Other books that might interest you

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  The Thinkers - The Rise of...

  E.J. Fagan

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  Increasingly, political parties have adopted not only different policies, but different sets of facts. As E. J. Fagan argues, partisan think tanks have helped create these alternate realities in their capacity as de facto formal party organizations. Through the analyses generated by aligned think tanks, political elites on both the left and right frequently offer radically different assessments of a policy's consequences. 
   
   
   
  In The Thinkers, Fagan tells the story of how partisan think tanks displaced non-partisan experts to become the closest policy advisors to the Republican and Democratic Parties. He explores their history, how they influence policymakers, and how their influence impacts the polarization of American politics. More broadly, Fagan shows that the rise of partisan think tanks tracks closely with the increase in political polarization since the 1970s. Because they are funded and staffed by strong ideologues, partisan think tanks seek to move their party's preferences to the left or right of center. When they are successful, parties take more extreme positions than if they had only drawn information from non-partisan sources, which increases polarization. A powerful account of the impact of partisan think tanks on American democracy, The Thinkers will reshape our understanding of the fundamental drivers of the US's polarized political system.

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  The Legends of the West Point...

  Editors Charles River

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  West Point has long been America’s most famous military academy, but in the early 19th century, it was a highly unimpressive school consisting of a few ugly buildings facing a desolate, barren parade ground. Established with just five officers and ten cadets of the Corps of Engineers on March 16, 1802, the Academy was built on a spot just 50 miles north of New York City which had been a key Hudson River military fortress during the Revolutionary War. Cadets attending during the “Point's” first several decades were obliged to maintain their daily regimen knowing the school might shut down at any moment, as the U. S. government frequently questioned why it should provide free education. 
  As it turned out, West Point would become the foremost military academy in the nation, but none of the West Point classes became as famous as the Class of 1846, which boasted more than a dozen future Civil War generals. The Class of 1846 included a shy kid named Thomas Jonathan Jackson who made few friends and struggled with his studies, finishing 17th in his class 15 years before becoming Stonewall. Also in that class was A.P. Hill, who was already in love with the future wife of George McClellan, a young prodigy who finished second in the class of 1846. A popular and mischievous George Pickett would play hooky at the local bar and struggle just to finish last in the class, and the Class of 1846 also churned out critical Union generals like Jesse Reno, Darius Couch, and George Stoneman. 
  Before these men opposed each other on Civil War battlefields, they forged their own friendships and charted their future paths together at West Point and the Mexican-American War. 

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  Whatever It Took - An American...

  Henry Langrehr, Jim DeFelice

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  Published to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, an unforgettable never-before-told first-person account of World War II: the true story of an American paratrooper who survived D-Day, was captured and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp, and made a daring escape to freedom.  
   
  Now at 95, one of the few living members of the Greatest Generation shares his experiences at last in one of the most remarkable World War II stories ever told. As the Allied Invasion of Normandy launched in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944, Henry Langrehr, an American paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, was among the thousands of Allies who parachuted into occupied France. Surviving heavy anti-aircraft fire, he crashed through the glass roof of a greenhouse in Sainte-Mère-Église. While many of the soldiers in his unit died, Henry and other surviving troops valiantly battled enemy tanks to a standstill. Then, on June 29th, Henry was captured by the Nazis. The next phase of his incredible journey was beginning. 
  Kept for a week in the outer ring of a death camp, Henry witnessed the Nazis’ unspeakable brutality—the so-called Final Solution, with people marched to their deaths, their bodies discarded like cords of wood. Transported to a work camp, he endured horrors of his own when he was forced to live in unbelievable squalor and labor in a coal mine with other POWs. Knowing they would be worked to death, he and a friend made a desperate escape. When a German soldier cornered them in a barn, the friend was fatally shot; Henry struggled with the soldier, killing him and taking his gun. Perilously traveling westward toward Allied controlled land on foot, Henry faced the great ethical and moral dilemmas of war firsthand, needing to do whatever it took to survive. Finally, after two weeks behind enemy lines, he found an American unit and was rescued. 
  Awaiting him at home was Arlene, who, like millions of other American women, went to work in factories and offices to build the armaments Henry and the Allies needed for victory. Whatever It Took is her story, too, bringing to life the hopes and fears of those on the homefront awaiting their loved ones to return. 
  A tale of heroism, hope, and survival featuring 30 photographs, Whatever It Took is a timely reminder of the human cost of freedom and a tribute to unbreakable human courage and spirit in the darkest of times.  
  Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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  Everything is an Emergency - An...

  Jason Adam Katzenstein

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  “This book undid me in all the best ways. Everything is an Emergency is a brilliant, honest, necessary book that exposes the intricacies of the human brain while showing us the way creativity and friendship can anchor us. This is a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered if they see the world a little differently.” –Ada Limón 
  A New Yorker cartoonist illustrates his lifelong struggle with OCD 
  Jason Adam Katzenstein is just trying to live his life, but he keeps getting sidetracked by his over-active, anxious brain. Mundane events like shaking hands or sharing a drink snowball into absolute catastrophes. Jason has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a mental illness that compels him to perform rituals in order to protect himself from dangers that don’t really exist. He checks, washes, over-thinks, rinse, repeat.  
  He does his best to hide his embarrassing compulsions, and sometimes this even works. He grows up, worries about his first kiss, falls in love with making cartoons, moves to New York City — which is magical and gross, etc. All the while, half his energy goes into living his life, while the other half is devoted to the increasingly ridiculous rituals he’s decided to maintain to keep himself from fully short-circuiting,  
  Then, he fully short-circuits.  
  At his absolute lowest, Jason finally decides to do the things he’s always been told to do to get better: exposure therapy and medication. These are the things that have always freaked him out, and they continue to freak him out. Also, they help him recover.  
  Everything is an Emergency is about all the self-destructive stories someone tells himself, over and over, until they start to seem true. In images surreal, witty, and confessional, Jason shows us that OCD can be funny, even when it feels like it’s ruining your life.

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  Tiny Voices Talk - Education...

  Toria Bono

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  When tiny voices talk, three amazing things happen: they share surprising ideas and insights; they realise they are not so tiny; and they empower other tiny voices to talk too.Drawing on the winning formula of her Tiny Voice Talks podcasts, Toria Bono has compiled a great resource full of top tips and actionable advice from a range of tiny voices across the educational spectrum. The assembled voices speak on a broad range of topics relating to education and learner development - from mentoring, metacognitive skills and period education, to trauma-informed practice, nurturing curious learners and finding flow in the classroom.But above all, this book is a call to action for all those in our schools who have yet to find their voice to find it - and use it. There are big people with big voices (and big egos) in education, yet they are the minority. The majority consists of great people just getting on with doing great things - more often than not with people, not data, at the heart of their practice. This book inspires such people to find and use their voice; and when tiny voices talk to tiny voices, everyone wins. Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants and school leaders in all phases.

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  Digital Missionary - Fulfill the...

  Anthony F. Russo

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  “So the man went away and began to proclaim throughout the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.” (Mark 5:20) 
  A.W. Tozer wrote his classic, The Pursuit of God, on an overnight train but the technology did not exist to be able to publish it by the time the train arrived at its destination the next morning. But in today’s world, you can. It’s not just books. In only a matter of minutes, you can set up a blog or launch a podcast. Those are just some of the incredible opportunities you and I have to use the power of media to follow in the footsteps of the man in Mark 5:20. 
  Digital Missionary outlines the compelling power of publishing and media, encouraging every Christian to pick up their pen or get behind their keyboard or microphone and flood the world with gospel resources that can endure as ongoing ministry long after they’re gone.

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