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books tagged “politics”
books tagged “politics”
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American Rhapsodyby Joe EszterhasISBN 0786229950 (0-7862-2995-0)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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Angela Davis: An Autobiographyby Angela Yvonne DavisISBN 0717806677 (0-7178-0667-7)
Softcover, Intl Pub
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The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixonby Anthony SummersISBN 0756758149 (0-7567-5814-9)
Hardcover, Diane Pub Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon'Book summary:Anthony Summers is the past master of scandal, the man who brought you Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe and that unforgettable (alleged) eyewitness account of J. Edgar Hoover in a flouncy black dress. Greater experts than I must rule on Summers's exhaustively researched portrait of Richard Nixon, The Arrogance of Power, but it sure is one racy read. Summers depicts a Nixon stoned out of his mind on Seconal, single-malt Scotch, Dilantin, speed, and clinical paranoia, pummeling his wife, Pat (who was rumored to have once been rescued by the Secret Service from drunkenly drowning in a bathtub). Summers's Nixon apparently took Mickey Cohen Mob money to fund his anti-Semitic, salacious smear campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas to get his Senate start; framed Alger Hiss with a fake typewriter; traded gold for POWs with Vietcong; and issued orders to bomb Damascus and Jordan and nuke Vietnam and Korea (orders that were ignored until Nixon sobered up in the morning). His favorite limo was the SS100X that JFK died in. Nixon's shrink reportedly also treated Rita Hayworth, spoke like Dr. Strangelove, and used "Pavlovian technique" to "brainwash Nixon into becoming a better person." No luck.
Summers's Nixon favored the Greek generals who tortured pro-democracy types, and took a bribe from Göring's pal Nicolae Malaxa, who, thanks to Nixon, traded his Romanian mansion (in which thousands of Jews were tortured and killed) for a posh Manhattan apartment. Summers's most fascinating stuff concerns the Howard Hughes/Castro/Watergate connection. Did Nixon order CIA/Mafia plots to kill Castro? Did Robert Maheu (said to have inspired Mission: Impossible) arrange "sex services" and "assassination planning" for the CIA, and spy on Jean Peters and Ava Gardner for Howard Hughes? Did Hughes give big money to Nixon under the guise of saving the fast-food "Nixonburger" franchise of Richard's brother Donald Nixon (whom Richard had the FBI spy on)? Did the Castro plot get JFK killed, as Haldeman suspected? Was the Watergate break-in (one of perhaps 100 Nixon break-ins) intended to seize information about Nixon's Hughes loans and Castro plots?
Summers tries to assess his massive data while he's presenting it, and he doesn't credit every wild tale equally. Still, without him, I would never have heard about Castro's alleged ex-girlfriend, "the Mata Hari of the Caribbean," hired by future Watergate burglars to re-seduce Castro and slip two poison pills in his coffee. But she hid the pills in her cold-cream jar, and when she took them out in their Havana Hilton bathroom, they'd melted. Besides, her close encounter with the leader left her "torn by feelings of love." The Arrogance of Power won't give you this feeling. --Tim Appelo [via]
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The Beauty Myth: How Images of Female Beauty Are Used Against Womenby Naomi WolfISBN 0688085105 (0-688-08510-5)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Beauty Myth: How Images of Female Beauty Are Used Against Women'Book summary:In a country where the average woman is 5-foot-4 and weighs 140 pounds, movies, advertisements, and MTV saturate our lives with unrealistic images of beauty. The tall, nearly emaciated mannequins that push the latest miracle cosmetic make even the most confident woman question her appearance. Feminist Naomi Wolf argues that women's insecurities are heightened by these images, then exploited by the diet, cosmetic, and plastic surgery industries. Every day new products are introduced to "correct" inherently female "flaws," drawing women into an obsessive and hopeless cycle built around the attempt to reach an impossible standard of beauty. Wolf rejects the standard and embraces the naturally distinct beauty of all women. [via]
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Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journeyby Linda GreenhouseISBN 0805080570 (0-8050-8057-0)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co
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Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Lifeby Jon Lee AndersonISBN 0802135587 (0-8021-3558-7)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life'Book summary:Even to those without Marxist sympathies, Che Guevara (1928-67) was a dashing, charismatic figure: the asthmatic son of an aristocratic Argentine family whose sympathy for the world's oppressed turned him into a socialist revolutionary, the valued comrade-in-arms of Cuba's Fidel Castro and a leader of guerilla warfare in Latin America and Africa. Journalist Jon Lee Anderson's lengthy and absorbing portrait captures the complexities of international politics (revolutionary and counter); his painstaking research has unearthed a remarkable amount of new material, including information about Guevara's death at the hands of the Bolivian military. [via]
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Cien Anos De Soledadby Frederic SeamanISBN 0785950109 (0-7859-5010-9)
Softcover, French & European Pubns
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cien Anos De Soledad'Book summary:A dense jungle of magic and literary gusto, this book pulls you in and engulfs you with its richness and beauty. Saying it is a story of a family is like saying the New Testament is a book about a carpenter. Following the family here reveals the history of several generations, and the passions, thoughts, and myths of a labyrinth of people, related and not. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a gifted writer, and nowhere does he write with the fervor that he does in One Hundred Years of Solitude, a pleasurable ride unmatched in modern literature. [via]
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Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Realityby Thomas SowellISBN 0688062695 (0-688-06269-5)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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Community and the Politics of Placeby Daniel KemmisISBN 0806124776 (0-8061-2477-6)
Softcover, Univ of Oklahoma Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Community and the Politics of Place'Book summary:[via]Thomas Jefferson envisioned a nation of citizens deeply involved in public life. Today Americans are lamenting the erosion of his ideal. What happened in the intervening centuries? Daniel Kemmis argues that our loss of capacity for public life (which impedes our ability to resolve crucial issues) parallels our loss of a sense of place. A renewed sense of inhabitation, he maintains of community rooted in place and of people dwelling in that place in a practiced waycan shape politics into a more cooperative and more humanly satisfying enterprise, producing better people, better communities, and better places.
The author emphasizes the importance of place by analyzing problems and possibilities of public life in a particular place those northern states whose settlement marked the end of the old frontier. National efforts to keep citizens apart by encouraging them to develop open country and rely upon impersonal, procedural methods for public problems have bred stalemate, frustration, and alienation. As alternatives he suggests how western patterns of inhabitation might engender a more cooperative, face-to-face practice of public life.
Community and the Politics of Place also examines our ambivalence about the relationship between cities and rural areas and about the role of corporations in public life. The book offers new insight into the relationship between politics and economics and addresses the question of whether the nation-state is an appropriate entity for the practice of either discipline. The author draws upon the growing literature of civic republicanism for both a language and a vantage point from which to address problems in American public life, but he criticizes that literature for its failure to consider place.
Though its focus on a single region lends concreteness to its discussions, Community and the Politics of Place promotes a better understanding of the quality of public life today in all regions of the United States.
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DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. at the Time of 9/11 and the Run-up to the Iraq Warby Christopher MeyerISBN 0753820919 (0-7538-2091-9)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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› Find signed collectible books: 'DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. at the Time of 9/11 and the Run-up to the Iraq War'Book summary:[via]Christopher Meyer was Ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2003, during which time he was an eyewitness to and participant in the events following 9/11 and the preparations for the Iraq war. A riveting and candid memoir of life behind the diplomatic scenes, Meyer's book is an honest account of what he saw, what he heard, and how he felt.More editions of DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. at the Time of 9/11 and the Run-up to the Iraq War:
- DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. At The Time of 9/11 and the Run-up to the Iraq War: ISBN 0753821303 (0-7538-2130-3)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square - DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. at the Time of 9/11 and the Run-up to the Iraq War: ISBN 0753820919 (0-7538-2091-9)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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Deliver Us from Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords and a World of Endless Conflictby William ShawcrossISBN 0743200284 (0-7432-0028-4)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Deliver Us from Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords and a World of Endless Conflict'Book summary:Foreign-affairs journalist William Shawcross travels around the world--Bosnia, Baghdad, and elsewhere--to paint a messy portrait of the post-cold-war world. Deliver Us from Evil is very much an on-the-ground book, full of reportage and descriptions of world leaders such as UN chief Kofi Annan. It includes a strong point of view: the dewy-eyed, do-gooder mentality that drives so much contemporary international relations is, as far as Shawcross is concerned, deeply wrongheaded. Peacekeeping missions often find that there's no peace to keep, and expectations of what they can accomplish soar far too high. "Today 'humanitarianism' often rules. It becomes a sop to international concern, and then it can be dangerous," writes Shawcross. Coupled with a world of instant media, where CNN broadcasts live from the killing fields, humanitarianism fuels a strong desire to have immediate reconciliation between warring factions. But it's a delusional goal, says Shawcross, pointing to the American Civil War and how long (even after Appomattox) it took North and South to reconcile fully. There's no reason to think other torn nations will respond more quickly. Peacekeeping missions often promise a heaven on earth they cannot deliver. "In a more religious time it was only God whom we asked to deliver us from evil," concludes Shawcross. "Now we call upon our own man-made institutions for such deliverance. That is sometimes to ask for miracles." --John J. Miller [via]
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Democracy: An American Novelby Henry AdamsISBN 0804901643 (0-8049-0164-3)
Softcover, Airmont Pub Co
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The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politicsby Peter L. Berger, David Martin, George Weigel, Grace Davie, Jonathan Sacks, Abdullahi A. An-Naim, Tu WeimingISBN 0802846912 (0-8028-4691-2)
Softcover, Eerdmans Pub Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics'Book summary:Theorists of secularization for two centuries have been saying that religion must inevitably decline in the modern world today is as religious as ever. This volume challenges the belief that the modern world is increasingly secular, showing instead that moderniztion more often strengthens religion. [via]
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Dragon Prince #1by Melanie RawnISBN 0756403014 (0-7564-0301-4)
Softcover, Daw Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dragon Prince #1'Book summary:Melanie Rawn's best-selling debut is a novel of love and war, magic and madness, and deadly dangerous dragons that hold the secret to unimaginable wealth that could prove key to mutual peace-or a bloody tyrant's reign. And among it all, an idealistic young ruler struggles to civilize a culture that understands the strength of the sword-but has yet to discover the true power of knowledge. [via]
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Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disasterby Mike DavisISBN 0805051066 (0-8050-5106-6)
Hardcover, Holt & Company, Henry
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster'Book summary:The 1990s have not been kind to Los Angeles. As Mike Davis writes, "The destructive February 1992, January 1993, and January 1995 floods ($500 million in damage) were mere brackets around the April 1992 insurrection ($1 billion), the October-November 1993 firestorms ($1 billion) and the January 1994 earthquake ($42 billion)." But, he argues, the increasing fear about nature's reign of terror in Southern California reflected in Hollywood's preoccupation with apocalypse--L.A. has been destroyed on screen by everything from lava (Volcano) to nukes (Miracle Mile) to alien death rays (Independence Day)--is in reality a strong case of denial. Again, Davis himself says it best: "For generations, market-driven urbanization has transgressed environmental common sense. Historic wildfire corridors have been turned into view-lot suburbs, wetland liquefaction zones into marinas, and floodplains into industrial districts and housing tracts. Monolithic public works have been substituted for regional planning and a responsible land ethic. As a result, Southern California has reaped flood, fire, and earthquake tragedies that were as avoidable, as unnatural, as the beating of Rodney King and the ensuing explosion in the streets."
As in City of Quartz, his earlier book about Los Angeles, Davis reveals the deeper ideological narratives behind historical events. Whether he's explaining the motivations behind the persistent refusal of civic leaders to admit that a tornado alley runs down the middle of the region, from Long Beach to Pasadena, or discussing, as one chapter refers to it, "the case for letting Malibu burn," he outlines his arguments with a fascinating amount of detail and a subtle sense of irony. There are wonderful chapters here, such as "Maneaters of the Sierra Madre," a zoology of the wild beasts Angelenos fear, including mountain lions that descend from the hills to eat joggers and small children, swarms of Africanized killer bees making their way across the deserts, and El Chupacabra, the "goat-sucking vampire" that joined L.A.'s roster of faddish icons in 1996.
Although this book is specifically about Los Angeles, its lessons about the relationship between urban developments and natural ecosystems and about the dangerous influence of class politics on environmental safety policy are applicable to any city. Anyone with a serious interest in natural history or urban policy should make a point of reading this book. --Ron Hogan [via]
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The Economics and Politics of Race: An International Perspectiveby Thomas SowellISBN 0688048323 (0-688-04832-3)
Softcover, HarperCollins Publishers
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Economics and Politics of Race: An International Perspective'Book summary:[MP3CD audiobook format in vinyl case.]
[Read by Robert Morris]
How much of a racial group's economic fate is determined by the surrounding society it lives in, and how much by internal patterns that follow that same group around the world? Using an international framework to analyze a group of differences, Sowell has pioneered a new approach for pursuing this important study, utilizing historical experience and empirical data. The results are fascinating and sometimes surprising. For instance, he finds that the social and economic patterns among Italians in Australia and Argentina are similar in many respects to those of Italians in Italy or the United States. And, though blacks have not faced the same massive and rigid oppression in Brazil as in the United States, economic differences between blacks and whites are significantly greater in Brazil. [via]More editions of The Economics and Politics of Race: An International Perspective:
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Ender's Shadowby Orson Scott CardISBN 0765342405 (0-7653-4240-5)
Softcover, Tor Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ender's Shadow'Book summary:Ender's Shadow is being dubbed as a parallel novel to Orson Scott Card's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ender's Game. By "parallel," Card means that Shadow begins and ends at roughly the same time as Game, and it chronicles many of the same events. In fact, the two books tell an almost identical story of brilliant children being trained in the orbiting Battle School to lead humanity's fleets in the final war against alien invaders known as the Buggers. The most brilliant of these young recruits is Ender Wiggin, an unparalleled commander and tactician who can surely defeat the Buggers if only he can overcome his own inner turmoil.
Second among the children is Bean, who becomes Ender's lieutenant despite the fact that he is the smallest and youngest of the Battle School students. Bean is the central character of Shadow, and we pick up his story when he is just a 2-year-old starving on the streets of a future Rotterdam that has become a hell on earth. Bean is unnaturally intelligent for his age, which is the only thing that allows him to escape--though not unscathed--the streets and eventually end up in Battle School. Despite his brilliance, however, Bean is doomed to live his life as an also-ran to the more famous and in many ways more brilliant Ender. Nonetheless, Bean learns things that Ender cannot or will not understand, and it falls to this once pathetic street urchin to carry the weight of a terrible burden that Ender must not be allowed to know.
Although it may seem like Shadow is merely an attempt by Card to cash in on the success of his justly famous Ender's Game, that suspicion will dissipate once you turn the first few pages of this engrossing novel. It's clear that Bean has a story worth telling, and that Card (who started the project with a cowriter but later decided he wanted it all to himself) is driven to tell it. And though much of Ender's Game hinges on a surprise ending that Card fans are likely well acquainted with, Shadow manages to capitalize on that same surprise and even turn the table on readers. In the end, it seems a shame that Shadow, like Bean himself, will forever be eclipsed by the myth of Ender, because this is a novel that can easily stand on its own. Luckily for readers, Card has left plenty of room for a sequel, so we may well be seeing more of Bean in the near future. --Craig E. Engler [via]
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The Enemy Within: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Churches, Schools, and Militaryby Michael SavageISBN 0785261028 (0-7852-6102-8)
Hardcover, Nelson Incorporated, Thomas
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Enemy Within: Saving America from the Liberal Assault on Our Churches, Schools, and Military'Book summary:Popular radio host Michael Savage returns to print with another attack on the forces of liberalism that he believes are tearing America apart. Using the same brash, abrasive style in his writing that has become a trademark of his radio show, he writes that "the Left operates specifically to undermine God, country, family, and the military" and that liberalism is "either treason or insanity" or "a mental disorder." He also takes on illegal immigration, the state of health care in the U.S., the "Hollywood Idiots," and the decline of schools and morality in general, all of which he blames on Liberals. Savage also drops bombshells such as: "Federal courts and judges in America today are to be more feared than al-Qaida," and Ruth Bader Ginsberg's appointment to the Supreme Court is "akin to appointing the general counsel of the Ku Klux Klan to the bench."
Statements as bombastic as these deserve to be backed up with substance and well-thought out arguments, yet Savage offers little more than an anecdote or two before moving on to the next rant. This is not to say he doesn't make some good points or highlight blatant abuses by government, questionable suits brought by the ACLU, or morally bankrupt product coming out of Hollywood, but one can't help noticing that several shades of gray have been left out of his black-and-white arguments. Due to this lack of hard facts and background, Savage's book is not particularly convincing. Still, Savage does consistently challenge readers with controversial opinions and conclusions, so it would be a shame for potential readers to dismiss his book simply on ideological grounds alone. And if he really sets your blood boiling, you can always call him up on his show and take him to task. --Shawn Carkonen [via]
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Executive Ordersby Tom ClancyISBN 0786208554 (0-7862-0855-4)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Executive Orders'Book summary:Tom Clancy goes to the White House in this thriller of political terror and global disaster. The American political situation takes a disturbing turn as the President, Congress, and Supreme Court are obliterated when a Japanese terrorist lands a 747 on the Capitol. Meanwhile the Iranians are unleashing an Ebola virus threat on the country. Jack Ryan, CIA agent, is cast in the middle of this maelstrom. Because of a recent sex scandal, Ryan was appointed vice president, a slot he doesn't hold for long when he lands in the Chief Executive's chair. He goes after the Iranians and then tries to piece together the country and his life the only way he knows how--with a fury that we've grown accustomed to in Clancy's intricate, detailed, and accurate stories of warfare and intrigue. [via]
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The Fifth Elephantby Terry PratchettISBN 0783893078 (0-7838-9307-8)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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The Final Daysby Carl BernsteinISBN 0743274067 (0-7432-7406-7)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Final Days'Book summary:The Final Days is the classic, behind-the-scenes account of Richard Nixon's dramatic last months as president. Moment by moment, Bernstein and Woodward portray the taut, post-Watergate White House as Nixon, his family, his staff, and many members of Congress strained desperately to prevent his inevitable resignation. This brilliant book reveals the ordeal of Nixon's fall from office -- one of the gravest crises in presidential history. [via]
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Freethinkers: A History of American Secularismby Susan JacobyISBN 0805077766 (0-8050-7776-6)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism'Book summary:An authoritative history of the vital role of secularist thinkers and activists in the United States, from a writer of fierce intelligence and nimble, unfettered imagination (The New York Times)[via]
At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock of human reason.
In impassioned, elegant prose, celebrated author Susan Jacoby paints a striking portrait of more than two hundred years of secularist activism, beginning with the fierce debate over the omission of God from the Constitution. Moving from nineteenth-century abolitionism and suffragism through the twentieth centurys civil liberties, civil rights, and feminist movements, Freethinkers illuminates the neglected accomplishments of secularists who, allied with liberal and tolerant religious believers, have stood at the forefront of the battle for reforms opposed by reactionary forces in the past and today.
Rich with such iconic figures as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Clarence Darrowas well as once-famous secularists such as Robert Green Ingersoll, the Great Agnostic Freethinkers restores to history generations of dedicated humanists. It is they, Jacoby shows, who have led the struggle to uphold the combination of secular government and religious liberty that is the glory of the American system.More editions of Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism:
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The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise and Progressby Virginia PostrelISBN 0684862697 (0-684-86269-7)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise and Progress'Book summary:Virginia Postrel smashes conventional political boundaries in this libertarian manifesto. World-views should be defined not by how they view the present, she says, but the future. Do they aim to control it, as many conservative reactionaries and liberal planners want to do? Or do they embrace it, even though they can't know what lies ahead? Postrel (editor of Reason magazine) firmly places herself in this latter category--the dynamists, she calls her happy tribe--and urges the rest of us to sign up. The future of economic prosperity, technological progress, and cultural innovation depends upon embracing principles of choice and competition. The downside of this philosophy, Postrel readily notes, is that it doesn't allow us to manage tomorrow by acting today. And that's exactly the point: we shouldn't want to. A future constructed by an infinite number of individual decisions, made privately, is one she believes we should encourage. The Future and Its Enemies is at once intellectually sweeping and reader-friendly; it has the potential to join a pantheon of books about freedom that includes works by Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. --John J. Miller [via]
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Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good For Gays, Good For Straights, And Good For Americaby Jonathan RauchISBN 0805078150 (0-8050-7815-0)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good For Gays, Good For Straights, And Good For America'Book summary:Marriage, when it's right (and usually when it's wrong), is a subject that stirs strong feelings. Gay marriage inspires its own set of passions, with opponents decrying it as a step that will undermine the very fabric of society while supporters posit it as an inevitable next stage in step-by-step acceptance of homosexuality by mainstream America. Appearing as the issue heats ups following President George W. Bush's call for a constitutional amendment that would block the gathering tide of gay nuptials, this polemic by Atlantic Monthly/National Journal writer Jonathan Rauch deftly walks a fine line, both personalizing the subject (Rauch is a gay man with a longtime lover and a lifelong wistful attitude about marriage) and addressing it with an intellectual poise informed by historical and philosophical perspectives. Rauch actually supports the steady-as-she-goes, state-by-state advancement of gay marriage, believing that "same sex marriage will work best when people accept and understand it, whereas a sudden national enactment, where it suddenly to happen, might spark a culture war on the order of the abortion battle." Might? It says a lot about Rauch's temperance that he doesn't forecast an inevitably fractious future for the nation while it sorts through the implications of gay weddings. There are more impassioned perspectives on the issue, but Rauch's positive approach advances the issue with a welcome coolheadedness that actually suits the controversy. This is, after all, a fight over the right of traditional outsiders to engage in an inherently conservative institution. --Steven Stolder [via]
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The Grapes of Wrathby John SteinbeckISBN 0791093050 (0-7910-9305-0)
Hardcover, Facts on File
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Grapes of Wrath'Book summary:When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, America, still recovering from the Great Depression, came face to face with itself in a startling, lyrical way. John Steinbeck gathered the country's recent shames and devastations--the Hoovervilles, the desperate, dirty children, the dissolution of kin, the oppressive labor conditions--in the Joad family. Then he set them down on a westward-running road, local dialect and all, for the world to acknowledge. For this marvel of observation and perception, he won the Pulitzer in 1940.
The prize must have come, at least in part, because alongside the poverty and dispossession, Steinbeck chronicled the Joads' refusal, even inability, to let go of their faltering but unmistakable hold on human dignity. Witnessing their degeneration from Oklahoma farmers to a diminished band of migrant workers is nothing short of crushing. The Joads lose family members to death and cowardice as they go, and are challenged by everything from weather to the authorities to the California locals themselves. As Tom Joad puts it: "They're a-workin' away at our spirits. They're a tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped bitch. They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're workin' on our decency."
The point, though, is that decency remains intact, if somewhat battle-scarred, and this, as much as the depression and the plight of the "Okies," is a part of American history. When the California of their dreams proves to be less than edenic, Ma tells Tom: "You got to have patience. Why, Tom--us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people--we go on." It's almost as if she's talking about the very novel she inhabits, for Steinbeck's characters, more than most literary creations, do go on. They continue, now as much as ever, to illuminate and humanize an era for generations of readers who, thankfully, have no experiential point of reference for understanding the depression. The book's final, haunting image of Rose of Sharon--Rosasharn, as they call her--the eldest Joad daughter, forcing the milk intended for her stillborn baby onto a starving stranger, is a lesson on the grandest scale. "'You got to,'" she says, simply. And so do we all. --Melanie Rehak [via]
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Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabinby Harold BloomISBN 0791036723 (0-7910-3672-3)
Hardcover, Facts on File
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House of Cardsby Michael DobbsISBN 0792711068 (0-7927-1106-8)
Hardcover, Chivers North Amer
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It Didn't Start With Watergateby Victor LaskyISBN 0803738579 (0-8037-3857-9)
Hardcover, Penguin USA
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John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrathby Harold BloomISBN 0791082393 (0-7910-8239-3)
Hardcover, Facts on File
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› Find signed collectible books: 'John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath'Book summary:Harold Bloom writes, "The Grapes of Wrath is a flawed but permanent American book." John Steinbeck's novel, still popular a half-century after its original publication, is the focus of this edition of Bloom's Notes. Along with a collection of some of the best criticism available on his work, this text includes a brief biography of the author, structural and thematic analysis, an index of themes and ideas, and more. This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School. These texts are the ideal aid for all students of literature, presenting concise, easy-to-understand biographical, critical, and bibliographical information on a specific literary work. Also provided are multiple sources for book reports and term papers with a wealth of information on literary works, authors, and major characters. [via]
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Killing Rage: Ending Racismby Bell HooksISBN 0805050272 (0-8050-5027-2)
Softcover, Owlet
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Killing Rage: Ending Racism'Book summary:Bell Hooks, the influential writer of Ain't I A Woman?, offers a black and feminist perspective on the issue of race in America. Throughout the 23 essays, Hooks seeks a way out of the cycle of racism. A provocative voice seeking wisdom in the din, she boldly asserts "this nation can be transformed... we can resist racism and in the act of resistance recover ourselves and be renewed." [via]
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Kissinger: A Biographyby Walter IsaacsonISBN 0743286979 (0-7432-8697-9)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Kissinger: A Biography'Book summary:By the time Henry Kissinger was made secretary of state in 1973, he had become, according to the Gallup Poll, the most admired person in America and one of the most unlikely celebrities ever to capture the world's imagination. Yet Kissinger was also reviled by large segments of the American public, ranging from liberal intellectuals to conservative activists. Kissinger explores the relationship between this complex man's personality and the foreign policy he pursued. Drawing on extensive interviews with Kissinger as well as 150 other sources, including U.S. presidents and his business clients, this first full-length biography makes use of many of Kissinger's private papers and classified memos to tell his uniquely American story. The result is an intimate narrative, filled with surprising revelations, that takes this grandly colorful statesman from his childhood as a persecuted Jew in Nazi Germany, through his tortured relationship with Richard Nixon, to his later years as a globe-trotting business consultant. [via]
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Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Millionby Martin AmisISBN 0786868767 (0-7868-6876-7)
Hardcover, Miramax
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million'Book summary:Koba the Dread is the successor to Martin Amis's celebrated memoir, Experience. It is largely political while remaining personal. It addresses itself to the central lacuna of twentieth-century thought: the indulgence of communism by intellectuals of the West. In between the personal beginning and the personal ending, Amis gives us perhaps the best "short course" ever in Stalin: Koba the Dread, losif the Terrible. The author's father, Kingsley Amis, though later reactionary in tendency, was "a Comintern dogsbody" (as he would later come to put it) from 1941 to 1956. His second-closest, and then closest friend (after the death of the poet Philip Larkin) was Robert Conquest, our leading Sovietologist, whose book of 1968, The Great Terror, was second only to Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago in undermining the USSR. Amis's remarkable memoir explores these connections. Stalin said that the death of one person was tragic, the death of a million a mere "statistic." Koba the Dread, during whose course the author absorbs a particular, a familial death, is a rebuttal of Stalin's aphorism. [via]
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Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Fiveby Harold BloomISBN 0791059251 (0-7910-5925-1)
Hardcover, Facts on File
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Kushiel's Chosenby Jacqueline CareyISBN 0765345048 (0-7653-4504-8)
Softcover, Tor Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Kushiel's Chosen'Book summary:In this engrossing adult fantasy tale, the fascinating Phèdre nó Delaunay fights to save her queen and country in a battle whose greatest weapon proves to be Phèdre herself. This sequel to Carey's accomplished debut novel, Kushiel's Dart, finds Phèdre, now Comtesse de Montrève, once again plying her skills as an anguissette--a courtesan for whom pain becomes pleasure--and her talents as a spy. She uncovers a conspiracy of treason and murder and begins an adventure that takes her once more to distant lands in the company of an intriguing cast of characters--and a new confrontation with her old enemy, Melisande Shahrizai.
There's some evidence of haste in this novel: the writing is not always as tight and controlled as it was in Kushiel's Dart. Nevertheless, Carey's fans will certainly enjoy this return to Terre d'Ange, and those new to her work will find a satisfying combination of fantasy, sex, and adventure, as well as a smart and engaging heroine. --Roz Genessee [via]
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Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Lifeby Queen NoorISBN 0786867175 (0-7868-6717-5)
Hardcover, Hyperion Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life'Book summary:Leap of Faith is the dramatic and inspiring story of an American woman's remarkable journey into the heart of a man and his nation.
Born into a distinguished Arab-American family and raised amid privilege, Lisa Halaby joined the first freshman class at Princeton to accept women, graduating in 1974 with a degree in architecture and urban planning. Two years later, while visiting her father in Jordan, she was casually introduced on the airport runway to King Hussein. Widely admired in the Arab world as a voice of moderation, and for his direct lineage to the prophet Muhammad, Hussein would soon become the world's most eligible bachelor after the tragic death of his wife. The next time they met, Hussein would fall headlong in love with the athletic, outspoken daughter of his longtime friend. After a whirlwind, secret courtship Lisa Halaby became Noor Al Hussein, Queen of Jordan.
With eloquence and candor, Queen Noor speaks of the obstacles she faced as a naive young bride in the royal court, of rebelling against the smothering embrace of security guards and palace life, and of her own successful struggle to create a working role as a humanitarian activist In a court that simply expected Noor to keep her husband happy. As she gradually took on the mantle of a queen, Noor's joys and challenges grew. After a heartbreaking miscarriage, she gave birth to four children. Meshing the demands of motherhood with the commitments of her position often proved difficult, but she tried to keep her young children by her side, even while flying the world with her husband in his relentless quest for peace. This mission would reap satisfying rewards, including greater Arab unity and a peace treaty with Israel, and suffer such terrible setbacks as the Gulf War and the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin.
Leap of Faith is a remarkable document. It is the story of a young American woman who became wife and partner to an Arab monarch. It provides a compelling portrait of the late King Hussein and his lifelong effort to bring peace to his wartorn region, and an insider's view of the growing gulf between the United States and the Arab nations. It is also the refreshingly candid story of a mother coming to terms with the demands the king's role as a world statesman placed on her family's private life. But most of all it is a love storythe intimate account of a woman who lost her heart to a king, and to his people. [via]
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The Left Hand of Darknessby Ursula K. Le GuinISBN 0802713025 (0-8027-1302-5)
Hardcover, Walker & Company
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Left Hand of Darkness'Book summary:Genly Ai is an emissary from the human galaxy to Winter, a lost, stray world. His mission is to bring the planet back into the fold of an evolving galactic civilization, but to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own culture and prejudices and those that he encounters. On a planet where people are of no gender--or both--this is a broad gulf indeed. The inventiveness and delicacy with which Le Guin portrays her alien world are not only unusual and inspiring, they are fundamental to almost all decent science fiction that has been written since. In fact, reading Le Guin again may cause the eye to narrow somewhat disapprovingly at the younger generation: what new ground are they breaking that is not already explored here with greater skill and acumen? It cannot be said, however, that this is a rollicking good story. Le Guin takes a lot of time to explore her characters, the world of her creation, and the philosophical themes that arise.
If there were a canon of classic science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness would be included without debate. Certainly, no science fiction bookshelf may be said to be complete without it. But the real question: is it fun to read? It is science fiction of an earlier time, a time that has not worn particularly well in the genre. The Left Hand of Darkness was a groundbreaking book in 1969, a time when, like the rest of the arts, science fiction was awakening to new dimensions in both society and literature. But the first excursions out of the pulp tradition are sometimes difficult to reread with much enjoyment. Rereading The Left Hand of Darkness, decades after its publication, one feels that those who chose it for the Hugo and Nebula awards were right to do so, for it truly does stand out as one of the great books of that era. It is immensely rich in timeless wisdom and insight.
The Left Hand of Darkness is science fiction for the thinking reader, and should be read attentively in order to properly savor the depth of insight and the subtleties of plot and character. It is one of those pleasures that requires a little investment at the beginning, but pays back tenfold with the joy of raw imagination that resonates through the subsequent 30 years of science fiction storytelling. Not only is the bookshelf incomplete without owning it, so is the reader without having read it. --L. Blunt Jackson [via]
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Lies Across America : What Our Historic Sites Get Wrongby James W. LoewenISBN 0684870673 (0-684-87067-3)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lies Across America : What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong'Book summary:Little seems to delight historian James W. Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, more than picking apart the cherished myths of American history. Few Americans study history after high school--instead, Loewen writes, they turn to novels and Oliver Stone movies to learn about the past. And they turn to the landscape, to roadside historical markers, guidebooks, museums, and tours of battlefields, childhood homes, and massacre sites. If you were to trust those sources, Loewen suggests, you would learn, erroneously, that the first airplane flight took place not at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, but at Pittsburg, Texas. "It must be true--an impressive-looking Texas state historical marker says so!" Loewen chortles.
In these entertaining pages, Loewen takes a region-by-region tour of the United States, pointing out historical oddments as he travels. For example, a massacre of white pioneers by Indians commemorated in Almo, Idaho, never took place, Loewen continues; neither did many other such events. Indeed, he insists, "throughout the entire West between 1842 and 1859, of more than 400,000 pioneers crossing the plains, fewer than 400, or less than .1 percent, were killed by American Indians." And if you were to visit Helen Keller's Georgia birthplace, over which a Confederate flag flies, you would get the impression that Keller had been an unreconstructed daughter of the Old South, whereas she was in fact an early supporter of the NAACP. And so on.
After finishing Loewen's alternately angry and bemused exposé, readers will likely never trust a roadside historical marker or tour guide again--which may prompt them to turn to history books to check things out for themselves. As well they should. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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Loyalistsby Peter TaylorISBN 0747543887 (0-7475-4388-7)
Hardcover, Bloomsbury Pub
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Machiavelli in Hellby Sebastian DegraziaISBN 0691055386 (0-691-05538-6)
Hardcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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The Making of the President, 1968by Theodore Harold WhiteISBN 0689102933 (0-689-10293-3)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster Merchandise &
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The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmareby G. K. ChestertonISBN 0755100166 (0-7551-0016-6)
Softcover, House of Stratus Ltd
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare'Book summary:The man who was Thursday is a classic of the spy genre that is equal parts mystery, suspense story, allegory, and farce. Each rereading of G.K. Chesterton's critically acclaimed novel reveals new meanings and nuances, while its jokes never become stale. The hero, Gabriel Syme, is Chesterton's ideal fo the virtuous common man. He must infiltrate and try to thwart an anarchist cell, at whose heart is the ambiguous Sunday, a man whose powers seem almost godlike. Syme's mission leads him through the back ways of Victorian London and on a wild chase through the French countryside, an adventure at once madcap, surreal, and cosmically important. More than just a charming tale full of Dickensian characters and a mysterious man who is supposed to be"Thursday," The Man Who Was Thursday asks the dark question: Will the human race survive? [via]
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Marx in His Own Wordsby Ernst Fischer, Franz MarekISBN 0713901292 (0-7139-0129-2)
Hardcover, Allen Lane
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Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networksby Loretta NapoleoniISBN 0745321178 (0-7453-2117-8)
Hardcover, Stylus Pub Llc
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Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition: An Essayby Charles Taylor, Amy GutmannISBN 0691087865 (0-691-08786-5)
Hardcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognitionby Charles Taylor, Amy GutmannISBN 0691037795 (0-691-03779-5)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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My Traitor's Heartby Rian MalanISBN 0802136842 (0-8021-3684-2)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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Naked Pictures of Famous Peopleby Jon StewartISBN 0688171621 (0-688-17162-1)
Softcover, Rob Weisbach Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Naked Pictures of Famous People'Book summary:Sometimes it seems like every standup comedian worth his or her salt just has to do the book thing, and you might feel that yet another warmed-over stage routine is the last thing you need taking up valuable bookshelf space. Jon Stewart's book will come as an extremely pleasant surprise. He eschews the standard standup patter and instead gives us 18 short comic essays in a variety of styles that recall the prose work of Woody Allen, only with a few more references to genitals. Stewart proves himself a remarkably nimble humorist with a sharp eye for parody, whether he's writing "A Very Hanson Christmas" or "Adolf Hitler: The Larry King Interview."
HITLER: ...Larry, look, I was a bad guy. No question. I hate that Hitler. The yelling, the finger pointing, I don't know ... I was a very angry guy.
KING: And this ... new Hitler?
HITLER: I get up at seven, have half a melon, do the jumble in the morning paper and then let the day take me where it will.... Me!! The inventor of the Blitzkrieg... When you stop having to control everything it's very freeing.
Stewart is not afraid to flirt with bad taste, in fact, some of the pieces in this collection do for "flirting with bad taste" what Bill Clinton did for "not having sexual relations." But it's wonderful to see an edgy comedian taking on the traditionally cozy genre of the humorous essay, creating work that combines the wit of Robert Benchley with the energy and attitude of the best modern standup. Naked Pictures of Famous People proves that Jon Stewart is as comfortable, and accomplished, in front of a word processor as he is in front of an audience. --Simon Leake [via]
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The New Industrial Stateby John Kenneth Galbraith, James K. GalbraithISBN 0691131414 (0-691-13141-4)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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Nichomachean Ethicsby Aristotle, Kim Hye-KyungISBN 0760752362 (0-7607-5236-2)
Softcover, Barnes & Noble
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nichomachean Ethics'Book summary:Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" is the first systematic treatise on ethics, and two millennia after it was written, it is still among the best. It speaks to human beings about themselves and their relations to others as clearly, forcefully, and systematically today as it did when it was written. It would also be hard to over estimate its historical importance. Virtually every moral philosopher has to deal with the issues grappled with in the "Nicomachean Ethics", and many of the positions argued for by Aristotle have been adopted, sometimes in an almost wholesale fashion, by other philosophers. [via]
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Nothing but the Truthby AviISBN 0786201312 (0-7862-0131-2)
Softcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nothing but the Truth'Book summary:A ninth-grader's suspension for singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" during homeroom becomes a national news story. [via]
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On Beautyby Zadie SmithISBN 078628319X (0-7862-8319-X)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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Orwell's Victoryby Christopher HitchensISBN 071399584X (0-7139-9584-X)
Hardcover, Allen Lane/The Penguin Press
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Orwell's Victory'Book summary:There can be few literary reputations that have become quite so battered in recent years as that of George Orwell, the subject of Christopher Hitchens' short and spiky Orwell's Victory. Feminists, socialists, conservatives, post-modernists and critics of empire have all lined up to take pot-shots at Orwell's "common-sense" style, his sometimes maverick politics, and above all his patrician world-view. Hitchens, a prolific writer and provocative political journalist himself, best known for his downsizing of the reputation of Mother Teresa, Henry Kissinger and Bill Clinton--successfully salvages Orwell from the backlash of posterity.
In a chatty and occasionally tangential account, he recreates the contexts and situations that influenced Orwell's most well-known work: privileged Eton, imperial Burma, the kitchens of Paris and the terraced streets of Lancashire, war-torn Spain, and London in the blitz. Throughout he judges Orwell in the light of the difficult contemporary questions he addressed--what Orwell called the "power of facing" unpleasant facts--rather than the ideological fashions of future generations. Some of Orwell's critics, notably Raymond Williams and Claude Simon, leave this book with the integrity of their own work in tatters. Hitchens is particularly good on Orwell's journalism, and deft at unpicking the deeper meanings of Animal Farm and 1984 . He doesn't really delve into Orwell's personal life, wherein lies the source of some of the posthumous contempt. But overall two reputations emerge intact from this little book: those of Orwell the voice of courageous sanity, and Hitchens, the arch-controversialist. --Miles Taylor [via]
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Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraqby Stephen KinzerISBN 0805082409 (0-8050-8240-9)
Softcover, Times Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq'Book summary:A fast-paced narrative history of the coups, revolutions, and invasions by which the United States has toppled fourteen foreign governments--not always to its own benefit[via]
"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 is the latest, though perhaps not the last, example of the dangers inherent in these operations.
In Overthrow, Stephen Kinzer tells the stories of the audacious politicians, spies, military commanders, and business executives who took it upon themselves to depose monarchs, presidents, and prime ministers. He also shows that the U.S. government has often pursued these operations without understanding the countries involved; as a result, many of them have had disastrous long-term consequences.
In a compelling and provocative history that takes readers to fourteen countries, including Cuba, Iran, South Vietnam, Chile, and Iraq, Kinzer surveys modern American history from a new and often surprising perspective.More editions of Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq:
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A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922by David FromkinISBN 0805008578 (0-8050-0857-8)
Hardcover, Henry Holt & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922'Book summary:Peopled with larger-than-life figures such as Winston Churchill (around whom the story is structured), General Kitchener and T.E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, Attaturk, Emir Feisal and Lloyd George the book describes the showdown with the Ottoman Empire which erupted into the devastating Eastern campaign of World War I and led to the formation - by bureaucracy and subterfuge by Americans and Europeans - of the states known collectively as the Middle East. The years 1914-1922 were the creative, formative years when everything seemed possible, but the events of 1922, the pivotal year, set the course for a future of endless wars and acts of terrorism that became the legacy of this period. Issues such as The Allenby Declaration establishing nominal independence for Egypt, the Palestine Mandate and the Churchill White Paper (from which Israel and Jordan sprang), the installing of Hashemite leaders of predominantly Shi'ite teritories, new leaders for Egypt and Iraq, the Russian declaration of a Soviet Union intent on re-establishing her rule over Moslem Central Asia - David Fromkin shows how all these changed the Middle East (and Europe) forever. [via]
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Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle Eastby David FromkinISBN 0805068848 (0-8050-6884-8)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East'Book summary:The critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling account of how the modern Middle East came into being after World War I, and why it is in upheaval today[via]
In our time the Middle East has proven a battleground of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and dynasties. All of these conflicts, including the hostilities between Arabs and Israelis that have flared yet again, come down, in a sense, to the extent to which the Middle East will continue to live with its political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed upon the region by the Allies after the First World War.
In A Peace to End All Peace, David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies came to remake the geography and politics of the Middle East, drawing lines on an empty map that eventually became the new countries of Iraq, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all-even an alliance between Arab nationalism and Zionism-seemed possible he raises questions about what might have been done differently, and answers questions about why things were done as they were. The current battle for a Palestinian homeland has its roots in these events of 85 years ago.More editions of Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East:
Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Trumanby Merle MillerISBN 0785773363 (0-7857-7336-3)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Renegade In Powerby P. C. NewmanISBN 0771067461 (0-7710-6746-1)
Softcover, McGill Queens Univ Pr
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Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colonyby Stanley Hauerwas, William H. WillimonISBN 0687361591 (0-687-36159-1)
Softcover, Abingdon Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony'Book summary:In this bold and visionary book, two leading Christian thinkers explore the "alien" status of Christians in today's world and offer a compelling new vision of how the Christian church can regain its vitality, battle its malaise, reclaim its capacity to nourish souls, and stand firmly against the illusions, pretensions, and eroding values of today's world. Hauerwas and Willimon call for a radical new understanding of the church. By renouncing the emphasis on personal psychological categories, they offer a vision of the church as a colony, a holy nation, a people, a family standing for sharply focused values in a devalued world. [via]
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Robert's Rules of Orderby Henry M. RobertISBN 0800786106 (0-8007-8610-6)
Softcover, Baker Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Robert's Rules of Order'Book summary:Originally published as a slim document in 1896, General Henry M. Robert's classic guide to smooth, orderly, and fairly conducted meetings has sold close to five million copies in nine editions. The only book containing the completely developed Robert's Rules of Order subject matter, this latest edition will continue the book's reputation as the gold standard of meeting procedure for parliamentarians and novice club presidents and members alike. Thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the past decade's technological advances and usage, this tenth edition contains new information on how to conduct meetings over the Internet, on phone and video conference calls, and with members in absentia. The best book from which to learn all about running and taking an effective part in meetings, General Robert's gift of order is as indispensable now as it was a century ago.[via]More editions of Robert's Rules of Order:
- Robert's Rules of Order: ISBN 073820384X (0-7382-0384-X)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group - Robert's Rules of Order: ISBN 0688053068 (0-688-05306-8)
Softcover, Harpercollins - Robert's Rules of Order: ISBN 0688313744 (0-688-31374-4)
Hardcover, Morrow - Robert's Rules of Order: ISBN 0800786106 (0-8007-8610-6)
Softcover, Baker Pub Group
- Robert's Rules of Order: ISBN 073820384X (0-7382-0384-X)
Robert's Rules of Orderby William J. Evans, Henry M. Robert, Daniel H. Honemann, Thomas J. Balch, Sarah Corbin RobertISBN 0738203076 (0-7382-0307-6)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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Robert's Rules of Order in Brief : The Simple Outline of the Rules Most Often Needed at a Meeting, According to the Standard Authoritative Parliamentary Manualby Henry Martyn RobertISBN 0738209236 (0-7382-0923-6)
Hardcover, Basic Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Robert's Rules of Order in Brief : The Simple Outline of the Rules Most Often Needed at a Meeting, According to the Standard Authoritative Parliamentary Manual'Book summary:Originally published as a slim document in 1896, General Henry M. Robert's guide to smooth, orderly and fairly conducted meetings has sold close to five million copies in ten editions. This tenth edition is the only book containing the officially sanctioned and completely developed Robert's Rules of Order subject matter. Now available in a deluxe leatherbound format with beveled gold edges and a ribbon marker, this classic book will be both the durable and elegant choice for parliamentarians, novice club presidents and committee chairs alike.[via]More editions of Robert's Rules of Order in Brief : The Simple Outline of the Rules Most Often Needed at a Meeting, According to the Standard Authoritative Parliamentary Manual:
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The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America's Campusesby Alan Charles Kors, Harvey SilverglateISBN 0684853213 (0-684-85321-3)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America's Campuses'Book summary:At first glance, this title is just another entry in the roster of books opposed to political correctness at American universities, yet it's surprisingly good--certainly the best of its type since Dinesh D'Souza's Illiberal Education appeared in 1991. Kors and Silverglate are hard-core civil libertarians turned off by the "hidden, systematic assault upon liberty, individualism, dignity, due process, and equality before the law" that they describe as rampant on campuses. Theirs is not so much a brief against academic multiculturalism, but an eye-opening narrative about how the modern university "hands students a moral agenda upon arrival, subjects them to mandatory political reeducation, sends them to sensitivity training, submerges their individuality in official group identity, intrudes upon private conscience, treats them with scandalous inequality, and, when it chooses, suspends or expels them." Through well-told stories and anecdotes (including an excellent chapter-long sketch of the University of Pennsylvania's semi-famous "water buffalo" incident), Kors and Silverglate make their case and make it well. --John J. Miller [via]
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Shameby Salman RushdieISBN 0805053107 (0-8050-5310-7)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shame'Book summary:The families of two men, one a famous warrior and the other an infamous playboy, engage in a passionate and heated rivalry that affects the political landscape of their country. By the author of The Satanic Verses. Reprint." [via]
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Slaughter House Fiveby Kurt VonnegutISBN 0783883706 (0-7838-8370-6)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Slaughter House Five'Book summary:Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.
Don't let the ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..." Slaughterhouse-Five (taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy--and humor. [via]
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Spycatchers Encyclopedia of Espionageby Peter WrightISBN 0773721681 (0-7737-2168-1)
Hardcover, Musson Book Co
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The Star Fractionby Ken MacLeodISBN 0765301563 (0-7653-0156-3)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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The Strange Death of Liberal Englandby George DangerfieldISBN 0804729301 (0-8047-2930-1)
Softcover, Stanford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Strange Death of Liberal England'Book summary:At the beginning of the twentieth century England's empire spanned the globe, its economy was strong, and its political system seemed immune to the ills that inflicted so many other countries. After a resounding electoral triumph in 1906, the Liberals formed the government of the most powerful nation on earth, yet within a few years the House of Lords lost its absolute veto over legislation, the Home Rule crisis brought Ireland to the brink of civil war and led to an army mutiny, the campaign for woman's suffrage created widespread civil disorder and discredited the legal and penal systems, and an unprecedented wave of strikes swept the land.[via]
This is a classic account, first published in 1935, of the dramatic upheaval and political change that overwhelmed England in the period 1910-1914. Few books of history retain their relevance and vitality after more than sixty years. The Strange Death of Liberal England is one of the most important books of the English past, a prime example that history can be abiding literature. As a portrait of England enmeshed in the turbulence of new movements, which often led to violence against the pieties of Liberal Englanduntil it was overwhelmed by the greatest violence of all, World War Ithis extraordinary book has continued to exert a powerful influence on the way historians have observed early twentieth-century England.More editions of The Strange Death of Liberal England:
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Ten Days That Shook the Worldby John ReedISBN 0717802000 (0-7178-0200-0)
Softcover, Intl Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ten Days That Shook the World'Book summary:The situation in St. Petersburg was growing more and more tense. The People's Revolution had begun by overthrowing the corrupt Tsarist regime in March 1917, but the workers and the peasants felt the revolution had much farther to go. Tired of fighting a war that meant little to them, the soldiers also grew restless: "When the land belongs to the peasants, and the factories to the workers, and the power to the Soviets, then we'll know we have something to fight for, and we'll fight for it!"
Lenin pressed the Bolsheviks to seize power. On the night of October 24, an organized mass of workers, soldiers, peasants, and sailors stormed the Winter Palace. On the following day, at the opening of the second Congress of Soviets, Trotsky announced the overthrow of the provisional government. Counterrevolutionary forces marched on the capital, but the Revolutionary Army triumphed. After all, "[t]his was their battle, for their world; the officers in command were elected by them. For the moment that incoherent multiple will was one will."
In Ten Days That Shook the World John Reed tells the story of Red October and the Russian revolution from a unique, firsthand perspective. Reed, an American journalist, was on assignment in Russia for The Masses--then the principal radical journal in the United States--and spent his days walking the streets, reading and collecting handbills, newspapers, and posters, and talking to people. As a result, Ten Days crackles with energetic immediacy. At its best moments it reads like a novel: Reed recounts conversations and arguments, details political machinations, and speculates on personal motives. Though this is no mere piece of propaganda, Reed's enthusiasm for the revolution infuses the text (some readers may be put off by Reed's florid prose), casting each counterrevolutionary act in a negative light. Helpful notes flesh out the background for those less familiar with the preceding events and render this a solid work of history. Ten Days That Shook the World is a stirring account of a stirring event. --Sunny Delaney [via]
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Third Waveby Alvin TofflerISBN 0688035973 (0-688-03597-3)
Hardcover, Morrow
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Third Wave'Book summary:The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler [via]
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The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Centuryby Samuel P. HuntingtonISBN 080612346X (0-8061-2346-X)
Softcover, University of Oklahoma Press
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Tom Paine: A Political Lifeby John KeaneISBN 0802139647 (0-8021-3964-7)
Softcover, Grove Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Tom Paine: A Political Life'Book summary:"More than any other public figure of the eighteenth century, Tom Paine strikes our times like a trumpet blast from a distant world." So begins John Keane's magnificent and award-winning (the Fraunces Tavern Book Award) biography of one of democracy's greatest champions. Among friends and enemies alike, Paine earned a reputation as a notorious pamphleteer, one of the greatest political figures of his day, and the author of three best-selling books, Common Sense, The Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason. Setting his compelling narrative against a vivid social backdrop of prerevolutionary America and the French Revolution, John Keane melds together the public and the shadowy private sides of Paine's life in a remarkable piece of scholarship. This is the definitive biography of a man whose life and work profoundly shaped the modern age. "Provide[s] an engaging perspective on England, America, and France in the tumultuous years of the late eighteenth century." -- Pauline Maier, The New York Times Book Review "It is hard to imagine this magnificent biography ever being superceded.... It is a stylish, splendidly erudite work." -- Terry Eagleton, The Guardian[via]More editions of Tom Paine: A Political Life:
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Uncle Tom's Cabinby Harriet Beecher Stowe, Christopher Paul CurtisISBN 068985126X (0-689-85126-X)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'Book summary:ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP Harriet Beecher Stowe's scathing indictment of slavery in the Old South, a novel that has become a landmark of American literature. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: ? A concise introduction that gives readers important background information ? A chronology of the author's life and work ? A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context ? An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations ? Detailed explanatory notes ? Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work ? Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction ? A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential. SERIES EDITED BY CYNTHIA BRANTLEY JOHNSON [via]
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The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Menby Christina Hoff SommersISBN 0684849577 (0-684-84957-7)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men'Book summary:The author of the provocative bestseller Who Stole Feminism? returns with an equally eye-opening follow-up. "It's a bad time to be a boy in America," writes Christina Hoff Sommers. Boys are less likely than girls to go to college or do their homework. They're more likely to cheat on tests, wind up in detention, or drop out of school. Yet it's "the myth of the fragile girl," according to Sommers, that has received the lion's share of attention recently, in hot-selling books like Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia. When boys are discussed at all, it's in the context of how to modify their antisocial behavior--i.e., how to make them more like girls.
This book tells the story of how it has become fashionable to attribute pathology to millions of healthy male children. It is a story of how we are turning against boys and forgetting a simple truth: that the energy, competitiveness, and corporal daring of normal, decent males is responsible for much of what is right in the world. No one denies that boys' aggressive tendencies must be checked and channeled in constructive ways. Boys need discipline, respect, and moral guidance. Boys need love and tolerant understanding. They do not need to be pathologized.
Sommers eviscerates feminist scholarship by Harvard's Carol Gilligan, the American Association of University Women, and others. Hers is feisty, muscular prose and fans of Who Stole Feminism? will delight in it. "There have always been societies that favored boys over girls," she writes. "Ours may be the first to deliberately throw the gender switch. If we continue on our present course, boys will, indeed, be tomorrow's second sex." That rhetoric may err on the side of alarmism, but Sommers' ideas are full of common sense. She essentially urges parents and educators to let boys be boys, even though their "very masculinity turns out to be politically incorrect." The War on Boys is sure to set off a fiery controversy, just as Sommers' previous book did--but it should also find a big audience of readers who become fans. --John J. Miller [via]More editions of The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men:
Whose Promised Land?: The Continuing Crisis over Israel and Palestineby Colin ChapmanISBN 0801064414 (0-8010-6441-4)
Softcover, Baker Pub Group
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Whose Promised Land?/Israel or Palestine? What Are the Claims and Counter-Claims? Are the Ancient Promises of the Bible Relevant Today? Is There a Waby Colin ChapmanISBN 0745924085 (0-7459-2408-5)
Softcover, David C Cook
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Why Not the Best?by Jimmy CarterISBN 0805455612 (0-8054-5561-2)
Hardcover, Broadman & Holman Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Why Not the Best?'Book summary:When a little-known former Southern Governor named Jimmy Carter decided to seek the Presidency, he wrote, "Why Not the Best?" as a means of letting voters know who he was and his sense of values. The title comes from a question Admiral Rickover asked him during a job interview, following his graduation from the Naval Academy. "Did you do your best?" Rickover asked. Carter initially answered "yes sir" but after some thought said, "no sir, I didn't always do my best." Describing the scene years later, Carter writes, "He asked one final question which I have never been able to forget-or to answer. He said, "Why not?" [via]
With a Happy Eye but: America and the World, 1997-2002by George F. WillISBN 0743243846 (0-7432-4384-6)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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