| POLITICAL COMMENTARY | |
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Against All Enemies - by Richard A. Clarke. Clarke, a veteran Washington insider who had advised presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush, dissects each man's approach to terrorism but levels the harshest criticism at the latter Bush and his advisors who, Clarke asserts, failed to take terrorism and Al-Qaeda seriously. Clarke details how, in light of mounting intelligence of the danger Al-Qaeda presented, his urgent requests to move terrorism up the list of priorities in the early days of the administration were met with apathy and procrastination and how, after the attacks took place, Bush and key figures such as Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Dick Cheney turned their attention almost immediately to Iraq, a nation not involved in the attacks. Against All Enemies takes the reader inside the Beltway beginning with the Reagan administration, who failed to retaliate against the 1982 Beirut bombings, fueling the perception around the world that the United States was vulnerable to such attacks. Terrorism becomes a growing but largely ignored threat under the first President Bush, whom Clarke cites for his failure to eliminate Saddam Hussein, thereby necessitating a continued American presence in Saudi Arabia that further inflamed anti-American sentiment. Clinton, according to Clarke, understood the gravity of the situation and became increasingly obsessed with stopping Al-Qaeda. He had developed workable plans but was hamstrung by political infighting and the sex scandal that led to his impeachment. But Bush and his advisers, Clarke says, didn't get it before 9/11 and they didn't get it after, taking a unilateral approach that seemed destined to lead to more attacks on Americans and American interests around the world. Clarke's inside accounts of what happens in the corridors of power are fascinating and the book, written in a compelling, highly readable style, at times almost seems like a fiction thriller. But the threat of terrorism and the consequences of Bush's approach to it feel very sobering and very real. |
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The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to
the New Right in American History - by David H. Bennet. Why, for two hundred years, have some American citizens seen this country as an endangered Eden, to be purged of corrupting peoples or ideas by any means necessary? To the Know-Nothings of the 1850s, the enemy was Irish immigrants. To the Ku Klux Klan, it was Jews, blacks, and socialists. To groups like the Michigan Militia, the enemy is the government itself — and some of them are willing to take arms against it. The Party of Fear — which has now been updated to examine the right-wing resurgence of the 1990s — is the first book to reveal the common values and anxieties that lie beneath the seeming diversity of the far right. From the anti-Catholic riots that convulsed Philadelphia in 1845 to the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City, it casts a brilliant, cautionary light not only on our political fringes but on the ways in which ordinary Americans define themselves and demonize outsiders. |
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Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative
- by David Brock. Brock, who made his name as a conservative journalist, is best known for calling Anita Hill "a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty." Brock admits he lied in his past reporting for conservative publications and now recants his slander, and illustrates how the rightwing have become unhinged and cannot be trusted. He absolves Hill and bashes conservatives as a "right-wing sleaze machine. |
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Bushwhacked: Life in George Bush's America - by Molly
Ivins and Lou Dubose. The book looks at the Shrub's first term as president. As the only president in U.S. history to slash taxes and go to war simultaneously, Bush wins consistently low marks from Ivins for pursuing "crony capitalism" to its inevitably depressing extremes. Ivins is particularly good in taking arcane federal regulations and showing how the Bush administration’s lax oversight has hurt ordinary Americans, making their jobs, homes, water, and food less safe. Ivins is no distanced observer, she's watched George's actions in Texas politics for years. She’s clearly incensed by Bush’s policies, but her reporting is so detailed and writing so witty that even those who come to the book undecided about Bush will likely be outraged by the time they finish it. |
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The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New American
Century - by Paul Krugman. The book is mainly a collection of op-ed pieces Krugman wrote for The New York Times between 2000 and 2003. Declaring the Bush Administration as radicals masquerading as moderates, he questions their motives on a range of issues, particularly their tax and Social Security plans, which he argues are "obviously, blatantly based on bogus arithmetic." This is a book that offers a lot of raw data to examine the current rash of corporate malfeasance, the rise and fall of the stock market bubble, the federal budget and the future of Social Security, and how a huge surplus quickly became a record deficit. He also justifiably rails against the news media for displaying a disturbing lack of skepticism and for failing to do even the most basic homework when reporting on business and economic issues. This is a detailed, informative, and thought-provoking book. |
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Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater - by John
Brady. Lee Atwater was Karl Rove before Karl Rove was Karl Rove. He invented slime politics otherwise known as "negative campaigning". He introduced the concept of the permanent campaign (which apparently George Bush II is still on, no matter it's policy consequences), and is credited with helping Bush beat Dukakis in 1988 with the Willy Horton issue (about a pardoned recidivist), and became the first political consultant to rise to the role of chairman of either party, when he headed the Republican National Committee. |
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| POLITICAL REFERENCE GUIDES | |
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Winning Campaigns Online: Strategies for Candidates and
Causes - by Emilienne Ireland and Phil Nash (2nd Edition). If you're either a candidate for office or are helping a candidate to run for office, you need to read this great book. The authors of this book know what they're writing about because they've been responsible for award-winning campaign web sites and Internet fundraising for a broad array of state and federal candidates (and causes) across the political spectrum, from Dick Gephardt's political campaign to John McCain's national campaign for gun safety. Frankly, even a total Internet idiot could follow the easily understandable road map in this book to create an effective web presence for a campaign. The book covers everything from using the site to convey your message (or a negative message), recruiting volunteers, online fundraising, database solutions, budget considerations, government activities, e-newsletters, site maintenance, blunders to avoid ... and lots more. Highly recommended! |
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Hope Dies Last:
Keeping Faith in Difficult Times - by Studs Terkel. Terkel's interviews all deal with the notion of finding hope in difficult times and holding on to that hope (of a better job, a better life, justice, peace) despite often overwhelming odds. Terkel draws his subjects from an incredibly broad range of backgrounds: pardoned Illinois death row inmate Leroy Orange discusses the events of his life, 94-year-old famed economist John Kenneth Galbraith talks about Enron, undocumented Guatemalans tell of trying to merely survive in modern America. While each testimonial is compelling in its own way, they combine to form a mosaic of human tenacity. Often, as in the case of 1960s civil rights activists, the subjects' ideas are accepted in the long run, for others, including a resident of Chicago's Cabrini Green housing project, the struggle is only just beginning. Terkel, 91 years old at the time of this book's publication, draws from a wealth of human experience but is spry enough to take on new causes and skillfully profile youthful activists with emerging causes. |
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The Almanac of American Politics 2006 - by Michael
Barone First published in 1972, this bi-annual political almanac gets better every year. The Washington Post calls it "indispensable." George Will calls it -- correctly -- "the bible of American politics." NBC's Tim Russert said this book is "the ultimate guide for political junkies." This is the book you will always find on every desk inside the Beltway. Detailed profiles and pictures of all 535 US Senators and Congressmen & the 50 governors. Special interest group ratings. Updated district maps. Voting trends and all of the 2002 election results. Insightful analysis, including coverage of the effects of the 2002 redistricting picture. Political predictions by veteran pundit Charlie Cook on every House, US Senate and gubernatorial race in the nation. If you only buy one political reference book -- make sure its the Almanac of American Politics. |
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Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals - by
Saul D. Alinsky. Alinsky was Hillary Rodham Clinton's mentor at Yale. The book focuses on pragmatic means to achieve real social change. Alinsky explains his tactics using liberal causes as examples, but the tactics could be used by anybody to promote any cause. If you want to understand the unfathomable rise of the neocons despite the fact that they possess not one clue what this country really needs, it's because sadly, they read the liberal Alinsky's book, and took his lessons to heart. Maybe it's time we took these ideas back from them. |
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FUN WITH FEMINISM |
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What Women Want - by Patricia Ireland. The president of the National Organization for Women follows a long tradition of women who have created their own way in the world - but here she speaks frankly of her own struggle for self-determination and empowerment, of the forces that shaped her and, ultimately, how she herself came to answer the questions "What does this woman want?" Patricia Ireland explores how her own journey mirrors the changes so many women have made as they have remade the world over the past decades. She discusses her mistakes as well as her unshaken convictions, the setbacks of the movement as well as the triumphs, and the reasons for her high hopes for the future in the face of conservative backlash. |
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Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism - by Katha Pollitt. A writer for The Nation, The New Yorker and The New York Times, she has taken the strongest positions on the thorniest moral issues and the most controversial events, from date rape to surrogate motherhood, to violence against women, to the Anita Hill hearings, to fetal rights and mothers' "wrongs." She asks "Who's Afraid of Hillary Clinton?," considers the Smurfette Principle, and explains why she hates "Family Values." She takes aim at nineteen targets in all. She brings a lively wit and considerable erudition to analysis of her topics, and she consistently sees past the ephemeral quality of specific news making events to locate issues of enduring importance. |
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HISTORY |
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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany - by William Shirer. The story of fascism in Germany, and a primer on how to avoid it in America. The famed foreign correspondent and historian William L. Shirer, who had watched and reported on the Nazis since 1925, spent five and a half years sifting through the massive documentation of the Third Reich. The result is a monumental study that has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of one of the most frightening chapters in the history of mankind. |
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The
Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals - by Richard Plant. Consistently and intentionally forgotten in discussions of the Holocaust is the fact that the most evil regime in history also approved of the state murder of gays. Taken to it's furthest and most disgusting extreme, this is the ultimate consequence of homophobia. Something to think about when the neocons blither on about so-called "special rights" for gays, when all the homosexual community is asking for is simple equality and justice. |
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| FICTION? | |
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It Can't Happen Here - by Sinclair Lewis. This lesser novel by the Nobel Prize winning author, imagines an American in which a European style Fascist government was voted into power peacefully in 1936. Windrip, the winner, is very much like Ronald Reagan. The Speaker of the House is a lot like Newt Gingrich. The Fascist Dictatorship proceeds to behave exactly the way you would expect: Fascism with a friendly face. I guarantee that no one with a rational mind will sleep peacefully for several nights, after reading this book. Though the WPA did perform a play of the novel in the Adelphi Theatre at one point, Lewis’s novel was supposed to be made into a film in 1936, but Will Hays who was in charge of censorship for the movie studios, used all his power and stopped the film from being made. Hays felt that a film of this novel would be seen as an attack on the Republican party. Although Lewis’s fictional dictator Windrip ran for President as a Democrat, any implied attack on Hitler’s Germany was seen as Democratic party propaganda in 1935, since Jews, Hitler’s enemies, mostly voted Democrat. Whatever dislike most Republicans might have for Hitler’s Nazi State, Republicans were seen as more opposed to anything that might lead to war with Germany than Democrats were. |
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| ECONOMICS | |
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When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor - by William
Julius Wilson. In his long-awaited new book, our foremost authority on race and poverty challenges decades of liberal and conservative pieties to look squarely at the devastating effects that joblessness has had on our urban ghettos. Marshaling a vast array of data and the personal stories of hundreds of men and women, William Julius Wilson persuasively argues that the problems endemic to America's inner cities - from fatherless households to drugs and violent crime - stem directly from the disappearance of blue-collar jobs in the wake of a globalized economy. Wilson's achievement is to portray this crisis as one that affects all Americans, and to propose solutions whose benefits would be felt across our society. At a time when welfare is ending and our country's racial dialectic is more strained than ever before, When Work Disappears is a sane, courageous, and desperately important work. His plan to reverse declining employment and social inequality includes proposals for city-suburban collaboration, private-sector partnerships with public schools, national health insurance, and time limits on welfare for able-bodied recipients combined with guaranteed jobs in a public-works program modeled on the New Deal's Works Progress Administration. |
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Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America - by Barbara
Ehrenreich. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet. As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test. So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty. |
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Global Dreams - Imperial Corporations and the New World Order - by Richard
J. Barnet and John Cavanagh. All about the day-to-day effects of global capitalism on society and culture. An authoritative portrait of global corporations as they have evolved over the last twenty years - replacing national power; controlling the flow of money, goods, and information across the world; and dominating the fate of the world's economy and people. On the threshold of a new century, the world is shrinking fast, but it is not coming together. Global Dreams explores the many different ways in which the global economy shapes our lives, changing politics, work, and families in the United States and throughout the world, including: How the integrated global production system is creating a job crisis that affects every American; how a few corporations, thanks to their control of earth-spanning technologies, control a global commercial culture that can penetrate any village or neighborhood; how the clash of global commercial culture and traditional societies is unleashing fundamentalist backlash and political conflict; how great corporations have become less and less accountable to public authorities everywhere, and what this means for the environment job opportunities, and our economic future; how "globalization," the business buzzword of the decade, is creating not a global village but a divided planet in the grip of global gridlock. With major profiles of five of these corporations based on hundreds of interviews on four continents, Richard J. Barnet and John Cavanagh reveal how a few hundred companies with worldwide connections dominate the four intersecting webs of global commercial activity that make up the new world economy. |
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The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison - by Jeffrey Reiman. A masterpiece. Reiman shows how the U.S. justice system selectively punishes the crimes of the poor while ignoring the crimes of the rich. For example, in 1987, theft and robbery cost Americans $12 billion, but white collar fraud and embezzlement cost $107 billion. Some 19,000 Americans were officially murdered that year, but countless hundreds of thousands were killed by pollution, tobacco, unnecessary surgery, food additives, over-prescription of legal drugs, unsafe consumer products, job hazards and other things which are foisted on us by overly profit-driven corporations. Even when the rich get caught for more "traditional" crimes, they get off much more lightly than the poor. |
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America Needs a Raise: Fighting for Economic Security and Social
Justice - by David Kusnet, John J. Sweeney. John J. Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., makes a rallying cry for Americans to stop the thievery of corporations by joining unions. Wages, he argues, are shrinking due to inflation and as more and more corporations downsize, their profits, stock prices and salaries for principals shoot through the roof. Drawing on his experiences as a young boy attending labor union meetings with his bus driving father, Sweeney believes that a return to unions will give workers the support they need to negotiate higher wages, restore an economic balance, and revive a sense of community and cooperation that America has been sorely lacking. |
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Why Unions Matter - by Michael
Yates. This book proves with irrefutable statistics and persuasive analysis that unionized workers in every part of the economy get more pay and better benefits than employees who do comparable work but do not belong to a union. Yet economic gains and job security are just the starting point for this informative book. It is just as significant, argues Michael Yates, that unions inspire power, solidarity, and dignity in workers, with great consequences for their lives. Why Unions Matter does not, however, make excuses for existing trade unions. Faced with a decades-long loss of membership, the union movement urgently needs new approaches, argues Yates. Providing sound practical advice on many topics, including what makes a collective bargaining campaign effective and what approach unions should take in electoral politics, Yates calls for a more independent, tough-minded, democratic, and politically progressive labor movement. |
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We Shall Not Be Moved: The Women's Factory Strike of 1909 - by Joan Dash. Young people feeling like they can't change the world should read Joan Dash's We Shall Not Be Moved. In 1909, teenage girls led some 30,000 shirt cutters, pressers and finishers in the "largest strike of women workers ever known in the United States." These young women, who lived near poverty and spoke different languages, nevertheless brought the shirt-making industry to a halt for more than 13 weeks. Not only did it unite factory workers, it gained crucial support from college-educated suffragists and from women in high society, often called "the mink brigade." The strike, which began in New York and spread to Philadelphia, ultimately led to a settlement between more than three hundred manufacturers and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. |
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Amazing Grace - by Jonathan Kozol. A heart-wrenching look at impoverished children living in the poorest Congressional District in the South Bronx. In 1991, the median household income of the area, according to the New York Times, was $7,600. |
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America: What Went Wrong? - by Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele. Pulitzer-prize winning journalists describe how the game of wealth in America is rigged for the rich. They show how corporations use tax cuts, deregulation and government for their own ends, leaving the middle class holding the bill. |
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America: Who Stole the Dream? - by Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele. A revealing expose of "Reaganomics" and "trickle-down" economics; all about the merger-mania of the '80s, and the widening gap between rich and poor in America. |
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Politics of Rich and Poor: The American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath - by Kevin Phillips. This is the famous book that kicked off the "rich are getting richer, and the poor poorer" debate of the 80s. A damning expose of Reaganomics, ironically written by a prominent Republican, it was once ridiculed by conservatives as "class warfare," this book's thesis of polarizing wealth in America is now accepted by all serious economists of all political stripes. |
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| 2004 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES | |
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Winning Back America - by Howard Dean. Dr. Dean's official campaign book is part autobiography and part political manifesto. This explains why he should be viewed as a much more pragmatic politician, than the hardcore radical he is frequently portrayed as. He writes of his life as an average 1960s college student and expresses his feelings of enthusiasm when he decides to enroll in medical school (and meets his future wife), and his grief at the disappearance of his brother in Vietnam. The final sections of the book return to the Dean that is instantly recognizable to anyone who has heard a Dean stump speech. The recalls his successes as Governor of Vermont, why he made the decision to run for the Presidency, and his plan for the future of America. |
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Four Trials - by John Edwards. Here, Edwards has styled his official campaign memoir as an account of four of his past courtroom experiences. In the book, Edwards demonstrates his empathy for "regular folks" by explaining what he learned from the victims he represented in medical malpractice and personal injury lawsuits. He also displays a keen understanding of the psychology of a jury, which he calls "a microcosm of democracy." Edwards weaves in recollections of his youth as the son of a working-class mill worker, his rise to prominence as a trial lawyer, and his dedicated family life (and the death of his son in a car accident), his time in the Senate, and how these experiences informed and influenced his public policy choices and goals for the future of America. |
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A Prayer for America
- by Dennis Kucinich. This book is a compilation of Congressman Kucinich's most notable speeches. The title of the book comes from the title of his February 2002 speech to the liberal Americans for Democratic Action gathering. In the speech, Kucinich said that it was "patriotic" to dissent against the purported extra-constitutional measures the Bush Administration wanted to use in the War on Terrorism. That speech launched the "Draft Kucinich" effort which, in turn, encouraged Kucinich to formally enter the race. The book also includes speeches on one of his favorite topics: creation of a Department of Peace to address social ills as diverse as spousal abuse, police-community relations, and international diplomacy. Some of the speeches contain the New Age rhetoric of which Kucinich is so fond ("Spirit merges with matter to sanctify the universe. Matter transcends, to return to spirit."). With a forward by the wonderful, Studs Terkel. |
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A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America - by John
Kerry. To use a favorite Kerry campaign tag line, Senator Kerry uses to book to set forth his life story and explain why he is "The Real Deal" that so many others try to claim as their own. Before Kerry lays out his positions on everything from education reform to health care, foreign policy and civil liberties, he discusses his candidacy in the context of his calling to public service, hitting on the themes of finding common ground and restoring America's promise. Kerry's belief in service strongly shapes the campaign platform, as in his suggestion that community service should become a requirement for high school graduation. Kerry's autobiographical story is somewhat muted here, serving as "background music to the main theme of my life right now." Still, he frequently references experiences from his past as guides to his views on current issues. This book -- which is certainly intended as Kerry's authorized "campaign book" -- helps give the reader a good understanding of the man and his ideas. |
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Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat - by
Wesley Clark. This memoir from General Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, offers a unique behind-the-scenes look at how war is fought today. The problems posed, and overcome, in the war in Kosovo -- how to fight an air war against unconventional forces in rough terrain and how to coordinate U.S. objectives with those of other nations -- are the problems that America increasingly faces in the today's world. As the Los Angeles Times noted after the 9-11 attacks that this book's "lessons are highly relevant now ... We need to think about exactly what steps will lessen, rather than increase, the terrorist threat. And we also need innovative commanders willing to improvise to meet a new kind of threat, more determined political leadership, a more flexible outlook in the Pentagon" Even GOP partisan Newt Gingrich highly praised this book. |
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Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire - by
Wesley Clark. This book -- the follow-up to Clark's 2001 bestseller -- starts off with a concise analysis of the 2003 military invasion/occupation of Iraq. It then moves on to examine America at an our current domestic, economic, and geopolitical crossroads. Clark explains why he believes the US conflicts with Iraq were not two distinct wars, but an unceasing, 13-year-long military campaign. He argues that the ambitious foreign policy plans envisioned by Bush Administration are not only unsustainable, but a redundant anachronism -- as America having long ago created a "virtual empire" by interlocking international business relationships, cultural lure, and global leadership. A political manifesto, Clark uses the book to present his vision of an engaged, enterprising America leading the world (instead of dominating it). |
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| BIOGRAPHIES | |
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Robert Kennedy: A Memoir - by Jack Newfield. Newfield was originally not a fan of RFK, but watched him go from working for McCarthy, through his time as Attorney General, through his brother's death, and through his resulting grief, and how those transformative experiences led to possibly the finest campaign of real hope and promise that America saw in the 20th Century, and created one of it's greatest, most needed, and regrettably most missed leaders. |
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The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey to the Nobel Peace Prize - by Douglas Brinkley. This is the story of how while President Carter left the White House highly unpopular and, over time, became highly regarded once more through his humanitarian efforts throughout the world, and here at home in America. Many Americans admire Carter for his charity work building homes in the United States with the group Habitat for Humanity. He is also known and respected internationally for attempting to negotiate peace in world trouble spots such as Haiti, North Korea, and the Middle East, and helping to monitor elections in South & Central America and elsewhere, to ensure they are fair and just. |
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American Dynasty:
Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush - by
Kevin Phillips. Kevin Phillips is a Republican political analyst whose previous writings have proven remarkably prescient. His 1969 book, The Emerging Republican Majority, accurately predicted the major electoral shift favoring conservative thought and Republic dominance. His more recent concerns, as reflected in The Politics of Rich and Poor and Wealth and Democracy, have centered on the nation's growing economic inequities. In the latter book, Phillips criticized recent Republican economic policies, which he finds irresponsible and a betrayal of the interests of the majority of working Americans. Republican 'free market theology,' as Phillips describes it, has achieved the status of gospel, universal in application and beyond criticism. American Dynasty reveals his concerns about the dynasticization of national politics, with all the negative consequences the term implies. The Bush family, Phillips contends, has long benefited from connections to energy and defense industries and the intelligence community. Though he frames many of his conclusions as conjecture, he offers a disturbing portrait of a political dynasty that that has been willing to resort to the most cynical means of political manipulation to advance their own interests and those of an elite of wealth and influence, often to the detriment of average Americans. Perhaps the most alarming contention here is that George W. Bush has,for all practical purposes, inherited the leadership of the Christian Right and is, in fact, animated by a disturbing conviction that his rise to the presidency was the result of Divine Providence. |
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House of
Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most
Powerful Dynasties - by Craig Unger. "House of Bush, House of Saud begins with a simple question: How is it that two days after September 11, 2001, when American air traffic was all but shut down, 140 Saudi citizens, many kin to Osama bin Laden, were permitted to leave the country? Why didn't the FBI question the people on the planes? Why did a Saudi billionaire socialize in the White House with President George W. Bush on September 13, and why did Saudi Arabia - the birthplace of nearly all of the hijackers - get preferential treatment from the White House even at the World Trade Center continued to burn?" The answers to these questions - and ones far more troubling - lie in a largely hidden relationship that began in the mid-1970s, when the oil-rich House of Saud set out for America in the wake of the OPEC oil embargo and soaring oil prices. Saudi Arabia needed American military protection and a place to invest its billions of petrodollars. Like wildcatting oil drillers, the Saudis began prospecting among promising American politicians, including the Bush family. And with the Bushes, the Saudis hit a gusher - direct access to presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, as well as to Secretary of State James Baker, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus. |
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The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson
- by Thomas
Jefferson. A selection of the Founding Father's writings include his autobiography, the Declaration of Independence, entries from his travel journals, biographical sketches of his contemporaries, public and private letters, and "Notes on Virginia." |
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The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill
Clinton - by Joe Klein. Klein, a national news reporter offers a non-fictional take on Clinton, whom he describes as both "the most talented politician of his generation" and "the most compelling." Klein is at once disappointed by Clinton's failure to achieve greatness, but also a defender of what Clinton did do. He can be harsh about Clinton's personal shortcomings -- yet he also credits Clinton with running "a serious, substantive presidency" whose chief success was dragging "Washington toward a recognition that a revised form of government activism might be appropriate in the anarchy of an instant economy." This book is an honest liberal's best effort to explain eight controversial years. Readers who supported Clinton will discover new insights into why he didn't accomplish more -- and those who opposed him will gain a sharper understanding of why he remained so popular with the public. |
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My Life - by William Jefferson Clinton. Bill Clinton's eagerly awaited memoir is sure to ignite a firestorm of interest in an already politically charged election year. A strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public. It is the fullest, most concretely detailed, most nuanced account of a presidency ever written, and a testament to the positive impact on America and on the world of his work and his ideals. Here is the life of a great national and international figure, revealed with all his talents and contradictions. Filled with fascinating moments and insights, it is told openly, directly, in President Clinton's own completely recognizable voice. |
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| MATTERS OF FAITH | |
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Beyond Dogma - by H.H. Dalai Lama. Beyond Dogma presents a record of a 1993 visit to France by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, recipient of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize and the world's most prominent Buddhist leader. During a series of public lectures and question-and-answer sessions with political activists, religious leaders, students, scientists, Buddhist practitioners, and interfaith organizations, His Holiness responds to a wide range of contemporary social, political, and religious issues. Topics include the practice of Buddhism in the West; nonviolence, human rights, and the Tibetan crisis; ecumenical approaches to spirituality; the meeting of Buddhism and science; and more. |
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Why I Am Not a Christian, and Other Essays on Religion and Related
Subjects - by Bertrand Russell. Dedicated as few men have been to the life of reason, Bertrand Russell has always been concerned with the basic questions to which religion also addresses itself -- questions about man's place in the universe and the nature of the good life, questions that involve life after death, morality, freedom, education, and sexual ethics. He brings to his treatment of these questions the same courage, scrupulous logic, and lofty wisdom for which his other work as philosopher, writer, and teacher has been famous. These qualities make the essays included in this book perhaps the most graceful and moving presentation of the freethinker's position since the days of Hume and Voltaire. "I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue," Russell declares in his Preface, and his reasoned opposition to any system or dogma which he feels may shackle man's mind runs through all the essays in this book, whether they were written as early as 1899 or as late as 1954. The book has been edited, with Lord Russell's full approval and cooperation, by Professor Paul Edwards of the Philosophy Department of New York University. In an Appendix, Professor Edwards contributes a full account of the highly controversial "Bertrand Russell Case" of 1940, in which Russell was judicially declared "unfit" to teach philosophy at the College of the City of New York. Whether the reader shares or rejects Bertrand Russell's views, he will find this book an invigorating challenge to set notions, a masterly statement of a philosophical position, and a pure joy to read. |
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Is Religion Killing Us? - by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. Nelson-Pallmeyer challenges the understanding of power that lies at the heart of the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He argues that nonviolence is powerful and necessary and that a viable future for human beings and the planet depends on challenging the ways in which sacred texts reinforce visions of power that are largely abusive. A viable future, he says, depends on re-visioning God's power. |
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One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church - by Huston
Smith. This inspirational book celebrates the faith and courage of members of a traditional church that-in twentieth-century America is still struggling for religious freedom. Their greatest challenge is the ongoing legal battle against the 1990 Supreme Court decision citing peyote use to deny the Native American Church the First Amendment right to "the free exercise of religion." Legislation providing an exemption to the Native American Church was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1997. The eloquent personal testimony offered by Church members from many different tribes demonstrates the spiritual strength of this religious tradition and makes it clear that peyote is not used to obtain "visions" but to heal the body and spirit and to teach righteousness. Peyote meetings play a vital role in upholding the Church's standards of morality, which stress abstinence from alcohol, truthfulness, family obligations, economic self-sufficiency, service, and prayer. This book is important reading for anyone who cares about spiritual values, political process, and the individual's freedom to worship according to the dictates of conscience. |
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Forgotten Truth: The Common Vision of the World's Religions - by Huston
Smith. This classic companion to The World's Religions articulates the remarkable unity that underlies the world's religious traditions — with a new preface by the author. Huston Smith is widely regarded as the most eloquent and accessible contemporary authority on the history of religions. A leading figure in the comparative philosophy of religion, he has taught at Washington University, MIT, and Syracuse University. |
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The Quantum and the Lotus - by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh
Xuan Thuan. This fascinating dialogue reveals how the ancient philosophical ideas of Buddhism can be joined harmoniously with the revelations of the most cutting-edge science of today, the science of quantum physics, and how together they can offer powerful answers to the most beguiling questions about life. The authors discuss how their different perspectives shed similar light on a series of fundamental questions about the nature of existence, the meaning of life, and the future of the universe. They delve into such intriguing topics as the reality of the "self" and the "world", the essence of time and of causality, the laws of nature, and the meaning of existence. What emerges is an extraordinary vision of the universe as one that is neither totally governed by hard physics nor solely theistic and spiritual in nature. The authors steer a middle course between the idea of a universe that is devoid of meaning -- the view of most astronomers -- and the notion that the universe is the product of a theistic creator. The scientist describes the universe as a cosmos, created by a pervasive organizational principle, or life force. The Buddhist proposes a vision of a universe that has evolved to be naturally harmonious. Though their views differ in emphasis and the language used to describe concepts, they reach a remarkable meeting of the minds about the ultimate view of why we are here. They also succeed in escaping the "either-or" exclusivity so typical of the traditional confrontation between science and religion. |
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I Have Chosen to Stay And Fight - by
Margaret Cho. Comedian and activist Margaret Cho's righteous comic rage finds its targets with pinpoint accuracy and is meant not only to entertain but also to champion the civil liberties and raise awareness for the social injustices that are her impassioned causes-among them freedom of expression; gay rights; racial discrimination; and capital punishment. It is this blend of comedy and fervor that awakens the devotion of her legions of fans and permeates this book-her vehement, principled, and resoundingly funny political platform to shake us loose of the politics of disillusionment and get us through the years ahead. |
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New Rules: Polite
Musings From A Timid Observer - by Bill
Maher. Bill Maher is on the forefront of the new wave of comedians who have begun to influence and shape political debate through their comedy. He is best known not just for being funny, but for advocating truth over sensitivity and taking on the political establishment. Bill Maher's popular new HBO television show, "Real Time", has put Maher more front and center than ever before. Particularly, one regular segment on the show, entitled "New Rules," has been a hit with his ever-growing legion of fans. It is the part of the show during which Maher takes serious aim, bringing all of his intelligence, incisiveness, wit, and his signature exasperation to bear on topics ranging from cell phones ("I don't need my cell phone to take pictures or access the Internet. I just need it to make a phone call. From everywhere! Not just the places it likes!") to fast food ("No McDonald's in hospitals. I'm not kidding!) to the conservative agenda ("Stop claiming it's an agenda. It's not an agenda. It's a random collection of laws that your corporate donors paid you to pass.") |
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Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country: And It's
Time to Take It Back - by Jim Hightower. Hightower lambastes the current American power structure and exhorts his readers to fight against it. Hightower's indignation runs deep in this "us versus them" exposé of corporate malfeasance, governmental abuse, the militarization of American society, and the Bush administration's empire building. In the first part of the book, Hightower illustrates how the Bush administration and Congress work with major corporations (including our nation's vast media conglomerates) to add to their obscene wealth at the expense of America's working class, our environment, and (most lamentably) our rights and liberties. "The elites have pulled off a slow-motion coup, radically wrenching America's power balance from a people's democracy to Kleptocrat Nation." |
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LIES And The Lying Liars Who Tell them: A Fair and Balanced
Look at the Right - by Al Franken. Best known for his work on "Saturday Night Live" and Comedy Central, Franken has been studying the rhetoric of the Right. He has listened to their cries of “slander,” “bias,” and even “treason.” He has examined the Bush administration's policies of squandering our surplus, ravaging the environment, and alienating the rest of the world. He's even watched Fox News. A lot. And, in this fair and balanced report, Al bravely and candidly exposes them all for what they are: liars. Lying, lying liars. Al destroys the liberal media bias myth by doing what his targets seem incapable of: getting his facts straight. Using the Right's own words against them, he takes on the pundits, the politicians, and the issues, in the most talked about book of the year. Timely, provocative, unfailingly honest, and always funny, Lies sticks it to the most right-wing administration in memory, and to the right-wing media hacks who do its bidding. Note to Bill O'Reilly, the de facto publicist for Lies thanks to Fox News's hapless efforts to block its publication: Never say "I never said it" or "You can't find a transcript where I said it" when a man with 14 researchers from Harvard at his disposal is on your trail. |
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