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books tagged “Current Affairs” (current affairs)
books tagged “Current Affairs”
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Absolute FriendsISBN 031600023X (0-316-00023-X)
Hardcover, Little Brown & Co
Find This BookBook summary:The most facile presidential comparison one could make for George W. Bush would be his father, who presided over a war in Iraq and a struggling economy. Some "neocons" reject the parallel and compare Bush to his father's predecessor, Ronald Reagan, citing a plainspoken quality and a belief in deep tax cuts. But John Dean goes further back, seeing in Bush all the secrecy and scandal of Dean's former boss, the notorious Richard Nixon. The difference, as the title of Dean's book indicates, is that Bush is a heck of a lot worse. While the book provides insightful snippets of the way Nixon used to do business, it offers them to shed light on the practices of Bush. In Dean's estimation, the secrecy with which Bush and Dick Cheney govern is not merely a preferred system of management but an obsessive strategy meant to conceal a deeply troubling agenda of corporate favoritism and a dramatic growth in unchecked power for the executive branch that put at risk the lives of American citizens, civil liberties, and the Constitution. Dean sets out to make his point by drawing attention to several areas about which Bush and Cheney have been tight-lipped: the revealing by a "senior White House official" of the identity of an undercover CIA operative whose husband questioned the administration, the health of Cheney, the identity of Cheney's energy task force, the information requested by the bi-partisan 9/11 commission, Bush's business dealings early in his career, the creation of a "shadow government", wartime prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, and scores more. He theorizes that the truth about these and many other situations, including the decision to go to war in Iraq, will eventually surface and that Bush and Cheney's secrecy is a thus far effective means of keep a lid on a rapidly multiplying set of lies and scandals that far outstrip the misdeeds that led directly to Dean's former employer resigning in disgrace. Dean's charges are impassioned and more severe than many of Bush's most persistent critics. But those charges are realized only after careful reasoning and steady logic by a man who knows his way around scandal and corruption. --John Moe [via]
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Actual Innocence : Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convictedby Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, Jim DwyerISBN 038549341X (0-385-49341-X)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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America's Secret War : Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemiesby George FriedmanISBN 0385512457 (0-385-51245-7)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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American Power and the New Mandarinsby Noam Chomsky, Paul Avrich Collection (Library of Congress)ISBN 0140211268 (0-14-021126-8)
Softcover, Penguin
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American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Centuryby Kevin PhillipsISBN 0143038281 (0-14-303828-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century'Book summary:An explosive examination of the coalition of forces that threatens the nation, from the bestselling author of American Dynasty[via]In his two most recent bestselling books, American Dynasty and Wealth and Democracy, Kevin Phillips established himself as a powerful critic of the political and economic forces that ruleand imperilthe United States, tracing the ever more alarming path of the emerging Republican majoritys rise to power. Now Phillips takes an uncompromising view of the current age of global overreach, fundamentalist religion, diminishing resources, and ballooning debt under the GOP majority. With an eye to the past and a searing vision of the future, Phillips confirms what too many Americans are still unwilling to admit about the depth of our misgovernment.
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Among the Believers: An Islamic Journeyby Vidiadhar Surajprasad NaipaulISBN 0233974164 (0-233-97416-4)
Hardcover, A. Deutsch
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey'Book summary:Naipaul's controversial account of his travels through the Islamic world was hailed by The New Republic as "the most notable work on contemporary Islam to have appeared in a very long time."
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And the Band Played onby Randy ShiltsISBN 0312241356 (0-312-24135-6)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'And the Band Played on'Book summary:In the first major book on AIDS, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts examines the making of an epidemic. Shilts researched and reported the book exhaustively, chronicling almost day-by-day the first five years of AIDS. His work is critical of the medical and scientific communities' initial response and particularly harsh on the Reagan Administration, who he claims cut funding, ignored calls for action and deliberately misled Congress. Shilts doesn't stop there, wondering why more people in the gay community, the mass media and the country at large didn't stand up in anger more quickly. The AIDS pandemic is one of the most striking developments of the late 20th century and this is the definitive story of its beginnings. [via]
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Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Landby David K. ShiplerISBN 0142002291 (0-14-200229-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land'Book summary:The Jew, according to the Arab stereotype, is a brutal, violent coward; the Arab, to the prejudiced Jew, is a primitive creature of animal vengeance and cruel desires. In this monumental work, David Shipler delves into the origins of the prejudices that have been intensified by war, terrorism, and nationalism.[via]Focusing on the diverse cultures that exist side by side in Israel and Israeli-controlled territories, Shipler examines the process of indoctrination that begins in schools; he discusses the far-ranging effects of socioeconomic differences, historical conflicts between Islam and Judaism, attitudes about the Holocaust, and much more. And he writes of the people: the Arab woman in love with a Jew, the retired Israeli military officer, the Palestinian guerilla, the handsome actor whose father is Arab and whose mother is Jewish.
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Banker to the Poor : The Autobiography of Muhammad Yunus, Founder of the Grameen Bankby Muhammad Yunus, Alan JolisISBN 0195795377 (0-19-579537-7)
Hardcover, Oxford University Press
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Bill Moyers' World of Ideas Anthology Collection : Conversations with Thoughtful Men and Women about American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our Futureby Bill MoyersISBN 0385263465 (0-385-26346-5)
Softcover, Broadway Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bill Moyers' World of Ideas Anthology Collection : Conversations with Thoughtful Men and Women about American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our Future'Book summary:Conversations with thoughtful men and women about American life today and the ideas shaping our future. Bill Moyers brings us one-on-one interviews with forty-two extraordinary men and women--poets and physicists, historians and novelists, doctors and philosophers--discussing what's happening in our lives, our hearts, and our minds as we approach a new millenium. [via]
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Bill Moyers' World of Ideas : Conversations with Thoughtful Men and Women about American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our Futureby Bill MoyersISBN 0385262787 (0-385-26278-7)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bill Moyers' World of Ideas : Conversations with Thoughtful Men and Women about American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our Future'Book summary:Conversations with thoughtful men and women about American life today and the ideas shaping our future. Bill Moyers brings us one-on-one interviews with forty-two extraordinary men and women--poets and physicists, historians and novelists, doctors and philosophers--discussing what's happening in our lives, our hearts, and our minds as we approach a new millenium. [via]
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The Book On Bush: How George W. (mis)leads Americaby Mark Green, alterman EricISBN 0143034421 (0-14-303442-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Brethren Inside the Supreme Courtby Bob WoodwardISBN 0380521830 (0-380-52183-0)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Brethren Inside the Supreme Court'Book summary:The Brethren is the first detailed behind-the-scenes account of the Supreme Court in action. Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong have pierced its secrecy to give us an unprecedented view of the Chief and Associate Justices -- maneuvering, arguing, politicking, compromising and making decisions that affect every major area of American life. [via]
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Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Waterby Marc ReisnerISBN 0140178244 (0-14-017824-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water'Book summary:The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. This is the story of the early settlers, lured by promises of paradise. The author documents the rivalry between government giants and other institutions, in the competition to transform the West. [via]
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Chasing The Sea: Being a Narrative of a Journey Through Uzbekistan, Including Descriptions of Life Therein, Culminating with an Arrival at the Aral Sea, the World's Woby Tom BissellISBN 037572754X (0-375-72754-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Chasing the Sea : Lost among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asiaby Tom BissellISBN 0375421300 (0-375-42130-0)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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The Chineseby Jasper BeckerISBN 0195149408 (0-19-514940-8)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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The Clinton Warsby Sidney BlumenthalISBN 0374125023 (0-374-12502-3)
Hardcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
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A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africaby Howard W. FrenchISBN 0375414614 (0-375-41461-4)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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Corporation Nation: How Corporations Are Taking over Our Lives and What We Can Do About Itby Charles DerberISBN 031225461X (0-312-25461-X)
Softcover, Griffin
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Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of Americaby Robert HughesISBN 0195076761 (0-19-507676-1)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America'Book summary:The best-selling author of The Shock of the New, The Fatal Shore, and Barcelona here delivers a withering polemic aimed at the heart of recent American politics and culture.
Culture of Complaint is a call for the re-knitting of a fragmented and over-tribalized America--a deeply passionate book, filled with barbed wit and devastating takes on public life, both left and right of center. To the right, Hughes fires broadsides at the populist demagogy of Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson, Jesse Helms and especially Ronald Reagan ("with somnambulistic efficiency, Reagan educated America down to his level. He left his country a little stupider in 1988 than it had been in 1980, and a lot more tolerant of lies"). To the left, he skewers political correctness ("political etiquette, not politics itself"), Afrocentrism, and academic obsessions with theory ("The world changes more deeply, widely, thrillingly than at any moment since 1917, perhaps since 1848, and the American academic left keeps fretting about how phallocentricity is inscribed in Dickens' portrayal of Little Nell"). PC censoriousness and "family-values" rhetoric, he argues, are only two sides of the same character, extrusions of America's puritan heritage into the present--and, at root, signs of America's difficulty in seeing past the end of the Us-versus-Them mentality implanted by four decades of the Cold War.
In the long retreat from public responsibility beaten by America in the 80s, Hughes sees "a hollowness at the cultural core"--a nation "obsessed with therapies and filled with distrust of formal politics; skeptical of authority and prey to superstition; its language corroded by fake pity and euphemism." It resembles "late Rome...in the corruption and verbosity of its senators, in its reliance on sacred geese (those feathered ancestors of our own pollsters and spin-doctors) and in its submission to senile, deified emperors controlled by astrologers and extravagant wives."
Culture of Complaint is fired by a deep concern for the way Hughes sees his adopted country heading. But it is not a relentless diatribe. If Hughes lambastes some aspects of American politics, he applauds Vaclav Havel's vision of politics "not as the art of the useful, but politics as practical morality, as service to the truth." And if he denounces PC, he offers a brilliant and heartfelt defence of non-ideological multiculturalism as an antidote to Americans' difficulty in imagining the rest of the world--and other Americans.
Here, then, is an extraordinary cri de coeur, an outspoken call for the reconstruction of America's ideas about its recent self. It is a book that everyone interested in American culture will want to read. [via]More editions of Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America:
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The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotionby Stephen L. CarterISBN 0385474989 (0-385-47498-9)
Softcover, Anchor Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion'Book summary:The Culture Of Disbelief has been the subject of an enormous amount of media attention from the first moment it was published. Hugely successful in hardcover, the Anchor paperback is sure to find a large audience as the ever-increasing, enduring debate about the relationship of church and state in America continues. In The Culture Of Disbelief , Stephen Carter explains how we can preserve the vital separation of church and state while embracing rather than trivializing the faith of millions of citizens or treating religious believers with disdain. What makes Carter's work so intriguing is that he uses liberal means to arrive at what are often considered conservative ends. Explaining how preserving a special role for religious communities can strengthen our democracy, The Culture Of Disbelief recovers the long tradition of liberal religious witness (for example, the antislavery, antisegregation, and Vietnam-era antiwar movements). Carter argues that the problem with the 1992 Republican convention was not the fact of open religious advocacy, but the political positions being advocated. [via]
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Deterring Democracyby Noam ChomskyISBN 0374523495 (0-374-52349-5)
Softcover, Hill & Wang Pub
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Development As Freedomby Amartya Kumar SenISBN 0385720270 (0-385-72027-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Development As Freedom'Book summary:In Development as Freedom Amartya Sen explains how in a world of unprecedented increase in overall opulence millions of people living in the Third World are still unfree. Even if they are not technically slaves, they are denied elementary freedoms and remain imprisoned in one way or another by economic poverty, social deprivation, political tyranny or cultural authoritarianism. The main purpose of development is to spread freedom and its 'thousand charms' to the unfree citizens. Freedom, Sen persuasively argues, is at once the ultimate goal of social and economic arrangements and the most efficient means of realizing general welfare. Social institutions like markets, political parties, legislatures, the judiciary, and the media contribute to development by enhancing individual freedom and are in turn sustained by social values. Values, institutions, development, and freedom are all closely interrelated, and Sen links them together in an elegant analytical framework. By asking 'What is the relation between our collective economic wealth and our individual ability to live as we would like?' and by incorporating individual freedom as a social commitment into his analysis Sen allows economics once again, as it did in the time of Adam Smith, to address the social basis of individual well-being and freedom. [via]
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Development As Freedomby Amartya SenISBN 0375406190 (0-375-40619-0)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Development As Freedom'Book summary:Development as Freedom is a general exposition of the economic ideas and analyses of Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Science. This brilliant and indispensable treatise compellingly analyzes the nature of contemporary economic development from the perspective of human freedom. Freedom, Sen persuasively argues, is at once the ultimate goal of economic life and the most efficient means of realizing general welfare. It is a good to be enjoyed by the world's entire population. Drawing on moral and political philosophy and technical economic analysis, this work gives the nonspecialist reader powerful access to Sen's paradigm-altering vision and vividly shows how he, in the words of the Nobel Prize committee, has both "restored an ethical dimension to the discussion of economic problems" and "opened up new fields of study for subsequent generations of researchers."
To a world divided between those who fear the ruthlessness of the free market under prevailing conditions of global capitalism and those who fear the terror of authoritarian states that stifle indi-
vidual liberty as well as initiative, Development as Freedom presents a necessary intellectual and moral framework of analysis and scrutiny. By rigorously addressing one of the largest questions of all--"What is the relation between our economic wealth and our ability to live as we would like?"--Sen allows economics once again, as it did in the time of Adam Smith, to address the social basis of individual well-being and freedom. He also confronts the human dilemma that "despite unprecedented increases in overall opulence, the contemporary world denies elementary freedoms to vast numbers--perhaps even the majority--of people." This is a landmark work that shows how in individual human freedom--the exclusive possession, Sen shows, of no particular nation, region or historical, intellectual or religious tradition--lies the capacity for political participation, economic development and social progress. [via]More editions of Development As Freedom:
The Disappearance of Childhoodby Neil PostmanISBN 0385281919 (0-385-28191-9)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Disappearing Through the Skylightby O.B. HardisonISBN 014011582X (0-14-011582-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Feminine Mystiqueby Betty FriedanISBN 0393017753 (0-393-01775-3)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and The Myth of Converging Valuesby Michael Adams, David Jamieson, Amy LangstaffISBN 0143014234 (0-14-301423-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflictby Peter Ackerman, Jack DuvallISBN 0312240503 (0-312-24050-3)
Softcover, Palgrave Macmillan
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict'Book summary:"In a contest of violence against violence," the philosopher Hannah Arendt observed, "the superiority of the government has always been absolute." When confronted with nonviolent resistance on the part of the downtrodden, however, governments have often crumbled--witness the fall of South Africa's apartheid regime and the ousting of Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia.
The worldwide spread of democracy in the 20th century, documentary writers Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall maintain, "would not have come to pass without the power of ordinary people who defied oppressive rulers not by force of arms, but by nonviolent action." By way of example, they cite the collapse of the Argentine military regime following peaceful protests by the mothers of men and women who had been murdered by the secret police; the eventual undermining of the Polish Communist regime by the nonviolent Solidarity labor movement; the refusal of the Danish people to comply with the laws of their Nazi occupiers during World War II; and the exemplary work done in India (and, earlier, South Africa) by Mohandas Gandhi, who took pains to emphasize that nonviolence does not imply passivity.
Ackerman and DuVall's book, the companion volume to a PBS television series, will be of much interest to political activists of all stripes, as well as to students of contemporary history. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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Globalization: A Very Short Introductionby Manfred B. StegerISBN 019280359X (0-19-280359-X)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (And Found Inner Peace)by Harry SteinISBN 038533396X (0-385-33396-X)
Hardcover, Dell Publishing
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How Soccer Explains The World: An Unlikely Theory Of Globalizationby Franklin FoerISBN 0066212340 (0-06-621234-0)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'How Soccer Explains The World: An Unlikely Theory Of Globalization'Book summary:The global power of soccer might be a little hard for Americans, living in a country that views the game with the same skepticism used for the metric system and the threat of killer bees, to grasp fully. But in Europe, South America, and elsewhere, soccer is not merely a pastime but often an expression of the social, economic, political, and racial composition of the communities that host both the teams and their throngs of enthusiastic fans. New Republic editor Franklin Foer, a lifelong devotee of soccer dating from his own inept youth playing days to an adulthood of obsessive fandom, examines soccer's role in various cultures as a means of examining the reach of globalization. Foer's approach is long on soccer reportage, providing extensive history and fascinating interviews on the Rangers-Celtic rivalry and the inner workings of AC Milan, and light on direct discussion of issues like world trade and the exportation of Western culture. But by creating such a compelling narrative of soccer around the planet, Foer draws the reader into these sport-mad societies, and subtly provides the explanations he promises in chapters with titles like "How Soccer Explains the New Oligarchs", "How Soccer Explains Islam's Hope", and "How Soccer Explains the Sentimental Hooligan." Foer's own passion for the game gives his book an infectious energy but still pales in comparison to the religious fervor of his subjects. His portraits of legendary hooligans in Serbia and Britain, in particular, make the most die-hard roughneck New York Yankees fan look like a choirboy in comparison. Beyond the thugs, Foer also profiles Nigerian players living in the Ukraine, Iranian women struggling against strict edicts to attend matches, and the parallel worlds of Brazilian soccer and politics from which Pele emerged and returned. Foer posits that globalization has eliminated neither local cultural identities nor violent hatred among fans of rival teams, and it has not washed out local businesses in a sea of corporate wealth nor has it quelled rampant local corruption. Readers with an interest in international economics are sure to like How Soccer Explains the World, but soccer fans will love it. --John Moe [via]
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How to Watch TV Newsby Neil Postman, Steve PowersISBN 0140132317 (0-14-013231-7)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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The Idea of Indiaby Sunil KhilnaniISBN 0374525919 (0-374-52591-9)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Idea of India'Book summary:The key book on India in the postnuclear era, with a new Introduction by the author.Our appreciation of the importance of India can only increase in light of the recent revelations of its nuclear capabilities. Sunil Khilnani's exciting, timely study addresses the paradoxes and ironies of this, the world's largest democracy. Throughout his penetrating, provocative work, he illuminates this fundamental issue: Can the original idea of India survive its own successes?[via]More editions of The Idea of India:
Imperial America: The Bush Assault on World Orderby John NewhouseISBN 0375713727 (0-375-71372-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern Indiaby Edward LuceISBN 0385514743 (0-385-51474-3)
Hardcover, Doubleday
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The Ingenuity Gapby Thomas F. Homer-DixonISBN 037571328X (0-375-71328-X)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Ingenuity Gap'Book summary:As the world becomes more complex, so do its problems--and the solutions to these problems become tougher to grasp, writes University of Toronto professor Thomas Homer-Dixon in The Ingenuity Gap. "As we strive to maintain or increase our prosperity and improve the quality of our lives, we must make far more sophisticated decisions, and in less time, than ever before," he writes. Is the day coming in which our ingenuity can't keep up? Homer-Dixon fears that it is: "the hour is late," and we're blindly "careening into the future." What we face, he says, is a "very real chasm that sometimes looms between our ever more difficult problems and our lagging ability to solve them." There are moments when Homer-Dixon comes close to sounding like a modern-day Malthus, with his never-ending worries about population growth, the environment, the strength of international financial institutions, civil wars, and so on. Yet parts of this book are downright fascinating; at its best, The Ingenuity Gap reads like one of Malcolm Gladwell's stories for The New Yorker (or his book The Tipping Point).
Homer-Dixon is very good when he tackles particular problems, and his interests are wide-ranging, moving from the psychology of an airplane cockpit during a crisis to the depletion of the world's fisheries to differences between the minds of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. He also dredges up fine details. Did you know that "the largest human-made structure on the planet is not an Egyptian pyramid or a hydroelectric dam but the Staten Island Fresh Kills landfill near New York City, which has a depth of one hundred meters and an area of nine square kilometers"? There's plenty to argue with on these pages, and some readers will find Homer-Dixon's tendency to write in the first person a bit self-indulgent. Yet fans of big-think books like Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, David Landes's The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, and Robert Wright's The Moral Animal will find The Ingenuity Gap riveting. --John J. Miller [via]
Insiderby Piers MorganISBN 0091908493 (0-09-190849-3)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disasterby Jon KrakauerISBN 0385494785 (0-385-49478-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster'Book summary:When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10,1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet roughly the cruising altitude of an Airbus jetliner , twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds...Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed Outside journalist and author of the bestselling Into the Wild. Taking the reader step by step from Katmandu to the mountain's deadly pinnacle, Krakauer has his readers shaking on the edge of their seat. Beyond the terrors of this account, however, he also peers deeply into the myth of the world's tallest mountain. What is is about Everest that has compelled so many poeple--including himself--to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense? Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement. [via]
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- Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster: ISBN 0385492081 (0-385-49208-1)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group - Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster: ISBN 0375502807 (0-375-50280-7)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group - Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster: ISBN 0385494785 (0-385-49478-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
- Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster: ISBN 0385492081 (0-385-49208-1)
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The Iraq Study Group Report: Authorized Editionby Lee H. Hamilton, Lawrence S. Eagleburger, James A. Baker, Iraq Study GroupISBN 0307386562 (0-307-38656-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Iraq Study Group Report: Authorized Edition'Book summary:On March 15, 2006, members from both parties in Congress supported the creation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group to review the situation on the ground and propose strategies for the way forward. For more than eight months, the Study Group met with military officers, regional experts, academics, journalists, and high-level government officials from America and abroad. Participants included George W. Bush and members of his cabinet; Bill Clinton; Jalal Talabani; Nouri Kamal al-Maliki; Generals John Abizaid, George Casey, and Anthony Zinni; Colin Powell; Thomas Friedman; George Packer; and many others. This official edition contains the Group's findings and proposals for improving security, strengthening the new government, rebuilding the economy and infrastructure, and maintaining stability in the region. It is a highly anticipated and essential step forward for Iraq, America, and the world. [via]
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Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asiaby Ahmed RashidISBN 0142002607 (0-14-200260-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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- Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia: ISBN 0300093454 (0-300-09345-4)
Hardcover, Yale Univ Pr - Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia: ISBN 0300099509 (0-300-09950-9)
Softcover, Yale University Press - Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia: ISBN 0142002607 (0-14-200260-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
- Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia: ISBN 0300093454 (0-300-09345-4)
Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistanby Ann JonesISBN 0312426593 (0-312-42659-3)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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Letter to Daniel: Despatches from the Heartby Fergal KeaneISBN 014026289X (0-14-026289-X)
Softcover, Penguin Uk
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The Leveling Wind: Politics, the Culture and Other News, 1990-1994by George F. WillISBN 0140247025 (0-14-024702-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Leveling Wind: Politics, the Culture and Other News, 1990-1994'Book summary:The nationally syndicated conservative columnist and ABC-TV political commentator presents his fifth collection of columns, speeches, and reviews from 1990 through 1994, including observations on the pleasures of sports and family life. Reprint. [via]
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The Lost Art of Drawing the Line: How Fairness Went Too Farby Philip K. HowardISBN 0375504222 (0-375-50422-2)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Libertyby James BovardISBN 0312123337 (0-312-12333-7)
Softcover, Palgrave Macmillan
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty'Book summary:From Justice Department officials seizing people's homes based on mere rumors to the IRS and its master plan to prohibit the nation's self-employed from working for themselves to the perpetrators of the Waco siege, government officials are tearing the Bill of Rights to pieces. Today's citizen is now more likely than ever to violate some unknown law or regulation and be placed at the mercy of an administrator or politician hungering for publicity. Unfortunately, the only way many government agencies can measure their "public service" is by the number of citizens they harass, hinder, restrain, or jail. Already a major issue in the deliberations of the Congress that took office in January of 1995, the power and size of government is certain to be a prominent factor in the 1996 presidential elections. Lost Rights provides a highly entertaining analysis of the bloated excess of government and the plight of contemporary Americans beaten into submission by a horrible parody of the Founding Fathers' dream.[via]More editions of Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty:
The Man Who Tried to Save the World: The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cunyby Scott AndersonISBN 0385486669 (0-385-48666-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Man Who Tried to Save the World: The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny'Book summary:Fred Cuny, a fearless and hugely ambitious Texan, was nicknamed "Master of Disaster" for his handling of relief projects worldwide. He stood out in a bureaucratic world with his unorthodox methods and obvious success. In 1995, during a visit to a mountain border town in Chechnya that was under heavy Russian bombardment, Fred Cuny disappeared.
Renowned war correspondent Scott Anderson became so involved in uncovering Cuny's fate that he risked his life several times in Chechnya. He describes a larger-than-life character who could have come straight from a Le Carré novel--a flawed hero who habitually lied about his past but to whom hundreds of thousands of disaster victims owed their lives. All wars are cruel, but Anderson succeeds in convincing us that the random savagery shown by the combatants in Chechnya made its terror unique. Against the background of a ruined country, he interviews Chechen rebels and traitors, Russian generals and pathetically young conscripts, and shadowy operatives who steered Cuny toward danger. Lies and changing stories make the mystery of what happened to Cuny ever more impenetrable, yet Anderson continues his stubborn detective work. With writing that has the fluidity and psychological insight shown by the author of the novel Triage, Anderson brings to this book a passion not usually found in journalism and makes it literature. --John Stevenson [via]
More editions of The Man Who Tried to Save the World: The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny:
- The Man Who Tried to Save the World : The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny: ISBN 0385486650 (0-385-48665-0)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing - The Man Who Tried to Save the World: The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny: ISBN 0385486669 (0-385-48666-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
- The Man Who Tried to Save the World : The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny: ISBN 0385486650 (0-385-48665-0)
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A Mathematician Reads the Newspaperby John Allen PaulosISBN 038548254X (0-385-48254-X)
Softcover, Anchor Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper'Book summary:In this book the author of Innumeracy : Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences reveals the hidden mathematical angles in countless media stories. His real life perspective on the statistics we rely on and how they can mislead is for anyone interested in gaining a more accurate view of their world. The book is written with a humorous and knowledgeable style that makes it great reading. [via]
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Merchants of Grainby Dan MorganISBN 0140055029 (0-14-005502-9)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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A Moment on the Earthby Gregg EasterbrookISBN 0140154515 (0-14-015451-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The New Spaniardsby John HooperISBN 0141016094 (0-14-101609-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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News from No Man's Land: Reporting the Worldby John SimpsonISBN 0333905741 (0-333-90574-1)
Hardcover, Macmillan
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The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianityby Philip JenkinsISBN 019518307X (0-19-518307-X)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity'Book summary:By the year 2,050 only one Christian in five will be non-Latino and white, and the center of gravity of the Christian world will have shifted firmly to the Southern Hemisphere.
The Next Christendom is the first book to take the full measure of the changing face of the Christian faith. Philip Jenkins shows that the churches that have grown most rapidly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are often more morally conservative and apocalyptic than their northern counterparts. Mysticism, puritanism, faith-healing, exorcism, and dream-visions--concepts which more liberal western churches have traded in for progressive political and social concerns--are basic to these newer churches. And the effects of such beliefs on global politics, Jenkins argues, will be enormous, as religious identification begins to take precedence over allegiance to secular nation-states. Indeed, as Christianity grows in regions where Islam is also expected to increase we may even see a return to the religious wars of the past, fought out with renewed intensity and high-tech weapons far surpassing the swords and spears of the middle ages. [via]More editions of The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity:
- The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity: ISBN 0195168917 (0-19-516891-7)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr - The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity: ISBN 0195146166 (0-19-514616-6)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr - The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity: ISBN 019518307X (0-19-518307-X)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
- The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity: ISBN 0195168917 (0-19-516891-7)
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The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Mealsby Michael PollanISBN 0143038583 (0-14-303858-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals'Book summary:The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals [Paperback] [via]
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One Nation, Two Culturesby Gertrude HimmelfarbISBN 0375404554 (0-375-40455-4)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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One Nation, Two Cultures: A Searching Examination of American Society in the Aftermath of Our Cultural Revolutionby Gertrude HimmelfarbISBN 0375704108 (0-375-70410-8)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Booksby Azar NafisiISBN 0375504907 (0-375-50490-7)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books'Book summary:An inspired blend of memoir and literary criticism, Reading Lolita in Tehran is a moving testament to the power of art and its ability to change and improve people's lives. In 1995, after resigning from her job as a professor at a university in Tehran due to repressive policies, Azar Nafisi invited seven of her best female students to attend a weekly study of great Western literature in her home. Since the books they read were officially banned by the government, the women were forced to meet in secret, often sharing photocopied pages of the illegal novels. For two years they met to talk, share, and "shed their mandatory veils and robes and burst into color." Though most of the women were shy and intimidated at first, they soon became emboldened by the forum and used the meetings as a springboard for debating the social, cultural, and political realities of living under strict Islamic rule. They discussed their harassment at the hands of "morality guards," the daily indignities of living under the Ayatollah Khomeini's regime, the effects of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, love, marriage, and life in general, giving readers a rare inside look at revolutionary Iran. The books were always the primary focus, however, and they became "essential to our lives: they were not a luxury but a necessity," she writes.
Threaded into the memoir are trenchant discussions of the work of Vladimir Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, and other authors who provided the women with examples of those who successfully asserted their autonomy despite great odds. The great works encouraged them to strike out against authoritarianism and repression in their own ways, both large and small: "There, in that living room, we rediscovered that we were also living, breathing human beings; and no matter how repressive the state became, no matter how intimidated and frightened we were, like Lolita we tried to escape and to create our own little pockets of freedom," she writes. In short, the art helped them to survive. --Shawn Carkonen [via]
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The Resurgence of Central Asia: Islam or Nationalism?by Ahmed RashidISBN 0195775481 (0-19-577548-1)
Hardcover, Oxford University Press
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The Right Nation: Conservative Power in Americaby Adrian Wooldridge, John MicklethwaitISBN 0143035398 (0-14-303539-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Russiansby Hedrick SmithISBN 0345317467 (0-345-31746-7)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Russians'Book summary:Hedrick Smith has done what we all wish we could do: he has gone to Russia and spoken to the people. Over steaming samovars, in cramped flats, and on dirt-floors, he has spoken to peasants and bureaucrats, artists and officials. He has studied their customs and their governments and shares his fascinating insights and fresh perspectives with us. [via]
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The Shield of Achilles : The Long War and the Market Stateby Philip BobbittISBN 0375412921 (0-375-41292-1)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of Historyby Philip BobbittISBN 0385721382 (0-385-72138-2)
Softcover, Alfred a Knopf Inc
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Showdown: Confronting Bias, Lies, and the Special Interests That Divide Americaby Larry ElderISBN 0312320175 (0-312-32017-5)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Aheadby Tamara DrautISBN 0385515057 (0-385-51505-7)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead'Book summary:Drowning in student loan and credit card debt? Cant afford to get married, buy a home, have children? At last, a book for the under-35 generation (and their parents) that explains why it is not their fault.
Strapped offers a groundbreaking look at the new obstacle course facing young adultsthe under-35 crowdas they try to build careers, buy homes, and start families. As Tamara Draut explains, getting ahead is getting harder. A college degree is the new high school diplomabut it now costs a fortune to get that degree, and students graduate with crippling debts. Good jobs are scarcer thanks to stagnant wages and disappearing benefits. And, the cost of everythingstarter homes, health coverage, child carekeeps going up and up. Budding families, even those with two incomes, struggle to pay the bills, while Visa and Mastercard have become the new safety net. Young adults are starting out behind the financial eight ballborrowing their way into adulthood and wondering whatever happened to the American Dream.
Is this the way things have to be? Not at all, argues Tamara Draut, a leading young commentator and a fresh voice for change. She shows how the obstacle course bedeviling young adults didnt just happenit was allowed to happen by a generation of leaders more interested in serving wealthy interests than in investing in the nations future. Strapped brims with ideas for a new kind of America where every young person can go to college, buy a home, and start a family.
Strapped will help jump-start a national conversation about where the country is failingand how we can make it right again. [via]More editions of Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead:
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The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policyby William Julius WilsonISBN 0226901319 (0-226-90131-9)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy'Book summary:"The Truly Disadvantaged should spur critical thinking in many quarters about the causes and possible remedies for inner city poverty. As policy makers grapple with the problems of an enlarged underclass they--as well as community leaders and all concerned Americans of all races--would be advised to examine Mr. Wilson's incisive analysis."--Robert Greenstein, New York Times Book Review[via]
"'Must reading' for civil-rights leaders, leaders of advocacy organizations for the poor, and for elected officials in our major urban centers."--Bernard C. Watson, Journal of Negro Education
"Required reading for anyone, presidential candidate or private citizen, who really wants to address the growing plight of the black urban underclass."--David J. Garrow, Washington Post Book World
Selected by the editors of the New York Times Book Review as one of the sixteen best books of 1987.
Winner of the 1988 C. Wright Mills Award of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.More editions of The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy:
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The Undercover Economistby Tim HarfordISBN 0345494016 (0-345-49401-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Undercover Economist'Book summary:The economy [isnt] a bunch of rather dull statistics with names like GDP (gross domestic product), notes Tim Harford, columnist and regular guest on NPRs Marketplace, economics is about who gets what and why. In this acclaimed and riveting bookpart exposé, part users manualthe astute and entertaining columnist from the Financial Times demystifies the ways in which money works in the world. From why the coffee in your cup costs so much to why efficiency is not necessarily the answer to ensuring a fair society, from improving health care to curing crosstown trafficall the dirty little secrets of dollars and cents are delightfully revealed by The Undercover Economist.
A rare specimen: a book on economics that will enthrall its readers . . . It brings the power of economics to life.
Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics
A playful guide to the economics of everyday life, and as such is something of an elder sibling to Steven Levitts wild child, the hugely successful Freakonomics.
The Economist
A tour de force . . . If you need to be convinced of the everrelevant and fascinating nature of economics, read this insightful and witty book.
Jagdish Bhagwati, author of In Defense of Globalization
This is a book to savor.
The New York Times
Harford writes like a dream. From his book I found out why theres a Starbucks on every corner [and] how not to get duped in an auction. Reading The Undercover Economist is like spending an ordinary day wearing X-ray goggles.
David Bodanis, author of Electric Universe
Much wit and wisdom.
The Houston Chronicle
From Publishers Weekly
Nattily packaged-the cover sports a Roy Lichtensteinesque image of an economist in Dick Tracy garb-and cleverly written, this book applies basic economic theory to such modern phenomena as Starbucks' pricing system and Microsoft's stock values. While the concepts explored are those encountered in Microeconomics 101, Harford gracefully explains abstruse ideas like pricing along the demand curve and game theory using real world examples without relying on graphs or jargon. The book addresses free market economic theory, but Harford is not a complete apologist for capitalism; he shows how companies from Amazon.com to Whole Foods to Starbucks have gouged consumers through guerrilla pricing techniques and explains the high rents in London (it has more to do with agriculture than one might think). Harford comes down soft on Chinese sweatshops, acknowledging "conditions in factories are terrible," but "sweatshops are better than the horrors that came before them, and a step on the road to something better." Perhaps, but Harford doesn't question whether communism or a capitalist-style industrial revolution are the only two choices available in modern economies. That aside, the book is unequaled in its accessibility and ability to show how free market economic forces affect readers' day-to-day.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Bookmarks Magazine
Harford exposes the dark underbelly of capitalism in Undercover Economist. Compared with Steven Levitts and Stephen J. Dubners popular Freakonomics (*** July/Aug 2005), the book uses simple, playful examples (written in plain English) to elucidate complex economic theories. Critics agree that the book will grip readers interested in understanding free-market forces but disagree about Harfords approach. Some thought the author mastered the small ideas while keeping in sight the larger context of globalization; others faulted Harford for failing to criticize certain economic theories and to ground his arguments in political, organizational structures. Either way, his case studiessome entertaining, others indicative of times to comewill make you think twice about that cup of coffee.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. [via]More editions of The Undercover Economist:
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The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich are Rich, the Poor are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!by Tim HarfordISBN 0385663390 (0-385-66339-0)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!'Book summary:An economist's version of The Way Things Work, this engaging volume is part field guide to economics and part expose of the economic principles lurking behind daily events, explaining everything from traffic jams to high coffee prices.
The Undercover Economist is for anyone who's wondered why the gap between rich and poor nations is so great, or why they can't seem to find a decent second-hand car, or how to outwit Starbucks. This book offers the hidden story behind these and other questions, as economist Tim Harford ranges from Africa, Asia, Europe, and of course the United States to reveal how supermarkets, airlines, and coffee chains--to name just a few--are vacuuming money from our wallets. Harford punctures the myths surrounding some of today's biggest controversies, including the high cost of health-care; he reveals why certain environmental laws can put a smile on a landlord's face; and he explains why some industries can have high profits for innocent reasons, while in other industries something sinister is going on. Covering an array of economic concepts including scarce resources, market power, efficiency, price gouging, market failure, inside information, and game theory, Harford sheds light on how these forces shape our day-to-day lives, often without our knowing it.
Showing us the world through the eyes of an economist, Tim Harford reveals that everyday events are intricate games of negotiations, contests of strength, and battles of wits. Written with a light touch and sly wit, The Undercover Economist turns "the dismal science" into a true delight. [via]More editions of The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich are Rich, the Poor are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!:
- The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich are Rich, the Poor are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!: ISBN 0195189779 (0-19-518977-9)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr - The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!: ISBN 0385663390 (0-385-66339-0)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
- The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich are Rich, the Poor are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!: ISBN 0195189779 (0-19-518977-9)
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Understanding Media: The Extensions of Manby Herbert Marshall McLuhanISBN 0262631598 (0-262-63159-8)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man'Book summary:Though he was once proclaimed "the oracle of the electronic age," perhaps the world was not quite ready for Marshall McLuhan when he came to prominence in the 1960s. With the advent of digital technology, the Internet, and the global economy, however, there can be little doubt that he is relevant now. Understanding Media is one of McLuhan's most popular books, offering some of his more pungent and provocative insights on our need to adapt from a relatively slow, fragmented mechanical age to a high-speed, highly integrated electronic one. McLuhan's formidable intelligence and imagination make it both enlightening and fun to read. Northrop Frye, McLuhan's colleague at the University of Toronto, once identified "the use of paradox and the pretence of naïveté" as the two primary tactics of teaching. From his own bag of tricks McLuhan adds obscurity ("Our world has become compressional by dramatic reversal"); hyperbole ("We have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time"); tautology ("TV is environmental and imperceptible, like all environments"); and the occasional dash of absurdist whimsy ("As extension of man the chair is a specialist ablation of the posterior, a sort of ablative absolute of backside, whereas the couch extends the integral being"). McLuhan also has a flare for the catchy phrase, and in Understanding Media the reader will find his famous dictum "the medium is the message" as well as the distinction between "hot" and "cool" media discussed at length.
After setting forth a few general principles, Understanding Media conjures a fly's-eye view of late-20th-century culture, with short sections on writing, speech, comics, telephones, television, money, movies, weapons, and much more. And while the discussion is rippling with uncanny, sometimes visionary, insight, its author remains an earnest humanist at heart. "The aspiration of our time for wholeness, empathy and depth of awareness," McLuhan says, "is a natural adjunct of electronic technology.& There is a deep faith to be found in this new attitude." --Russell Prather [via]
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The United States of Europe: The New Superpower And the End of American Supremacyby T. R. ReidISBN 0143036084 (0-14-303608-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The United States of Europe: The New Superpower And the End of American Supremacy'Book summary:While the United States flexes its economic and military muscles around the world as the dominant global player, it may soon have company. According to the Washington Post's T.R. Reid, the nations of Europe are setting aside differences to form an entity that's gaining strength, all seemingly unbeknownst to the U.S. and its citizens. The new Europe, Reid says, "has more people, more wealth, and more trade than the United States of America," plus more leverage gained through membership in international organizations and generous foreign aid policies that reap political clout. Reid tells how European countries were willing to discontinue their individual centuries-old currencies and adopt the Euro, the monetary unit that is now a dominant force in world markets. This is noteworthy not just for exploring the considerable economic impact of the Euro, but also for what that spirit of cooperation means for every facet of Europe in the 21st century, where governments and citizens alike believe that the rewards of banding together are worth a loss in sovereignty. Reid's most compelling portrait of this trend is in the young Europeans known as "Generation E" who see themselves not as Spaniards or Czechs but simply as Europeans. To illustrate America's obliviousness to this trend, Reid tells of former GE CEO Jack Welch, who never bothered to factor European objections into a proposed multi-billion dollar merger with Honeywell, leading to the deal being torpedoed and Welch disgraced. But what is most striking in The United States of Europe is the contrast between the new Europe and the United States. The Europeans cannot match the raw military size of the U.S., but by mixing wealth with diplomacy and continental unity (helped along by antipathy toward George W. Bush's brand of Americanism), they are forming an innovative and powerful superpower. --John Moe [via]
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Warrior Politics : Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethosby Robert D. KaplanISBN 0375505636 (0-375-50563-6)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Requires a Pagan Ethosby Robert D. KaplanISBN 0375726276 (0-375-72627-6)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Web Of Deceit: Britain's Real Role In The Worldby Mark CurtisISBN 0099448394 (0-09-944839-4)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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What's So Great About Americaby Dinesh D'SouzaISBN 0142003018 (0-14-200301-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'What's So Great About America'Book summary:Look again at the title of this book: it's not a question, but a statement. "America is the greatest, freest, and most decent society in existence," writes Dinesh D'Souza. "American life as it is lived today [is] the best life that our world has to offer." There are those who hate it, or at least essential elements of it, from radical Islamists to the likes of Patrick Buchanan (on the right) and Jesse Jackson (on the left). But they are wrong to hate it, and D'Souza grapples with all of them in this engaging and compelling volume. D'Souza is the author of provocative books such as Illiberal Education and The End of Racism, plus the appreciative Ronald Reagan. This may be his most personal book, with parts written in the first person as the India-born D'Souza describes his encounter with the United States, first as an immigrant and now as a citizen. Foreign authors such as Alexis de Tocqueville and Gunnar Myrdal have offered some of the most penetrating assessments of America, and D'Souza clearly shares in this noble tradition. "I am constantly surprised by how much I hear racism talked about and how little I actually see it," he writes. What's So Great About America is also vintage D'Souza, full of feisty arguments and sharp humor. He is perhaps better at explaining why America's critics are wrong than explaining why America's celebrants are right, but he's very good at both. Written in the months following the September 11 terrorist strikes, this book should find a large and receptive audience. --John Miller [via]
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The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Goodby William EasterlyISBN 0143038826 (0-14-303882-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good'Book summary:The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So M... [via]
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The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Goodby William Russell EasterlyISBN 0199210829 (0-19-921082-9)
Hardcover, Oxford University Press
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good'More editions of The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good:
You Are Here: A Dossierby John Bird, John Fortune, Rory BremnerISBN 0297847783 (0-297-84778-3)
Hardcover, Trafalgar Square
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