Other books that might interest you

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  The Rise and Decline of Nations...

  Mancur Olson, Edward L. Glaeser

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  The updated edition of Mancur Olson's award-winning book The Rise and Decline of Nations.

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  Freedom Riders The: The History...

  Editors Charles River

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  After a 1960 Supreme Court decision in Boynton v. Virginia, bus segregation was made illegal on new grounds: it violated the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution, by regulating the movement of people across state lines. With this victory in hand, the Freedom Rides of 1961 began. Organized primarily by a new group – the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) – the Freedom Rides followed the same guidance that inspired the Montgomery Boycott and the Greensboro Sit-Ins – non-violent direct action. The purpose of the Freedom Rides was the test the Supreme Court's decision by riding from Virginia to Louisiana on integrated busses. This was notably the first major Civil Rights event that included a large segment of white participants.  
  	Mobs in places like Birmingham and Montgomery firebombed buses and brutally beat the Freedom Riders, sending dozens to the hospital. Mob violence, orchestrated by the KKK and their segregationist allies, erupted endlessly throughout the summer. White activists, who were viewed by the Ku Klux Klan as betraying their race, took the worst beatings of all.  
  	Both black and white Northerners had participated in the Freedom Rides, and civil rights activists sought other ways to harness their energy and activism in 1963. After the Freedom Rides, civil rights leaders initiated voter registration drives that could help register black voters and build community organizations that could help make their votes count. The momentum generated by the Freedom Rides and the following activism would lead to the famous March on Washington and eventually the passage of a historic civil rights bill in 1964. 

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  The Unraveling - Reflections on...

  Bob Bauer, Jon Meacham

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  Essential for anyone interested in modern American politics, get the book that former President Barack Obama on X calls "a deeply thoughtful book" and says, "couldn't be a more timely read." 
   
   
   
  Part memoir, part rumination on the declining moral compass of the American political class, The Unraveling is the first book to place restoring political ethics at the center of the renewal of American democracy. Politics is a brutal game, but Bauer asks where does the line fall between the "hardball" of politics and attacks on the very foundation of democracy? Looking back on foryt-six years in the political arena, Bauer tries to better grasp what has gone wrong and to understand what shaped his own decisions and actions. He offers anecdotes, perspectives, and insights that are vitally relevant in our world today, including efforts in 2020 (and 2024) to defend our democratic system of elections from attack and distrust, and the struggles with social media, such as Meta, to combat disinformation in a post-truth politics. He writes about the various personal experiences along the way—the highs, the lows, and the absurd. Bauer presents a smart and serious look at our political culture and the role that he has played in shaping it. The Unraveling will be essential for anyone interested in American politics of the last fifty years—and the next.

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  First Inaugural Address

  Ronald Reagan

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  On January 20, 1981, Reagan began his first presidential inauguration address by thanking Carter for his “gracious cooperation in the transition process”. 
  Reagan notes “one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike.” “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” 
  “For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present.” “It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people.” 
  “If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.” “It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden.” 
  “As for the enemies of freedom, … [w]e will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.” 
  “[T]ogether with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you. 
  aspenleafmedia.com

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  When Left Moves Right - The...

  Maria Snegovaya

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  Over the past two decades, postcommunist countries have witnessed a sudden shift in the electoral fortunes of their political parties: previously successful center-left parties suffered dramatic electoral defeats and disappeared from the political scene, while right-wing populist parties soared in popularity and came to power. This dynamic echoed similar processes in Western Europe and raises a question: Were these dynamics in any way connected? When Right Moves Left argues that they were. And that the root of the connection between them lies in the pro-market rebranding of the ex-communist left—the key explanatory variable. This book asserts that, though the left's pro-market shift initially led to electoral rewards, it had a less straightforward impact on left-wing parties' electoral fortunes in the long run. 
   
   
   
  The book draws upon different levels of analysis: cross-country observational data, case studies, and individual-level experimental surveys. It argues that scholars should incorporate the economic policy dimension when explaining the demise of the left and the rise of the populist right in the region. It also examines important parallels between the dynamics of Western and postcommunist countries by arguing that the idiosyncrasy of Eastern European politics has been overstated in scholarly literature.

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  Black Power Scorecard -...

  Andre M. Perry

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  From the creator of “a unified field theory of racism” (NPR’s Planet Money), a dollars-and-cents reckoning of the state of Black America and a new framework to close the power gap Historically, Black Americans’ quest for power has been understood as an attempt to gain equal protections under the law. But power in America requires more than basic democratic freedoms. It is inextricably linked with economic influence and ownership—of one’s self, home, business, and creations. Andre M. Perry draws on extensive research and analysis to quantify how much power Black Americans actually have. Ranging from property, business, and wealth to education, health, and social mobility, Black Power Scorecard moves across the country, evaluating people’s ability to set the rules of the game and calculating how that translates into the ultimate means of power—life itself, and the longevity of Black communities. Along the way, Perry identifies woefully overlooked areas of investment that could close the racial gap and benefit everyone. An expansive take on power supported by documentation and data, Black Power Scorecard is a fresh contribution to the country’s reckoning with structural inequality, one that offers a new approach to redressing it.A Macmillan Audio production from Metropolitan Books.

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