The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics - And Can Again

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"Opening with the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and ending with the disillusionment that characterized the final months of George W. Bush's presidency, Scarborough ultimately takes today's Republican party to task for squandering opportunities to attain and hold power. By revisiting Eisenhower's understated diplomacy, Barry Goldwater's fierce rhetoric, and Reagan's gift for channeling and connecting with voters, [this book] ... demonstrates how today's GOP has undermined its own cause and in doing so, fails the nation"--"  (Publisher's Description)

Killing Machine: The American Presidency in the Age of Drone Warfare

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"Straightforward, rigorous account of how President Barack Obama's embrace of high-tech militarism is changing the parameters of the presidency. Gardner (Emeritus, History/Rutgers Univ.; The Road to Tahrir Square: Egypt and the United States from the Rise of Nasser to the Fall of Mubarak, 2011, etc.) presents a deeper narrative than the title implies, essentially utilizing the George W. Bush administration's decision to pursue war in Iraq at the expense of the Afghanistan campaign necessitated by 9/11 as a flash point that altered our ability to respond to terrorist threats. Thus, though the author concurs that Obama the constitutional scholar "fell into the embrace of Reaper and Predator drones by circumstances beyond his control," he still holds responsible the president and his various high-end deputies for blithely advocating their increased use in controversial environments like Pakistan and Yemen. Gardner excels at presenting a lucid narrative that focuses on both dramatic military events--such as the pursuit of the U.S.-born firebrand preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, put on the drone "kill list" after the 2009 "underwear bomb" attempt against an American airliner--and the complex ballet of political calculations that underlie America's aggressive foreign policy stance. Attentive to the issue's legal and moral complexities, the author depicts the insidious qualities of drones' attractiveness to both Obama and his many advisers, beyond the threat of imminent terrorism embodied by al-Awlaki: "Fighting insurgencies was supposedly a different matter altogether, and there was the rub." Ultimately, the high-tech lethality and legal obfuscation of drone warfare both suggest a handy metaphor for American power and a terrifying portent of the global future: By 2011, following American dissatisfaction with the ground war in Afghanistan, it seemed "the drone had replaced counterinsurgency." And even though the increased reliance on drones appeared cost-free, "Obama found himself in danger of losing control of the momentum of drone warfare" as he looked past his own second term. An evenhanded yet grim assessment of the growing consensus regarding "the lethal presidency." (Kirkus Reviews)

The American Health Care Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less

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"Bradley, faculty director of Yale University's Global Health Leadership Institute, and Taylor, the institute's former program manager, contrast American healthcare models with the much more successful models in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The Scandinavian model, a dramatically more holistic approach envisioning citizen health as inextricably linked to national welfare, views greater spending on housing, education, employment, and nutrition as necessary components of healthcare outcomes, resulting in less overall spending with far greater results. The authors assemble an expansive study of representatives from the health-care and social sectors, including hospital administrators, social workers, physicians, police, emergency service personnel, nurses, educators, and pharmacists to demonstrate the need for integration between medicine and social welfare in the U.S. The disconnect between social services and health care, and the deeper historical schism between public and private interests, emerges as the reason why the U.S., which ranks first in healthcare spending, is mired in disappointing health outcomes. Admirably presented as an apolitical examination of an urgent situation, Bradley and Taylor's carefully researched and lucidly reported findings, including innovative approaches in Connecticut, Oregon, and California, offer what appears to be an easily rendered fix, but their equally striking depiction of uniquely American hostility to government involvement in private matters, exposes a daunting uphill battle."  (Publishers Weekly)

The New Soft War on Women: How the Myth of Female Ascendance Is Hurting Women, Men-And Our Economy

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"Rivers (journalism, Boston Univ.) and Barnett (senior scientist, Women's Studies Research Ctr., Brandeis Univ.) take on today's recurring argument that discrimination against women has largely disappeared (see, e.g., Hanna Rosin's "The End of Men: And the Rise of Women"). It's our damaged men and boys, we often hear, who warrant our attention. Any close observer of the economic, political, and social roles of women today knows that discrimination against women endures, with biases that still harm women and families reliant on women for support. Rivers and Barnett point out that in some areas, such as reproductive health, women's rights are not gaining but eroding. In page after page, these authors catalog the barriers that women still confront: lower wages, hostility toward "aggressive" women, favoritism toward men who enter traditionally female occupations, and penalties for both men and women who take time off for family care, among others. They support their argument with solid data and illuminating anecdotes. Their prescription for progress is, however, disappointing: "We must move from rhetoric to action." Feminist organizations, national and local, do push for action, but to little avail in the current political environment. VERDICT Readers interested in women's circumstances today will appreciate this book."  (Library Journal)

The Myth of America's Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies

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"A provocative and contrarian work--filled with great lessons from history--that challenges the pervasive notion that America is on the decline."  (Publisher Description)

Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation

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"An earnest, informative companion to the PBS series on the largest and fastest-growing minority in the United States: Latinos, now numbering more than 50 million. Journalist and PBS commentator Suarez (The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America, 2006) notes that, among nations, only Mexico contains more Hispanics than the U.S. "At some point in the 2040s," writes the author, "a slim majority of Americans will trace their ancestry to people who arrived in this country from someplace other than Europe." Beginning in the 17th century, Suarez reminds readers that when Englishmen arrived at Massachusetts and Virginia to settle or look for riches while despoiling and killing Indians, Spaniards and colonists from Mexico had been doing the same for 50 years in Florida and the Southwest. After a review of Spanish New World exploration and capsule histories of Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico that emphasize their usually painful relations to the U.S., Suarez concentrates on America's Latino legacy from the 19th century to the present. Two themes predominate: racism and immigration. Although not as murderous as that against blacks, discrimination against Latinos has an equally long and troubled history that turns out to be no less true for white America's fear of being overwhelmed with Hispanics pouring across our border. True to TV documentary format, Suarez includes the story of an individual with every section. Few will be familiar, yet many should be--e.g., Jose Marti, the hero of Cuban independence, or Juan de Onate, founder of the first white settlement in the Southwest. Matters improve greatly as the author approaches the present day and points with pride to famous Latinos from Desi Arnez to Albert Pujols. More journalistic guide than history, the book provides a satisfying antidote to average readers' disturbing ignorance of America's Hispanic heritage."  (Kirkus Reviews)

Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel

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"A rich, roiling examination of "the State of Israel during a period of deepening political and societal crisis." From the gory details of Operation Cast Lead, when Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip with laser-guided missiles in late 2008, through the right-wing election sweep soon afterward of Bibi Netanyahu and the unleashing of racist, nationalist elements and rushes for new settlements, Blumenthal (Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party, 2009) tracks the escalating rhetoric and violence in episodic fashion. Having established himself in various parts of Israel over the ensuing years to observe and flush out the action--he recognized he could sail through airport security since, as an Ashkenazi Jew, he "would be automatically afforded special rights according to the designs of Zionism"--Blumenthal is an enterprising reporter, finding lessons in vanished Palestinian neighborhoods, such as once-thriving Jaffa, before the Israelis drove out the residents, razing homes and appropriating land; and hanging out at the Knesset, which he sarcastically calls the "Fortress of Democracy," where he chased down various cronies of right-wing Avigdor Lieberman's party to explain a series of alarming proposals enacted to suppress Palestinian expression. With acquiescent support of the left as well as the general Israeli public, the legitimization of (to Western readers) frightening cultural concepts like homogeneity and Judaization has instigated what Blumenthal and some of his left-leaning interviewees call fascist measures in a once-lively democracy, where a dissenting version of the official narrative is not permitted. Government officials, young educated Arabs, border police, journalists, Army refuseniks and rabid nationalists: Blumenthal taps them all in this vivid and relentlessly negative portrait of Israel. Dense, in-the-trenches reportage revealing details that go from grim to grimmer"  (Kirkus Reviews)