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."