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  Hamilton Adams Jefferson - The...

  Darren Staloff

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  Where The Ideas for which We Stand came from.In this incisively drawn book, Darren Staloff forcefully reminds us that America owes its guiding political traditions to three Founding Fathers whose lives embodied the collision of Europe's grand Enlightenment project with the birth of the nation.Alexander Hamilton, the worldly New Yorker; John Adams, the curmudgeonly Yankee; Thomas Jefferson, the visionary Virginia squire—each governed their public lives by Enlightenment principles, and for each their relationship to the politics of Enlightenment was transformed by the struggle for American independence. Repeated humiliation on America's battlefields banished Hamilton's youthful idealism, leaving him a disciple of Enlightened realpolitik and the nation's leading exponent of modern statecraft. After ten years in Europe's diplomatic trenches, Adams's embrace of the politics of Enlightenment became increasingly skeptical in spirit, and his public posture became increasingly that of the gadfly of his country. And Jefferson's frustrations as a Revolutionary governor in Virginia led him to go beyond his Enlightened worldview, and articulate a new and radical Romantic politics of principle. As a consequence, Americans demand a government that is both modern, constrained by checks and balances, and capable of appealing to our loftiest aspirations while adhering to decidedly pragmatic policies.

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  Hungarian Uprising - Budapest's...

  Louis Archard

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  When the world held its breath It is more than 25 years since the end of the Cold War. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944  long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europe  with the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Syria, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was Hungary Soviet troops had occupied Hungary in 1945 as they pushed towards Germany and by 1949 the country was ruled by a communist government that towed the Soviet line. Resentment at the system eventually boiled over at the end of October 1956. Protests erupted on the streets of Budapest and, as the violence spread, the government fell and was replaced by a new, more moderate regime. However, the intention of the new government to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and declare neutrality in the Cold War proved just too much for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.Soviet forces had intervened at the beginning of events to help the former regime keep order but were withdrawn at the end of October, only to return in November and quell the uprising with blunt force. Thousands were arrested, many of whom were imprisoned and more than 300 executed. An estimated 200,000 fled Hungary as refugees. Despite advocating a policy of rolling back Soviet influence, the US and other western powers were helpless to stop the suppression of the uprising, which marked a realization that the Cold War in Europe had reached a stalemate.

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  Victory - The Triumphant Gay...

  Linda Hirshman

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  In the vein of Taylor Branch’s classic Parting of the Waters, Supreme Court lawyer and political pundit Linda Hirshman delivers the enthralling, groundbreaking story of the gay rights movement, revealing how a dedicated and resourceful minority changed America forever.When the modern struggle for gay rights erupted in the summer of 1969, forty-nine states outlawed sex between people of the same gender. Four decades later, in 2011, New York legalized gay marriage and the armed services stopped enforcing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Successful social movements are always extraordinary, but these advances seem like something of a miracle.Linda Hirshman recounts the long roads that led to these victories, detailing the remarkable and revolutionary story of the movement that has blurred rigid gender lines, altered the shared culture, and broadened our definitions of family. Written in vivid prose, at once emotional and erudite, Victory is an utterly vibrant work of reportage and eyewitness accounts and demonstrates how, in a matter of decades, a focused group of activists forged a classic campaign for cultural change that will serve as a model for all future political movements.“Remarkable for its emotional punch as for its historical insight.”—New York Times Book Review

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  Socialism Looks Forward

  John Strachey

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  The author and politician analyzes the troubled state of Britain’s post–World War II political and economic systems, and proposes a solution.When World War II ended for Great Britain in 1945, MP John Strachey wondered what he and his country were going to do with the freedom they had fought for and won. The men who ran the country before the war had taken England so far down the road to disaster that it seemed almost impossible to save. To prevent history from repeating itself, changes needed to be made.In Socialism Looks Forward, Strachey shares his plan to lead Great Britain into a prosperous future in which its people are free from want. Examining both political and economic factors, he breaks down why the system in Britain was in such disrepair prior to World War II, with some of its citizens being even better off during the war. He then outlines his proposed solution—Socialism—explaining what it would be like and how Britain could make it happen. Originally published in 1945, Socialism Looks Forward provides insight into Great Britain’s political and economic history in the post–World War II era, as well as an introduction to Socialist thought.

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  Inside the FBI’s Domestic...

  Thomas Speciale

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  Many Americans today have lost faith in the U.S. government and see specifically the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as threatening them as opposed to protecting them. Many Americans, the author included, are deeply concerned about potential government overreach and threats to our liberty and freedom, specifically regarding the 1st and 2nd Amendments of the constitution. Unlike the vast majority of those who have lost faith in the government, the author has not, and this report was compiled to help frame the correct conversation, one not driven by political rhetoric or motivated by bureaucratic distortions. The author believes, if we can have this conversation, we can avoid disaster.This Critical Report was compiled from public statements made by government officials, official government documents, outside organizations who are trusted authoritative voices as well as publicly available information, including some leaked information specific to the issue of domestic terrorism and extremism. This report was approved for release by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence with redactions. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not represent those of the US Government.

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  Scotland's Shame - Why Lockerbie...

  John Ashton

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  The journalist reveals the scandal behind Scotland’s Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and the questionable conviction of a Libyan terror suspect. The Lockerbie bombing of 1988 remains one of the most notorious acts of terrorism to be perpetrated in the United Kingdom. Its political and foreign policy repercussions have been enormous. Decades later, debate still rages over the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, as well as his controversial release in 2009 on compassionate grounds. In Scotland’s Shame, journalist and researcher John Ashton argues that the guilty verdict, delivered by some of Scotland's most senior judges, was perverse and irrational. He details how prosecutors withheld numerous items of evidence that were favorable to Megrahi. It accuses successive Scottish governments of turning their back on the scandal and pretending that the country's treasured independent criminal justice system remains untainted.

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