Other books that might interest you

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  Anatomy of Greed - The...

  Brian Cruver

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  Brian Cruver first entered the "Death Star," Enron's office complex, in March 2001. He was twenty-nine years old, an eager MBA ready to cash in as a new hire with one of America's most highly valued companies. But, from his first day-when his new boss warned him, "there was a mix-up in the hiring process," but that it was "no big deal...just think of it like you're adopted"-to his last, when he and his colleagues were given thirty minutes to leave the building, Cruver found himself enmeshed in a business cult that each day grew only more bizarre. 
   
  With dark humor and page-turning momentum, Cruver lays out firsthand: the giddy group-think nurtured by Enron's leadership, whose incessant cheerleading for the company's stock price rendered many Enronians unable to believe that they were routinely being spoon-fed lies; the "rank and yank" peer review process that fostered horse-trading among managers over which employees would be given poor evaluations; the traders who made dubious deals to ensure their own lucrative bonuses; and the sinister designs and funding of Enron's fraudulent off-the-books partnerships. As Cruver probes the sleazy escapades that Enron executives milked for personal gain, he introduces us, up close and personal, to such storied figures as Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andy Fastow, along with other important Enron personalities like Rebecca Mark; Lou Pai; Thomas White, George W. Bush's Secretary of the Army; Joe Sutton; the "Mr. Blue," a disillusioned Enron executive; and Cruver's trading floor neighbor, a machine he christened "Sherman the Shredder"-who was always working overtime. 
   
  Cruver's day-by-day chronicle, which includes a running stock ticker to show the trajectory of Enron's collapse, is instantly reminiscent of such bestsellers as Liar's Poker and Barbarians at the Gate. Told in a fresh, empathetic voice, Anatomy of Greed is brimming with grist for political pundits and comic relief for victims of corporate collateral damage. It is also the personal story of a young executive, a Houston native, whose dream job and dream company crashed around him in an avalanche of lies and greed. From the wreckage, this newly hardened veteran of the corporate wars has written a cautionary tale that our leaders must heed-or imperil us all to future disasters.

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  The World of Bob Dylan

  Sean Latham

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  Bob Dylan is a singular figure defined by a lifetime of creative invention that has helped transform music, literature, pop culture, and even politics. This book provides a lively, accessible look at his art and music as seen by leading rock and pop critics and music scholars. The chapters are carefully integrated so that readers can take quick dives into specific topics ranging from the Blues to religious faith, civil rights, and American literature. Incorporating a rich array of new archival material, The World of Bob Dylan offers a comprehensive, informed and fresh account of the songwriter, artist, filmmaker, and Nobel Laureate whose unique voice has permanently reshaped our cultural landscape.

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  Remembering Emmett Till

  Dave Tell

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  Take a drive through the Mississippi Delta today and you'll find a landscape dotted with memorials to major figures and events from the civil rights movement. Perhaps the most chilling are those devoted to the murder of Emmett Till, a tragedy of hate and injustice that became a beacon in the fight for racial equality. The ways this event is remembered have been fraught from the beginning, revealing currents of controversy, patronage, and racism lurking just behind the placid facades of historical markers. 
  In Remembering Emmett Till, Dave Tell gives us five accounts of the commemoration of this infamous crime. In a development no one could have foreseen, Till's murder—one of the darkest moments in the region's history—has become an economic driver for the Delta. Historical tourism has transformed seemingly innocuous places like bridges, boat landings, gas stations, and riverbeds into sites of racial politics, reminders of the still-unsettled question of how best to remember the victim of this heinous crime. Tell builds an insightful and persuasive case for how these memorials have altered the Delta's physical and cultural landscape, drawing potent connections between the dawn of the civil rights era and our own moment of renewed fire for racial justice.

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  Murder in the Garment District -...

  David Witwer, Catherine Rios

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  The thrilling and true account of racketeering and union corruption in mid-century New York, when unions and the mob were locked in a power struggle that reverberates to this day 
  In 1949, in New York City's crowded Garment District, a union organizer named William Lurye was stabbed to death by a mob assassin. Through the lens of this murder case, prize-winning authors David Witwer and Catherine Rios explore American labor history at its critical turning point, drawing on FBI case files and the private papers of investigative journalists who first broke the story. A narrative that originates in the garment industry of mid-century New York, which produced over eighty percent of the nation's dresses at the time, Murder in the Garment District quickly moves to a national stage, where congressional anti-corruption hearings gripped the nation and forever tainted the reputation of American unions. 
  Replete with elements of a true-crime thriller, Murder in the Garment District includes a riveting cast of characters, from wheeling and dealing union president David Dubinsky to the notorious gangster Abe Chait and the crusading Robert F. Kennedy, whose public duel with Jimmy Hoffa became front-page news.

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  That to Study Philosophy is to...

  Michel de Montaigne, Charles Cotton

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  We all die, sooner or later. We all know it, and we wonder when, where, and how it may happen. and yet we go to extraordinary lengths to put the thought of it out of our minds. We hesitate to bring it up in conversations. Montaigne, who … essay, addressed this issue head on in “To Study Philosophy is to Learn to Die.” It is perhaps his best-known essay, a kind of summation of his philosophy, and considered his most stoic. There are three main themes: first, do not forget that we all die, including you; second, there’s no reason to be afraid or to worry; third, be ready when the time comes, as it inevitably will.  Keeping death in mind, he argues, diminishes the shock when it happens to others and alleviates the suffering by putting things in perspective. Acceptance and understanding should, in turn, help us remember that death is a part of the natural order, and that it happens only once, after which there is nothing to worry about simply because there is nothing after the end of it all.  These all help us to be prepared and to appreciate the present even more, releasing us from the enslavement of fear and anxiety. Carpe diem!The essay contains numerous quotes in Latin from the ancients that reinforce his ideas. These are followed by an English translation and citation of the source in the original.

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  The Circle of Fire - In the...

  Justina Page

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  A woman’s true story of rebuilding her faith in the aftermath of harrowing tragedy.   In the early hours of March 7, 1999, Justina Page’s life changed forever when a four alarm house fire ravaged and destroyed her family’s home. In the aftermath, in addition to the heartbreaking loss of one of her 22-month-old twin boys, Justina and her husband had to cope with the physical injuries to both her and their surviving son.  The Circle of Fire chronicles her struggle to overcome the devastating consequences of this catastrophic event. Justina’s is a journey of discovery—that personal tragedy is not a life sentence to despair, anger, and continual pain and suffering, and that something positive can be salvaged from every agonizing experience, even when your faith has truly been tried by fire.

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