Politics
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Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Olympia Snowe
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Weinstein Books (2013, May 14th).
Pages: 328
An outspoken centrist, Senator Snowe stunned Washington in February 2012 when she announced she would not seek a fourth term and offered a sharp rebuke to the Senate, citing the dispiriting gridlock and polarization. After serving in the legislative branch at the state and federal levels for 40 years, including 18 years in the U.S. Senate, she explained that Washington wasn’t solving the big problems anymore.In this timely call to action, she explores the roots of her belief in principled policy-making and bipartisan compromise. A leading moderate with a reputation for crossing the aisle, Senator Snowe will propose solutions for bridging the partisan divide in Washington, most notably through a citizens’ movement to hold elected officials accountable. more
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Act of Congress: How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Robert G. Kaiser
Format: Deckle Edge]
Publisher: Knopf (2013, May 7th).
Pages:
An eye-opening account of how Congress today really works—and doesn’t—that follows the dramatic journey of the sweeping financial reform bill enacted in response to the Great Crash of 2008.The founding fathers expected Congress to be the most important branch of government and gave it the most power. When Congress is broken—as its justifiably dismal approval ratings suggest—so is our democracy. Here, Robert G. Kaiser, whose long and distinguished career at The Washington Post has made him as keen and knowledgeable an observer of Congress as we have, takes us behind the sound bites to expose the protocols, players, and politics of the House and Senate—revealing both the triumphs of the system and (more often) its fundamental flaws. more
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The Price of Justice: A True Story of Greed and Corruption
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Laurence Leamer
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Times Books (2013, May 7th).
Pages: 448
A nonfiction legal thriller that traces the fourteen-year struggle of two lawyers to bring the most powerful coal baron in American history, Don Blankenship, to justiceDon Blankenship, head of Massey Energy since the early 1990s, ran an industry that provides nearly half of America’s electric power. But wealth and influence weren’t enough for Blankenship and his company, as they set about destroying corporate and personal rivals, challenging the Constitution, purchasing the West Virginia judiciary, and willfully disregarding safety standards in the company’s mines—in which scores died unnecessarily.As Blankenship hobnobbed with a West Virginia Supreme Court justice in France, his company polluted the drinking water of hundreds of citizens while he himself fostered baroque vendettas against anyone who dared challenge his sovereignty over coal country. more
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Land Your Dream Career: Eleven Steps to Take in College
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Tori Randolph Terhune
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (2013, Mar 16th).
Pages: 226
Contrary to what students, and society, are conditioned to think, obtaining a college degree does not automatically result in a job, let alone a dream career. In the last year, alone, half of college graduates are either jobless or underemployed in positions that don’t fully use their skills and knowledge. Authors Tori Randolph Terhune, a gainfully-employed young college graduate herself, and Betsy A. Hays, a college professor, show readers what they can do in college to successfully pave the way for future employment in Land Your Dream Career. The authors provide 11 easy-to-follow strategies for effectively using time on campus to start building a career. Terhune and Hays leads students through content designed to help students set themselves up for success, without focusing on grades or papers. more
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Foreign Policy Begins at Home: The Case for Putting America's House in Order
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Richard N. Haass
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Basic Books (2013, Apr 30th).
Pages: 208
The biggest threat to the United States comes not from abroad but from within. This is the provocative, timely, and unexpected message of Council on Foreign Relations President Richard N. Haass’s Foreign Policy Begins at Home.A rising China, climate change, terrorism, a nuclear Iran, a turbulent Middle East, and a reckless North Korea all present serious challenges. But U.S. national security depends even more on the United States addressing its burgeoning deficit and debt, crumbling infrastructure, second class schools, and outdated immigration system.Foreign Policy Begins at Home describes a twenty-first century in which power is widely diffused. Globalization, revolutionary technologies, and the rise and decline of new and old powers have created a “nonpolar” world of American primacy but not domination. more
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The Big, Bad Book of Beasts: The World's Most Curious Creatures
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Michael Largo
Format: Paperback
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Original edition (2013, Apr 16th).
Pages: 464
The world's wildest collection of animal knowledge and lore!Lions, and tigers, and bears . . . and dinosaurs, dragons, and monsters. Oh my!For hundreds of years, the most popular books in the Western world next to the Bible were "bestiaries," fanciful encyclopedias collecting all of human knowledge and mythology about the animal kingdom. In these pages, eagles and elephants lived next to griffins and sea monsters. Now, in The Big, Bad Book of Beasts, award-winning author Michael Largo has updated the medieval bestsellers for the twenty-first century, illuminating little-known facts, astonishing secrets, and bizarre superstitions about the beasts that inhabit our world—and haunt our imaginations. You'll learn about the biggest bug ever, the smallest animal in the world, and the real creatures that inspired the fabled unicorns. more
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End of The Good Life: How the Financial Crisis Threatens a Lost Generation--and What We Can Do About It
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Riva Froymovich
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Original edition (2013, Apr 23rd).
Pages: 240
Financial journalist Riva Froymovich has good reason to be anxious about the financial turmoil facing Generation Y. This is her generation.Indeed, Generation Y has suffered the brunt of the financial crisis and great recession. For those in the U.S. born after 1976, the American dream is a is becoming a nightmare. Swamped in student loan debt they’re postponing marriage and buying homes, unable to save money, and delaying having children.The End of the Good Life: How the Financial Crisis Threatens a Lost Generation--and What We Can Do About It examines short-sighted government policies and initiatives that will wreak havoc on our youth. In addition to offering concrete policy suggestions, this book is driven by the touching personal stories of Americans and other young people around the globe affected by the financial crisis. more
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More than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions, and the Fight for Wisconsin
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Jason Stein
Format: Paperback
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (2013, Mar 22nd).
Pages: 350
When Wisconsin became the first state in the nation in 1959 to let public employees bargain with their employers, the legislation catalyzed changes to labor laws across the country. In March 2011, when newly elected governor Scott Walker repealed most of that labor law and subsequent ones—and then became the first governor in the nation to survive a recall election fifteen months later—it sent a different message. Both times, Wisconsin took the lead, first empowering public unions and then weakening them. This book recounts the battle between the Republican governor and the unions. The struggle drew the attention of the country and the notice of the world, launching Walker as a national star for the Republican Party and simultaneously energizing and damaging the American labor movement. more
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