Pitchforks and Torches; The Worst Of The Worst; From Beck, Bill and Bush To Palin...

By Keith Olbermann
"Collects the best bits from the author's MSNBC show "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," in which he skewers politicians, celebrities, and other people behaving badly, from Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly to John Edwards and Sarah Palin."   (Publisher Description)
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Bought And Paid For; The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street

By Charles Gasparino
"An award-winning investigative reporter reveals the ties between the Obama administration and the big banks at the center of current economic problems, contending that the President has made compromising deals with Wall Street CEOs to gain support for big-government agendas."
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Death Of The Liberal Class

By Chris Hedges

"The Death of the Liberal Class examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues there are five pillars of the liberal establishment – the press, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities and the Democratic Party— and that each of these institutions, more concerned with status and privilege than justice and progress, sold out the constituents they represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served."  (Publisher Description) Check Our Catalog

Tears of A Clown: Glenn Beck and The Tea Bagging Of America

By Dana Milbank
"A critical assessment of the rise of Fox News host Glenn Beck considers how he reflects modern political culture, arguing that Beck's penchant for discrediting, emotionally-charged right-wing spins on otherwise illegitimate topics have gained him popularity as an anti-government conservative."  (Publisher Description)
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American Grace; How Religion Divides and Unites Us

By Robert Putnam
"This massive book eschews the narrow, monographic approach to sociological study in favor of an older, more useful model: the sweeping chronicle of national change over time. Harvard professor Putnam (Bowling Alone) and his University of Notre Dame coauthor Campbell (Why We Vote) argue two apparently contradictory theses persuasively: first, that a "new religious fault line" exists in America, a deep political polarization that has transcended denominationalism as the greatest chasm in religious life; and second, that the culture (especially its younger generation) is becoming so much more accepting of diversity that thesis #1 will not tear America apart. The bulk of the book explores in detail cultural developments--the boom of evangelicals in the 1970s and 1980s, largely concluded in the early 1990s; the rise of feminism in the pews; the liberalization of attitudes about premarital sex and homosexuality, especially among the youngest generations; and what may prove to be the most seismic shift of all: the dramatic increase of "nones," or people claiming no institutional religious affiliation. Putnam and Campbell (with their researcher, Garrett) have done the public a great service in not only producing their own mammoth survey of American religion but also drawing from many prior statistical studies, enabling readers to track mostly gradual change over time.(PW Reviews)
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Big Girls Don't Cry; The Election That Changed Everything For American Women

By Rebecca Traister
"Who would have figured that the women who would benefit most from the 2008 presidential campaign would be the comediennes? Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton may have lost in their respective campaigns, but Amy Poehler and Tina Fey both gained in cultural stature for their biting imitations. According to Traister, staff writer at Salon.com, the rollercoaster ride of 2008 exposed an entrenched chauvinism in the media and a lesson for anyone who might assume that a female candidate would hold a monopoly on women's votes. The author bludgeons conventional political wisdom by trenchantly exposing Palin's strange triangulation of mainstream feminism, Clinton's need to appear vulnerable in order to appeal to women, and the precarious position of black women--some of whom were conflicted between supporting candidates who mirrored their gender or their race. Rising to the occasion, however, were women in the media, from Katie Couric, who--depending on your perspective--ruined or sainted Sarah Palin, to the sofa-bound political discourse of The View. Traister does a fine job in showing that progress does not proceed in straight lines, and, sometimes, it's the unlikeliest of individuals who initiate real change."  (PW Reviews)  Check Our Catalog

Our Patchwork Nation; The Surprising Truth About The Real America

By Dante Chinni
"The astounding diversity among the 300 million citizens of the U.S. defies easy labels of red and blue states, Republicans or Democrats. Journalist Chinni and scholar Gimpel draw on two years of research and interviews to offer regional portraits of the U.S. that drill down to a deeper look at political, social, economic, and cultural perspectives than the red and blue labels. Using data from the nation's 3,141 counties to get a flavor of local perspectives, they looked at typical demographics of race, education, income, religion, and politics and identified 12 different community types based on "common experiences and shared realities." Their categories: boomtowns, campus and careers, emptying nests, Evangelical epicenters, immigration nation, industrial metropolis, military bastions, minority central, monied burbs, Mormon outposts, service-worker centers, and tractor country. The first part of the book examines the characteristics of each type of county, while the second compares the types and how their characteristics drive economics, politics, and culture. The authors' data is almost as fascinating as their conversations with people living within the defined regions."  (Booklist Reviews)  Check Our Catalog

The Shadow Market; How A Group of Wealthy Nations and Powerful Investors Secretly Dominate The World

By Eric J. Weiner
"Acclaimed financial journalist Eric J. Weiner reveals how foreign countries and private investors are increasingly controlling the global economy and secretly wresting power from the United States in ways that our government cannot reverse and about which the average American knows nothing. The most potent force in global commerce today is not the Federal Reserve, not the international banks, not the governments of the G7 countries, and certainly not the European Union. Rather, it is the multi-trillion-dollar network of super-rich, secretive, and largely unregulated investment vehicles—foreign sovereign wealth funds, government-run corporations, private equity funds, and hedge funds—that are quietly buying up the world, piece by valuable piece.As Weiner’s groundbreaking account shows, the shadow market doesn’t have a physical headquarters such as Wall Street. It doesn’t have a formal leadership or an index to track or a single zone of exchange. Rather, it comprises an invisible and ever-shifting global nexus where money mixes with geopolitical power, often with great speed and secrecy. Led by cash-flush nations such as China, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and even Norway, the shadow market is hiring the brightest international financial talent money can buy and is now assembling the gigantic investment portfolios that will form the power structure of tomorrow’s economy. "  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Obama's Wars

By Bob Woodward
"A master journalist turns his scrutinizing eye on President Obama's administration, especially how the president has dealt with the war in Afghanistan."  (Publisher Description)
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