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."
But for the first time in this memoir, an active Muslim American federal agent reveals his experience infiltrating and bringing down a terror cell in North America. Elnoury worked in more than 2,500 narcotics investigations as well as political corruption, gun trafficking, and child abuse cases. In 2008, Elnoury began working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In American Radical, Tamer Elnoury, (not his real name), shows us how he grew from a rank amateur at undercover police work, to highly skilled professional. These few pages are of critical value to understanding him and how his family is so very similar to any other American citizen. With many books, but none more so than American Radical, the greatest importance and value comes through listening to the unabridged version of a great book. Comments regarding your opinion of this book or of my review, whether favorable or unfavorable, are always welcome. If you buy the book based on my review and become disappointed, especially, I do want to know that and I want to understand how I can improve as a book reviewer."
"AMERICAN RADICAL is the story of a patriotic Muslim recruited by the F.B.I to penetrate terrorist groups. Of course, the author did not just pretend to be Muslim--he really is a devout believer, and hates the notion that radicals are bringing disgrace to his religion. Describing the moment the SWAT team stormed the building, the author recalls: "My eyeballs went to Black’s hands and waist."
"I think what is a bit disappointing is that there are apparently so few UC Agents trained up and working after being at war for over 16 years, as Tamer and a few others seemed to ride a circuit of CT cases and a slip up in your legend could be fatal."
"From the stress and hiding to find these sick individuals can not be easy though tamer makes it like a walk in the park."
"I can't say enough good about this book."
"This is a can't put down, need to read the next chapter book."
"Great non fiction book and the way the future will be which is very very bleak but true and worth very much reading as it makes u understand the reasons, which when reading makes one think and see that it is so true Great writer -. Recommend reading it very much."
"More false information about Islam."
In a thrilling dramatic narrative, awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents. In Black Flags, an unprecedented character-driven account of the rise of ISIS, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick shows how the zeal of this one man and the strategic mistakes of Presidents Bush and Obama led to the banner of ISIS being raised over huge swaths of Syria and Iraq. “Gripping … Mr. Warrick has a gift for constructing narratives with a novelistic energy and detail, and in this volume, he creates the most revealing portrait yet laid out in a book of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the founding father of the organization that would become the Islamic State … For readers interested in the roots of the Islamic State and the evil genius of its godfather, there is no better book to begin with than Black Flags .” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “Warrick charts Zarqawi’s rise from booze-swilling Jordanian street tough to one of the most brutal jihadists in the world. “A revealing, riveting and exquisitely detailed account of the life and death of Zarqawi, the improbable terrorist mastermind, and the rise of the movement now known as the Islamic State (also known as ISIS).” — San Francisco Chronicle. Black Flags is an invaluable guide to an unfolding tragedy that must be understood before it can be ended.” —Lawrence Wright, author of Thirteen Days in September and The Looming Tower “Joby Warrick is one of America's leading national security reporters, so it's no surprise that Black Flags is the most deeply reported and well-written account we have about ISIS and its terrorist army.” —Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad “Joby Warrick weaves Black Flags with the tradecraft of a spy, the mind of an investigative reporter, and the pen of a novelist. We should all thank Warrick for telling a hard truth the government will not want to hear: how U.S. policies helped give birth to the so-called Islamic State.” —Dana Priest, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter and author of Top Secret America “Drawing on his unrivaled sources and access, Joby Warrick has written a profoundly important and groundbreaking book, one that reads like a novel, riveting from the first page to the last. No book better explains the miscalculations, wrong turns, and bad luck that led to the rise of ISIS.” —Rick Atkinson, author of The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 “[A] crisply written, chilling account … Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Warrick confidently weaves a cohesive narrative from an array of players—American officials, CIA officers, Jordanian royalty and security operatives, religious figures, and terrorists—producing an important geopolitical overview with the grisly punch of true-crime nonfiction … The author focuses on dramatic flashpoints and the roles of key players, creating an exciting tale with a rueful tone, emphasizing how the Iraq invasion's folly birthed ISIS and created many missed opportunities to stop al-Zarqawi quickly.” — Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) “Joby Warrick has written a penetrating and fascinating look at the birth and evolution of the world’s most violent terrorist network, ISIS, or ISIL. He has twice won the Pulitzer Prize, for journalism and for his book Black Flags: The Rise of Isis .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Another central character is King Abdullah II of Jordan, a leader I really admire in the fight against the extremists. I know a lot of people want to play a big blame game with the group, but really there is more than enough of that to go around, and the book doesn't shy away from it, but I felt like it was ultimately a very fair telling of where ISIL came from, and how they remain a threat today. Little side note: I could not help but trip a bit at a small bombshell about 3/4 of the way through the book, when it mentioned King Abdullah II talking with a gulf state counterpart that admitted agreeing with the ideology of the group and to having funded them!"
"We see how CIA works and how their information gathering network works, how politicians skew the fact to promote their personal agenda, how complicated to invade a country without thorough follow up plan , how angry and dissatisfied radicals in every place can be weaponized, how intricate and difficult foreign policy or strategy can be in the countries full of tribe , religious and violent conflicts."
"Book has 2 parts focusing on 2 psychotic leaders of the ISIS insurgency - - Abu Musab Zarqawi in Iraq and Abu Bakr Baghdadi when ISIS expanded into Syria. Mistakes -. --World's deadliest and psychotic terrorist--Abu Zarqawi-- walked free, mistakenly, through the gates of Jordanian prison as part of amnesty program. To add to the mix, Basher Al-Assad, a western educated, moderate Muslim confounded many by forcefully standing up against the Arab spring rebels who were simply demanding better jobs, change of few government leaders and better educations."
"It reads like a novel, but sadly recounts the rise of a cult created from the mind of a poorly educated and initially a mostly non religious man who used Islam to create the excuses for self aggrandizing power."
Best Iraq History
In a thrilling dramatic narrative, awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents. In Black Flags, an unprecedented character-driven account of the rise of ISIS, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick shows how the zeal of this one man and the strategic mistakes of Presidents Bush and Obama led to the banner of ISIS being raised over huge swaths of Syria and Iraq. “Gripping … Mr. Warrick has a gift for constructing narratives with a novelistic energy and detail, and in this volume, he creates the most revealing portrait yet laid out in a book of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the founding father of the organization that would become the Islamic State … For readers interested in the roots of the Islamic State and the evil genius of its godfather, there is no better book to begin with than Black Flags .” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “Warrick charts Zarqawi’s rise from booze-swilling Jordanian street tough to one of the most brutal jihadists in the world. “A revealing, riveting and exquisitely detailed account of the life and death of Zarqawi, the improbable terrorist mastermind, and the rise of the movement now known as the Islamic State (also known as ISIS).” — San Francisco Chronicle. "A detailed, step-by-step narrative demonstrating how repeated miscalculations by the United States, Arab leaders and al-Qaeda wound up empowering the Islamic State ... Black Flags provides answers in this still-unfolding history of what happens when religious radicals try to outdo one another for the mantle of God’s favorite." Black Flags is an invaluable guide to an unfolding tragedy that must be understood before it can be ended.” —Lawrence Wright, author of Thirteen Days in September and The Looming Tower “Joby Warrick is one of America's leading national security reporters, so it's no surprise that Black Flags is the most deeply reported and well-written account we have about ISIS and its terrorist army.” —Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad “Joby Warrick weaves Black Flags with the tradecraft of a spy, the mind of an investigative reporter, and the pen of a novelist. We should all thank Warrick for telling a hard truth the government will not want to hear: how U.S. policies helped give birth to the so-called Islamic State.” —Dana Priest, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter and author of Top Secret America “Drawing on his unrivaled sources and access, Joby Warrick has written a profoundly important and groundbreaking book, one that reads like a novel, riveting from the first page to the last. No book better explains the miscalculations, wrong turns, and bad luck that led to the rise of ISIS.” —Rick Atkinson, author of The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 “[A] crisply written, chilling account … Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Warrick confidently weaves a cohesive narrative from an array of players—American officials, CIA officers, Jordanian royalty and security operatives, religious figures, and terrorists—producing an important geopolitical overview with the grisly punch of true-crime nonfiction … The author focuses on dramatic flashpoints and the roles of key players, creating an exciting tale with a rueful tone, emphasizing how the Iraq invasion's folly birthed ISIS and created many missed opportunities to stop al-Zarqawi quickly.” — Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) “Joby Warrick has written a penetrating and fascinating look at the birth and evolution of the world’s most violent terrorist network, ISIS, or ISIL.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Another central character is King Abdullah II of Jordan, a leader I really admire in the fight against the extremists. I know a lot of people want to play a big blame game with the group, but really there is more than enough of that to go around, and the book doesn't shy away from it, but I felt like it was ultimately a very fair telling of where ISIL came from, and how they remain a threat today. Little side note: I could not help but trip a bit at a small bombshell about 3/4 of the way through the book, when it mentioned King Abdullah II talking with a gulf state counterpart that admitted agreeing with the ideology of the group and to having funded them!"
"We see how CIA works and how their information gathering network works, how politicians skew the fact to promote their personal agenda, how complicated to invade a country without thorough follow up plan , how angry and dissatisfied radicals in every place can be weaponized, how intricate and difficult foreign policy or strategy can be in the countries full of tribe , religious and violent conflicts."
"Book has 2 parts focusing on 2 psychotic leaders of the ISIS insurgency - - Abu Musab Zarqawi in Iraq and Abu Bakr Baghdadi when ISIS expanded into Syria. Mistakes -. --World's deadliest and psychotic terrorist--Abu Zarqawi-- walked free, mistakenly, through the gates of Jordanian prison as part of amnesty program. To add to the mix, Basher Al-Assad, a western educated, moderate Muslim confounded many by forcefully standing up against the Arab spring rebels who were simply demanding better jobs, change of few government leaders and better educations."
"It reads like a novel, but sadly recounts the rise of a cult created from the mind of a poorly educated and initially a mostly non religious man who used Islam to create the excuses for self aggrandizing power."
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 Central Asian History
Comprehensively and for the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll recounts the history of the covert wars in Afghanistan that fueled Islamic militancy and sowed the seeds of the September 11 attacks. Steve Coll is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars and the dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and from 2007 to 2013 was president of the New America Foundation, a public policy institute in Washington, D.C.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is the best book for understanding the roll of the CIA in Afghanistan and the war on terror."
"Great memories of times gone past when I was a soldier over the past 33 years I served faithfully in a lot of these ops."
"There were no apparent gaps in the connected dots and most connections made solid sense."
"If you have interest in covert operations and the intelligence agencies of the united States, this is an amazing book."
"Great product, would definitely recommend to others."
""Ghost Wars" is a fresh, detailed, and fascinating assessment of the United States' experience with Afghanistan from 1979 to the eve of 9/11/2001. Coll's recounting of this twenty year saga goes far to explain the roots and development of the United States's inability to deter the danger that became so graphically evident the day after this book's narrative ends. Yes, the book is detailed, but it would be a disservice to back away from the intricacies of the story -- just as it has proven to be a mistake for the United States to have backed away from the complexities of Afghanistan once the Soviets withdrew. While one might wish to disengage from such interwoven complexities, the risk of ignoring a failing state such as Afghanistan is to allow the creation of a untamed country in which an extreme regime such as the Taliban and a group as dangerous as that sponsored by Osama bin Laden can take root and thrive. I do wish that Coll had carried through with an epilogue to shed light on the events in Afghanistan of the past two to three years and the relationship of the U.S. to that sad country today. I know Coll has more to say about how the United States' response to 9/11 in Afghanistan has affected our relations with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia."
"If you want to know what really happened, you need to read this book."
"There are no 'Ghosts' to be found but a lot of hauntings as Coll brings into focus a series of turns and events in a troubled part of the world where tribal histories and passions have produced and fueled some very determined fighters."
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 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 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 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 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 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."
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 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/)."