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  O Captain! My Captain!

  Walt Whitman

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  In honor of President’s Day, LibriVox brings you thirteen versions of O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman.  This classic poem was written by Whitman following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  It appears in Leaves of Grass, Whitman’s masterpiece of a poetry collection and is considered by many to be one of his greatest poems.  This was the LibriVox Weekly Poetry Project for the week of February 19th, 2006.(Summary by Annie Coleman)

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  The New Third Rome - The Russian...

  Jardar Østbø

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  This fascinating book analyzes the sources, contents, and implications of contemporary Russian messianism. 
  
  The medieval idea of Moscow as the ‘Third Rome’ has been fascinating scholars and students of Russia for more than 150 years. Since its rediscovery, ideologists, writers, and politicians ranging from Western critics of Moscow’s foreign policy to ardent Russian imperialists have used the concept as ‘evidence’ of Russian particularism and expansionism. But for the author of the idea of the Third Rome, the Orthodox monk Filofei (Philotheus) of Pskov, it was a religious concept he referred to when criticizing what he saw as the apostasy of his time. 
  
  Authors of Russian history textbooks often see it as a political, even imperialist idea, whereas specialist medievalists for decades have been arguing that it cannot be regarded as anything else than religious and other-worldly.
  
  This book is the first to look beyond this dichotomy between the ‘original religious idea’ of the Third Rome and its ‘use’ for political purposes. Drawing on theories of political myth and concepts of nationalism, Østbø develops a novel analytical perspective. Rather than dismissing political uses of the religious, medieval idea as ‘wrong’, the author analyzes the modern content and ideological function of the myth of the Third Rome.
  
  Through case studies of four prominent nationalist intellectuals, the author shows how this messianic myth is used to ‘reinvent’ Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These writers use their own constructed image of the Russian nation to demonstrate what Russia ‘should be’ and its allegedly rightful place in the world. Existing in radically diverging versions, the myth of the Third Rome routinely conveys particularism and rabid anti-Westernism. At ‘best’, the myth is used to forge a self-image of the Russians as an essentially isolationist civilization. At worst, it is used to ‘explain’ how the Russians, superior to all other nations, are divinely elected to be the rulers of a world empire.

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  The CIA UFO Papers - 50 Years of...

  Dan Wright

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  The secret CIA papers that prove that the government has been tracking UFOs and extraterrestrials for over fifty years. In autumn 2016, the CIA sent to its website a cache of electronic files previously released under the Freedom of Information Act but housed at the National Archives. Among a variety of subjects were “unidentified flying objects.” Finally, a stockpile of reports and correspondences were available for serious UFO researchers to examine at home. This book consists of selections from those secret files. Dan Wright spent eighteen months selecting, editing, and organizing the 550 files that are relevant to UFO research and has produced a chronological collection of CIA documents spanning 1949 to 2000. Each chapter focuses on a particular year. The summary of documents for each year is followed by a section called “While You Were Away from Your Desk,” which provides historical and cultural context for the document summaries and examines other sightings and contacts that are not mentioned in the CIA files. Among the fascinating tidbits are:  A memo to J. Edgar Hoover about flying saucer reports  The 1949 conference at Los Alamos that include Edward Teller, upper atmosphere physicist Dr. Joseph Kaplan, and other renowned scientists in which the participants debated whether recent incidents were natural phenomena or UFO sightings  This is a must-have book for those fascinated by the history of UFO sightings and those interested in government secrets and cover-ups.

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  No More Heroes - Grassroots...

  Jordan Flaherty

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  "A perfect gift for the age of Trump." - Robin D. G. Kelley, Author, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination 
  "In this marvelous, enormously instructive book, Jordan Flaherty explores how we too often allow the struggle for change to be undermined by would-be saviors—and how today’s grassroots social movements, led by communities on the frontlines of crisis, are charting a far more powerful path forward." – Naomi Klein, Author, This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine 
  Our media and education system often tells us that that generous white people are the solution...but what if they are the problem? How can we build a better world? And why do so many people with privilege end up making things worse when they try to help? From the Crusades to Black Lives Matter, No More Heroes is a grassroots history of resistance to the savior mentality. This book weaves the stories of teachers, international volunteers, sex workers, FBI informants, indigenous organizers, and prison abolitionists into a narrative of revolutionary change that travels from Alaska to Palestine, from Karl Marx to Muhammad Ali, and from KONY 2012 to the Red Cross.No More Heroes brings us real life stories of life-or-death conflict: the mysterious death of Riad Hamad, a Lebanese middle school teacher in Austin, Texas, and his connection to FBI informant Brandon Darby. Monica Jones, a Black transgender sex work activist arrested for “walking while trans” in Phoenix, Arizona. Haidar Eid, a professor in Gaza City. Sophie Lucido Johnson, an idealistic young white teacher in New Orleans. Nelini Stamp, an Occupy Wall Street activist. No More Heroes looks at the people behind the uprisings of the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter, and shows how change happens. 
  "Buy this book if you believe a better world is possible and want to know how to get there." - Cynthia McKinney, Former Georgia Congresswoman and presidential candidate

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  Limitarianism - The Case Against...

  Ingrid Robeyns

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  How much money is too much? Is it ethical, and democratic, for an individual to amass a limitless amount of wealth, and then spend it however they choose? Many of us feel that the answer to that is no—but what can we do about it? Ingrid Robeyns has long written and argued for the principle she calls limitarianism—or the need to limit extreme wealth. This idea is gaining momentum in the mainstream—with calls to tax the rich and slogans like every billionaire is a policy failure—but what does it mean in practice? Robeyns explains the key reasons to support the case against extreme wealth: -It keeps the poor poor and inequalities growing. -It’s often dirty money. -It undermines democracy. -It’s one of the leading causes of climate change. -Nobody actually deserves to be a millionaire. -There are better things to do with excess money. -The rich will benefit too. This will be the first authoritative trade book to unpack the concept of a cap on wealth, where to draw the line, how to collect the excess, and what to do with the money. In the process, Robeyns ignites an urgent debate about wealth, one that calls into question the very forces we live by (capitalism and neoliberalism) and invites us to a radical reimagining of our world.

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  Paddy Machiavelli – How to Get...

  John Drennan

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  The good, the bad and the cynical – how to get ahead in Irish politics
  
  It might appear strange that a 16th-century Italian political philosopher should provide us with a roadmap to political power in Ireland, but as John Drennan's tongue-in-cheek account Paddy Machiavelli makes clear, the gap between the parish pump and the Renaissance palazzo is a narrow one indeed. In fact, observe the Irish body politic for long enough and the lines between the Florentine's faceless hero and our own Dáil aristocrats begin to blur ever so slightly.
  
  A veteran of countless Leinster House power plays, Drennan takes inspiration from Machiavelli's The Prince, dispensing invaluable advice for the aspiring politician, such as how to cultivate the cloak of being an 'ordinary decent skin', how to choose your scapegoats carefully, and how to be a straight-talker whilst embracing vagueness.
  
  This hilarious account of the compromises that the Irish politician has to make in order to seize power is not just a 'celebration' of the politics of cynical amorality; it's a timely reminder of the role we play in choosing our leaders.
  
  In this wildly entertaining book, celebrated Sunday Independent columnist John Drennan is at his best.  The definitive guide to success in Irish politics, Paddy Machiavelli will have you laughing and crying all the way to the ballot box.
  
  'Drennan's storytelling style is stage Irish, and like a culchie Cicero, he laces his brilliance with bile. It is the politics of Paddy and in the tradition of Hall's Pictorial Weekly via Craggy Island.'
  Gerard Howlin, The Sunday Times
  
  'There is a fierce intelligence and fierce independence at work here. No one escapes his gimlet eye, and he brings to the whole bizarre ecosystem of the Dáil a unique perspective, that of the insider who remains resolutely outside.'
  Brendan O'Connor, The Sunday Independent
  
  'If Paddy really wants to know the story, generally he asks Drennan first.'
  Lise Hand, Irish Independent
  
  'Drennan is one of the best pundits in Ireland. He has an understanding of politics that is both instinctive and intellectual.'
  Pat Leahy, The Sunday Business Post
  
  '[Drennan] reads the political game like the sort of bookie who always leaves Cheltenham with a full satchel.'
  Ivan Yates, Newstalk

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