A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America

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"In "A Country of Cities," author Vishaan Chakrabarti argues that well-designed cities are the key to solving America's great national challenges: environmental degradation, unsustainable consumption, economic stagnation, rising public health costs and decreased social mobility. If we develop them wisely in the future, our cities can be the force leading us into a new era of progressive and prosperous stewardship of our nation. In compelling chapters, Chakrabarti brings us a wealth of information about cities, suburbs and exurbs, looking at how they developed across the 50 states and their roles in prosperity and globalization, sustainability and resilience, and heath and joy. Counter to what you might think, American cities today are growing faster than their suburban counterparts for the first time since the 1920s. If we can intelligently increase the density of our cities as they grow and build the transit systems, schools, parks and other infrastructure to support them, Chakrabarti shows us how both job opportunities and an improved, sustainable environment are truly within our means. In this call for an urban America, he illustrates his argument with numerous infographics illustrating provocative statistics on issues as disparate as rising childhood obesity rates, ever-lengthening automobile commutes and government subsidies that favor highways over mass transit. The book closes with an eloquent manifesto that rallies us to build "a Country of Cities," to turn a country of highways, houses and hedges into a country of trains, towers and trees.  (Publisher Description)

Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country ( American Empire Project )

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"Despite our ostensible admiration of our men and women in arms, Americans have "offloaded" the full burden of war onto their shoulders with dismal results, argues Boston University history professor and Army vet Bacevich (Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War) in this impassioned and painfully convincing polemic. Our Founding Fathers proclaimed that all free people must make sacrifices when the nation goes to war. As late as WWII, the draft affected nearly everyone, with most people having a family member, friend, or colleague in the service. F.D.R.'s government raised taxes and instituted price controls and rationing, yet few complained. Bacevich emphasizes that eliminating the draft in 1973 sowed the seeds of disaster. When Bush announced the war on terror in 2001, the president mobilized volunteer troops, but not the nation; he urged Americans to "enjoy life, " and he cut taxes. Since borrowing paid the bill, and there was no draft, few complained. When the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan turned sour, protests were mild compared to the upheavals over Vietnam. Bacevich asserts bluntly that a disengaged and compliant citizenry has reduced military service from a universal duty to a matter of individual choice, allowing our leaders to wage war whenever (and for however long) they choose with little to fear from an electorate who are neither paying nor perishing."  (Publishers Weekly)

Circle of Friends: The Massive Federal Crackdown on Insider Trading - And Why the Markets Always Work Against the Little Guy

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"The bestselling author of "The Sellout" tells the explosive story of the government's crackdown on massive insider trading networks, exposing the myth promulgated by Wall Street that the stock markets are democratized and every investor has the same chance to make money."  (Publisher Description)

Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi

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" On the night of September 11, 2012, the American diplomatic mission at Benghazi, Libya, came under ferocious attack by a heavily armed group of Islamic terrorists. The prolonged firefight, and the attack hours later on a nearby CIA outpost, resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the American ambassador to Libya. Based on the cooperation of eyewitnesses and confidential sources, the authors explore the terrifying twelve-hour ordeal confronted by the Ambassador, his security contingent, and the CIA specialists who raced to rescue them."(Publisher Description)

Enemies Within: Inside the NYPD's Secret Spying Unit and Bin Laden's Final Plot Against America

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"Enemies Within is a revelatory look at America's counterterrorism measures. The authors' real-life domestic spy story indicates that many of our strategies aren't even close to being successful. Six months after 9/11, the New York police commissioner initiated an audacious antiterrorist plan: the NYPD dispatched a vast network of undercover officers and informants into Muslim neighborhoods to eavesdrop on conversations in mosques and community centers. These shady tactics proved fruitless. Through the harrowing tick-tock narrative of forty-eight hours in 2009, the NYPD and the FBI track suspected terrorist Najibullah Zazi as he makes his way to New York to launch an attack."  (Publisher's Description)

The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream Is Moving

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"While the baby boomers helped fortify the notion of the suburban single-family house as the American dream, the millennials are headed in another direction, according to Fortune writer Gallagher. The recession, rising fuel prices, and demographic shifts that mean smaller families and fewer and later marriages are contributing to a decline in the appeal of the suburbs. Gallagher talked to homebuilders, developers, planners, transportation engineers, architects, psychologists, and home buyers and sellers in cities and suburbs to offer a fascinating portrait of housing and lifestyle trends. She examines how the American dream came to be tied to the suburbs even as they are lambasted in popular culture and by social scientists and, lately, planners and engineers. New Urbanists argue that the suburb is an unsustainable model because the low-density population doesn't generate enough tax base to support it, unless it sprawls. Gallagher points to research and analysis showing rising populations in urban areas and suburbs who adapt the ideals of green living and walkable communities. Fascinating reading on changing trends in how and where we live" (Booklist (07/01/2013))

Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America

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"Washington Post chief correspondent Balz's The Battle for America 2008 (coauthored with Haynes Johnson) explored that truly groundbreaking campaign, which left him struggling to find a similarly enthralling story in the race between a Republican nobody wanted, and an incumbent Democrat with whom voters were disillusioned. The book provides an astute postmortem of the election and a remarkably unbiased depiction of a flawed process feeding on a polarized electorate, which, if little else, demonstrates the preposterous expense of the 2012 campaign. Balz shares revealing accounts of his firsthand experiences with the candidates, with the bulk of the book focused on the Republic primaries, in which the G.O.P. sought an "anyone but Romney" solution. As Michelle Bachman, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain incongruously blaze to front-runner status before self-immolating, Newt Gingrich bides his time and gives Balz the story each step of the way. Given Obama's opaque public persona, it's not surprising that less is revealed of the incumbent, which leaves Balz reporting on strategy over substance. In framing the book, Balz asks, "Can or will the election resolve any of the fundamental issues before the country?" After scrutinizing this season of destructive political gamesmanship, he answers gloomily, "There was little competition or innovation in the battle for ideas... each pursued a strategy designed for one thing: winning." (Publishers Weekly)