Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America

By Mark Levin
"Hailed by Rush Limbaugh as "the most compelling defense of freedom for our time," and "the necessary book of the Obama era" by "The American Spectator, "Mark R. Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny "made the most persuasive case for conservatism and against statism in a generation. In this most crucial time, this leading conservative thinker explores the psychology, motivations, and history of the utopian movement, its architects, and its modern-day disciples--and how the individual and American society are being devoured by it.
Levin asks, what is this utopian force that both allures a free people and destroys them? Levin digs deep into the past and draws astoundingly relevant parallels to contemporary America from
Plato's "Republic"""
Thomas More's "Utopia"""
Thomas Hobbes's "Leviathan"""
Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto"""
. . . as well as from the critical works of John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, Alexis de Tocqueville, and other philosophical pioneers who brilliantly diagnosed the nature of man and government. As Levin meticulously pursues his subject, the reader joins him in an enlightening and compelling journey. And in the end, Levin's message is clear: the American republic is in great peril. The people must now choose between utopianism or liberty." (Publisher Marketing)  Check Our Catalog

The Age of Austerity: How Scarcity Will Remake American Politics

By Thomas Edsall
"How long do we continue unemployment benefits? How do we cope with local cuts in garbage collection, police protection, and, yes, library budgets? Political editor at the "Huffington Post", Edsall doesn't necessarily have answers. But he shows us how to frame the questions, stressing that we are currently facing a world without enough to go around. Drawn on a high-profile "New Republic" story; serious stuff."  (Library Journal)  Check Our Catalog

Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics

By Ronald B. Scott
"The 2012 race for the White House is racing along at full tilt. Mitt Romney is widely assumed to be the front-runner for the Republican nominee. Question is, can he hold the lead? Ron Scott provides the first independent (unauthorized) biographical profile of the possible Republican nominee. "Mitt Romney" takes a frank and revealing look at what makes Mitt the man tic, more human than he often appears to be on the stump: his character, convictions, his words and actions, yes his flips and his flops too, and, his triumphs and setbacks. It will also attempt to answer the question everyone is asking: Can a faithful Mormon really win his party's nomination and then upset the popular if now struggling, incumbent President, Barack Obama? Drawing on extensive research amassed over more than two decades, including interviews with people who know him best--allies and adversaries alike--this book will paint a savvy, textured, and revealing portrait of the candidate, his history, family, religion, political beliefs, and strategy. It"will" put Mitt in context like no other book to date."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism

By Theda Skocpol
"Two Harvard scholars investigate the latest iteration of third-party radicalism in the United States. Skocpol (Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life, 2003, etc.) and Williamson research the Tea Party from the ground up, rooting their study in focused fieldwork surrounding three local Tea Party groups in Massachusetts, Virginia and Arizona. The authors pepper firsthand anecdotes with extensive--and at times weighty--statistical and polling data. The perspectives and opinions of the subjects are skillfully interwoven with analysis of their civic habits, economic status, religious inclinations and ideologies. After a thorough background in the demographics of Tea Partiers, as well as their shared passions and sources of discord among this fledgling movement, the authors investigate the fascinating, and often unlikely, pairing of grassroots organizers and wealthy investors, politicos and influence peddlers who are seeking to capitalize on the media spotlight currently shining on the Tea Party. Credited with dramatically influencing the 2010 midterm elections, expectations are high as to how Tea Partiers and their core group of middle-class, volunteer-oriented proponents will affect the 2012 presidential election. According to the authors, one thing is certain: The anger many Tea Partiers express is aimed squarely at President Obama, raising the stakes for both grassroots organizers and those flush, politically minded groups seeking to ally themselves with the Tea Party. A timely study of a contemporary movement and its far-reaching effects on politics and policy."  (Kirkus Reviews)  Check Our Catalog

Who's Afraid of Frances Fox Piven?: The Essential Writings of the Professor Glenn Beck Loves to Hate

By Frances Fox Piven
"Piven, the noted political scientist who along with her late husband, Richard Cloward, has long studied and advocated for political empowerment strategies for the American poor, offers a sampling of her academic articles prompted by the conservative radio host Glenn Becks virulent attacks on her. Reaching as far back as the early 1960s and concluding with a recent biographically detailed interview between the author and activist-philosopher Cornel West, Piven (Challenging Authority) eloquently dissects the structures of political influence. She concludes that disruptive actions by the poor (i.e., actions short of violence, such as rent strikes, that break the rules of the game) remain virtually the sole political means of addressing inequalities in a system from which they are largely excluded. Piven asks essential questions about and proposes solutions for the increasingly unequal distribution of political power (tied of course to the increasingly narrow concentration of economic power). After debt-ceiling deals and austerity cuts in the U.S., and riots in poor communities across England, these insightful, well-argued essays prove historically informative and remarkably timely, a true find for the general reader looking to make sense of political power in an imperfect democracy."  (Publisher's Weekly)  Check Our Catalog

Darkmarket: Cyberthieves, Cybercops and You

By Misha Glenny
"Investigative reporter Glenny (McMafia) takes readers into the seedy underworld of cybercrime, where nothing is as it seems and whose inhabitants are best known to peers and law enforcement agencies by their aliases: Matrix001, Iceman, Dron, Cha0, JiLsi, and Lord Cyric. With global roots that can be traced to Turkey, Sri Lanka, England, and the Ukraine, among other countries, digital lawlessnessperpetrated by an ever-evolving, often-invisible new breed of criminalcosts governments and businesses billions every year. But don't go looking for advice on how to protect yourself here. Rather, taking its name from the online forum for cyber criminals that was shut down in 2008 after an FBI agent infiltrated it using an alias, the book explores the rise of three fundamental threats facing computer users in the digital era: cybercrime, cyber industrial espionage, and cyber warfare. Glenny accomplishes the herculean task of converting cryptic and tangled information into short, gripping chapters that often read like a high-tech thriller (complete with a surprise ending). But the alternate universe he uncovers via 200 hours of interviews with the world's military and intelligence communities, police, politicians, lawyers, and the hackers themselves reveals a frightening, all-too-real network of geeky thieves possessing both superiority complexes and inferior consciences." (Publishers Weekly)  Check Our Catalog

Almost President: The Men Who Lost the Race But Changed the Nation

By Scott Farris
z"When former UPI bureau chief and political columnist Farris lost a 1998 race for Wyomings at-large congressional district, he was prompted to examine the role losers play in democracy. Farris notes that some unsuccessful White House aspirants have had a far greater impact on American history than many who became president: They created, transformed, and realigned our political parties. They broke barriers and taboos around religion and gender, ushered in new political movements]. Moving chronologically through 184 years, he finds past/present linkages as he profiles Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas, William Jennings Bryan, Al Smith, Thomas E. Dewey, Barry Goldwater, George McGovern, Ross Perot, Al Gore, John Kerry, and John McCain. In an in-depth essay on egghead Adlai Stevenson, the candidates soaring rhetoric is contrasted with presidents who believed in cultivating an everyman image. An appendix provides brief coverage of 22 more, including Hubert H. Humphrey, Walter Mondale, and Bob Dole. Documenting changes in the face of America and the impact of such issues as race, religion, and workplace reform on elections, Farris writes with a lively flair, skillfully illustrating his solid historical research with revelatory anecdotes and facts."  (Publishers Weekly)  Check our Catalog