Best Civil Rights & Liberties
Called "stunning" by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David Levering Lewis, "invaluable" by the Daily Kos , "explosive" by Kirkus , and "profoundly necessary" by the Miami Herald , this updated and revised paperback edition of The New Jim Crow , now with a foreword by Cornel West, is a must-read for all people of conscience. Explosive debut alarming, provocative and convincing.”. — Kirkus Reviews Michelle Alexander’s brave and bold new book paints a haunting picture in which dreary felon garb, post-prison joblessness, and loss of voting rights now do the stigmatizing work once done by colored-only water fountains and legally segregated schools. With dazzling candor, Alexander argues that we all pay the cost of the new Jim Crow.. Lani Guinier, professor at Harvard Law School and author of Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback into a New Vision of Social Justice and The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy. With imprisonment now the principal instrument of our social policy directed toward poorly educated black men, Michelle Alexander argues convincingly that the huge racial disparity of punishment in America is not the mere result of neutral state action.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"But more than that, a very high percentage of these people are black, and in fact they go to prison at a rate disproportionate to the frequency with which they commit crimes. To be blunt, if you are caught selling illegal drugs in most states, you are likely to go to prison if you are black, but you will more likely get treated more leniently if you are white. It's worse than that, because, unlike most other developed nations, we make certain that once someone is convicted of a felony, he loses the vote, his right to public housing, the ability to get a job, in other words, he can be discriminated against for life. Alexander traces the history of the drug war, and describes how it became a vehicle for mistreating blacks even in the face of prevalent "colorblind" attitudes of most Americans today. Many things have to be undone, such as the entire drug war, disenfranchisement laws, the management of prisons by private corporations to name a few. Especially fascinating was her description of how such concessions, or "racial bribes", as affirmative action serve to justify continuing the system as it is."
"In today's environment with the tension between the African-American community and the police this book is a MUST READ to get FULLY informed to get the back story on how we all ended up here."
"Well written, simple presentation for complex topic, well documented, finding compelling reading."
"After reading this book, I've come to appreciate why race relations in the US are so damn hard and why it will take a massive movement—nothing short of a revolution in the structure of law and the American cultural consciousness—to make real progress."
"This book is an amazing chronology of why African American's are experiencing the injustices of yesterday and how this has been perpetrated throughout the years and including today."
"Clear, well-written and well-researched."
"Whether intentionally or inadvertently racist, our criminal "justice" system has all of the consequences Alexander talks about and more."
"Great perspective on repetitive themes in race relations over the centuries."
•. ONE OF TIME ’S TEN MOST IMPORTANT NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY In the searing pages of this classic autobiography, originally published in 1964, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement. a brilliant, painful, important book.” — The New York Times “A great book . Its dead level honesty, its passion, its exalted purpose, will make it stand as a monument to the most painful truth.” — The Nation “The most important book I’ll ever read, it changed the way I thought, it changed the way I acted. --Wendy Smith Biography, published in 1965, of the American black militant religious leader and activist who was born Malcolm Little. The Autobiography recounts the life of Malcolm X from his traumatic childhood plagued by racism to his years as a drug dealer and pimp, his conversion to the Black Muslim sect (Nation of Islam) while in prison for burglary, his subsequent years of militant activism, and the turn late in his life to more orthodox Islam.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"From Watching his interviews and speeches on YouTube, I was able to match his words from this book to the voice I heard on the videos. A book as told by the Man himself in his own words without any tampering from the writer."
"The black man must be retaught , reeducated, and made to know he is a man like everyone else . Malcolm you were misunderstood , when you were doing was responding to society's treatment ."
"Especially now that we seem to be repeating a lot of the horrible rracist human habits that caused this country to implode during the 50's/60's."
"It takes the readers on a journey on Malcolm X's life, from the beginning until the end."
"About half way through I ran out of steam."
"I'm haunted by the stories of X's youth where his father was killed for essentially being a Marcus Garvey supporter and his mother struggled to keep the family together with little to no assistance. I understand, after reading this book, why J. Edgar Hoover wanted to destroy Malcolm X."
"AS OSSIE DAVIS COINED HIM , WHEN IT WAS ALL SAID & DONE. BROTHER MALCOMLM " WAS OUR SHINNING BLACK PRINCE " WHO DIDN'T HESITATE TO DIE FOR HIS PEOPLE !!!"
"However, Penguin Modern Classics has reprinted this essential piece of literature anew-WITHOUT THE ORIGINAL EPILOGUE or Ossie Davis' contributions to the work. Anyone who has read the complete Malcolm X Autobiography in depth knows fully well that this is untrue, an absolute falsity and misrepresentation that can lead to dangerous miscalculations."
NOW A NEW YORK TIMES, PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, INDIEBOUND, LOS ANGELES TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, CHRONICLE HERALD, SALISBURY POST, GUELPH MERCURY TRIBUNE, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER | NAMED A BEST/MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2017 BY: The Washington Post. •. Bustle. •. Men's Journal. •. The Chicago Reader. •. StarTribune. •. Blavity. • The Guardian. • NBC New York's Bill's Books. • Kirkus. • Essence. Toni Morrison hails Tears We Cannot Stop as "Elegantly written and powerful in several areas: moving personal recollections; profound cultural analysis; and guidance for moral redemption. As the country grapples with racist division at a level not seen since the 1960s, one man's voice soars above the rest with conviction and compassion. "Dyson...creates a sermon unlike any we've heard or read, and it's right on time...an unapologetically bold plea for America to own up to its inexplicable identity anxiety." "[Dyson's] narrative voice carries a deeper and more intimate authority, as it grows from his own experience as a black man in America ― from being beaten by his father to being profiled by the police to dealing with his brother's long-term incarceration...Dyson's raw honesty and self-revelation enables him to confront his white audience and reach out to them." "[ Tears We Cannot Stop] talks directly to you, about issues deep, disturbing, and urgently in need of being faced." “One of the most frank and searing discussions on race ... a deeply serious, urgent book, which should take its place in the tradition of Baldwin's The Fire Next Time and King's Why We Can't Wait . At a time when everyone needs to speak more openly, honestly, and critically about the racial divisions that have been allowed to grow in the United States, Dyson’s book ― available in January ― could not be a more welcome read." "Elegantly written, Tears We Cannot Stop is powerful in several areas: moving personal recollections; profound cultural analysis; and guidance for moral redemption. "Michael Eric Dyson is alive to the fierce urgency of now and yet he's full of felicitous contradictions: an intellectual who won't talk down to anyone; a man of God who eschews piousness; a truth-teller who is not afraid of doubt or nuance; a fighter whose arguments, though always to the point, are never ad hominem. Ebony magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans, and one of the 150 most powerful blacks in the nation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It was very raw and honest, but it is a message that needs to heard by every American."
"This book is an essential loving primer on understanding white privilege and its crushing impact on our black brothers and sisters."
"It's not a large leap to believe that there are pockets of racism today and the entire village must work toward its eradication."
"If you thought your eyes were open regarding racism in America, you will quickly discover upon reading Tears We Cannot Stop that they were not."
"This book is a must read for anyone interested in solving the racial issues in the world especially the United States."
"Another excellent book by Michael Eric Dyson."
"Dyson tells the story of white privilege through his experience of it as a brilliant black American son, father, citizen, scholar, teacher and preacher."
"Here's hoping that the target of this book,namely white Americans, will be moved to positive actions and soul searching needed to quell this blight against America!"
Best Graphic Novel Biographies & Memoirs
This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features more than fifty percent new content, with ten never-before-seen essays and one wholly revised and expanded piece as well as classics from the website like, “The God of Cake,” “Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving,” and her astonishing, “Adventures in Depression,” and “Depression Part Two,” which have been hailed as some of the most insightful meditations on the disease ever written. Pictures. Words. Stories about things that happened to me. Stories about things that happened to other people because of me. Eight billion dollars*. Stories about dogs. The secret to eternal happiness*. An Amazon Best Book of the Month, November 2013: Who among us has not, in moments that sometimes bleed through years, even decades, felt weird, desperate, and absurd--wishing we could turn all the lamest, most shameful episodes in our lives into hilarious illustrated anecdotes? If you just stumbled across Brosh and can't yet grasp the allure of a Web comic illustrated by rudimentary MS Paint figures, believe the hype. Brosh has a genius for allowing us to channel her weird childhood and the fits and starts of her adulthood through the manic eyes, gaping mouths, and stick-like arms in the panels that masterfully advance her stories, and she delivers her relentless commentary with deadpan hilarity. Today, Bill and Melinda Gates co-chair the charitable foundation bearing their names and are working together to give their wealth back to society. But Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened , by Allie Brosh, is an honest-to-goodness summer read. Brosh has quietly earned a big following even though, as her official bio puts it, she “lives as a recluse in her bedroom in Bend, Oregon.” The adventures she recounts are mostly inside her head, where we hear and see the kind of inner thoughts most of us are too timid to let out in public. Here’s a typical snippet: “To the simple dog, throwing up was like some magical power that she never knew she possessed—the ability to create infinite food. The mental illness she describes is profoundly isolating: “When you have to spend every social interaction consciously manipulating your face into shapes that are only approximately the right ones, alienating people is inevitable.” It must be empowering for those who have struggled with depression to read this book, see themselves, and know they’re far from alone. You explain it again, hoping they’ll try a less hope-centric approach, but re-explaining your total inability to experience joy inevitably sounds kind of negative, like maybe you WANT to be depressed. So the positivity starts coming out in a spray—a giant, desperate happiness sprinkler pointed directly at your face.”. It is no hyperbole to say I love her approach—looking, listening, and describing with the observational skills of a scientist, the creativity of an artist, and the wit of a comedian. The subjects run from light (cakes, dogs) to dark (the author’s own severe depression), and they foreground offbeat feeling and real intellect. Ms. Brosh’s inquisitive mind won me over, too.” (Dwight Garner New York Times). “In a culture that encourages people to carry mental illness as a secret burden . (Elizabeth Gilbert ). “One of the best things I’ve ever read in my life.” (Marc Maron ) "This book made me laugh, cry, and leak. (io9.com ) “ The whole blog is inspired.” (Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish (The Atlantic) ). “Anyone seeking an accessible look at someone suffering from depression or some really delightful dog drawings need search no further.” (Time Out New York ). "Both singular and familiar—the popularity of Brosh's blog and her absurd, exuberant voice meant that she started a lot of memes you might have come across— Hyperbole and a Half is a very funny reminder that it's normal to not have your shit together, and to know that it's okay to ask for help."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"People who want to know what it feels like to have beverages snarfed through their nose(s?). People who are familiar with Allie's site and thus already know some of the content and are ok with that because it still makes them snarf beverages through their nose(s?). People who are unfamiliar with the behaivior of geese and/or enjoy cake. People who like books that are color coded instead of numbered to delineate beginnings and endings."
"I got the book this morning, and as I was hobbled by pain from an ACL surgery and unable to take painkillers because they would make me loopy at work, instead I read this all day. The chapters that peek into her childhood make me wish I remembered anything about my life before I was twelve. I'm going to take a page from this book, and just imagine that my childhood was just as fantastical, wild, revelatory, unintentionally hilarious, and unique. I love that the author is so freaking honest (can you swear on Amazon? She holds this mirror up to her guiding principles and then picks everything apart until she's left with this uncivilized and selfish husk, which she then covers up in a sparkly jumpsuit to make it all better. I feel strangely proud of the author for producing this book."
"I'm going to re-read this book for sure!"
"I can't explain how it is that Allie Brosh's drawings affect me, but all I have to do is look at them and I feel joy rush through me -- even at her saddest and darkest, she somehow manages to bring delight."
"This book is the opposite -- it takes place in that stream-of-consciousness world where you can't turn off your imagination or slow it down for everyone. I picked it up in the "NY Times Best Seller" section of a Salem bookstore and after reading about 7 pages of it right then and there, I promptly ordered one for myself online."
Best Law
#1 New York Times Bestseller |. Named one of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • Time Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction | Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction | Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award | Finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize | Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize | An American Library Association Notable Book A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.” —David Cole, The New York Review of Books “Searing, moving . Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.” —Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review “Inspiring . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he’s also a gifted writer and storyteller.” — The Washington Post “As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.” —The Financial Times “Brilliant.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “Not since Atticus Finch has a fearless and committed lawyer made such a difference in the American South. Just Mercy is his inspiring and powerful story.” —John Grisham “Bryan Stevenson is one of my personal heroes, perhaps the most inspiring and influential crusader for justice alive today, and Just Mercy is extraordinary. When Stevenson was a 23-year-old Harvard law student, he started an internship in Georgia where his first assignment was to deliver a message to a man living on death row. This is a title for the many young adults who have a parent or loved one in the prison system and the many others who are interested in social justice, the law, and the death penalty. [It] demonstrates, as powerfully as any book on criminal justice that I’ve ever read, the extent to which brutality, unfairness, and racial bias continue to infect criminal law in the United States. But at the same time that [Bryan] Stevenson tells an utterly damning story of deep-seated and widespread injustice, he also recounts instances of human compassion, understanding, mercy, and justice that offer hope. Just Mercy is a remarkable amalgam, at once a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.” —David Cole, The New York Review of Books “A searing, moving and infuriating memoir . This book brings new life to the story by placing it in two affecting contexts: [Bryan] Stevenson’s life work and the deep strain of racial injustice in American life. Against tremendous odds, Stevenson has worked to free scores of people from wrongful or excessive punishment, arguing five times before the Supreme Court. Stevenson has been angry about [the criminal justice system] for years, and we are all the better for it.” —Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review “Inspiring . “As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.” —The Financial Times “Brilliant.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer. Bryan Stevenson, however, is very much alive and doing God’s work fighting for the poor, the oppressed, the voiceless, the vulnerable, the outcast, and those with no hope. Just Mercy is his inspiring and powerful story.” —John Grisham “Bryan Stevenson is one of my personal heroes, perhaps the most inspiring and influential crusader for justice alive today, and Just Mercy is extraordinary. Bryan Stevenson is a real-life, modern-day Atticus Finch who, through his work in redeeming innocent people condemned to death, has sought to redeem the country itself. It is inspiring and suspenseful—a revelation.” —Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns “Words such as important and compelling may have lost their force through overuse, but reading this book will restore their meaning, along with one’s hopes for humanity.” —Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Mountains Beyond Mountains “Bryan Stevenson is America’s young Nelson Mandela, a brilliant lawyer fighting with courage and conviction to guarantee justice for all. Just Mercy should be read by people of conscience in every civilized country in the world to discover what happens when revenge and retribution replace justice and mercy.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My tendency is to put things into "liberal" and "conservative" buckets and this one seemingly fit into the liberal bucket and I am a professed conservative."
"I have a new hero . Bryan Stevenson. This is a great book."
"This is a system that condemns children to life imprisonment without parole, that makes petty theft a crime as serious as murder, and that has declared war on hundreds of thousands of people with substance abuse problems by imprisoning them and denying them help. JUST MERCY explores a number of devastating cases, including children as young as fourteen facing life imprisonment, and scores of people on death row - mostly poor, and mostly black - who have been unfairly convicted. But the central focus is on Walter McMillan, a black man sentenced to death for the murder of a prominent young white woman. Ours is no longer a country that sees compassion as a virtue; instead, we write harsher and harsher laws that demand longer and longer sentences for those we consider undesirables. It's rare these days to meet someone who truly dedicates himself to those least able to help themselves, especially someone who isn't after media attention or self-promotion."
Best Social Policy
At a moment of drastic political upheaval, An American Sickness is a shocking investigation into our dysfunctional healthcare system - and offers practical solutions to its myriad problems. Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries—the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers—that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before. In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. Rosenthal told an interviewer her goal was to “start a very loud conversation” that will be “difficult politically to ignore.” We need such a conversation – not just about how the market fails, but about how we can change the political realities that stand in the way of fixing it.”— The New York Times Book Review “Patients can save thousands of dollars by purchasing An American Sickness by Elisabeth Rosenthal.”— New York Journal of Books. “Bold, insightful, well-researched analysis.” — Nature “Truly remarkable for the extensive interviews and range of documentation it provides.” — American Psychological Association “In this in-depth analysis of a malfunctioning system, Rosenthal makes a compelling case against the hospital and pharmaceutical executives behind the “money chase,” and it’s hard to imagine a more educated, credible guide…The patients she interviewed share mind-boggling stories…She builds her case with one damning statistic after another…Rosenthal presents solutions both personal and societal in this commanding and necessary call to arms.” —Booklist (starred) “Provocatively analyzes...Rosenthal unveils with surgical precision the "dysfunctional medical market"...a startling cascade.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review). I have not read another volume that diagnoses the “deeply, perhaps fatally, flawed” system of health insurance and delivery with such lucidity, dissects its critical shortcomings, and provides such a clear prescription for its ills. Bold, imaginative, tautly written and filled with fury and compassion, this book will serve as the definitive guide to the past and future of health care in America.” —Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene. Elisabeth Rosenthal’s remarkable, outrage-inducing book reveals how each attempt to check the health industry’s excesses has been exploited for monetary gain. Both a fascinating history of dysfunction, and a clear manifesto for change.” —Sheri Fink, M.D., Ph.D., Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Five Days at Memorial and War Hospital “Through vivid, heart wrenching stories and trenchant analysis, Libby Rosenthal unveils the irrationality, indifference, harmfulness, and downright unfairness of the American health care system that can often seem more driven by profit than caring and compassion.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"An American Sickness is a gripping, fast paced and revolting dive from 50,000 feet above into the morass of what passes for healthcare in the USA. Patients are barely tolerated in a system optimized to pass money from bank accounts to providers. Because Rosenthal (an MD herself) was a columnist for the New York Times, she received thousands of contacts over the years. She researched them and they provide the vivid and shameful examples of financial abuse in the industry (with real names). She has distilled them into a perverse list of principles of US healthcare that explains everything and forms the backbone of the book: 1. As the American economy freefalls into dysfunction, doctors and nurses have become “independent contractors”, just like everyone else. Administrators are no longer senior caregivers but numbers people who must limit the poorly insured and maximize the profit on every square foot. The rest of the western world and history are the proof: “If the March of Dimes was operating according to today’s foundation models, we’d have iron lungs in five different colors controlled by iPhone apps – but we wouldn’t have a cheap polio vaccine,” Rosenthal quotes Dr. Michael Brownlee. Rosenthal provides really useful links and sample letters, because customers are all in this same situation – ignorant and powerless. This book is worth far more than a month’s health insurance; it can save you a fortune, and give you back your life."
"I have been a nurse since 1978 and have had a front row seat to the changes in health care in the ensuing decades."
"Not a subject matter I would normally be interested in, but in the current political climate I felt I should get a better understanding of what is going on in the healthcare industries. I am not a big fan of the government getting involved in healthcare, however if we are going to let free enterprise control the costs I think it is important to know if the healthcare industries will respond to true competition like other industries such as the telecommunication and automotive industries."
"While we cannot mandate morals, consumers can choose alternatives to products and services born from financial incentives. But the greed of corporate organizations, a select few physicians and physician group practice managers who want to 'maximize' income charge prices that far exceed the value of what is given."
"Dr. Rosenthal's background makes her uniquely qualified to write this well-researched book."
Best Civics
Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward. It is worth reading.” — The New York Times “ What Happened is a raw and bracing book, a guide to our political arena.” — The Washington Post “The writing in What Happened is engaging — Clinton is charming and even funny at times, without trying to paint herself in too flattering of a light…. While What Happened records the perspective of a pioneer who beat an unprecedented path that stopped just shy of the White House, it also covers territory that many women will recognize.... She demonstrates that she can mine her situation for humor.” — People “This is an important book, and anyone who’s worried by what happened last November 8 should pick it up.” — Entertainment Weekly Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first woman in US history to become the presidential nominee of a major political party.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"She was less convincing on this front as virtually nothing Sanders said against HRC during the primary battle was new; his criticisms of HRC were general talking points before Sanders ever entered the contest. The book whitewashes the DNC's actions against Sanders during the primary, actions that turned a good number of Sanders supporters (HRC continues use of the odious "Bernie Bros." epithet) against her. HRC praises the hard work of Donna Brazile but fails to mention how Brazile was caught stealing debate questions (for the debate with Sanders) from CNN and then leaking those questions to HRC and not to Sanders. What is telling in HRC's memoir and analysis are her own blind spots, her weakness as a campaigner who fails to inspire, her over-reliance on her status as "first female Presidential nominee from a major party" (53% of white women voted for Trump, but HRC doesn't examine why), and her refusal to acknowledge how the DNC, during the primary, alienated the progressive voters she would later need to win the general election. (Even here, though, we have figures now indicating that 12% of Sanders supporters went over to Trump, whereas in 2008, after HRC lost the primary to Obama, 24% of her supporters went over to McCain. In other words, Sanders supporters were still more supportive of HRC than HRC's supporters were of Obama by 2-to-1.)."
"I wrote a verified purchase review and it has been deleted 3 times."
"I'm a non-partisan who has actually read this book and have to agree with many of the negative reviews here."
"what happened to the negative reviews?"
"In my previous review I referenced her book Hard Choices...."Believe it or not I actually liked this book.""
"I voted for her."
"I voted for Bill Clinton in both Presidential elections and voted for Hillary Clinton against Trump last year. I think that there are some good things to be said about Hillary Clinton. But still, this book seems to crystallize for me a lot of the problems that I have with Hillary Clinton at this moment in time, and the problems that I have with the Democratic party, and in general why I think that they are currently doing so badly. Although Clinton does attempt in the book to explain why she lost the election, in the end, she really seems to have no idea. If instead the book had been called "What Campaigning in the 2016 Election Was Like for Me," likely I would feel comfortable giving the book another star. So if the goal of the reader is to learn more about Hillary Clinton, as a person, then perhaps this book is worth reading. What the book does not do is to provide any reasoned or persuasive discussion on what I see as the key questions that political leaders need to be discussing with regard to the 2016 election and the current state of affairs. In my opinion, the biggest question that Clinton does not discuss at all in this book is how much the Democratic party has turned all of its focus toward the goal of making rich people (like Jeff Bezos, no?). Not once in the book does she consider the possibility that perhaps the reason that Sanders was popular was because the Democratic party (as well as the Republican party) had focused too much of its attention on the 1% (or, more specifically, the 0.0001%) and had left the rest of the population out in the cold. In general, the impression that I get from this book about Clinton in general - in terms of her political life and her personal life - is that she believes she is right about everything, that she is very very defensive about the idea that she is right about everything, and that she is very slow to change in the face of new information. All of those are the LAST things that I would use if I got sick, and the idea of Hillary Clinton forcing them on me anyway makes me wonder what other kinds of outmoded, counterproductive things she would have tried to force on the American public had she become President."
"It's an incredible look at how hard a person can work to come up with every reason possible why everyone else is to blame."
Best Labor & Industrial Relations
The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. " Radium Girls spares us nothing of their suffering; though at times the foreshadowing reads more like a true-crime story, Moore is intent on making the reader viscerally understand the pain in which these young women were living, and through which they had to fight in order to get their problems recognized...The story of real women at the mercy of businesses who see them only as a potential risk to the bottom line is haunting precisely because of how little has changed; the glowing ghosts of the radium girls haunt us still." "Moore's well-researched narrative is written with clarity and a sympathetic voice that brings these figures and their struggles to life...a must-read for anyone interested in American and women's history, as well as topics of law, health, and industrial safety." "Carefully researched, the work will stun readers with its descriptions of the glittering artisans who, oblivious to health dangers, twirled camel-hair brushes to fine points using their mouths, a technique called lip-pointing...Moore details what was a 'ground-breaking, law-changing, and life-saving accomplishment' for worker's rights." "Like Da a Sobel's The Glass Universe and Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, Kate Moore's The Radium Girls tells the story of a cohort of women who made history by entering the workforce at the dawn of a new scientific era. But the young women--many of them just teenagers--who learned the skill of painting glow-in-the-dark numbers on clock faces and aeronautical gauges early in the twentieth century paid a stiff price for their part in this breakthrough involving the deadly element, radium. "...[A] fascinating social history one that significantly reflects on the class and gender of those involved [is] Catherine Cookson meets Mad Men...The importance of the brave and blighted dial-painters cannot be overstated."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In The Radium Girls Kate Moore tells the story of these young women, seemingly so fortunate, who were poisoned by the jobs they felt so lucky to have. After some of the women died and more became ill the companies making large profits on radium rushed to dismiss any hint that the work was unsafe. Eventually publicity stemming from lawsuits filed by some of the victims (using their own scanty resources) focused enough attention on the problem that governments felt compelled to set safety standards and regulations. The safety regulations and restrictions which were finally put into place hardly seem adequate, and the Epilogue and Postscript giving details of the women's later lives, as well as an account of another industry that made careless use of radium as late as the 1970s, are especially harrowing."
"This is one these books that will stay with you long after you finished reading it."
"One of the best books I have read in a long time!"
"The job paid above average wages to women, and even when it was realized that coworkers were developing horrible health problems, some women continued to work because their families needed money the job provided."
"I just got through reading Radium Girls based the the true story of the girls and women employed to paint watch dials in the early twentieth century with an exciting and new product, radium. Every girl wanted in on the work as it was good pay and radium was said to be good for your health."
"I thank these women for eventually shutting the US Radium Corp down. Never forget these strong women that finally shook a nation off its lazy, corrupt ass to FINALLY be a beacon for for justice and Fairplay towards the working (WO) man."
Best War & Peace
NEW EDITION, REVISED AND UPDATED. What if conflicts at home, conflicts at work, and conflicts in the world stem from the same root cause? “A book that could change the face of humanity.” —Marion Blumenthal Lazan, holocaust survivor and bestselling author “I loved Leadership and Self-Deception , and The Anatomy of Peace takes it to the next level, personally and professionally.” —Adel Al-Saleh, President, IMS Health Europe, Middle East and Africa “The most powerful tool I’ve seen for finding real, lasting peace—in families, organizations, communities, and nations.” —Pamela Richarde, Past President, International Coach Federation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book was well written and holds a powerful lessons on building relationships be they individual, family, workplace or nation states."
"This book is wonderfully engaging and consistently thought provoking, with beautiful life lessons for anyone to benefit from."
"This is one of the best books I have ever read- it was easy to read- like a novel, but also contains a lot of substance that makes you stop and think ."
"Good follow up to Leadership and Self-Deception."
"Don't be judgmental because of race, religion, gender, sex, see someone as a person with needs, feelings, burdens the same as you are."
""The Anatomy of Peace" is one of the most powerful books ever on relationships, blind spots, and getting out of cycles of counter-productive behaviors in families business."
"Great reminder of how to look at people and address the root causes of conflicts in our lives."
"Anyone serious about resolving conflict in their relationships can benefit by learning the principles in this book."
Best Intelligence & Espionage
" Code Girls reveals a hidden army of female cryptographers, whose work played a crucial role in ending World War II.... Mundy has rescued a piece of forgotten history, and given these American heroes the recognition they deserve." A strict vow of secrecy nearly erased their efforts from history; now, through dazzling research and interviews with surviving code girls, bestselling author Liza Mundy brings to life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment. But it's also a superbly researched and stirringly written social history of a pivotal chapter in the struggle for women's rights, told through the powerful and poignant stories of the individuals involved. In exploring the vast, obscure, and makeshift offices of wartime Washington where these women performed seemingly impossible deeds, Mundy has discovered a birthplace of modern America. " Code Girls is a riveting account of the thousands of young coeds who flooded into Washington to help America win World War II. Liza Mundy's portraits of World War II codebreakers are so skillfully and vividly drawn that I felt as if I were right there with them--mastering ciphers, outwitting the Japanese army, sinking ships, breaking hearts, and even accidentally insulting Eleanor Roosevelt. " Code Girls reveals a hidden army of female cryptographers, whose work played a crucial role in ending World War II. " Code Girls is not just a great slice of history--one that would have been lost to us without Liza's storytelling and the work of some heroic archivists--but a story relevant to every discussion we have now about America's security agencies and how they came to be. "― Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana and Ashley's War.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The author incorporates personal information from a number of the "code girls" and factual information on many others. The technical information relating to the strategy and tactics of code breaking was quite detailed, but somewhat inscrutable to me so I skimmed quickly some of those sections; suffice it to say that it required an extreme amount of organization, attention to detail, a mathematical orientation, razor sharp memories and ability to see patterns, both small and large. I found the book quite riveting, with enough personal detail to enliven the story, and enough technical detail to establish just how serious and demanding their work was."
"And they kept the secret for years. This is a must read because the history of these women and the war and the aftermath should not be forgotten any longer."
"So-called "code breaking" is really a complex of multiple networks and societal systems - one must consider dozens of nations, maybe 5,000 key people, and 50,000 other players. When one realizes that in pre-computer WWII thousands of the eponymous "code girls," worked in secret for a years, in dozens of locations and many different languages, Mundy's enjoyable book begins to resemble an accomplishment."
"KNEW ABOUT THE LADIES OF BLENCHLEY PARK AND ONLY BECAUSE OF REFERENCES TO THE MEN WORKING THERE.....THESE LADIES HAVE BEEN KEPT UNDER WRAPS LONG ENOUGH.....GIRLS NEED TO KNOW THAT THESE LADIES PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN HELPING TO WIN A WORLD WAR...CREATIVE JOBS FOR FEMALES ARE OUT THERE...PLEASE LET OUR YOUNG KNOW WHAT CHOICES THEY CAN MAKE...BRAVO LADIES..AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE."
"It is an accurate reflection of the gender prejudices of the times and the lives of the young women who answered the call to Washington early in WWII."
Best Censorship
The liberal media machine did everything they could to keep this book out of your hands. --Ann Coulter "Cynical ignorant fucker." --Stephen Fry "If you don't use your freedom of speech, one day you might find that it's gone. --Peter Thiel "YUCK AND BOO AND GROSS."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As an information professional I have always been very interested in intellectual freedom issues and am a card carrying member of the Freedom to Read Foundation so as soon as my industry colleagues began to tell me how dangerous Dangerous would be, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible. I emailed my old Intellectual Freedom & Censorship professor from grad school about the cancellation and her response was that Milo already had a platform so it's not the same type of insidious censorship. It is important to be mindful that censorship can come from both the political right and the political left. It seemed a bit ironic to me that all these alleged advocates of free speech were refusing to get a book called Dangerous because it would be too dangerous for people to read. Milo was more invigorating to read than Trump, probably because he is by trade a professional word slinging journalist. I'm not saying I agree with literally all the things Milo Yiannopoulos says or stands for but that doesn't matter. Dangerous is a decent book and censorship is dangerous."
"I pre-ordered the book out of curiosity, there was so much controversy when Simon and Schuster cancelled the book deal."
"As a gay man who has seen not just the gay rights movement but the entire progressive movement hijacked by Marxist regressives, Milo is and has always been a breath of fresh air. Milo comes back from a takedown that would have left most people in hiding."
"You don't have to like who he is, you might not like the way he looks or speaks or expresses his thoughts, but what he stands for is EVERYTHING that we are slowly losing as the media outlets take control of manipulating everything we see and hear."
"It is extraordinarily funny, and gets the modern conservative viewpoint across in a way that stereotypical stuffy conservatives can only imagine. While I have tried my best to encourage free-thinking in her impressionable young mind, the mindset in her public school has her believing all sorts of PC based nonsense. I asked for specific examples, but they have thus far been unable or unwilling to give examples."
"Milo is absolutely correct in the following excerpt from "Dangerous". "In short, I’m the Left’s worst nightmare: a living, breathing refutation of identity politics, and proof that free speech and the truth wrapped in a good joke will always be more persuasive and more powerful than identity politics.""
Best National & International Security
About the Peloponnesian War that devastated ancient Greece, the historian Thucydides explained: “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable.” Over the past 500 years, these conditions have occurred sixteen times. Yet, stressing that war is not inevitable, Allison also reveals how clashing powers have kept the peace in the past — and what painful steps the United States and China must take to avoid disaster today. In Destined for War, Allison lays out one of the defining challenges of our time—managing the critical relationship between China and the United States.”—Joe Biden, former vice president of the United States. “Can the United States avoid confrontation with China? If Graham Allison is right—and I think he is—China and the United States must heed the lessons in this superb study in order to build a strategic relationship that avoids a war which neither side would win.”—General (Ret.). I can only hope that all senior policy experts read this timely book to prevent our country from falling into the trap Professor Allison so ably warns us against.”—Christopher Reich, best-selling author of Invasion of Privacy , The Patriots Club , and Numbered Account “Do China and America want war? GRAHAM ALLISON is director of Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the best-selling author of LeeKuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World ; Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe ; and Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Allison primarily frames the USA vs. China rivalry in the well-known paradigm of superpower rivalries going back to Athens vs. Sparta, Britain vs. {every European Empire + Russia + Japan + USA}, and finally the USA vs. the Soviet Union. The implication is that we should not allow ourselves to be drawn into war with China over petty incidents that are vital to China’s prestige, but not to ours. The USA and China have historically been in alliance against other expansionist powers, especially during WWII when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor after we demanded that the Japanese withdraw from their brutal conquest of China. Nevertheless, the possibility of war between the USA and China cannot be ignored. Allison outlines the scenarios of possible USA / China war: a conflict in the high seas around China that China claims as sovereign territory; a conflict over the trade imbalance; a declaration of independence by Taiwan; and of course a renewal of the conflict in Korea that could accidentally involve both the USA and China in a war neither wants. Allison makes no bones about China’s intentions: =====. China is ready to use the carrots and sticks of its economic power— buying, selling, sanctioning, investing, bribing, and stealing as needed until they fall into line....China enjoys such superiority in its balance of economic power that many other states have no realistic option but to comply with its wishes, even when the international system is on their side....The fact is that China’s economic network is spreading across the globe, altering the international balance of power in a way that causes even longtime US allies in Asia to tilt from the US toward China. =====. I thus learned more than I expected from the book. I would also recommend another book as a companion to this one, that portrays the USA / China relationship in more historical depth, and with a more positive spin: THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY (the USA is called "the beautiful country" by Chinese) AND THE MIDDLE KINGDOM (China) BY John Pomfret. My takeaway from both is: “We can manage our relations to China constructively so as to have a fascinating and prosperous future of mutual benefit to us ad all humanity; but only so long as we are very careful not to disrespect each other, underestimate each other, or do something stupid that will provoke a war, that does not need to be fought.”. Of course that idea is self-evident, but the books delve into the specific details of policy on HOW the vision of cordial relations and mutual prosperity between the USA and China can be achieved by both nations."
"It has fought in Korea and Vietnam and protected Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, and the sea lanes in the region. Allison picks sixteen similar examples of great power conflicts over the last 500 years, only four ended peacefully. America started to apply the Monroe Doctrine and regarded the Western Hemisphere as its backyard. Teddy Roosevelt made it clear to the Europeans that the US would not tolerate interference in the Americas and it would fight to protect its interests. Foreign policy experts such as Ian Bremmer and Robert Kaplan have advised appeasement and suggested that we should terminate our obligations to Taiwan and Japan. He calls this “offensive realism.” The neo-cons who worked for the first President Bush wanted the US to become a global hegemon and they created the Wolfowitz Doctrine, which Allison does not mention. Allison believes that both America and China assume that they are special and inherently superior to other nations. China has made it clear it does not want be part of a world order dominated by the US and its liberal democratic values. Allison believes that there will soon come a time when the US would probably lose a military confrontation in the South China Sea. Some of Allison’s chosen historical lessons were not particularly relevant to the coming conflict with China and I often disagreed with his analysis. Germany’s decision to go to war in 1914 was mainly about its rivalry with Russia and maintaining hegemony over the European mainland, something Britain never had any interest in. Allison's list of key players in 1914 (e.g., Churchill, Edward VII, Bethmann Hollweg, and the Kaiser) is also wide of the mark. On the British side, Sir Edward Grey (Foreign Secretary) and David Lloyd George ultimately called the shots."
"Today, as an unstoppable China approaches an immovable America and both Xi Jinping and Donald Trump promise to make their countries “great again,” the seventeenth case looks grim. Moreover, its economic growth will soon allow it to outstrip the US in terms of GDP (even though is has surpassed the United States already if we use an alternative measure—PPP (Purchasing Power Parity; see https://www.investopedia.com/updates/purchasing-power-parity-ppp/)."
Best Political Freedom
Her home on the border with China gave her some exposure to the world beyond the confines of the Hermit Kingdom and, as the famine of the 1990s struck, she began to wonder, question and to realise that she had been brainwashed her entire life. ‘Hyeonseo Lee brought the human consequences of global inaction on North Korea to the world's doorstep … Against all odds she escaped, survived, and had the courage to speak out’ Samantha Power, U.S. representative to the U.N. Recently graduated from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, she has become a regular speaker on the international stage fostering human rights and awareness of the plight of North Koreans.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Being so close to the border they could also get Chinese cell phone service and calls could be made to North Korea using Chinese cells. She withstood an interrogation by the Chinese police and was able to convince them she was Chinese due to her ability to speak Mandarin and her mastery of Chinese Characters, which she attributes to her father pushing her to study while she was in school. She has dangerous interactions with gangs, which she survives, was assaulted badly by an unknown assailant with a 1 liter beer bottle, an incident that did put her in the hospital and other adventures. They chose Laos, a backwater whose insufferable bureaucracy and corrupt civil service made things hard."
"The book is divided into parts, describing the author's life in North Korea, then her life in China (an entire decade), escape to South Korea, and finally, the ordeal of getting her mother and brother out of North Korea. In China, she makes a life and barely avoids deportation, being captured by human traffickers, and an arranged marriage to a complete zero."
"Few people that live outside North Korea (myself included) can fully understand the brutal horror that is a daily reality for the average people who are enslaved there."
"[1] The author’s life in North Korea. While the book gives the reader a basic idea of what life is like living in North Korea, it was the author’s determination, perseverance and resourcefulness that leaps off the pages and impresses the reader the most."
"This is the second novel I have had the privilege of reading of a young person making incredible decisions to try and better their lives."
Best Globalization
#1 New York Times Bestseller • Los Angeles Times Bestseller. One of The Wall Street Journal 's 10. Books to Read Now • One of Kirkus Reviews 's. Best Nonfiction Books of the Year • One of Publishers Weekly 's Most Anticipated Books of the Year. Shortlisted for the OWL Business Book Award and Longlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award. His thesis: to understand the twenty-first century, you need to understand that the planet’s three largest forces—Moore’s law (technology), the Market (globalization), and Mother Nature (climate change and biodiversity loss)—are accelerating all at once. After your session with Dr. Friedman, you have a much better idea of the forces that are upending your world, how they work together―and what people, companies and governments can do to prosper. You do have a coherent narrative―an honest, cohesive explanation for why the world is the way it is, without miracle cures or scapegoats. In a country torn by a divisive election, technological change and globalization, reconstructing social ties so that people feel respected and welcomed is more important than ever . Rather than build walls, [healthy communities] face their problems and solve them. in some senses Thank You For Being Late is an extension of [Friedman's] previous works, woven in with wonderful personal stories (including admirably honest discussions about the nature of being a columnist). What gives Friedman’s book a new twist is his belief that upheaval in 2016 is actually far more dramatic than earlier phases . Friedman also argues that Americans need to discover their sense of 'community,' and uses his home town of Minneapolis to demonstrate this. In two of the most engaging chapters, the author returns to the town and explains how it has created a relatively inclusive, harmonious and pragmatic style of government . And it injects a badly needed dose of optimism into the modern debate." His main piece of advice for individuals, corporations, and countries is clear: Take a deep breath and adapt. ―David Henkin, The Washington Post "[Friedman's] latest engrossingly descriptive analysis of epic trends and their consequences . Friedman offers tonic suggestions for fostering 'moral innovation' and a commitment to the common good in this detailed and clarion inquiry, which, like washing dirty windows, allows us to see far more clearly what we’ve been looking at all along . "The three-time Pulitzer winner puts his familiar methodology―extensive travel, thorough reporting, interviews with the high-placed movers and shakers, conversations with the lowly moved and shaken―to especially good use here . Thomas L. Friedman is a three-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for his work with The New York Times and the author of several bestselling books, including The World Is Flat .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"He argues further that the pace of change (speed) as well as the rate of change (exponential) are exceeding in many cases, the capacity of individuals and societies to adapt to change, while politicians--glued to their own narrow ideologies and even narrower political bases--provide only simplistic, quixotic and ultimately futile responses."
"Tom Friedman has always been a reliable reporter of global trends and this book reiterates some of the points made in “That Use To Be Us.“ Average is no longer sufficient, there are a million people on the earth that can do your job and, therefore, success will depend on engaging in e a lifelong learning process. Mr. Friedman suggests an 18 point plan that is a combination of right and left ideas e.g., eliminate the corporate tax which will eliminate corporate tax loopholes and allow corporations to repatriate offshore holdings, revisit Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley to facilitate rational risk taking, establish a Regulatory Review Commission to eliminate regulations that are strangling business development- but also, institute a single-payer health care system, expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and expand free trade while providing wage insurance for those people affected by the loss of their jobs. Ultimately, he does not solve the problem posed by John Maynard Keynes in 1928 and reiterated by many recent authors- in a consumer driven economy what do we do when artificial intelligence and robots eliminate so many jobs that people can’t afford to purchase the goods and services produced?"
"The passion Friedman has for this topic of community and his hometown jumps off the page, but he really does a disservice to his readers in the way he finishes this book. How do I think the Machine works today?"
Best Terrorism
When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held on board for nearly 24 hours while security checked all of the baggage, they were greeted with a feast prepared by the townspeople. Due to the ongoing closure of U.S. airspace, the passengers spent four days in this isolated town of 10,000 before being allowed to continue on their way. --John Moe Journalist Defede calls our attention to a sidelight of the events of September 11, when the town of Gander (pop.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"On 9/11 thousands of passengers from thirty-eight international flights were stranded in Gander, Newfoundland. Unable to get off their planes for many hours, hungry and uncomfortable and with babies crying, these people, once allowed to disembark, were welcomed with open arms and generous hearts by the citizens of Gander and surrounding towns."
"The shelf full of books for my grandkids to read and keep for their grandkids because of the tangible and intangible life stories and lessons told."
"The people of Gander and the surrounding area are wonderful and we can only hope to be as giving as they were on those days."
"This is a terrific story about the thousands of people stranded in Gander immediately after the 9/11 attacks."
"A very heart warming story and a good reminder that there are wonderful people in the world."
"I purchased this book to read in my book club."
"A FANTASTIC book about the BEST that people can be at a time when others were showing their worst!"
"The story of Gander should always be told when the story of 9/11 is told."