Other books that might interest you

• 

  Somebody's Gotta Do It - Why...

  Adrienne Martin

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Somebody's Gotta Do It is a humorous (and instructive) memoir about a progressive woman who runs for very small-town elected office in a red county—and wins (yay!)—and then realizes the critical importance of the job. Back in the fall of 2016, before casting her vote for Hillary Clinton, Adrienne Martini, a knitter, a runner, a mom, and a resident of rural Otsego County in snowy upstate New York, knew who her Senators were, wasn't too sure who her Congressman was, and had only vague inklings about who her state reps were. She's always thought of politicians as . . . oily. Then she spent election night curled in bed, texting her husband, who was at work, unable to stop shaking. And after the presidential inauguration, she reached out to Dave, a friend of a friend, who was involved in the Otsego County Democratic Party. Maybe she could help out with phone calls or fundraising? But Dave's idea was: she should run for office. Someone had to do it. And so, in the year that 26,000 women (up from 920 the year before) contacted Emily's List about running for offices large and small, Adrienne Martini ran for the District 12 seat on the Otsego County Board. And became one of the 14 delegates who collectively serve one rural American county, overseeing a budget of $130 million. Highway repair? Soil and water conservation? Child safety? Want wifi? Need a coroner? It turns out, local office matters. A lot.

  Show book

• 

  Tragedy and Hope 101 - The...

  Joseph Plummer

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The information contained in this book contradicts nearly everything you've been led to believe about democracy and "representative government".
  
  Based on the groundbreaking research of respected historian Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope 101 reveals an unimaginably devious political system, skillfully manipulated by a handful of elite, which is undermining freedom and democracy as we know it. The goal of those who control the system, in Quigley's own words, is to dominate "all habitable portions of the world." Using deception, theft, and violence, they have achieved more toward this goal than any rulers in human history.
  
  However, the Information Age is quickly derailing their plans. The immorality of their system, and those who serve it, has become nearly impossible to hide. Awareness and resistance are growing...tragedy is yielding to hope.An Author's Republic audio production.

  Show book

• 

  The Paranoid Style in American...

  Richard Hofstadter

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This timely reissue of Richard Hofstadter's classic work on the fringe groups that influence American electoral politics offers an invaluable perspective on contemporary domestic affairs. In The Paranoid Style in American Politics, acclaimed historian Richard Hofstadter examines the competing forces in American political discourse and how fringe groups can influence—and derail—the larger agendas of a political party. 
  He investigates the politics of the irrational, shedding light on how the behavior of individuals can seem out of proportion with actual political issues, and how such behavior impacts larger groups. With such other classic essays as "Free Silver and the Mind of 'Coin' Harvey" and "What Happened to the Antitrust Movement?," The Paranoid Style in American Politics remains both a seminal text of political history and a vital analysis of the ways in which political groups function in the United States.

  Show book

• 

  Defectors - How the Illicit...

  Erik R. Scott

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Defectors fleeing the Soviet Union seized the world's attention during the Cold War. Their stories were given sensational news coverage and dramatized in spy novels and films. Upon reaching the West, they were entitled to special benefits, including financial assistance and permanent residency. In contrast to other migrants, defectors were pursued by the states they left even as they were eagerly sought by the United States and its allies. Taking part in a risky game that played out across the globe, defectors sought to transcend the limitations of the Cold War world.Defectors follows their treacherous journeys and looks at how their unauthorized flight via land, sea, and air gave shape to a globalized world. It charts a global struggle over defectors that unfolded among rival intelligence agencies operating in the shadows of an occupied Europe, in the forbidden border zones of the USSR, in the disputed straits of the South China Sea, on a hijacked plane 10,000 feet in the air, and around the walls of Soviet embassies.Although defection all but disappeared after the Cold War, this innovative work shows how it shaped the governance of global borders and helped forge an international refugee system whose legacy and limitations remain with us to this day.

  Show book

• 

  Chicano Movement For Beginners

  Maceo Montoya, Ilan Stavans

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  As the heyday of the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s to early '70s fades further into history and as more and more of its important figures pass on, so too does knowledge of its significance. Thus, Chicano Movement For Beginners is an important attempt to stave off historical amnesia. It seeks to shed light on the multifaceted civil rights struggle known as "El Movimiento" that galvanized the Mexican American community, from laborers to student activists, giving them not only a political voice to combat prejudice and inequality, but also a new sense of cultural awareness and ethnic pride.Beyond commemorating the past, Chicano Movement For Beginners seeks to reaffirm the goals and spirit of the Chicano Movement for the simple reason that many of the critical issues Mexican American activists first brought to the nation's attention then—educational disadvantage, endemic poverty, political exclusion, and social bias—remain as pervasive as ever almost half a century later.

  Show book

• 

  Resilient Americans - We May Not...

  Diane Burden Cox

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Anything that alienates and divides us leaves us weak and exposed to disaster. If we know nothing else about a disaster event, we should know this: experiencing a disaster will almost certainly mean taking care of ourselves, our family and our neighbors, and relying on them to do the same for us. Our communal goodwill is our best plan for coming through. Simple human compassion is more essential to our national resilience and strength than most of us recognize.  
  With anecdotes and unexpected stories about growing up during the 60s and 70s in the diversity of Los Angeles and from her work in disaster recovery, Diane Burden Cox illustrates the importance of our relationships. If we want a resilient future, we need to recognize it rests on the strength of our interactions with one another. Resilience isn’t just one more thing to put on our national to-do list, it’s something we can actually enjoy and have fun cultivating together.

  Show book