Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else

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"Exploration of the increase in global economic inequality. You don't need a CPA to know which way the wind blows. Unless you're one of the rich or superrich, the 1 percent or the 1 percent of the 1 percent, then you won't be comforted to know that it blows against you: The rich are getting richer, and the rest of us...well, not so much. Thus the overarching theme of Thomson Reuters digital editor Freeland's (Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of the Second Russian Revolution, 2000) latest book, much of which, at least superficially, isn't really news. Dig deeper, though, and the author offers fresh takes on many key points. Are the rich happy? You'd think that all that money would take some of the burden off, but income inequality is an uncomfortable subject even for them. "That's because even--or perhaps particularly--in the view of its most ardent supporters," she writes, "global capitalism wasn't supposed to work quite this way." Level playing field? No way: The playing field is landscaped so that money rolls toward those who already have it. Equal opportunity? See the preceding point. Yet, Freeland continues, the switcheroo that robbed the middle class of its gains in the transition to "the America of the 1 Percent" is so new that our ways of talking and thinking about capitalism haven't caught up to reality, so that "when it comes to income inequality, Americans think they live in Sweden--or in the late 1950s." Smart, talking-point-friendly and full of magazine-style human-interest anecdotes, Freeland's account serves up other news, including the grim thought that recovery may never come for those outside the favored zone, as well as some provocative insights on how the superaffluent (don't say rich, say affluent--it avoids making the rich feel uncomfortable) view the rest of us. Not exactly the Communist Manifesto, but Freeland's book ought to make news of its own as she makes the rounds--well worth reading."  (Kirkus Reviews)

What's the Matter with White People?: Why We Long for a Golden Age That Never Was

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"In "What's the Matter with White People?," popular "Salon" columnist Joan Walsh argues that the biggest divide in America today is not about party or ideology, but about two competing narratives for why everything has fallen apart since the 1970s. One side sees an America that has spent the last forty years bankrupting the country providing benefits and advantages to the underachieving, the immoral, and the undeserving, no matter the cost to Middle America. The other sees an America that has spent the last forty years bankrupting the country providing benefits and advantages to the very rich, while allowing a measure of cultural progress for the different and the downtrodden. It matters which side is right, and how the other side got things so wrong.
Walsh connects the dots of American decline through trends that began in the 1970s and continue today--including the demise of unions, the stagnation of middle-class wages, the extension of the right's "Southern Strategy" throughout the country, the victory of Reagan Republicanism, the increase in income inequality, and the drop in economic mobility.
Citing her extended family as a case in point, Walsh shows how liberals unwittingly collaborated in the "us vs. them" narrative, rather than developing an inspiring, persuasive vision of a more fair, united America. She also explores how the GOP's renewed culture war now scapegoats even segments of its white base, as it blames the troubles of working-class whites on their own moral failings rather than on an unfair economy.
"What's the Matter with White People?" is essential reading as the country struggles through political polarization and racial change to invent the next America in the years to come." (Publisher Description)

Stranger to History: A Son's Journey Through Islamic Lands

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" There are so many layers to this touching book. At its most basic level, it is about the relationship between a father and a son, but it is also about the complex political situation unraveling in Pakistan, and, subsequently, about the irrevocable rift between the same father and son. It is also about the idea of Pakistan, which inevitably means, Taseer explains, its opposition to India. He chronicles a poignant pilgrimage because his account is also about the loss of his father. Salman Taseer, the governor of the province of Punjab, was assassinated by his bodyguard for being an enemy of the Muslim faith. His crime was defending a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. In addition, Stranger to History is a prophetic book. As Taseer recalls his eight-month journey in Pakistan, Turkey, Syria, and Iran, he witnesses intimations of turmoil to come: the anger leading up to the Arab Spring, the faces of the now suppressed Green Revolution following the disputed election of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the atrocities of the Assad regime. Moving and exceedingly relevant"  (Booklist)

Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself

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""When Sheila Bair took over as head of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2006, the agency was probably better known for the 'FDIC' logo on the doors of the nation's banks than for anything it did. Now Bair is at the center of the financial crisis, speeding the takeover of failing banks and pressing the mortgage industry to ease loan terms . . . winning praise from Democrats and Republicans." --BLOOMBERG NEWS, October 3, 2008
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.
A level-headed, pragmatic figure with a clear focus on serving the public good, Bair was often one of the few women in the room during heated discussions about the economy. Despite her years of experience and her determination to rein in the private banks and Wall Street, she frequently found herself at odds with Geithner. She is withering in her assessment of some of Wall Street's finest, and her narrative of Citibank's attempted takeover of Wachovia is a stinging indictment of how regulators and the banks worked against the public interest at times to serve their own needs.
Bair is steadfast in her belief that the American public needs to fully understand the crisis in order to bring it to an end. Critical of the bank bailouts and the Can. $29.99 lax regulation that led to the economic crash, she provides a sober analysis as well as a practical plan for how we should move forward. She helps clear away the myths and half-truths about how we ran our economic engine into the ditch and tells us how we can help get our financial and regulatory systems back on track.
As "The New Yorker "said, "Bair has consistently stood out for her skepticism of Wall Street and for her eagerness to confront the big banks. A Kansas Republican, she has become an unlikely hero to economic liberals, who see her as the counterweight to the more Wall Street-centric view often ascribed to Timothy Geithner, the Treasury Secretary" (July 6, 2009)."  (Publisher Marketing)

Race: Are We So Different?

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"Featuring new and engaging essays by noted anthropologists and illustrated with full color photos, "RACE: Are We So Different?" is an accessible and fascinating look at the idea of race, demonstrating how current scientific understanding is often inconsistent with popular notions of race. Taken from the popular national public education project and museum exhibition, it explores the contemporary experience of race and racism in the United States and the often-invisible ways race and racism have influenced laws, customs, and social institutions."  (Publisher Description)

All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy Since the 1960s

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"For the Left, family values have meant Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, then the fight for racial and gender equality, then the fight for gay rights and health-care reform. Those multiplying interests fractured the Left, allowing the Right to sweep in with its single-minded traditional take. So argues Brown history professor Self, author of the award-winning "American Babylon"."  (Library Journal)

Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad

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"Anticipatory account of the demise of Bashar al-Assad, Syria's struggling dictator, and the quake potentials building in the regional political, religious and ethnic fault lines that run through his country. Lesch (Middle East History/Trinity Univ.; The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History, 2007, etc.) first met with Assad in 2004 and has come to know key figures in Syria's political leadership directly. Assad was not groomed for the position of president--his assassinated brother-in-law was the choice for the top spot--but hopes were high for reform when he took over in 2000. Lesch goes through the process by which Assad became the dictator of the Syrian military state, and Assad's career provides the frame for the author's account as he discusses the way power is wielded in Syria, the religious and ethnic composition of the country's population, and how Assad and his country responded to the Arab Spring. The author provides a timeline and geographic discussion of the ongoing revolt since its beginning and an analysis of the many international interests that have a stake in the conflict. He shows that Assad, like his father, rules over an alliance of minorities. The revolt and its suppression have unleashed historical demons of the sort that came to the surface with the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Because of divisions between external and internal factions and fears of the consequences of domination by the Saudi-backed Salafists, Assad, Lesch argues, has succeeded so far in suppressing the uprising. However, in the meantime, Syria is being transformed into the center of an expanding region-wide religious and ethnic conflict. Personal knowledge and on-the-ground experience inform this behind-the-headlines chronicle of the Syrian conflict."  (Kirkus Reviews)

Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution

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"A nearly incredible, fantastical tale of the rise and fall of the "mad dog" of Libya. By turns friend and foe of the West, champion and tormentor of his own people, over four decades, Muammar Gaddafi had plenty of help inside and out propagating one of the most arbitrarily brutal, oppressive regimes in the world. British journalist Hilsum followed the events of the Arab Spring closely for Britain's Channel 4 News and others, and her work combines an on-the-ground eyewitness account and a nuanced history of how he managed to stay in power for so long. The locus of incendiary resentment that sparked the Libyan uprising centered on the notorious prison Abu Salim, where, on June 28, 1996, 1,270 prisoners were gunned down. Their bodies were never delivered to relatives, and their deaths were only acknowledged a decade later. With the spread of Arab discontent in February 2011, the Abu Salim families had had enough and took to the streets. Having seized power in a coup in 1969, Gaddafi gleaned the finer points of authoritarianism from his hero Gamal Nasser, the East German Stasi and the Chinese. Gaddafi embarked on a cultural revolution and so-called Green Terror to purge rivals, banned the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to his authority, organized public hangings and essentially abolished the private sector. Hilsum diligently works through Gaddafi's grandiose schemes and jumbled reign, during which he was the target of numerous assassination attempts. With great clarity, the author demonstrates not only the criminal megalomania of Gaddafi and his pernicious network of nepotism, but also the venality and hypocrisy of the West that kept him in power until the bitter end. A fitting, clear-eyed send-off to an infamous dictator"  (Kirkus Reviews)

No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden

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" For the first time anywhere, the first-person account of the planning and execution of the Bin Laden raid from a Navy Seal who confronted the terrorist mastermind and witnessed his final moments.
From the streets of Iraq to the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean, andfrom the mountaintops of Afghanistan to the third floor of Osama Bin laden's compound, operator Mark Owen of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group--commonly known as SEAL team Six--has been a part of some of the most memorable special operations in history, as well as countless missions that never made headlines." (Publisher Description)

On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines - And Future

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By Karen Elliot House
"Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and then foreign editor of the "Wall Street Journal", House has been familiarizing herself with Saudi Arabia over 30 years. Here she draws on her access to the ruling Al Saud family to paint a portrait of a country central to Middle East politics and America's future--it's our second largest oil supplier."  (Library Journal)

The Myth of the Muslim Tide: Do Immigrants Threaten the West?

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By Doug Saunders
"A controversial rejoinder to the excessive fears of an Islamic threat that threatens our basic values. Offering a brave challenge to these ideas, Saunders debunks popular misconceptions about Muslims and their effect on the communities in which they live."
(Publisher Description) 

The End of Men: And the Rise of Women

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"Global and U.S. macroeconomic changes over the past several decades have affected men and womenand people in two broad classesquite differently, Rosin argues. As jobs shifted focus from brawn to brains, women adapted and expanded their work options (retaining many home responsibilities), while men (particularly the 70 percent who lack college degrees) often didn't adapt. (Rosin's shorthand for this split is Plastic Woman and Cardboard Man. ) Among college grads, she suggests, this produces seesaw marriages, with both spouses on attractive career paths and alternating the allocation of family responsibilities. For couples without degrees, women's adaptability and pursuit of education frequently leave their spouses (or potential spouses) far behind. Rosin explores gender-role and business-organization theories but enlivens her analysis with close observation of individual cases (including a cross-cultural look at similar issues in Asia). An Atlantic senior editor, Rosin has written for top newspapers and magazines; founded Slate's DoubleX women's section; authored God's Harvard (2008), a study of Evangelical Christian Patrick Henry College; and won a 2010 National Magazine Award."  (Booklist)

The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court

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" Having laid bare the workings of the Supreme Court in his prize-winning "The Nine", Toobin returns to assess how the Court--and, specifically, Chief Justice John Roberts--stack up against President Obama. From the moment that Roberts blew administering the Oath of Office at Obama's inauguration, he and the administration have been ideologically at odds. Toobin argues that the two men are both charismatic and ambitious, though Obama's actually the conservative one; he aims for step-by-step change, building on the past, while Roberts wants to unstitch everything accomplished by the New Deal."  (Library Journal)

Mexico: Democracy Interrupted

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"An insightful firsthand examination of Mexico from 2000 to the present. Based in Mexico City, foreign correspondent Tuckman looks at the political and economic arenas of Mexico since the overturn in 2000 of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), its long-term ruling party. When the National Action Party (PAN), led by Vicente Fox, took power, many Mexicans viewed this as a breath of fresh air, bringing change and hope to the country. However, Tuckman reveals that the ensuing 12 years have not lived up to that optimism, with the wheels of democracy slow to move in a country riddled with corporate greed, political corruption and escalating drug wars. The author's concentrated inspection gives readers a close look at the lawlessness of the numerous powerful drug cartels instilling fear in locals, migrating workers and even mainstream media with daily kidnappings and murders of those who stand in their way. Tuckman delves into racial discrimination, global warming and environmental concerns regarding Mexico's large oil fields, as well as the rise in floods and clean-water issues in Mexico City. She also examines the revolutionary actions of the Zapatistas in Chiapas and a flare-up in Oaxaca in 2006 that bears comparison to the uprisings seen recently in the Middle East. Not all is lost, however, as recent presidents have attempted to "regreen" deforested areas, tourism continues to rise, and Mexican food products are found around the world thanks to trade agreements. With the upcoming presidential election, Mexicans are once again hoping for a political leader who can "kick-start the levels of growth required to transform the country from a bastion of poverty and inequality into a burgeoning middle-class nation." An important investigation of Mexico's recent political, economic and social past--and its possibilities for the future"  (Kirkus Reviews)

Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work -

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" In this thoroughly entertaining study of what some people do that other people would never do, journalist Laskas (The Balloon Lady and Other People I Knew) makes her subjects sing. She homes in on jobs that the rest of us take for granteda or deny exista interviewing the people who perform and even like onerous tasks: coal miners, Latino migrant laborers, La Guardia air traffic controllers, Arizona gun dealers, Texas ranchers, Alaska oil-rig roughnecks, a rare female long-hauling trucker, and California landfill workers. Refreshingly, Laskas eschews sentimentality but imbues her portraits with humanity and authenticity: guided by veteran landfill workers, for example, she confronts a mountain of rubbish and learns all about the wonders of alternative electricity and recycling. Waddling through Hopedale Mining Company's Cadiz, Ohio coal tunnels, she gets lessons on pride in accomplishment from such workers as Pap, Ragu, and Foot. The Ben-Gal cheerleaders are shown to be disciplined professional women who, in their other lives, attend school and toil as single moms. Laskas's depictions are sharply delineated, fully fleshed, and enormously affecting."  (Publishers Weekly)

Who Stole the American Dream?

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"Remarkably comprehensive and coherent analysis of and prescriptions for America's contemporary economic malaise by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Smith (Rethinking America, 1995, etc.). "Over the past three decades," writes the author, "we have become Two Americas." We have arrived at a new Gilded Age, where "gross inequality of income and wealth" have become endemic. Such inequality is not simply the result of "impersonal and irresistible market forces," but of quite deliberate corporate strategies and the public policies that enabled them. Smith sets out on a mission to trace the history of these strategies and policies, which transformed America from a roughly fair society to its current status as a plutocracy. He leaves few stones unturned. CEO culture has moved since the 1970s from a concern for the general well-being of society, including employees, to the single-minded pursuit of personal enrichment and short-term increases in stock prices. During much of the '70s, CEO pay was roughly 40 times a worker's pay; today that number is 367. Whether it be through outsourcing and factory closings, corporate reneging on once-promised contributions to employee health and retirement funds, the deregulation of Wall Street and the financial markets, a tax code which favors overwhelmingly the interests of corporate heads and the superrich--all of which Smith examines in fascinating detail--the American middle class has been left floundering. For its part, government has simply become an enabler and partner of the rich, as the rich have turned wealth into political influence and rigid conservative opposition has created the politics of gridlock. What, then, is to be done? Here, Smith's brilliant analyses turn tepid, as he advocates for "a peaceful political revolution at the grassroots" to realign the priorities of government and the economy but offers only the vaguest of clues as to how this might occur. Not flawless, but one of the best recent analyses of the contemporary woes of American economics and politics." (Kirkus Reviews)

The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns

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By Sasha Issenberg
"How political campaigns have mastered marketing tools to profile the electorate. In his second book, Monocle Washington correspondent Issenberg (The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy, 2007) incorporates his experiences covering the 2008 election for the Boston Globe. He provides anecdotes gleaned from interviews with leading political consultants and a historical overview of the integration of computer technology and behavioral psychology into social marketing, and he traces the increasing sophistication of modern campaigns to the Kennedy campaign. Confronting prejudice against Catholics, JFK's advisors recommended tackling the issue head-on after subdividing the electorate into specific demographic categories. Issenberg explores the parallel development of the application of behavioral psychology and the recognition that many voting decisions are heavily influenced by emotion rather than rational choice. He tracks the influence of a group of academics from top universities like Yale, who influenced the shape of the modern election campaigns. They developed a finely tuned approach to profiling voters by using a series of criteria such as the magazines they subscribe to, the liquor they drink and their answers to surveys with loaded questions intended to reveal biases. An integral part of this process involved breaking down the population into subcategories--rather than looking at whether precincts customarily vote for a specific party--and directing targeted messages to them, as well as exposing different population clusters to different messages in order to scientifically determine response patterns. This enables an election campaign to efficiently micromanage get-out-the-vote operations in order to focus on the most likely voters for its candidate. Issenberg illuminates how modern elections exploit marginal advantages..."  (Kirkus Reviews)

A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution

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By Samar Yazbek
"Haunting memoir of an unwanted season in the hellish combat of civil war. Syrian writer and filmmaker Yazbek, a member of the literary movement called the Beirut39, will be new to most readers outside the Middle East. Both beautifully written--sometimes incongruously so, given the subject matter--and relentless, her narrative opens with the heady days of the Arab Spring, when the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt were giving way to popular uprisings and the edifice of Syria's security state was being shaken by an awakened people. "They could not and would not believe that this army of slaves, whom they called 'insects' or 'rats, ' could ever rise up against them," writes the Syrian-German novelist Rafik Schami in his foreword of the stunningly corrupt Assad regime. But on March 15 of last year, the "slaves" did revolt. The regime hit back hard, spraying crowds of unarmed, peaceful demonstrators with bullets. As Yazbek writes, almost by way of prelude to this terrible chronicle of events experienced firsthand, "Death is no longer a question. Death is a window we open up to our questions." Death is also a constant, grim companion in these pages; it drew close as undercover agents interrogated and harassed Yazbek, receding as, eventually, she fled the country. The images she paints are indelible, pictures of "men on their stomachs in handcuffs, humiliated and insulted," and of youngsters defiantly baring their chests to the security police before being gunned down. "Sure, I was panicked," she writes, "but through that panic I learned how to cultivate a dark patch in my heart, a zone that no one can reach, one that remains fixed, where not even death can penetrate." An essential eyewitness account, and with luck an inaugural document in a Syrian literature that is uncensored and unchained."  (Kirkus Reviews)

Women's Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economic Progress of Women in America (2012) (2ND ed.)

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By Diana Furchtgott-Roth

" The myth that women make 78 cents on a man s dollar is a standard refrain in popular media and serves as a rationale for affirmative action for women. Unstated is that for women and men with the same job and work experience, the wage gap practically disappears. In Women s Figures, Manhattan Senior Fellow Diana Furchtgott-Roth shatters the myth of the wage gap. Women are continuing to gain ground relative to men, and in some cases, they have even reversed the gender gap. Rather than helping women, preferential policies undermine America s idea of meritocracy, and call into question the value of women s hard-earned achievements."  (Publisher Description)

The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era

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" The Recovery Act of 2009 was a piece of legislation carefully and quickly designed to bring the economy back from the brink of a depression. As Time magazine senior correspondent Grunwald (The Swamp) argues, it did just that while simultaneously fulfilling many of President Obamaas most important campaign promises, including unprecedented investment in energy, education, and green jobs. However, despite its achievements, the legislation has invited fierce and fiery critiques from both left- and right-leaning politicians and remains largely misunderstood by the American public. Grunwald carefully documents the Recovery Actas achievements and successes while elegantly explaining how they have been hopelessly overshadowed by the Obama administrationas communication failures, an uncompromising Republican minority, and the rise of Tea Party firebrands who successfully transformed economic positions widely accepted on both sides of the aisle for decades into political poison. Mammoth in scope, the book covers everything from a late-night meeting that ran over onto the Chicago El train to stimulus-funded biofuel plants that produce algae-infused chocolate ice cream (and jet fuel). Throughout, Grunwald keeps his tone snappy and readable, while consistently grounding the political story of the Recovery Act in its real impact on everyday Americans. The result is an impressive book about the startling gap between facts and media spin."  (Publishers Weekly)

Good Italy, Bad Italy: Why Italy Must Conquer Its Demons to Face the Future

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"Travelers to Italy this summer may find economic catastrophe as omnipresent as monuments and sidewalk cafes, according to this former editor-in-chief of the Economist. Emmottas breezy narrative provides a quick overview of the beleaguered Italian economy and sketches some background causes for its woes before offering glimpses of a brighter future. He outlines how Italians would like to share the European belief that public spending and taxation should be used to finance services and redistribute after-tax incomes, but lack faith in governmentas ability to do so aeffectively or equitably.a Traditionally, Italian politicians have manipulated power for the protection and enrichment of themselves and their friends, fulfilling a dual vision of government as both provider and leech. Emmott also reflects upon the North-South economic divide and the specter of Mafia power, suggesting that Italyas strengths, paradoxically, largely mirror its defects; creative measures are taken in defiance of prevailing conditions, like the aAddiopizzoa: a youth movement challenging Mafia power. Little attention is paid to the constraints of European Union membership or whether the much emphasized Italian uniqueness truly exists. Regardless, Emmottas key insight may be that the simplistic divide between aGood Italya and aBad Italya is moral and philosophical, not economic, though failure to resolve the conflict still threatens looming disaster."  (Publishers Weekly)

Energy for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines

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"Regarding the merits of clean energy technologies, eminent scientist Muller (Physics/Univ. of California, Berkeley; Physics for Future Presidents, 2008, etc.) offers a road map through the minefield of competing claims by security analysts, environmentalists and potential investors. The author distinguishes between concerns about a coming domestic oil shortage and the threat posed by global warming. The author explains that the necessity to import petroleum is a threat to military security and the major cause of the U.S. balance-of-trade deficit, but it is not a significant contributor to global warming. "As far as global warming is concerned," he writes, "the developed world is becoming irrelevant. Every 10 percent cut in US emissions is completely negated by 6 months of China's emission growth." Muller writes that a decent alternative would be a worldwide switch from coal to natural gas, which could halve the rate of carbon dioxide emissions. For the longer term, he anticipates that the developing sector will adopt nuclear power, employing small modular nuclear reactors that are designed to be intrinsically safe. Muller makes an intriguing case that for the U.S., extracting natural gas and oil from shale will be cost-effective, can be regulated to ensure environmental safety, and is a plentiful, untapped source of supply (substantiating his claim with a detailed overview of the technology). In his opinion, plug-in electric automobiles will prove unfeasible because of the time required to recharge them and the replacement cost of batteries, but hybrid vehicles that use gasoline or natural gas as fuel are an attractive option. An informative, comprehensive discussion of important economic and environmental issues"  (Kirkus Reviews)

The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran

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"An encyclopedic account of the ongoing military and diplomatic conflict between the United States and Iran. Since the fall of the shah in 1979, Iran and the United States have been thorns in each other's sides. Iran seeks recognition as a regional power and as a champion of Shia Muslims throughout the Middle East, but its policy toward America has often been driven by a "paranoia that the real goal behind U.S. actions was the overthrow of the Islamic Republic." America, for its part, has consistently "helped perpetuate the animosity [by displaying] a callous disregard for Iranian grievances and security concerns." The result has been an ongoing "shadow war" in which each side has inflicted grievous casualties on the other without quite falling into open belligerence, while missing numerous opportunities for rapprochement. In a monumental debut, senior government historian Crist presents a comprehensive narrative of this conflict from the ascendancy of the Ayatollah Khomeini to the present day. Drawing on extensive access to American government leaders and documents, Crist surveys his topic in thorough, if sometimes ponderous, detail, including coverage of the bombing of the Marine base in Beirut, the Iran/Iraq war, the arms-for-hostages scandal, the naval battles of the "tanker wars," Iran's involvement in post-Hussein Iraq and its present pursuit of nuclear ambitions. Completely in command of the competing interests and personalities at the highest levels of American policymaking, Crist has an equally impressive grasp of the ebb and flow of diverse viewpoints in Iranian religious, political and military councils. The battle scenes are edge-of-the-seat gripping, and the author is keenly insightful on the Byzantine diplomatic maneuvers, by turns farcical and dismaying, and the motivations of the politicians, clerics, Cold Warriors and con artists who have stoked the ongoing tensions between the two nations in spite of important common interests. Some casual readers may be turned off by the page count, but this is likely to be the authoritative history of the origins and progress of the Iranian policy morass for years to come."  (Kirkus Reviews)

Mapping Census: The Geography of American Change (2010)

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"Mapping Census 2010: The Geography of American Change "is an atlas of the American people: who we are, and where we are. Using the latest census data and geographic information system (GIS) technology, this atlas examines how our unique population is moving and changing. These large, full-color maps illustrate population density, age, and racial and ethnic composition with clarity. "Mapping Census 2010 "is an invaluable resource for government officials, policy makers, and citizens interested in social change."

The Betrayal of the American Dream

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"* Billionaire Warren Buffet famously observed that class warfare has been going on for decades, and my class is winning. Pulitzer Prize and National Magazine Award winners Barlett and Steele scored a best-seller decrying such class warfare with America: What Went Wrong? (1992). Betrayal carries their powerful critique forward into the present. For Barlett and Steele, middle class working households earned $35,000$85,000 in 2009; that's 34 million households, with 58 million earning less and 24 million more. The ruling class betraying middle Americans is a mix of politicians and special interests who've gamed the system on behalf of the richest Americans. The authors trace the process of that betrayal from early deregulation fever (airlines and trucking) in the 1970s through today's warnings of debt infernos, unaffordable entitlements, and the need for austerity. Working in collaboration with American University's Investigation Reporting Workshop, Barlett and Steele address key elements of this betrayal (globalization, outsourcing, taxes, pensions, financial-sector dominance), then offer suggestions for reversing it, including progressive tax reform, fair trade, infrastructure investment, focused retraining, and criminal prosecution of white-collar criminals."   (Booklist)

Red Ink: Inside the High-Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget

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" David Wessel, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter, columnist, and bestselling author of "In Fed We Trust," dissects a topic--the federal budget--that is fiercely debated today in the halls of Congress and the media, and yet is misunderstood by the American public.
In a sweeping narrative about the people and the politics behind the budget, Wessel looks at the 2011 fiscal year (which ended September 30) to see where all the money was actually spent, and why the budget process has grown wildly out of control. Through the eyes of key people--Jacob Lew, White House director of the Office of Management and Budget; Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office; Blackstone founder and former Commerce Secretary Pete Peterson; and more--Wessel gives readers an inside look at the making of our unsustainable budget."

What You Should Know about Politics . . . But Don't: A Non-Partisan Guide to the Issues That Matter (2ND ed.)

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"Now in its second edition, here is one of the first and only issue-based nonpartisan guides to contemporary American politics. It s a very exciting time in American politics. Voter turnout in primaries and caucuses across the nation has shattered old records. More than ever, in this election year people are paying attention to the issues. But in a world of sound bites and deliberate misinformation and a political scene that is literally colored by a partisan divide blue vs. red how does the average educated American find a reliable source that s free of political spin? What You Should Know About Politics . . . But Don t breaks it all down, issue by issue, explaining who stands for what, and why, whether it s the economy, the war in Iraq, health care, oil and renewable energy sources, or climate change. If you re a Democrat, a Republican, or somewhere in between, it s the perfect book to brush up on a single topic or read through to get a deeper understanding of the often mucky world of American politics."

Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and the Corruption of Britian

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"A thriller on par with the legendary All the President's Men, the story of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and British phone hacking scandal makes for political drama at its finest. Hickman, the reporter for The Independent who pursued the story; and Watson, a relentless Labour Party Parliament member who helped lead the government investigation that toppled the nearly 170-year-old News of the World, have produced a gripping account that will likely be a go-to source in years to come. News of the World reporters hacked voicemail messages of royals, actors, and soccer notables to drive newspaper sales in the hyper-competitive world of the tabloid press. Led by Rupert Murdoch, the paper's executives exerted enough pressure on police and politicians to foil years of investigations. An elaborate cover-up that passed off the hacking as the work of a "rogue reporter" and a private investigator was initially successful, but what ultimately undid the tabloid and brought down top execs like Rebekah Brooks were the revelations that reporters deleted voicemails of a murdered teenager, deceiving police and her family into thinking that she might still be alive. Anyone interested in the media scandal of the decade and its reverberations across the pond won't be able to put this book down."  (Publisher's Weekly)

Deception: The Untold Story of East-West Espionage Today

By Edward Lucas       Find This Book

"Lucas, Moscow bureau chief for the Economist from 1998 to 2002, has covered Eastern Europe since 1986. He has a very straightforward message, that Russian spies are not a Cold War relic. They are working right now and very effectively at infiltrating our society and stealing our secrets. The fact that most people think spying is a thing of the past gives Russian agents the ultimate cover, since no one can see what he or she believes no longer exists. Lucas provides a history of Russian spying from the era of Lenin to the arrest and deportation of Anna Chapman, one of a ring of suburban agents that so shocked the U.S. in 2010. He details how KGB tactics are now employed for new aims. He also gives a convincing and unsettling overview of the ways in which Russian organized crime, big business, and conventional diplomacy work together to dupe the West. This enormously complex material is made understandable and riveting by Lucas' expertise and his passion for exposing this threat."  (Booklist)

Who Gets What: Fair Compensation After Tragedy and Financial Upheaval

By Kenneth R. Feinberg     Find This Book

"An insider's account of how compensation decisions are made after major disasters. One of the country's leading lawyers, Feinberg (What Is Life Worth?: The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11, 2005, etc.) has become the man called upon by government and private interests to decide settlements. He also bears the brunt of criticism when things don't go smoothly or seem to be unfair. Now he offers his side of the story. His involvement began with the 1984 settlement of the Agent Orange case. Now known as what he calls "the poster child of 'judicial activism, ' " the settlement compensated Vietnam veterans for alleged damages through a unique process that aroused the opposition of trial lawyers and politicians alike. It also set a pattern for Feinberg's career, during which he has worked on a variety of public and private cases, including the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund set up after the Virginia Tech shootings of 2006, and the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund. Each of these cases has made Feinberg a figure of controversy. He took the heat from some 9/11 victims who didn't understand how, under the law enacted, each claimant could receive a different amount because of their different potential lifetime earnings. Recently, politicians have made him a target in the BP case. Feinberg also examines the delicate process of balancing concerns about equal treatment under the law with the need to deal fairly with the special circumstances created by disasters. He stresses the importance of public involvement through hearings and meetings and the necessity of transparency. An opportunity to get to know a man whose work has affected thousands."  (Kirkus Reviews)

Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism ( Our Sustainable Future )

By Ozzie Zehner    Find This Book

"Aternative solutions to the growing energy crisis other than alternative energy. "Green" technology and energy solutions are all the rage as global warming, rising populations and unheard-of oil prices confront the world. However, asks Zehner, "do we have a society capable of being powered by alternative energy?" His answer is no. With thorough research, the author demonstrates that no amount of solar panels, wind turbines, biodiesel, nuclear plants or "clean" coal will solve these global problems. The underlying issue is not the lack of energy or a new way to generate it but overconsumption of available energy and resources. Zehner proves that many of today's "green" solutions would be prohibitively expensive on a grand scale and/or cause more environmental damage than good. The author examines "some ideas that, hopefully [will] spur some thought into how we might practically move from material and energy consumption to more durable and meaningful forms of social growth and well-being." These ideas include the creation of more "walking communities," cities in which the basic needs of citizens can be reached on foot or by bicycle. He also advocates "advancing the rights of women and girls," since contraceptive education is just one part of the puzzle of population explosion, and he suggests the creation of a "Department of Efficiency," which would be responsible for reducing the rampant waste of energy. "America has plenty of energy--more than twice as much as it needs," he writes. "We just waste most of it." By offering readers numerous steps toward reaching attainable goals, Zehner hopes environmentalists will initiate a shift of focus to "women's rights, consumer culture, walkable neighborhoods, military spending, zoning, health care, wealth disparities, citizen governance, economic reform, and democratic institutions." A bold look at the downside of green technologies and a host of refreshingly simple substitute solutions" (Kirkus Reviews)

The Tea Party: A Brief History

By Ronald Formisano    Find This Book
"Some 40 to 45 percent of Republican primary voters are Tea Party members seeking to direct the course of this year's presidential election. Yet the group that has been at the center of politics since 2009 is still not clearly defined in terms of objectives and message. Is it more concerned about shrinking the government or prodding the nation toward more conservative social values? The Tea Party has clearly pushed the political agendas of both major parties to the right, but will it have an enduring effect on American politics? Formisano offers a historical perspective, comparing the Tea Party to similar populist movements, both progressive and reactionary, of the past, from the original Boston Tea Party to the People's Party of the 1890s, from the Progressive Party of the 1920s to the Dixiecrats of the 1940s and, more recently, the parties of George Wallace and Ross Perot. He examines the conditions that gave birth to the Tea Party and whether it is genuinely grassroots or directed by corporate interests and billionaires. A helpful primer on a movement that is changing the American political landscape."  (Booklist)

Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power

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""Confront and Conceal "provides readers with a picture of an administration that came to office with the world on fire. It takes them into the Situation Room debate over how to undermine Iran's program while simultaneously trying to prevent Israel from taking military action that could plunge the region into another war. It dissects how the bin Laden raid worsened the dysfunctional relationship with Pakistan. And it traces how Obama's early idealism about fighting "a war of necessity" in Afghanistan quickly turned to fatigue and frustration.
One of the most trusted and acclaimed national security correspondents in the country, David Sanger of the "New York Times "takes readers deep inside the Obama adminis-tration's most perilous decisions: The president dispatch-es an emergency search team to the Gulf when the White House briefly fears the Taliban may have obtained the Bomb, but he rejects a plan in late 2011 to send in Special Forces to recover a stealth drone that went down in Iran. Obama overrules his advisers and takes the riskiest path in killing Osama bin Laden, and ignores their advice when he helps oust Hosni Mubarak from the presidency of Egypt.
"The surprise is his aggressiveness," a key ambassador who works closely with Obama reports.
Yet the president has also pivoted American foreign policy away from the attritional wars of the past decade, attempting to preserve America's influence with a lighter, defter touch--all while focusing on a new era of diplomacy in Asia and reconfiguring America's role during a time of economic turmoil and austerity.
As the world seeks to understand whether there is an Obama Doctrine, "Confront and Conceal "is a fascinating, unflinching account of these complex years, in which the president and his administration have found themselves struggling to stay ahead in a world where power is diffuse and America's ability to exert control grows ever more elusive."  (Publisher Description)

The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future

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"From one of the world's leading economists, a political call to action in defense of equality and human rights. Nobel laureate Stiglitz (Economics/Columbia Univ.; Freefall: America, Free Markets and the Sinking of the World Economy, 2010, etc.) insists that increasing inequality in the United States stems from a breakdown of the country's political and economic systems. The failure to hold any banker accountable for actions that contributed to the recent economic crisis is a prime symptom of the case."  (Kirkus Reviews)

Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans' Definitions of Family

By Brian Powell          Find This Book

"When state voters passed the California Marriage Protection Act (Proposition 8) in 2008, it restricted the definition of marriage to a legal union between a man and a woman. The act s passage further agitated an already roiling debate about whether American notions of family could or should expand to include, for example, same-sex marriage, unmarried cohabitation, and gay adoption. But how do Americans really define family? The first study to explore this largely overlooked question, Counted Out asks men and women of different ages, races, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds to share their opinions on what counts as family and what doesn t. The book examines these currents in public opinion to assess their policy implications and to predict how Americans definitions of family may change in the future."  (Publisher Description)

The Obamians: The Struggle Inside the White House to Redefine American Power

By James Mann          Find This Book
"Our current foreign policy is overshadowed by the wars begun during the George W. Bush administration and the antiwar legacy of the George McGovern presidential campaign, with politics on the Right and the Left swinging between those two positions. The Obama administration, with the aid of an inner circle of relatively unknown advisors, has attempted to carve out space between those poles, according to foreign correspondent Mann. Obama has demonstrated a willingness to use military force (ordering the killing of Osama bin Laden) but a caution in getting too deeply involved in military campaigns (authorizing limited air strikes in support of European action in Libya). Mann offers historic perspective on U.S. foreign policy through the Cold War era, Vietnam War, Reagan presidency, and current war on terrorism. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of prominent government officials, Mann offers a behind-the-scenes look at policy deliberations in the White House, Pentagon, State Department, and CIA as foreign policy is debated in the context of domestic issues and geopolitics and U.S. policy adjusts to the reality of limited resources. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The author of the 2004 best-selling Rise of the Vulcans, which profiled President Bush's advisors, here turns his analytical power on the Obama administration in a book that will receive full promotional support on air, online, and in print."  (Booklist)

How to Watch the Olympics: The Essential Guide to the Rules, Statistics, Heroes, and Zeroes of Every Sport

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"With the 2012 summer Olympics in London to begin in late July, Goldblatt (sports columnist, BBC radio) and Acton ("The Man Who Touched the Sky") provide readers with a fine choice for informed viewing. The competitions to be seen in this year's summer Olympics are presented here in chapters arranged alphabetically by sport. Chapters include schedule details for London, counts of athletes and potential medal contenders this time around, Olympic records by event, and counts of past champions by country. The authors explain each sport in clear terms with sections such as "Why Watch Archery?" and "The Finer Points" of fencing. They also provide a brief history of each sport, both as a game and as an Olympic competition. They include a section on discontinued Olympic sports, such as tug of war and cricket. Charming, stick-figure illustrations by Belinda Evans, along with black-and-white photographs, effectively infuse the text and help explain techniques and rules. VERDICT Affordable, portable, and informative, this accessible and fun book is highly recommended for Olympics watchers everywhere. While the focus on the London Olympics will become out of date, the book will remain of future use for explaining rules, histories, and nuances of the competitions." (Library Journal)

End This Depression Now!

By Paul Krugman               Find This Book

"Krugman (Fuzzy Math), winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics, takes an edifying and often humorous journalistic approach to the current economic crisis in this accessible and timely study. Rather than provide a mere postmortem on the 2008 collapse (though relevant history lessons are provided), Krugman aims to plot a path out of this depression. He maintains that "We are suffering from a severe overall lack of demand;" as every purchase is also a sale, everyone's income is someone's spending, and few are currently spending. This "paradox of thrift," when everyone cuts back and tries to pay off old debt at the same time, ensures a stagnant economya when no new debt is issued, the cycle continues, for one man's debt is another man's asset. Krugman suggests, then, that "the government spend where the private sector won't," a la FDR's workers' programs during the Great Depression. The problem, of course, arises when politics enters the equationa some view government intervention as a gateway to socialism, whereas others can't agree on appropriate "shovel-ready" projects to spend money on. Krugman has consistently called for more liberal economic policies, but his wit and bipartisanship ensure that this book will appeal to a broad swath of readersa from the Left to the Right, from the 99% to the 1%"  (Publishers Weekly)

As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda

By Gail Collins             Find This Book

""What happens in Texas doesn't stay in Texas anymore." That truth is delivered by the "New York Times" columnist and best-selling author Collins, who always thought of the country as two liberal coasts flanking a Republican heartland (she herself is from Ohio). Lately, she has come to understand that the country's entire political agenda has been set by Texas, where a conservative ideology supporting deregulation, lowered environmental protections, tax cuts, and a states' rights approach has been championed by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and now Rick Perry and has been thrust on the entire nation. To understand what's going on here, we need to look at Texas. All set to raise both cheers and hackles."  (Library Journal)

Obama and the Middle East: The End of America's Moment?

By Fawaz Gerges       Find This Book
"Taking stock of Obama's first year in the White House, this book places his engagement in the Middle East within the broader context of U.S. foreign policy since 9/11 and examines key areas that have posed a challenge to his administration."  (Publisher Description)

Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent

By E.J. Dionne, Jr.        Find This Book
" The days of political camaraderie are over, writes Washington Post columnist Dionne (Foundations of Democracy and Culture/Georgetown Univ.; Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious Right, 2008, etc.), who nonetheless offers some possible correctives to the current poisonous political climate. The clash between Republicans and Democrats, writes the author, has devolved into the struggle of individualism versus community, local versus national and the Right versus the Middle. Philosophical boundaries are tilted, and moderates are now often painted as left wing. Rampant historical revisionism divides us. Dionne decries interpretations of the Founding Fathers' intentions by the courts as well as politicians; originalists have little basis to claim definite knowledge of the intentions of the framers of the Constitution. Knowing that the Constitution was a work in progress that would grow and adapt to the times, they continued to argue, balance and compromise. Hamilton, Clay, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt used republican nationalism to better the American community. The communitarian reforms of the New Deal established the idealistic American Century. Now the resurgence of radical individualism threatens to dissolve those reforms. Populist methods are the favored tool to promote individualistic objectives and attack the elites, especially Wall Street. However, it is not so much that the wealthy have too much; it's that they have failed in their stewardship of our economy. The men who founded our country were elites and elitist. The difference is that those founders knew that they also had a social obligation to provide for the common good. Dionne condemns the current partisanship as destructive and demands the return to moderation, balance and compromise. The author's extensive knowledge of Washington allows him to ably illustrate our remarkable political history, and he renews our hope that cooler heads can prevail with a renewed balance of individual rights and the needs of the community"  (Kirkus Reviews)

Selecting a President

By Eleanor Clift           Find This Book

"Clift (contributing editor, "Newsweek") and Spieler (political writer, Voterpunch.org) present the first offering in a new series on how American government works, aimed primarily at high school seniors and college freshmen. The authors concisely and objectively explain the basic structure of America's electoral system and skillfully use anecdotes from past campaigns to explore how the process has changed from the election of George Washington to that of Barack Obama. The entire chain of events from primaries to election and taking office is covered, but the authors do not get overly technical. The book does a great job of bringing election history to life through stories and examples (e.g., the down-to-the-last-ballot Bush-Gore race of 2004 and the 2008 Democratic primary race), rather than sticking with a textbook formula found in more advanced academic tomes such as Nelson W. Polsby and others' "Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics". VERDICT In our hot election year, this one is valuable for both high school students and adults looking for a simple explanation of the often complicated election process. Its focus makes it most appealing for current collections.--"  (Library Journal)