Other books that might interest you

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  The Governor’s Secret - Arno...

  Arno Thompson Ferguson

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  In “The Governors’ Secret,” Arno Thompson Ferguson crafts a gripping tale of friendship, trust, and betrayal for political ambition. Matthew and Daniel’s friendship blooms quickly, with Matthew finding in Daniel the closeness he never experienced with his own family. On the other hand, Daniel becomes a beloved member of Matthew’s family, often serving as the bridge that persuades Matthew to attend family functions. Daniel remains uncertain about his standing within this tight-knit group despite the family’s wholehearted acceptance. But as they enter adulthood, the once inseparable bond begins to fray. Career ambitions pull them in different directions – Daniel finds his calling at the Sheriff's office while Matthew navigates the challenges of love and loss. A series of personal tragedies further disrupts Matthew's life, setting the stage for a horrifying incident that shatters their world. This event ignites a ruthless struggle for power, one that will push their friendship to the brink and unleash a chain of events with unimaginable consequences. “The Governors’ Secret” is a thrilling exploration of how fear and ambition can corrupt even the strongest friendships, leading to devastating consequences. As the story unfolds, readers are drawn into a world where loyalty is tested, and the lines between right and wrong blur in the pursuit of power.

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  False Front - The Failed Promise...

  Kenneth Lowande

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  A provocative new perspective on presidential power. 
   
   
   
  Border walls, school bathrooms, student loans, gun control, diversity, abortion, climate change—today, nothing seems out of reach for the president's pen. But after all the press releases, ceremonies, and speeches, shockingly little gets done. The American presidency promises to solve America's problems, but presidents' unilateral solutions are often weak, even empty. 
   
   
   
  Kenneth Lowande argues this is no accident. The US political system is not set up to allow presidents to solve major policy problems, yet it lays these problems at their doorstep, and there is no other elected official better positioned to attract attention by appearing to govern. Like any politician, presidents are strategic actors who seek symbolic wins. They pursue executive actions, even when they know that these will fail, because doing so allows them to put on a compelling show for key constituencies. But these empty presidential actions are not without their costs: they divert energy from effective government—and, over time, undermine public trust. Drawing on thousands of executive actions, news coverage, interviews, and presidential archives, False Front shows that the real root of presidential power is in what presidents can get away with not doing.

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  The Russian FSB - A Concise...

  Kevin P. Riehle

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  Since its founding in 1995, the FSB, Russia's Federal Security Service, has regained the majority of the domestic security functions of the Soviet-era KGB. Under Vladimir Putin, who served as FSB director just before becoming president, the agency has grown to be one of the most powerful and favored organizations in Russia. The FSB not only conducts internal security but also has primacy in intelligence operations in former Soviet states. Their activities include anti-dissident operations at home and abroad, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, criminal investigations of crimes against the state, and guarding Russia's borders. 
   
   
   
  In The Russian FSB, Kevin P. Riehle provides a brief history of the FSB's origins, placed within the context of Russian history, the government's power structure, and Russia's wider culture. He describes how the FSB's mindset and priorities show continuities from the tsarist regimes and the Soviet era. The book's chapters analyze origins, organizational structure, missions, leaders, international partners, and cultural representations such as the FSB in film and television. 
   
   
   
  Based on both English and Russian sources, this book is a well-researched introduction to understanding the FSB and its central role in Putin's Russia.

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  Cold Peace - Avoiding the New...

  Michael W. Doyle

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  An urgent examination of the world barreling toward a new Cold War. 
   
   
   
  With a historian's eye and a theorist's ingenuity, Michael Doyle, whose writings on liberal peace have revolutionized modern statesmanship, cogently assesses the tectonic shifts threatening a global order that has held for more than seventy years. As tensions among China, Russia, and the US escalate perilously toward a new Cold War, Doyle introduces a radical paradigm that will facilitate the international cooperation necessary to avert the global threats of our time. 
   
   
   
  Combining dramatic history with trenchant analysis and landmark theory, Doyle explores the impacts of cyberwarfare, foreign election meddling, and the unprecedented schism of modern politics on American foreign policy. He demonstrates that there can be no success in addressing climate change without China's cooperation, nor any hope of averting nuclear catastrophe without Russia's. 
   
   
   
  In the tradition of Gaddis's The Cold War and Clark's The Sleepwalkers, Cold Peace provides one of the most necessary analyses of global power in decades.

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  On Settler Colonialism -...

  Adam Kirsch

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  A prominent public intellectual tackles one of the most crucial political ideas of our moment. 
   
   
   
  Since Hamas's attack on Israel last October 7, the term "settler colonialism" has become central to public debate in the United States. A concept new to most Americans, but already established and influential in academic circles, settler colonialism is shaping the way many people think about the history of the United States, Israel and Palestine, and a host of political issues. 
   
   
   
  This short book is the first to examine settler colonialism critically for a general audience. By critiquing the most important writers, texts, and ideas in the field, Adam Kirsch shows how the concept emerged in the context of North American and Australian history and how it is being applied to Israel. He examines the sources of its appeal, which, he argues, are spiritual as much as political; how it works to delegitimize nations; and why it has the potential to turn indignation at past injustices into a source of new injustices today. A compact and accessible introduction, rich with historical detail, the book will speak to listeners interested in the Middle East, American history, and today's most urgent cultural-political debates.

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  Picking Presidents - How to Make...

  Gautam Mukunda

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  Celebrated leadership expert and political scientist Gautam Mukunda provides a comprehensive, objective, and non-partisan method for answering the most important question in the world: is someone up to the job of president of the United States? 
   
   
    
  In Picking Presidents, Gautam Mukunda sets his sights on presidential candidates, proposing a tested method to assess whether they will succeed or fail if they win the White House. Combining political science, psychology, organizational behavior, and economics, Picking Presidents will enable every American to cast an informed vote. 
   
   
    
  In his 2012 book Indispensable, which all but predicted the Trump presidency, Mukunda explained how both the very best and very worst leaders are "unfiltered"—outsiders who take power without the understanding or support of traditional elites. Picking Presidents provides deep analysis of filtered and unfiltered presidents alike, from failed haberdasher and skillful president Harry Truman, to the exceptionally well-qualified—and ultimately reviled—James Buchanan; from Andrew Johnson, who set civil rights back by a century, to Theodore Roosevelt, who evaded party opposition to transform American society. Picking Presidents lays out a clear framework that anyone can use to judge a candidate and answer the all-important question: are they up to the job?

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