The Politics & Government category has 4,793 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 40,708 ratings. The most-rated is A Promised Land.
Picking Up
Summary
America’s largest city generates garbage in torrents - 11,000 tons a day on average. But New Yorkers don’t give it much attention. They leave their trash on the curb or drop it in a litter basket, and promptly forget about it. And why not? On a schedule so regular you could almost set your watch by it, someone always comes to take it away. But who, exactly, is that someone? And why is he - or she - so unknown? In Picking Up, the anthropologist Robin Nagle introduces us to the men and women of New York City’s Department of Sanitation and makes clear why this small army of uniformed workers is the most important labor force on the streets. Seeking to understand every aspect of the Department’s mission, Nagle accompanied crews on their routes, questioned supervisors and commissioners, and listened to story after story about blizzards, hazardous wastes, and the insults of everyday New Yorkers. But the more time she spent with the DSNY, the more Nagle realized that observing wasn’t quite enough - so she joined the force herself. Driving the hulking trucks, she obtained an insider’s perspective on the complex kinships, arcane rules, and obscure lingo unique to the realm of sanitation workers. Nagle chronicles New York City’s 400-year struggle with trash, and traces the city’s waste-management efforts from a time when filth overwhelmed the streets to the far more rigorous practices of today, when the Big Apple is as clean as it’s ever been. Throughout, Nagle reveals the many unexpected ways in which sanitation workers stand between our seemingly well-ordered lives and the sea of refuse that would otherwise overwhelm us. In the process, she changes the way we understand cities - and ourselves within them.
©2013 Robin Nagle (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Boss Rove
Summary
Karl Rove, the man who masterminded the rise of George W. Bush from governor of Texas to the presidency, who advised Bush during two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, who some claim helped seize the 2004 election for Bush, and who was at the center of the Bush administration's two biggest scandals - the Valerie Plame Wilson affair and the U.S. attorneys scandal - is back. Since exiting the Bush administration, Rove has quietly become the country's greatest Republican power broker. His pulpit is much vaster than his role as a commentator on Fox News and his regular columns for the Wall Street Journal suggest. His real strength is his ability to mobilize immense sums through the SuperPAC American Crossroads and similar organizations, and channel that money on behalf of Republican candidates. Knowing that Rove remains connected and powerful, Unger investigates Rove's politically controversial activities of times past, shedding important new light on them, and shows their relevance to his activities today. He scrutinizes Rove's roles in the Valerie Plame Wilson affair, the U.S. attorneys scandal, the strange events in Ohio on the night of the 2004 presidential election, and much more. But now that Rove is back in control of GOP political strategy and funding, there are pressing new questions: How did Rove do an end run around on the Republican National Committee and build his own, more powerful organization? In what ways did he subtly, and not so subtly, influence the 2012 Republican primary process? What did he say (and do) regarding candidates Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum? How did he placate the Tea Party, which he privately despises, even as he cleverly marginalized its importance? How did he and Mitt Romney draw closer as the GOP convention neared? How will he further benefit from a Romney victory? And if Romney loses, why will Rove remain powerful? Unger has the answers. As demonstrated in his previous books, Unger is adept at combining incisive reporting with the journalistic record to create a master narrative that sheds new light on a political subject. Detailed, fascinating, and entertaining, Boss Rove will interest not only listeners who want to know more about the 2012 election but also those keen to understand the forces endangering American democracy. This up-to-the-minute journalistic report sheds crucial light on Rove's vital behind-the-scenes role in this fall's presidential election and in the future of American politics.
©2012 Craig Unger (P)2012 Tantor
The State & Revolution
Summary
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known by his alias Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Under his administration, Russia and then the wider Soviet Union became a one-party communist state governed by the Russian Communist Party. Ideologically a communist, he developed a variant of Marxism known as Leninism. The State and Revolution (1917) is a well-known book by Vladimir Lenin. In the book, Lenin describes the role of the state in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution, and the theoretic inadequacies of social democracy in achieving revolution to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. Produced by Devin Lawerence Edited by Macc Kay Production executive Avalon Giuliano ICON intern Eden Giuliano Music by AudioNautix with their kind permission ©2020 Eden Garret Giuliano (P) Eden Garret Giuliano Geoffrey Giuliano is the author of more than 30 internationally best-selling biographies, including the London Sunday Times best seller Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney and Dark Horse: The Private Life of George Harrison. He can be heard on the Westwood One Radio Network and has written and produced more than 700 original spoken-word albums and video documentaries on various aspects of popular culture. He is also a well-known movie actor.
Public Domain (P)2020 Geoffrey Giuliano
Madison's Gift
Summary
Short, plain, balding, neither soldier nor orator, low on charisma and high on intelligence, Madison cared more about achieving results than taking the credit. To reach his lifelong goal of a self-governing constitutional republic, he blended his talents with those of key partners. It was Madison who led the drive for the Constitutional Convention and pressed for an effective new government as his patron, George Washington, lent the effort legitimacy; Madison who wrote the Federalist Papers with Alexander Hamilton to secure the Constitution's ratification; Madison who corrected the greatest blunder of the Constitution by drafting and securing passage of the Bill of Rights with Washington's support; Madison who joined Thomas Jefferson to found the nation's first political party and move the nation toward broad democratic principles; Madison, with James Monroe, who guided the new nation through its first war in 1812, really its Second War of Independence; and it was Madison who handed the reins of government to the last of the Founders, his old friend and sometime rival Monroe. These were the main characters in his life. But it was his final partnership that allowed Madison to escape his natural shyness and reach the greatest heights. Dolley was the woman he married in middle age and who presided over both him and an enlivened White House. This partnership was a love story, a unique one that sustained Madison through his political rise, his presidency, and a fruitful retirement.
©2015 Originial Material. Recorded by arrangement with David O. Stewart c/o Lippincott Massie McQuilkin (P)2015 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
America's First Freedom Rider
Summary
In 1854, traveling was full of danger. Omnibus accidents were commonplace. Pedestrians were regularly attacked by the Five Points’ gangs. Rival police forces watched and argued over who should help. Pickpockets, drunks, and kidnappers were all part of the daily street scene in old New York. Yet somehow, they endured and transformed a trading post into the Empire City. None of this was on Elizabeth Jennings’ mind as she climbed the platform onto the Chatham Street horse-car. But her destination and that of the country took a sudden turn when the conductor told her to wait for the next car because it had “her people” in it. When she refused to step off the bus, she was assaulted by the conductor who was aided by a New York police officer. On February 22, 1855, the Elizabeth Jennings v. Third Avenue Rail Road case was settled: The jury stunned the courtroom with a $250 verdict in Lizzie’s favor. Future US president Chester A. Arthur was Jennings’ attorney, and their lives would be forever onward intertwined. This is the story of what happened that day. It’s also the story of Jennings and Arthur’s families, the struggle for equality, and race relations. It’s the history of America at its most despicable and most exhilarating. Yet few historians know of Elizabeth Jennings or the impact she had on desegregating public transit.
©2019 Jerry Mikorenda (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
We Own the Future
Summary
It's a strange day when a New York Times conservative columnist is forced to admit that the left is winning, but as David Brooks wrote recently, "the American left is on the cusp of a great victory." Among Americans under 30, 43 percent had a favorable view of socialism, while only 32 percent had a favorable view of capitalism. Not since the Great Depression have so many Americans questioned the fundamental tenets of capitalism and expressed openness to a socialist alternative. We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism-American Style offers a road map to making this alternative a reality, giving listeners a practical vision of a future that is more democratic, egalitarian, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. The book includes a crash course in the history and practice of democratic socialism, a vivid picture of what democratic socialism in America might look like in practice, and compelling proposals for how to get there from the age of Trump and beyond. With contributions from some of the nation's leading political activists and analysts, We Own the Future articulates a clear and uncompromising view from the left - a perfectly timed book that will appeal to a wide audience hungry for change.
©2020 Kate Aronoff, Peter Dreier, and Michael Kazin (Compilation and introduction); Copyright 2020 by each author (individual essays) (P)2021 Tantor
Catastrophe in the Making
Summary
When houses are flattened, towns submerged, and people stranded without electricity or even food, we attribute the suffering to "natural disasters" or "acts of God." But what if they're neither? What if we, as a society, are bringing these catastrophes on ourselves? That's the provocative theory of Catastrophe in the Making, the first audiobook to recognize Hurricane Katrina not as a "perfect storm," but a tragedy of our own making - and one that could become commonplace. The authors, one a longtime New Orleans resident, argue that breached levees and sloppy emergency response are just the most obvious examples of government failure. The true problem is more deeply rooted and insidious, and stretches far beyond the Gulf Coast. Based on the false promise of widespread prosperity, communities across the U.S. have embraced all brands of "economic development" at all costs. In Louisiana, that meant development interests turning wetlands into shipping lanes. By replacing a natural buffer against storm surges with a 75-mile long, obsolete canal that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, they guided the hurricane into the heart of New Orleans and adjacent communities. The authors reveal why, despite their geographic differences, California and Missouri are building - quite literally - toward similar destruction. Too often, the U.S. "growth machine" generates wealth for a few and misery for many. Drawing lessons from the most expensive "natural" disaster in American history, Catastrophe in the Making tells why thoughtless development comes at a price we can ill afford.
©2009 William R. Freudenburg, Robert B. Gramling, Shirley B. Laska, and Kai T. Erikson (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Because of Sex
Summary
Best known as a monumental achievement of the civil rights movement, the 1964 Civil Rights Act also revolutionized the lives of America's working women. Title VII of the law made it illegal to discriminate "because of sex". But that simple phrase didn't mean much until ordinary women began using the law to get justice on the job - and some took their fights all the way to the Supreme Court. Among them were Ida Phillips, denied an assembly line job because she had a preschool-age child; Kim Rawlinson, who fought to become a prison guard - a "man's job"; Mechelle Vinson, who brought a lawsuit for sexual abuse before "sexual harassment" even had a name; and most recently, Peggy Young, UPS truck driver, forced to take an unpaid leave while pregnant because she asked for a temporary reprieve from heavy lifting. These unsung heroines' victories, and those of the other women profiled in Gillian Thomas' Because of Sex, dismantled a Mad Men world where women could only hope to play supporting roles; where sexual harassment was "just the way things are"; and where pregnancy meant getting a pink slip. Through first-person accounts and vivid narrative, Because of Sex tells the story of how one law, our highest court, and a few tenacious women changed the American workplace forever.
©2016 Gillian Thomas (P)2019 Tantor
Washington's Circle
Summary
George Washington was a singular, often aloof man who sought out the counsel of a few trusted men to help him share his task of governing the new nation. In Washington's Circle, David and Jeanne Heidler introduce not just the president but the group of extraordinary men who advised him. The familiar names are here, like the often irked and occasionally irksome John Adams, the scheming Alexander Hamilton, and the prodigiously talented James "Jemmy" Madison, but so are the lesser known Edmund Randolph, John Jay, and Gouverneur Morris. Washington's choices of whom to listen to, for better and sometimes worse, were as consequential as the advice his cabinet gave. It is a story of give and take - between Washington and Congress, these men confronted questions, including the limits of executive power, that continue to raise debates today.
©2015 Random House, an imprint of Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. (P)2015 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
America's Bitter Pill
Summary
New York Times best seller. A New York Times notable book. America’s Bitter Pill is Steven Brill’s acclaimed book on how the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was written, how it is being implemented, and, most important, how it is changing - and failing to change - the rampant abuses in the healthcare industry. It’s a fly-on-the-wall account of the titanic fight to pass a 961-page law aimed at fixing America's largest, most dysfunctional industry. It's a penetrating chronicle of how the profiteering that Brill first identified in his trailblazing Time Magazine cover story continues, despite Obamacare. And it is the first complete, inside account of how President Obama persevered to push through the law, but then failed to deal with the staff incompetence and turf wars that crippled its implementation. But by chance America’s Bitter Pill ends up being much more - because as Brill was completing this book, he had to undergo urgent open-heart surgery. Thus, this also becomes the story of how one patient who thinks he knows everything about health-care “policy” rethinks it from a hospital gurney - and combines that insight with his brilliant reporting. The result: a surprising new vision of how we can fix American health care so that it stops draining the bank accounts of our families and our businesses and the federal treasury. Praise for America’s Bitter Pill: “A tour de force...a comprehensive and suitably furious guide to the political landscape of American healthcare...persuasive, shocking.” (The New York Times) “An energetic, picaresque, narrative explanation of much of what has happened in the last seven years of health policy.... [Brill] has pulled off something extraordinary.” (The New York Times Book Review) “A thunderous indictment of what Brill refers to as the ‘toxicity of our profiteer-dominated healthcare system.’” (Los Angeles Times) “A sweeping and spirited new book [that] chronicles the surprisingly juicy tale of reform.” (The Daily Beast) “One of the most important books of our time.” (Walter Isaacson) “Superb...Brill has achieved the seemingly impossible - written an exciting book about the American health system.” (The New York Review of Books)
©2015 Steven Brill (P)2015 Random House Audio
Defiance of the Patriots
Summary
On the evening of December 16, 1773, a group of disguised Bostonians boarded three merchant ships and dumped more than 46 tons of tea into Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea Party, as it later came to be known, was an audacious and revolutionary act. It set the stage for war and cemented certain values in the American psyche that many still cherish today. But why did the Tea Party happen? Whom did it involve? What did it mean? The answers to these questions are far from straightforward. In this thrilling book, Benjamin L. Carp tells the full story of the Tea Party - exploding myths, exploring the unique city life of Boston, and setting this extraordinary event in a global context. Bringing vividly to life the diverse array of people and places that the Tea Party brought together - from Chinese tea-pickers to English businessmen, Native American tribes, sugar plantation slaves, and Boston's ladies of leisure - Carp illuminates how a determined group shook the foundations of a mighty empire, and what this has meant for Americans since. As he reveals many little-known historical facts and considers the Tea Party's uncertain legacy, he presents a compelling and expansive history of an iconic event in America's tempestuous past.
©2010 Benjamin L. Carp (P)2019 Tantor
Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy
Summary
Many people were elated when Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in May 1954, the ruling that struck down state-sponsored racial segregation in America's public schools. Thurgood Marshall, chief attorney for the black families that launched the litigation, exclaimed later, "I was so happy, I was numb." The novelist Ralph Ellison wrote, "another battle of the Civil War has been won. The rest is up to us and I'm very glad. What a wonderful world of possibilities are unfolded for the children!" Here, in a concise, compelling narrative, Bancroft Prize-winning historian James T. Patterson takes listeners through the dramatic case and its 50-year aftermath. A wide range of characters animates the story, from the little-known African-Americans who dared to challenge Jim Crow with lawsuits; to Thurgood Marshall, who later became a Justice himself; to Earl Warren, who shepherded a fractured Court to a unanimous decision. Others include segregationist politicians; Presidents Eisenhower, Johnson, and Nixon; and controversial Supreme Court justices, such as William Rehnquist and Clarence Thomas. Most Americans still see Brown as a triumph - but was it? Patterson shrewdly explores the provocative questions that still swirl around the case. Could the Court - or President Eisenhower - have done more to ensure compliance with Brown? Did the decision touch off the modern civil rights movement? How useful are court-ordered busing and affirmative action against racial segregation? To what extent has racial mixing affected the academic achievement of black children? Where, indeed, do we go from here to realize the expectations of Marshall, Ellison, and others in 1954? The Pivotal Moments in American History series seeks to unite the old and the new history, combining the insights and techniques of recent historiography with the power of traditional narrative. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2001 James T. Patterson (P)2011 Audible, Inc.
Roosevelt's Centurions
Summary
“FDR’s centurions were my heroes and guides. Now Joe Persico has written the best account of those leaders I've ever read.” (Colin L. Powell) All American presidents are commanders in chief by law. Few perform as such in practice. In Roosevelt’s Centurions, distinguished historian Joseph E. Persico reveals how, during World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt seized the levers of wartime power like no president since Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Declaring himself "Dr. Win-the-War", FDR assumed the role of strategist in chief, and, though surrounded by star-studded generals and admirals, he made clear who was running the war. FDR was a hands-on war leader, involving himself in everything from choosing bomber targets to planning naval convoys to the design of landing craft. Persico explores whether his strategic decisions, including his insistence on the Axis powers’ unconditional surrender, helped end or may have prolonged the war. Taking us inside the Allied war councils, the author reveals how the president brokered strategy with contentious allies, particularly the iron-willed Winston Churchill; rallied morale on the home front; and handpicked a team of proud, sometimes prickly warriors who, he believed, could fight a global war. Persico’s history offers indelible portraits of the outsize figures who roused the "sleeping giant" that defeated the Axis war machine: the dutiful yet independent-minded George C. Marshall, charged with rebuilding an army whose troops trained with broomsticks for rifles, eggs for hand grenades; Dwight Eisenhower, an unassuming Kansan elevated from obscurity to command of the greatest fighting force ever assembled; the vainglorious Douglas MacArthur; and the bizarre battlefield genius George S. Patton. Here, too, are less widely celebrated military leaders whose contributions were just as critical: the irascible, dictatorial navy chief, Ernest King; the acerbic army advisor in China, "Vinegar" Joe Stilwell; and Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, who zealously preached the gospel of modern air power. The Roosevelt who emerges from these pages is a wartime chess master guiding America’s armed forces to a victory that was anything but foreordained. What are the qualities we look for in a commander in chief? In an era of renewed conflict, when Americans are again confronting the questions that FDR faced - about the nature and exercise of global power - Roosevelt’s Centurions is a timely and revealing examination of what it takes to be a wartime leader in a freewheeling, complicated, and tumultuous democracy.
©2013 Joseph E. Persico (P)2013 Random House Audio
Red State Uprising
Summary
Fed up with our arrogant federal government? Don’t want massive programs we don’t need and can’t afford? Then join the Red State Uprising! In his new book, RedState.com founder Erick Erickson clearly outlines what needs to change in Washington and what we can do locally to make it happen. Red State Uprising is not about anarchy or a revolution—it’s about reshaping government to maximize economic growth, individual liberty, and private property rights. Barack Obama has shown his determination to move the country towards a socialist “nanny” state, culminating in the government takeover of health care. The vast majority of Americans reject this vision, and Red State Uprising calls upon this majority to stand up and take action. There is a right size for government, Erikson argues, but it is much smaller, much cheaper, and much less intrusive than what we’ve got now. Red State Uprising offers conservatives a plan to take back the people’s government.
©2010 Erick Erickson and Lewis K. Uhler (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Extortion
Summary
Peter Schweizer's bombshell investigation reveals how Washington really works: politicians extort money from us, then use it to buy each other's votes. Our legislators' desire for cash influences everything-from how they write laws to when they vote on a bill. His audiobook reveals: Obama's "Protection Money": How the Obama Administration targeted industries for criminal investigation but chose not to pursue key political donors. John Boehner's "Tollbooth": How the Speaker of the House extracts money by soliciting political donations before he will hold crucial votes on the House floor. The "Slush Fund": How politicians extract "campaign contributions" and then convert them to bankroll lavish lifestyles complete with limos, private jets, golf at five-star resorts, fine wines, and cash for family members. Capitol Hill's "Underground Economy": How congressmen use a little-known loophole that allows them to secretly link their votes to cash. Extortion finally makes clear why Congress is so dysfunctional: it's all about making money, not making law.
©2013 Peter Schweizer (P)2013 Peter Schweizer
Panama Papers
Summary
Die Geschichte des größten Daten-Leaks aller Zeiten beginnt spät am Abend mit einer anonymen Nachricht: "Hallo. Hier spricht John Doe. Interessiert an Daten?" Bastian Obermayer, Investigativreporter der Süddeutschen Zeitung, antwortet sofort - und erhält Informationen, die ihn und seinen Kollegen Frederik Obermaier elektrisieren. Es sind die Daten hunderttausender Briefkastenfirmen. Sie bieten einen Einblick in eine bislang vollständig abgeschottete Parallelwelt, in der Milliarden verwaltet, verschoben und versteckt werden: die Gelder von großen Konzernen, von europäischen Premierministern und Diktatoren aus aller Welt, von Scheichs, Emiren und Königen, von Mafiosi, Schmugglern, Drogenbossen, von Geheimagenten, FIFA-Funktionären, Adligen, Superreichen und Prominenten. Um möglichst viele internationale Geschichten erzählen zu können, beschließen die beiden Journalisten, ein weltweites Netzwerk von Investigativreportern - das ICIJ - einzuschalten. Während sie selbst weiter nach Namen und Geschichten suchen, koordinieren sie gemeinsam mit dem ICIJ die Arbeit hunderter Journalisten. Fast ein Jahr arbeiten Reporter der wichtigsten Medien der Welt - etwa des Guardian, der BBC oder von Le Monde - unter höchster Geheimhaltung zusammen, um im Frühjahr 2016 die "Panama Papers" zu veröffentlichen. Dieses Hörbuch ist die faszinierende Geschichte einer internationalen journalistischen Recherche, die aufdeckt, was bis jetzt verborgen war: Wie eine kleine Elite, die sich niemandem mehr verantwortlich glaubt, ungeheure Vermögen versteckt. Es ist, als würde man in einem dunklen Raum das Licht anknipsen: Plötzlich ist alles sichtbar. In deiner Audible-Bibliothek findest du für dieses Hörerlebnis eine PDF-Datei mit zusätzlichem Material.
©2016 Kiepenheuer und Witsch (P)2016 Audible Studios / Lübbe Audio
A Bound Man
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling and controversial author Shelby Steele comes an illuminating examination of the complex racial issues that confront presidential candidate Barack Obama in his race for the White House, a quest that will be one of those galvanizing occasions that forces a national dialogue on the current state of race relations in America. Steele argues that Senator Obama is caught between two classic postures that Blacks have always used to make their way in the White American mainstream: bargaining and challenging. Bargainers strike a "bargain" with White America in which they say, "I will not rub America's ugly history of racism in your face if you will not hold my race against me." Bill Cosby's sitcom in the 1980s was the classic example of bargaining. Obama also sends "bargaining" signals to White America, and Whites respond with considerable gratitude - which explains the special aura of excitement that surrounds him. But in order to garner the Black vote, which is absolutely necessary for victory in the primaries and the general election, Obama must also posture as a challenger. Challengers are the opposite of bargainers. They charge Whites with inherent racism and then demand that they prove themselves innocent by supporting Black-friendly policies, such as affirmative action. If Whites go along with this, thereby proving their innocence, they are granted absolution by the Black challenger. The current Black American identity is grounded in challenging. Obama must therefore posture as a challenger to win the Black vote. However, challenging threatens Obama's White support. But bargaining threatens his Black support. Thus, he is bound. He walks in an impossible political territory where any expression of what he truly feels puts him in jeopardy with one much-needed constituency or another. Only a kind of two-sided political mask, or an "above politics" posture, keeps the wolves at bay.
©2008 Shelby Steele (P)2008 Tantor
Who Built That
Summary
Firebrand conservative columnist, commentator, Internet entrepreneur, and number-one New York Times best-selling author Michelle Malkin tells the fascinating, little-known stories of the inventors who have contributed to American exceptionalism and technological progress. In July 2012 President Obama infamously proclaimed, "If you've got a business - you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." Malkin wholeheartedly disagrees. Who Built That is a rousing tribute to the hidden American capitalists who pioneered everyday inventions. They're the little big things we take for granted: bottle caps and glassware, door hinges and staples, tissue paper, flashlights, railroad signals, rotary printing presses, bridge cables, and more. Malkin takes listeners on an eclectic journey of American capitalism, from the colonial period to the Industrial Age to the present, spotlighting awe-inspiring and little-known "tinkerpreneurs" who achieved their dreams of doing well by doing good. You'll learn how Paul Revere became America's first tech titan; how famous patent holders Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain championed the nation's unique system of intellectual property rights; how glass-manufacturing mavericks Edward Libbey and Mike Owens defied naysayers to revolutionize food, beverage, and pharmaceutical packaging; how penniless Croatian immigrant Anthony Maglica started his $400 million Maglite flashlight business in a rented garage; and many more riveting stories that explain our country's fertile climate for scientific advancement and entrepreneurship. To understand who we are as people, we need first to understand what motivates America's ordinary and extraordinary makers and risk takers. Driven by her own experience as a second-generation beneficiary of the American dream, Malkin skillfully and passionately rebuts collectivist orthodoxy to celebrate the engineers, mechanics, designers, artisans, and relentless tinkerers of all backgrounds who embody our nation's spirit of self-made entrepreneurialism.
©2015 Michelle Malkin (P)2015 Simon & Schuster
Union
Summary
Two friends - a Democrat and a Republican - travel across America to better understand each other, and the country they love. In the year before Donald Trump was elected president, Jordan Blashek, a Republican Marine, and Chris Haugh, a Democrat and son of a single mother from Berkeley, CA, formed an unlikely friendship. Jordan was fresh off his service in the Marines and feeling a bit out of place at Yale Law School. Chris was yearning for a sense of mission after leaving Washington DC. Over the months, Jordan and Chris' friendship blossomed not in spite of, but because of, their political differences. So they decided to hit the road in search of reasons to strengthen their bond in an era of strife and partisanship. What follows is a three-year adventure story, across 44 states and along 20,000 miles of road to find out exactly where the American experiment stands at the close of the second decade of the 21st century. In their search, Jordan and Chris go from the tear gas-soaked streets of a Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona to the Mexican highways running between Tijuana and Juarez. They witness the full scope of American life, from lobster trawlers and jazz clubs of Portland and New Orleans to the streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma and the prisons of Detroit, where former addicts and inmates painstakingly put their lives back together. Union is a road narrative, a civics lesson, and an unforgettable window into one epic friendship. We ride along with Jordan and Chris for the whole journey, listening in on front-seat arguments and their conversations with Americans from coast to coast. We also peer outside the car to understand America's hot-button topics, including immigration, mass incarceration, and the military-civilian divide. And by the time Jordan and Chris kill the engine for the last time, they answer one of the most pressing questions of our time: How far apart are we really?
©2020 Jordan Blashek and Christopher Haugh (P)2020 Little, Brown & Company
The Rise of American Democracy
Summary
A grand political history in a fresh new style of how the elitist young American republic became a rough-and-tumble democracy. In this magisterial work, Sean Wilentz traces a historical arc from the earliest days of the republic to the opening shots of the Civil War. One of our finest writers of history, Wilentz brings to life the era after the American Revolution, when the idea of democracy remained contentious, and Jeffersonians and Federalists clashed over the role of ordinary citizens in government of, by, and for the people. The triumph of Andrew Jackson soon defined this role on the national level, while city democrats, Anti-Masons, fugitive slaves, and a host of others hewed their own local definitions. In these definitions, Wilentz recovers the beginnings of a discontent - two starkly opposed democracies, one in the North and another in the South - and the wary balance that lasted until the election of Abraham Lincoln sparked its bloody resolution.
©2005 Sean Wilentz (P)2020 Tantor