Other books that might interest you

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  Eurotrash - Why America Must...

  David Harsanyi

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  Why should America try to be more like countries that are worse in nearly every way?  
  Europe has been declining under the weight of its antiquated institutions, economic fatigue, moral anemia and cultural surrender. Yet American politicians, technocrats, academics, and pundits argue, with increasing popularity, that Americans should look across the Atlantic for solutions to the nation’s problems, including on issues like health care, the welfare state, immigration, and a bloated bureaucracy. 
  In Eurotrash, David Harsanyi argues we are looking in the wrong place. By every economic and societal measure, the United States is more tolerant than Europe. It is more welcoming of immigrants, but also far more successful at assimilating them. Minorities do far better in United States. Our economy is dominant. Only one European company appears in top 10 corporate powerhouses in the world and only seven in the top 50. Americans make up nearly half of the list. 
  Americans are far more charitable and happier than Europeans. Our slightly lower life expectancy and our slightly higher infant mortality rate are not a result of substandard care, but a statistical misunderstanding based on the fact we treat every life as one worth saving. 
  In this biting, fast-moving, and well-researched polemic, Harsanyi debunks prevailing notions about European supremacy and makes an unapologetic case for American exceptionalism, offering insight and reasoned arguments to counter current policy prescriptions.

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  My Life in Politics

  Jacques Chirac

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  Two-time president of France, mayor of Paris, and international politician, Jacques Chirac stands with Mikhail Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl, and Margaret Thatcher as one of the most iconic statesmen of the twentieth century. 
   
  In this revealing and informative memoir, Chirac looks back at his 50 years in politics, giving us both an intimate window onto the challenges of leadership and a broad reference for much of our recent history. A protégé of both General Charles de Gaulle and President Georges Pompidou, Chirac enjoyed a meteoric rise that earned him the nickname "bulldozer." He was at the center of some of the twentieth century's most significant events, serving as confidante to Yasser Arafat during the Camp David peace talks, as well as being France's point person in the early planning stages for what became the European Union. Here he discusses his relationship with Saddam Hussein and other Arab leaders and takes us through the toughest challenge that he faced as president - standing up to George W. Bush in the run-up to the Iraq War and then deciding to keep France's army out of the military conflict. 
   
  As much a tour of the historic events that defined the twentieth century as an intelligent and philosophical meditation on the nature and purpose of power, My Life in Politics shows us global politics from an original viewpoint, forcing us to reconsider our own perspective. With his singular brio, surprising candor, and lively wit, Jacques Chirac gives us a revealing look at the political forces that shaped the world we live in today - as well as an inside look at a perennially fascinating country.

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  The Prince - Premium Edition

  Niccolo Machiavelli

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  The Prince (c. 1500) by Niccolo Machiavelli is a political treatise, sometimes claimed to be one of the first works of modern political philosophy, in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It was also in direct conflict with the dominant Catholic and scholastic doctrines of the time concerning how to consider politics and ethics. Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to the ruling Medici of the time, leading some today to still speculate whether the book was a satire. Machiavelli asserted that The Prince (president, dictator, prime minister, etc.) does not have to be concerned with ethics, as long as their motivation is to protect the state. It is this questionable belief that in many ways had led to the modern world as we know it. His assertion was that the head of state must protect the state no matter the cost and no matter what rules he or she breaks in the process.

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  The Poor Had No Lawyers - Who...

  Andy Wightman

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  In this updated edition of his “utterly magnificent” social history, the Scottish parliamentarian examines the privatization of Scotland’s common land (Sunday Herald, UK). As an author, activist, and politician, Andy Wightman has made a career of fighting for Scottish land reform. In this provocative and influential book, Wightman offers a revealing analysis of how and why landowners got their hands on the millions of acres that were once held in common. He also tells the untold story of how the Scottish legal and political establishment appropriated land through legal fixes. Throughout, Wightman poses some provocative questions: Have attempts to redistribute power made any difference? What are the implications of the debt-fueled housing bubble, the Smith Commission, and the new Scottish Government's proposals on land reform? Can we get our common good land back? For all those with an interest in urban and rural land in Scotland, this edition of The Poor Had No Lawyers, updated with new statistics, provides a fascinating analysis of one the most important political questions in Scotland.

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  Howard Zinn Speaks - Collected...

  Howard Zinn

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  A wide-ranging collection of speeches—many published here for the first time—by the historian and author of A People’s History of the United States.   Howard Zinn has illuminated our history like no other US historian. This collection of his speeches on protest movements, racism, war, and American history covers more than four decades of his active engagement with the audiences he inspired with his humor, insight, and clarity.   This volume features Zinn’s impassioned and erudite statements on the war in Vietnam, abolishing the death penalty, the legacy of Emma Goldman, the myth of American exceptionalism, the Obama Administration, and much more.   “Reading Howard’s spoken words, I feel that I am almost hearing his voice again—his stunning pitch-perfect ability to capture the moment and the concerns and needs of the audience, whoever they may be, always enlightening, often stirring, an amalgam of insight, critical history, wit, blended with charm and appeal.” —Noam Chomsky, leading public intellectual and author of Hopes and Prospects   “With ferocious moral clarity and mischievous humor, Howard turned routine antiwar rallies into profound explorations of state violence and staid academic conferences into revival meetings for social change.” —Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough and The Battle For Paradise

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  40 More Years - How the...

  Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza, James...

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  Every four years Americans hold a presidential election. Somebody wins and somebody loses. That's life. But 2008 was an anomaly. The election of President Barack Obama is about something far bigger than four or even eight years in the White House. Since 2004, Americans have been witnessing and participating in the emergence of a Democratic majority that will last not four but forty years.To understand the emergence of a lasting Democratic majority, James Carville first reviews the profound and relentless incompetence of the Bush administration-and the pursuant collapse of the Republican Party. That means looking back at the failure of Republican ideas-including a wholesale rejection of the myth of conservative superiority on the economy-and holding our noses long enough to survey the gallery of truly repellent scoundrels, scandals, and screwups that the Republican Party has been responsible for over the last eight years.After completing the unpleasant but edifying task of autopsying the Republican Party, Carville examines the underpinnings of Democratic victories in 2004, 2006, and 2008-and makes the argument for why Democrats are going to keep winning (two words: young people). In short, the Republicans are going to keep getting spanked again and again for forty more years because we're right and they're wrong, and Americans know it.

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