been the case. <P>Now, fifty years later, former Justice Department agent, Cotton Malone, must reckon with the truth of what really happened that fateful day in Memphis. <P>It all turns on an incident from eighteen years ago, when Malone, as a young Navy lawyer, is trying hard not to live up to his burgeoning reputation as a maverick. When Stephanie Nelle, a high-level Justice Department lawyer, enlists him to help with an investigation, he jumps at the opportunity. <P>But he soon discovers that two opposing forces—the Justice Department and the FBI—are at war over a rare coin and a cadre of secret files containing explosive revelations about the King assassination, information that could ruin innocent lives and threaten the legacy of the civil rights movement’s greatest martyr. <P>Malone’s decision to see it through to the end —— from the raucous bars of Mexico, to the clear waters of the Dry Tortugas, and ultimately into the halls of power within Washington D.C. itself —— not only changes his own life, but the course of history.
The Bishop's Pawn: A Novel (Cotton Malone #13)
by Steve BerryThe first case of New York Times bestseller Steve Berry’s iconic hero, Cotton Malone. <P><P>History notes that the ugly feud between J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King, Jr., marked by years of illegal surveillance and the accumulation of secret files, ended on April 4, 1968 when King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. But that may not have been the case. <P>Now, fifty years later, former Justice Department agent, Cotton Malone, must reckon with the truth of what really happened that fateful day in Memphis.It all turns on an incident from eighteen years ago, when Malone, as a young Navy lawyer, is trying hard not to live up to his burgeoning reputation as a maverick. <P>When Stephanie Nelle, a high-level Justice Department lawyer, enlists him to help with an investigation, he jumps at the opportunity. But he soon discovers that two opposing forces—the Justice Department and the FBI—are at war over a rare coin and a cadre of secret files containing explosive revelations about the King assassination, information that could ruin innocent lives and threaten the legacy of the civil rights movement’s greatest martyr. <P>Malone’s decision to see it through to the end —— from the raucous bars of Mexico, to the clear waters of the Dry Tortugas, and ultimately into the halls of power within Washington D.C. itself —— not only changes his own life, but the course of history. <P>Steve Berry always mines the lost riches of history —— in The Bishop's Pawn he imagines a gripping, provocative thriller about an American icon. <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy
by Lynn Vavreck John Sides Chris TausanovitchWhat an intensely divisive election portends for American politicsThe year 2020 was a tumultuous time in American politics. It brought a global pandemic, protests for racial justice, and a razor-thin presidential election outcome. It culminated in an attack on the U.S. Capitol that attempted to deny Joe Biden’s victory. The Bitter End explores the long-term trends and short-term shocks that shaped this dramatic year and what these changes could mean for the future.John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch, and Lynn Vavreck demonstrate that Trump’s presidency intensified the partisan politics of the previous decades and the identity politics of the 2016 election. Presidential elections have become calcified, with less chance of big swings in either party’s favor. Republicans remained loyal to Trump and kept the election close, despite Trump’s many scandals, a recession, and the pandemic. But in a narrowly divided electorate even small changes can have big consequences. The pandemic was a case in point: when Trump pushed to reopen the country even as infections mounted, support for Biden increased. The authors explain that, paradoxically, even as Biden’s win came at a time of heightened party loyalty, there remained room for shifts that shaped the election’s outcome. Ultimately, the events of 2020 showed that instead of the country coming together to face national challenges—the pandemic, George Floyd’s murder, and the Capitol riot—these challenges only reinforced divisions.Expertly chronicling the tensions of an election that came to an explosive finish, The Bitter End presents a detailed account of a year of crises and the dangerous direction in which the country is headed.
The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy
by Lynn Vavreck John Sides Chris TausanovitchWhat an intensely divisive election portends for American politicsThe year 2020 was a tumultuous time in American politics. It brought a global pandemic, protests for racial justice, and a razor-thin presidential election outcome. It culminated in an attack on the U.S. Capitol that attempted to deny Joe Biden’s victory. The Bitter End explores the long-term trends and short-term shocks that shaped this dramatic year and what these changes could mean for the future.John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch, and Lynn Vavreck demonstrate that Trump’s presidency intensified the partisan politics of the previous decades and the identity politics of the 2016 election. Presidential elections have become calcified, with less chance of big swings in either party’s favor. Republicans remained loyal to Trump and kept the election close, despite Trump’s many scandals, a recession, and the pandemic. But in a narrowly divided electorate even small changes can have big consequences. The pandemic was a case in point: when Trump pushed to reopen the country even as infections mounted, support for Biden increased. The authors explain that, paradoxically, even as Biden’s win came at a time of heightened party loyalty, there remained room for shifts that shaped the election’s outcome. Ultimately, the events of 2020 showed that instead of the country coming together to face national challenges—the pandemic, George Floyd’s murder, and the Capitol riot—these challenges only reinforced divisions.Expertly chronicling the tensions of an election that came to an explosive finish, The Bitter End presents a detailed account of a year of crises and the dangerous direction in which the country is headed.
The Bitter Kingdom (Girl of Fire and Thorns #3)
by Rae CarsonThe third book in Rae Carsons award-winning The Girl of Fire and Thorns fantasy trilogy. Elisa, the seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen, will travel into an unknown enemys realm to win back her true love, save her kingdom, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny. Veronica Roth called The Girl of Fire and Thorns "intense, unique . . . definitely recommended. "Perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce and George R. R. Martins style of sweeping and deeply satisfying epic fantasy, the third and final book in the trilogy takes the young queen on a journey more dangerous than any she has faced before. Elisa will stand before the gate of the enemy. And she must rise up as champion--even to those who have hated her--or her kingdom will fall. Full of sorcery, adventure, sizzling romance, and secrets that challenge everything she believes, this is a bold and powerful conclusion to an extraordinary trilogy. As USAToday. com proclaimed, "Rae Carson has proved shes a master and has shaken up the YA genre. "
The Bitter Kingdom: The Girl Of Fire And Thorns, The Shadow Cats, The Crown Of Embers, The Shattered Mountain, The King's Guard, The Bitter Kingdom (Girl Of Fire And Thorns Ser. #3)
by Rae CarsonIn the final volume of Carson’s trilogy, the seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen will travel into the unknown realm of the enemy to win back her true love, save her country, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny.
The Bitter Taste of Hope: Ideals, Ideologies, and Interests in the Age of Obama (SUNY series in New Political Science)
by Stephen Eric BronnerPresident Barack Obama was elected to office on a wave of hope. With his tenure as President of the United States now concluded it is time to take stock of his record at home and abroad. The Bitter Taste of Hope is a collection of essays that critically evaluate America's domestic landscape on the one hand, particularly new social movements, and the nation's foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, on the other. Stephen Eric Bronner engages a wide-ranging set of political and ideological conflicts that defined the "Age of Obama," especially the most pressing international concerns that have developed in accord with an increasingly globalized world. Bronner illuminates not only well-known events like the American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, the plight of the Palestinians, and the Arab Spring but also matters about which the general public knows little such as the national hopes of the Circassians, the complexities of Sudan, and the pitiful existence endured by the Coptic Christians of Cairo. Clearly written, lively in its style, interdisciplinary in conception and timely in its message, The Bitter Taste of Hope will undoubtedly prove required reading for activists and academics alike.
The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System
by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman"The Black Agenda mobilizes top Black experts from across the country to share transformative perspectives on how to deploy anti-racist ideas and policies into everything from climate policy to criminal justice to healthcare. This book will challenge what you think is possible by igniting long overdue conversations around how to enact lasting and meaningful change rooted in racial justice." —Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist and Stamped From the BeginningFrom ongoing reports of police brutality to the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on Black Americans, 2020 brought a renewed awareness to the deep-rootedness of racism and white supremacy in every facet of American life. Edited by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, The Black Agenda is the first book of its kind—a bold and urgent move towards social justice through a profound collection of essays featuring Black scholars and experts across economics, education, health, climate, and technology. It speaks to the question "What's next for America?" on the subjects of policy-making, mental health, artificial intelligence, climate movement, the future of work, the LGBTQ community, the criminal legal system, and much more. Essayists including Dr. Sandy Darity, Dr. Hedwig Lee, Mary Heglar, and Janelle Jones present groundbreaking ideas ranging from Black maternal and infant health to reparations to AI bias to inclusive economic policy, with the potential to uplift and heal not only Black America, but the entire country.
The Black Arts Movement
by James SmethurstEmerging from a matrix of Old Left, black nationalist, and bohemian ideologies and institutions, African American artists and intellectuals in the 1960s coalesced to form the Black Arts Movement, the cultural wing of the Black Power Movement. In this comprehensive analysis, James Smethurst examines the formation of the Black Arts Movement and demonstrates how it deeply influenced the production and reception of literature and art in the United States through its negotiations of the ideological climate of the Cold War, decolonization, and the civil rights movement.Taking a regional approach, Smethurst examines local expressions of the nascent Black Arts Movement, a movement distinctive in its geographical reach and diversity, while always keeping the frame of the larger movement in view. The Black Arts Movement, he argues, fundamentally changed American attitudes about the relationship between popular culture and "high" art and dramatically transformed the landscape of public funding for the arts.
The Black Arts Movement and the Black Panther Party in American Visual Culture (Routledge Research in Art and Race)
by Jo-Ann MorganThis book examines a range of visual expressions of Black Power across American art and popular culture from 1965 through 1972. It begins with case studies of artist groups, including Spiral, OBAC and AfriCOBRA, who began questioning Western aesthetic traditions and created work that honored leaders, affirmed African American culture, and embraced an African lineage. Also showcased is an Oakland Museum exhibition of 1968 called "New Perspectives in Black Art," as a way to consider if Black Panther Party activities in the neighborhood might have impacted local artists’ work. The concluding chapters concentrate on the relationship between selected Black Panther Party members and visual culture, focusing on how they were covered by the mainstream press, and how they self-represented to promote Party doctrine and agendas.
The Black Banners: How Torture Derailed The War On Terror After 9/11 (Playaway Adult Nonfiction Ser.)
by Ali SoufanThe definitive account of an FBI special agent’s al-Qaeda story, unredacted for the first time. Widely heralded on publication as a "must-read" (Military Review) and "important window on America’s battle with al-Qaeda" (Washington Post), Ali Soufan’s revelatory account of the war on terror as seen from its front lines changed the way we understand al-Qaeda and how the United States prosecuted the war—and led to hard questions being asked of our leaders. When The Black Banners was published in 2011, significant portions of the text were redacted. After subsequent review by the Central Intelligence Agency, those redactions have been lifted. Their removal corrects the record on how vital intelligence was obtained from al-Qaeda suspects and brings forth important new details on the controversial use of enhanced interrogation techniques (torture) to extract information from terror suspects. For many years, proponents of the use of these techniques have argued that they produced actionable intelligence in the war on terror. This edition of The Black Banners explodes this myth; it shows Soufan at work using guile and intelligent questioning—not force or violence—to extract some of the most important confessions in the war, and it vividly recounts the failures of the government’s torture program. Drawing on Soufan’s experiences as a lead operative for the FBI and declassified government records, The Black Banners (Declassified) documents the intelligence failures that lead to the tragic attacks on New York and Washington, DC, and subsequently how torture derailed the fight against al-Qaeda. With this edition, eighteen years on from the first sanctioned enhanced interrogation technique, the public can finally read the complete story of what happened in their name after the events of 9/11. The Black Banners (Declassified) includes a new foreword from Ali Soufan that addresses the significance of the CIA’s decision to lift the redactions.
The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against Al-qaeda
by Ali H. Soufan Daniel FreedmanSoufan worked as a former special agent for the FBI, and this book is a first-person chronicle of his work in the war against al-Qaeda, especially after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. He starts before those attacks though, with the formation of the organization itself in the 1990s and the attack on the USS Cole. He spends the chapters after this preliminary account on the 9/11 attacks themselves, high valued detainees, the final missions leading up to Osama bin Laden's capture, and what he calls successes and failures. In particular, he notes the inefficacy of torture and aggressive approaches. Throughout the book he maintains allegiance to the FBI and USA, and opens with a note disclosing that this is an FBI and CIA approved story, which he "would have submitted . . . . for review even if [he] had no legal obligation to do so. " To that end, names and sections of text are occasionally blacked out. There is a co-author, Daniel Freedman, but he is only briefly mentioned in the acknowledgements. There is no index, but there is a glossary of "principal characters" and a basic bibliography.
The Black Book Of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression
by Mark Kramer Nicolas Werth Martin Malia Jonathan Murphy Stéphane Courtois Jean-Louis Panné Andrzej Paczkowski Karel Bartosek Jean-Louis MargolinCommunism has been the great story of the twentieth century. Bursting into history from the most unlikely corner of Europe amid the trauma of World War I, in the wake of the cataclysm of 1939-1945 it made a great leap westward to the middle of Germany and an even greater one east¬ward to the China Seas. With this feat, the apogee of its fortunes, it had come to rule a third of mankind and seemed poised to advance indefinitely. For seven decades it haunted world politics, polarizing opinion between those who saw it as the socialist end of history and those who considered it history's most total tyranny.
The Black Book of the American Left
by David HorowitzDavid Horowitz spent the first part of his life in the world of the Communist-progressive left, a politics he inherited from his mother and father, and later in the New Left as one of its founders. When the wreckage he and his comrades had created became clear to him in the mid-1970s, he left. Three decades of second thoughts then made him this movement's principal intellectual antagonist. "For better or worse," as Horowitz writes in the preface to this, the first volume of his collected conservative writings, "I have been condemned to spend the rest of my days attempting to understand how the left pursues the agendas from which I have separated myself, and why."When Horowitz began his odyssey, the left had already escaped the political ghetto to which his parents' generation and his own had been confined. Today, it has become the dominant force in America's academic and media cultures, electing a president and achieving a position from which it can shape America's future. How it achieved its present success and what that success portends are the overarching subjects of Horowitz's conservative writings. Through the unflinching focus of one singularly engaged witness, the identity of a destructive movement that constantly morphs itself in order to conceal its identity and mission becomes disturbingly clear.In Volume I of these writings, "My Life and Times," Horowitz reflects on the years he spent at war with his own country, collaborating with and confronting radical figures like Huey Newton, Tom Hayden and Billy Ayers, as he made his transition from what the writer Paul Berman described as the American left's "most important theorist" to its most determined enemy.
The Black Book of the American Left: The Collected Conservative Writings of David Horowitz
by David HorowitzDavid Horowitz spent the first part of his life in the world of the Communist-progressive left, a politics he inherited from his mother and father, and later in the New Left as one of its founders. When the wreckage he and his comrades had created became clear to him in the mid-1970s, he left. Three decades of second thoughts then made him this movement's principal intellectual antagonist. "For better or worse," as Horowitz writes in the preface, "I have been condemned to spend the rest of my days attempting to understand how the left pursues the agendas from which I have separated myself, and why."When Horowitz began his odyssey, the left had already escaped the political ghetto to which his parents' generation and his own had been confined. Today, it has become the dominant force in America's academic and media cultures, electing a president and achieving a position from which it can shape America's future. How it achieved its present success and what that success portends are the overarching subjects of Horowitz's conservative writings. Through the unflinching focus of one singularly engaged witness, the identity of a destructive movement that constantly morphs itself in order to conceal its identity and mission becomes disturbingly clear.Horowitz reflects on the years he spent at war with his own country, collaborating with and confronting radical figures like Huey Newton, Tom Hayden and Billy Ayers, as he made his transition from what the writer Paul Berman described as the American left's "most important theorist" to its most determined enemy.
The Black Book on Red China: The Continuing Revolt
by Edward Hunter"The Black Book on Red China: The Continuing Revolt" delves deep into the turbulent history and ongoing unrest within the People's Republic of China. This compelling work provides a stark and unflinching analysis of the political, social, and economic upheavals that have shaped modern China and the establishment of the Communist regime.The book meticulously chronicles the key events and movements that have challenged the Communist Party's grip on power.Through a blend of historical documentation, personal accounts, and incisive commentary, "The Black Book on Red China: The Continuing Revolt" offers readers a comprehensive and thought-provoking examination of China's complex political landscape. The book sheds light on the resilience and courage of the Chinese people in their ongoing quest for justice and democracy, despite the formidable challenges they face.This work is an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the dynamics of rebellion and resistance in China, as well as the broader implications for global politics and human rights. "The Black Book on Red China" stands as a testament to the enduring spirit of those who dare to challenge authoritarianism and envision a better future.
The Black Box of Governmental Learning
by Raoul Blindenbacher Bidjan NashatThere are more poor people around the world than ever before. One of the missing factors in efforts to address poverty and increase sustainable development is adequate governmental capacity development. One effective means to improve the quality of democratic governance is by learning from the past and from others' experiences. 'The Black Box of Governmental Learning' introduces the Learning Spiral-a new concept for organizing effective learning events for governments in the 21st century. It helps governments to learn from each other. This theory-based concept has been applied successfully over the past decade in numerous conferences, training, and e-learning events all over the world. The book is directed toward practitioners in governments, such as members of cabinets, parliaments, and courts; civil servants and politicians; civil society organizations; and international organizations. It will help them understand the challenges of learning in governments and offers a concept for organizing effective learning events.
The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America
by Lawrence T. BrownHow can American cities promote racial equity, end redlining, and reverse the damaging health- and wealth-related effects of segregation?The world gasped in April 2015 as Baltimore erupted and Black Lives Matter activists, incensed by Freddie Gray's brutal death in police custody, shut down highways and marched on city streets. In The Black Butterfly—a reference to the fact that Baltimore's majority-Black population spreads out on both sides of the coveted strip of real estate running down the center of the city like a butterfly's wings—Lawrence T. Brown reveals that ongoing historical trauma caused by a combination of policies, practices, systems, and budgets is at the root of uprisings and crises in hypersegregated cities around the country. Putting Baltimore under a microscope, Brown looks closely at the causes of segregation, many of which exist in current legislation and regulatory policy despite the common belief that overtly racist policies are a thing of the past. Drawing on social science research, policy analysis, and archival materials, Brown reveals the long history of racial segregation's impact on health, from toxic pollution to police brutality. Beginning with an analysis of the current political moment, Brown delves into how Baltimore's history influenced actions in sister cities like St. Louis and Cleveland, as well as its adoption of increasingly oppressive techniques from cities like Chicago. But there is reason to hope. Throughout the book, Brown offers a clear five-step plan for activists, nonprofits, and public officials to achieve racial equity. Not content to simply describe and decry urban problems, Brown offers up a wide range of innovative solutions to help heal and restore redlined Black neighborhoods, including municipal reparations. Persuasively arguing that because urban apartheid was intentionally erected it can be intentionally dismantled, The Black Butterfly demonstrates that America cannot reflect that Black lives matter until we see how Black neighborhoods matter.
The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt
by Jill WattsAn in-depth history exploring the evolution, impact, and ultimate demise of what was known in the 1930s and ‘40s as FDR’s Black Cabinet.In 1932 in the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the presidency with the help of key African American defectors from the Republican Party. At the time, most African Americans lived in poverty, denied citizenship rights and terrorized by white violence. As the New Deal began, a “black Brain Trust” joined the administration and began documenting and addressing the economic hardship and systemic inequalities African Americans faced. They became known as the Black Cabinet, but the environment they faced was reluctant, often hostile, to change.“Will the New Deal be a square deal for the Negro?” The black press wondered. The Black Cabinet set out to devise solutions to the widespread exclusion of black people from its programs, whether by inventing tools to measure discrimination or by calling attention to the administration’s failures. Led by Mary McLeod Bethune, an educator and friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, they were instrumental to Roosevelt’s continued success with black voters. Operating mostly behind the scenes, they helped push Roosevelt to sign an executive order that outlawed discrimination in the defense industry. They saw victories?jobs and collective agriculture programs that lifted many from poverty?and defeats?the bulldozing of black neighborhoods to build public housing reserved only for whites; Roosevelt’s refusal to get behind federal anti-lynching legislation. The Black Cabinet never won official recognition from the president, and with his death, it disappeared from view. But it had changed history. Eventually, one of its members would go on to be the first African American Cabinet secretary; another, the first African American federal judge and mentor to Thurgood Marshall.Masterfully researched and dramatically told, The Black Cabinet brings to life a forgotten generation of leaders who fought post-Reconstruction racial apartheid and whose work served as a bridge that Civil Rights activists traveled to achieve the victories of the 1950s and ’60s.Praise for The Black Cabinet“A dramatic piece of nonfiction that recovers the history of a generation of leaders that helped create the environment for the civil rights battles in decades that followed Roosevelt’s death.” —Library Journal“Fascinating . . . revealing the hidden figures of a ‘brain trust’ that lobbied, hectored and strong-armed President Franklin Roosevelt to cut African Americans in on the New Deal. . . . Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The Black Cabinet is sprawling and epic, and Watts deftly re-creates whole scenes from archival material.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song
by Henry Louis GatesFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Stony the Road and one of our most important voices on the African American experience comes a powerful new history of the Black church as a foundation of Black life and a driving force in the larger freedom struggle in America. <P><P>The companion book to the upcoming PBS series. <P><P>For the young Henry Louis Gates, Jr., growing up in a small, residentially segregated West Virginia town, the church was a center of gravity—an intimate place where voices rose up in song and neighbors gathered to celebrate life's blessings and offer comfort amid its trials and tribulations. In this tender and expansive reckoning with the meaning of the Black Church in America, Gates takes us on a journey spanning more than five centuries, from the intersection of Christianity and the transatlantic slave trade to today’s political landscape. At road’s end, and after Gates’s distinctive meditation on the churches of his childhood, we emerge with a new understanding of the importance of African American religion to the larger national narrative—as a center of resistance to slavery and white supremacy, as a magnet for political mobilization, as an incubator of musical and oratorical talent that would transform the culture, and as a crucible for working through the Black community’s most critical personal and social issues. <P><P>In a country that has historically afforded its citizens from the African diaspora tragically few safe spaces, the Black Church has always been more than a sanctuary. This fact was never lost on white supremacists: from the earliest days of slavery, when enslaved people were allowed to worship at all, their meetinghouses were subject to surveillance and destruction. Long after slavery’s formal eradication, church burnings and bombings by anti-Black racists continued, a hallmark of the violent effort to suppress the African American struggle for equality. The past often isn’t even past—Dylann Roof committed his slaughter in the Mother Emanuel AME Church 193 years after it was first burned down by white citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, following a thwarted slave rebellion. <P><P>But as Gates brilliantly shows, the Black church has never been only one thing. Its story lies at the heart of the Black political struggle, and it has produced many of the Black community's most notable leaders. At the same time, some churches and denominations have eschewed political engagement and exemplified practices of exclusion and intolerance that have caused polarization and pain. Those tensions remain today, as a rising generation demands freedom and dignity for all within and beyond their communities, regardless of race, sex, or gender. Still, as a source of faith and refuge, spiritual sustenance and struggle against society’s darkest forces, the Black Church has been central, as this enthralling history makes vividly clear. <p><p><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
The Black Circle: A Life of Alexandre Kojève
by Jeff LoveAlexandre Kojève (1902–1968) was an important and provocative thinker. Born in Russia, he spent most of his life in France. His interpretation of Hegel and his notorious declaration that history had come to an end exerted great influence on French thinkers and writers such as Raymond Aron, Georges Bataille, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jacques Lacan, and Raymond Queneau. An unorthodox Marxist, he was a critic of Martin Heidegger and interlocutor of Leo Strauss who played a significant role in establishing the European Economic Community; a polyglot with many unusual interests, he wrote works, mostly unpublished in his lifetime, on quantum physics, the problem of the infinite, Buddhism, atheism, and Vassily Kandinsky’s paintings.In The Black Circle, Jeff Love reinterprets Kojève’s works, showing him to be an essential thinker who challenged modern society and its valuation of individuality, self-interest, and freedom from death. Emphasizing Kojève’s neglected Russian roots, The Black Circle puts him in the context of the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Russian debates over the proper ends of human life. Love explores notions of perfection, freedom, and finality in Kojève’s account of Hegel and his neglected later works, clarifying Kojève’s emancipatory thinking and the meaning of the oft-misinterpreted “end of history.” Combining intellectual history, close textual analysis, and philosophy, The Black Circle reveals Kojève’s thought as a profound critique of capitalist individualism and a timely meditation on human freedom.
The Black Flag: A look back at the strange case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (Routledge Revivals)
by Brian JacksonFirst published in 1981, this book reassesses the case of Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists living in Boston in 1920. The pair were accused of a payroll robbery and the murder of two guards for which they were arrested and, after a long trial based on inadequate and prejudiced evidence, executed in 1927. In 1977, on the fiftieth anniversary of their deaths, the Commonwealth of Massachusettes issued a proclamation which acknowledged a miscarriage of justice. The Black Flag provides an account of the controversial trial and a re-evaluation of the celebrated case of the Commonwealth’s decision. Brian Jackson puts the trial in the social context of the period and exposes the nature of anarchism by looking at the lives of two of its exponents, resulting in a moving exploration of a series of events that continue to trouble the conscience of America.
The Black Hole of Public Administration (Governance Series)
by Gilles Paquet Ruth HubbardPublic administration in Canada needs to change. A handful of scholars across Canada have been sounding the alarm for years but to no avail. Talented young bureaucrats have been joining the public service with fresh ideas capable of creating real change, but the black hole consumes all. In The Black Hole of Public Administration, experienced public servant Ruth Hubbard and public administration iconoclast Gilles Paquet sound a wake-up call to the federal public service. They lament the lack of “serious play” going on in Canada’s public administration today and map some possible escape plans. They look to a more participatory governance model – “open source” governing or “small g” governance – as a way to liberate our public service from antiquated styles and systems of governing. In their recognizably rebellious style, Hubbard and Paquet demand that public administration scholars and senior level bureaucrats pull their heads out of the sand and confront the problems of the current system and develop a new system that can address the needs of Canada today.