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  Oklahoma City - What the...

  Andrew Gumbel, Roger G. Charles

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  In the early morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh drove into downtown Oklahoma City in a rented Ryder truck containing a deadly fertilizer bomb that he and his army buddy Terry Nichols had made the previous day. He parked in a handicapped-parking zone, hopped out of the truck, and walked away into a series of alleys and streets. Shortly after 9:00 A.M., the bomb obliterated one-third of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people, including 19 infants and toddlers. McVeigh claimed he'd worked only with Nichols, and at least officially, the government believed him. But McVeigh's was just one version of events. And much of it was wrong.In Oklahoma City, veteran investigative journalists Andrew Gumbel and Roger G. Charles puncture the myth about what happened on that day—one that has persisted in the minds of the American public for nearly two decades. Working with unprecedented access to government documents, a voluminous correspondence with Terry Nichols, and more than 150 interviews with those immediately involved, Gumbel and Charles demonstrate how much was missed beyond the guilt of the two principal defendants: in particular, the dysfunction within the country's law enforcement agencies, which squandered opportunities to penetrate the radical right and prevent the bombing, and the unanswered question of who inspired the plot and who else might have been involved.To this day, the FBI heralds the Oklahoma City investigation as one of its great triumphs. In reality, though, its handling of the bombing foreshadowed many of the problems that made the country vulnerable to attack again on 9/11. Law enforcement agencies could not see past their own rivalries and underestimated the seriousness of the deadly rhetoric coming from the radical far right. In Oklahoma City, Gumbel and Charles give the fullest, most honest account to date of both the plot and the investigation, drawing a vivid portrait of the unfailingly compelling—driven, eccentric, fractious, funny, and wildly paranoid—characters involved.

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  Empire of Sacrifice - The...

  Jon Pahl

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  It is widely recognized that American culture is both exceptionally religious and exceptionally violent.  Americans participate in religious communities in high numbers, yet American citizens also own guns at rates far beyond those of citizens in other industrialized nations. Since 9/11, United States scholars have understandably discussed religious violence in terms of terrorist acts, a focus that follows United States policy. Yet, according to Jon Pahl, to identify religious violence only with terrorism fails to address the long history of American violence rooted in religion throughout the country’s history. In essence, Americans have found ways to consider blessed some very brutal attitudes and behaviors both domestically and globally.In Empire of Sacrifice, Pahl explains how both of these distinctive features of American culture work together by exploring how constructions along the lines of age, race, and gender have operated to centralize cultural power across American civil or cultural religions in ways that don’t always appear to be "religious" at all. Pahl traces the development of these forms of systemic violence throughout American history, using evidence from popular culture, including movies such as Rebel without a Cause and Reefer Madness and works of literature such as The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Handmaid's Tale, to illuminate historical events. Throughout, Pahl focuses an intense light on the complex and durable interactions between religion and violence in American history, from Puritan Boston to George W. Bush’s Baghdad.

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  Obama's Enforcer - Eric Holder's...

  John Fund, Hans Von Spakovsky

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  “A book that should be required reading for any citizen concerned with the unprecedented erosion of the rule of law under the Obama administration.” —Luther Strange, former U.S. Senator 
   
  In Obama’s Enforcer, authors John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky provide the first explosive look inside the feared and powerful Department of Justice. They describe the transformation of the DOJ into a stronghold of progressive legal activism and provide in-depth portraits of the radical lawyers in Eric Holder’s inner circle. 
   
  Holder survives because his agency acts as a heat shield for the Obama administration, protecting the president’s flank on numerous fronts. He also survives because his department is actively advancing Obama’s hidden political agenda, from the administration’s war on Fox News to its harassment of Tea Party activists. He has injected a new politically correct laxity into domestic security issues, eliminating the use of the words “radical Islam” and pushing for civilian trials for terrorists. He has also presided over an unprecedented expansion of politically correct actions at the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and launched a widespread attack on election integrity efforts. 
   
  In addition to monitoring reporters’ phone records, DOJ lawyers were involved in instigating Operation Fast and Furious, ignoring the deliberate leaking of classified documents by the White House to favored reporters, the funneling of taxpayer funds to political allies through collusive settlements, and much more. Obama’s Enforcer provides the first investigative look inside the country’s largest law enforcement agency and reveals its true and dangerous role in advancing Obama's agenda. 
   
  “Obama’s Enforcer catalogues the abuses of power at the Department of Justice under Attorney General Holder.” —Senator Ted Cruz

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  Presidential Inaugural Addresses

  Classics Editors of Canterbury

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  America’s evolution across the centuries is captured in this volume of speeches delivered by each president upon being sworn into office. This book presents every inaugural address delivered by every American president from George Washington to Donald Trump. With immortal quotes such as Thomas Jefferson’s “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle” and John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you,” you’ll find the speeches that have inspired, united, and fired up the American population as our nation’s leaders embark on their service to the public.

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  What Is America? - Understanding...

  Jeffrey Sikkenga

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  This expertly-taught course invites you on a journey through 100 years of American conservative history.The history and development of American conservatism is as fascinating as it is complex. While conservative commentators, politicians, and pundits abound, few truly understand how the conservative movement came to be the institution it is today. Now, you can learn about this vital history in 12 thought-provoking lectures.Conservatism is not a rigid ideology; rather, as you will learn, its protean character has allowed it to adapt and survive as a major force in the history of ideas and in politics. In recent decades, conservatism has become a political force in the nation, but it took many years of building and organizing to construct the necessary institutions to do so.You will start with the beginnings of the conservative movement and its reaction to the New Deal. You will then explore the greatest figures of conservatism, from William F. Buckley and his publication of National Review, to the Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964, up through the rise of Reagan and his ensuing political influence. You will then consider the future of the conservative movement.Born from intellectual activity rather than political power, conservatives constructed a movement based around the propositions of free market economics, the preservation of tradition, and combat with communism. This is an essential course for all those seeking to gain a fuller understanding of conservatism and American political history.

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  Cyber Wargaming - Research and...

  Frank L. Smith III, Nina A....

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  Government, industry, and academia need better tools to explore threats, opportunities, and human interactions in cyberspace. The interactive exercises called cyber wargames are a powerful way to solve complex problems in a digital environment that involves both cooperation and conflict. Cyber Wargaming is the first book to provide both the theories and practical examples needed to successfully build, play, and learn from these interactive exercises.The contributors to this book explain what cyber wargames are, how they work, and why they offer insights that other methods cannot match. The lessons learned are not merely artifacts of these games—they also shed light on how people interpret and interact with cyberspace in real life. This book covers topics such as cyber action during conventional war, information effects in conflict scenarios, individual versus group decision-making, the intersection of cyber conflicts and nuclear crises, business resilience, emerging technologies, and more.Cyber Wargaming will be a vital resource for listeners interested in security studies and wargame design in higher education, the military, and the private sector.

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