By David Frum (November 16, 2012) - "In Why Romney Lost David Frum, a former George W. Bush speechwriter, delivers a forthright analysis that offers a bold, hopeful plan for Republican success in the years ahead. David Frum urges a Republican party that is culturally modern, economically inclusive, and environmentally responsible-a party that can meet the challenges of the Obama years and lead a diverse America to a new age of freedom and prosperity." (Newsweek ebook)
By Michael Moore (November 16, 2012) - "Smashing the autobiographical mold, Moore presents twenty-four far-ranging, irreverent, and stranger-than-fiction vignettes from his own early life. One moment he's an eleven-year-old boy lost in the U.S. Senate and found by Bobby Kennedy; and in the next, he's inside the Bitburg cemetery with a dazed and confused Ronald Reagan. Fast-forwarding to 2003, he stuns the world from the Oscar stage by uttering the words 'We live in fictitious times...with a fictitious president' in place of the usual 'I'd like to thank the Academy.' And none of that even comes close to the night the friendly priest at the seminary decides to show him how to perform his own exorcism. Capturing the zeitgeist of the past fifty years, yet deeply personal and unflinchingly honest, Here Comes Trouble takes readers on an unforgettable, take-no-prisoners ride through the life and times of Michael Moore. Alternately funny, eye-opening, and moving, it's the book he has been writing-and living-his entire life." (Grand Central Publishing)
By Eric Idle (November 16, 2012) - "Described by Idle as 'Oscar Wilde on acid, or like Downton Abbey, only even funnier,' What About Dick? begins with the birth of a sex toy invented in Shagistan in 1898, tells the story of the decline of the British Empire as seen through the eyes of a Piano, as well as the story of young Dick, his two cousins and their dipsomaniac Aunt Maggie, who all live together in Kensington in a large, rambling, Edwardian novel. There's Reverend Whoopsie, a private Dick, the incomprehensible Scottish Inspector McGuffin and the case of the Houndsditch Mutilator. What else do you need to know for six bucks?
By Chrystia Freeland (October 26, 2012) - "There has always been some gap between rich and poor in this country, but in the last few decades what it means to be rich has changed dramatically. Alarmingly, the greatest income gap is not between the 1 percent and the 99 percent, but within the wealthiest 1 percent of our nation--as the merely wealthy are left behind by the rapidly expanding fortunes of the new global super-rich. Forget the 1 percent; Plutocrats proves that it is the wealthiest 0.1 percent who are outpacing the rest of us at break-neck speed. Though the results can be shocking, Freeland dissects the lives of the world's wealthiest individuals with empathy, intelligence, and deep insight. Brightly written, powerfully researched, and propelled by fascinating original interviews with the plutocrats themselves, Plutocrats is a tour-de-force of social and economic history, and the definitive examination of inequality in our time." (Penguin Press)
By Nate Silver (October 26, 2012) - "Nate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair's breadth, and became a national sensation as a blogger-all by the time he was thirty. The New York Times now publishes FiveThirtyEight.com, where Silver is one of the nation's most influential political forecasters. In keeping with his own aim to seek truth from data, Silver visits the most successful forecasters in a range of areas, from hurricanes to baseball, from the poker table to the stock market, from Capitol Hill to the NBA. He explains and evaluates how these forecasters think and what bonds they share. What lies behind their success? Are they good-or just lucky? What patterns have they unraveled? And are their forecasts really right? With everything from the health of the global economy to our ability to fight terrorism dependent on the quality of our predictions, Nate Silver's insights are an essential read." (Penguin Press)
By Gary Hirshberg (October 19, 2012) "This book cuts through the complicated scientific debate about genetically modified food to put forth a simple premise: We all have a right to know what's in our food. Genetically engineered foods have rapidly become a part of our food supply, with little oversight or scrutiny. Without a requirement to label foods containing these ingredients, we are forced to be guinea pigs in a giant experiment involving our health and environment. Co-author Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo of organic leader Stonyfield says 'I have witnessed too much carelessness to remain silent. For the sake of our children, our behavior must change.'"(New World City)
By John Fund (October 19, 2012) "The 2012 election will be one of the hardest-fought in U.S. history. It is also likely to be one of the closest, a fact that highlights serious concerns about voter fraud and bureaucratic incompetence in the conduct of elections. If we don't take notice, we could see another debacle like the Bush-Gore Florida recount of 2000. Who's Counting? recounts recent cases like a 2010 state representative race in Kansas City, Mo. that was stolen when one candidate received illegally cast votes by citizens of Somalia who did not speak English and were coached at the polls. The margin of victory? One vote. While Americans frequently demand observers and best practices in the elections of other countries, we are often blind to the need to scrutinize our own elections. We will pay the consequences in 2012 if a close election leads us into partisan battles and court fights that will dwarf the Bush-Gore recount wars." (Encounter Books)
By Matt Taibbi (October 19, 2012) "A brilliantly illuminating and darkly comic take of the ongoing financial and political crisis in America. The financial crisis that exploded in 2008 isn't past but prologue. The grifter class- made up of the largest players in the financial industry and the politicians who do their bidding- has been growing in power, and the crisis was only one terrifying manifestation of how they've hijacked America's political and economic life. Matt Taibbi has combined deep sources, trailblazing reportage, and provocative analysis to create the most lucid, emotionally galvanizing account yet written of the ongoing American crisis. He offers fresh reporting on the backroom deals of the bailout; tells the story of Golman Sachs, the "vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity"; and uncovers the hidden commodities bubble that transferred billions of dollars to Wall Street while creating food shortages around the world. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the labyrinthine inner workings of this country, and the profound consequences for us all." (Spiegel & Grau)
By Sheila Bair (October 12, 2012) - "Sheila Bair is widely acknowledged in government circles and the media as one of the first people to identify and accurately assess the subprime crisis. Appointed by George W. Bush as the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 2006, she witnessed the origins of the financial crisis and in 2008 became--along with Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Timothy Geithner--one of the key players trying to repair the damage to our economy. Bull by the Horns is her remarkable and refreshingly honest account of that contentious time and the struggle for reform that followed and continues to this day." (Simon & Schuster)
By Ann Coulter (October 12, 2012) "The Obama candidacy allowed liberals to engage in self-righteousness about race and get a hard-core Leftie in the White House at the same time. In 2008, we were told the only way for the nation to move past race was to elect him as president. And 53 percent of voters fell for it. Now, Ann Coulter fearlessly explains the real history of race relations in this country, including how white liberals twist that history to spring the guilty, accuse the innocent, and engender racial hatreds, all in order to win politically. Going where few authors would dare, Coulter explores the racial demagoguery that has mugged America since the early seventies. She shines the light of truth on cases ranging from Tawana Brawley, Lemrick Nelson, and Howard Beach, NY, to the LA riots and the Duke lacrosse scandal. And she shows how the 2012 Obama campaign is going to inspire the greatest racial guilt mongering of all time." (Sentinal HC)
By Ben Affleck (October 12, 2012) "On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, the Canadian and American governments ask the CIA to intervene. The CIA turns to their top "exfiltration" specialist, Tony Mendez, to come up with a plan to get the six Americans safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies. Based on real events, the dramatic thriller "Argo" chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis, focusing on the little-known role that the CIA and Hollywood played- information that was not declassified until many years after the event. Academy Award winner Ben Affleck directs and stars in the film." (Warner Brothers)
By Frank Luntz - (October 5, 2012) "From the New York Times bestselling author and top pollster Dr. Frank Luntz comes an unprecedented examination of communication excellence and how top performers win in all areas of human endeavor by utilizing superb communication skills. From Mike Bloomberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger to business icons Rupert Murdoch, Steve Wynn, and Fred Smith; to the CEOs of MGM Resorts, J. Crew, and Gibson Guitar; to legendary sports superstars like Larry Bird, Jimmy Connors, and Mike Richter; to media legends Roger Ailes, Don Imus, and dozens more, Luntz tells their stories-in their own words--and demonstrates how their style of operation and communication is absolutely essential to their success. Luntz makes it clear that following the rules of effective communication is indispensable in any successful human endeavor." (Hyperion, 2011)
By Salman Rushdie - (September 21, 2012) "On 14 February 1989, Valentine's Day, Salman Rushdie was telephoned by a BBC journalist and told that he had been 'sentenced to death' by the Ayatollah Khomeini. For the first time he heard the word fatwa. His crime? To have written a novel called The Satanic Verses, which was accused of being 'against Islam, the Prophet and the Quran'. So begins the extraordinary story of how a writer was forced underground, moving from house to house, with the constant presence of an armed police protection team. He was asked to choose an alias that the police could call him by. He thought of writers he loved and combinations of their names; then it came to him: Conrad and Chekhov -- Joseph Anton. It is a book of exceptional frankness and honesty, compelling, provocative, moving, and of vital importance. Because what happened to Salman Rushdie was the first act of drama that is still unfolding somewhere in the world every day." (Random House, September 2012)
By Chris Matthews - (September 21, 2012) "What was he like, this person whose own wife called him "that elusive, unforgettable man"? The Jack Kennedy you discover here wanted never to be alone, never to be bored. He loved courage, hated war, lived each day as if it were his last.
Chris Matthews's extraordinary biography is based on personal interviews with those closest to JFK, oral histories by top political aide Kenneth O'Donnell and others, documents from his years as a student at Choate, and notes from Jacqueline Kennedy's first interview after Dallas. You'll learn the origins of his inaugural call to "Ask what you can do for your country." You'll discover his role in the genesis of the Peace Corps, his stand on civil rights, his push to put a man on the moon, his ban on nuclear arms testing. You'll get, more than ever before, to the root of the man, including the unsettling aspects of his personal life. As Matthews writes, "I found a fighting prince never free of pain, never far from trouble, never accepting the world he found, never wanting to be his father's son. He was a far greater hero than he ever wished us to know." (Simon & Schuster, November 2011)
By Eugene Jarecki - (September 21, 2012) "Filmed in more than twenty states, The House I Live In tell the stories of individuals at all levels of America's War on Drugs. From the dealer to the narcotics officer, the inmate to the federal judge, the film offers a penetrating look inside America's criminal justice system, revealing the profound human rights implications of U.S. drug policy." (October 5, 2012)
By Christopher Hitchens - (September 21, 2012) "On June 8, 2010, while on a book tour for his bestselling memoir, Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens was stricken in his New York hotel room with excruciating pain in his chest and thorax. As he would later write in the first of a series of award-winning columns for Vanity Fair, he suddenly found himself being deported "from the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady." Over the next eighteen months, until his death in Houston on December 15, 2011, he wrote constantly and brilliantly on politics and culture, astonishing readers with his capacity for superior work even in extremis. Mortality is the exemplary story of one man's refusal to cower in the face of the unknown, as well as a searching look at the human predicament. Crisp and vivid, veined throughout with penetrating intelligence, Hitchens's testament is a courageous and lucid work of literature, an affirmation of the dignity and worth of man." (Twelve Books, September 2012)
By Chris Hayes - (September 14, 2012) "Mixing deft political analysis, timely social commentary, and deep historical understanding, Twilight of the Elites describes how the society we have come to inhabit -- utterly forgiving at the top and relentlessly punitive at the bottom -- produces leaders who are out of touch with the people they have been trusted to govern. Hayes argues that the public's failure to trust the federal government, corporate America, and the media has led to a crisis of authority that threatens to engulf not just our politics but our day-to-day lives." (Random House, June 2012)
By Katrina vanden Heuvel - (September 7, 2012) "On the night of the 2008 presidential election, Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel spoke for many: "For the first time in decades, electoral politics became a vehicle for raising expectations and spreading hope." But, she cautioned, "We progressives need to be as clear-eyed, tough, and pragmatic about Obama as he is about us." Where I Stand collects vanden Heuvel's commentaries and columns from the first years of the Obama administration, an era that has come to be defined by reform and reaction. In the wake of the economic crisis and challenges from the insurgent Tea Party movement, it is clear that it will take more than one election (and one person) to reshape American politics and repair the damage wreaked by a decade of calamitous conservative rule. Vanden Heuvel challenges the limits of our downsized political debate, arguing that timid incrementalism and the forces of money and establishment power that debilitate American politics will be overcome only by independent organizing, strategic creativity, bold ideas, and determined idealism." (Nation Books, 2011)
By Lizz Winstead - (June 29, 2012) "Lizz, co-creator of The Daily Show and one of today's most hilarious comedians and insightful social critics, pens a brilliant account of how she discovered her comedic voice. In this collection of autobiographical essays, Winstead vividly recounts how she fought to find her own voice, both as a comedian and as a woman, and how humor became her most powerful weapon in confronting life's challenges. Growing up in the Midwest, the youngest child of conservative Catholic parents, Winstead learned early in her life that the straightforward questions she posed to various authority figures around her--her parents, her parish priest, even an anti-abortion counselor--prompted many startled looks and uncomfortable silences, but few answers. Her questions rattled people because they exposed the inconsistencies and hypocrisies in the people and institutions she confronted. Yet she didn't let that stop her from pursuing her dreams." (Riverhead, May 2012)
By Jack Abramoff - (June 29, 2012) "Almost 80% of America thinks its government is dysfunctional. A far majority think the special interests have too much power over their lives. But few understand how our democracy is undone from within. In his autobiographical work Capitol Punishment, Jack Abramoff brings readers inside the shady world of Washington politics as never before. Not only will the public know--for the first time--the inside story of the greatest political scandal of the past generation, but they will come away knowing exactly how lobbyists continue to rule our Republic--regardless of which party is in power." (WND Books, Nov. 2011)
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