Decision Points (Hardcover)

Decision Points (Hardcover)
By George W. Bush

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In this candid and gripping account, President George W. Bush describes the critical decisions that shaped his presidency and personal life.

George W. Bush served as president of the United States during eight of the most consequential years in American history. The decisions that reached his desk impacted people around the world and defined the times in which we live.

Decision Points brings readers inside the Texas governor's mansion on the night of the 2000 election, aboard Air Force One during the harrowing hours after the attacks of September 11, 2001, into the Situation Room moments before the start of the war in Iraq, and behind the scenes at the White House for many other historic presidential decisions.

For the first time, we learn President Bush's perspective and insights on:

• His decision to quit drinking and the journey that led him to his Christian faith
• The selection of the vice president, secretary of defense, secretary of state, Supreme Court justices, and other key officials
• His relationships with his wife, daughters, and parents, including heartfelt letters between the president and his father on the eve of the Iraq War
• His administration's counterterrorism programs, including the CIA's enhanced interrogations and the Terrorist Surveillance Program
• Why the worst moment of the presidency was hearing accusations that race played a role in the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and a critical assessment of what he would have done differently during the crisis
• His deep concern that Iraq could turn into a defeat costlier than Vietnam, and how he decided to defy public opinion by ordering the troop surge
• His legislative achievements, including tax cuts and reforming education and Medicare, as well as his setbacks, including Social Security and immigration reform
• The relationships he forged with other world leaders, including an honest assessment of those he did and didn’t trust
• Why the failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice ranks as his biggest disappointment and why his success in denying the terrorists their fondest wish—attacking America again—is among his proudest achievements

A groundbreaking new brand of presidential memoir, Decision Points will captivate supporters, surprise critics, and change perspectives on eight remarkable years in American history—and on the man at the center of events.

Since leaving office, President George W. Bush has led the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The center includes an active policy institute working to advance initiatives in the fields of education reform, global health, economic growth, and human freedom, with a special emphasis on promoting social entrepreneurship and creating opportunities for women around the world. It will also house an official government archive and a state-of-the-art museum that will open in 2013. Read more

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Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Hardcover)

Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Hardcover)
By Robert Harris

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From the bestselling author of Pompeii comes the first volume in an exciting new trilogy set in ancient Rome — an imaginary biography of Cicero, Rome’s first and greatest politician.

Of all the great figures of Roman times, none was more fascinating or attractive than Marcus Cicero. A brilliant lawyer and orator, a famous wit and philosopher, he launched himself at the age of twenty-seven into the violent, treacherous world of Roman politics. Cicero was determined to attain imperium, the supreme power in the state. Beside him at all times in his struggle to reach the top — the office of Consul — was his confidential secretary, Tiro. An accomplished man, Tiro was the inventor of shorthand and the author of numerous books, including a famous life of Cicero, unfortunately lost in the Dark Ages.

In Imperium, Robert Harris recreates Tiro’s vanished masterpiece, recounting in vivid detail the story of Cicero’s rise to power, from radical young lawyer to first citizen of Rome, competing with men such as Pompey, Caesar, Crassus and Cato.

Harris’s Cicero is an immensely sympathetic figure. In his introduction to this imaginary memoir, Taro states: “Cicero was unique in the history of the Roman republic in that he pursued supreme power with no resources to help him apart from his own talent... All he had was his voice, and by sheer effort of will, he turned it into the most famous voice in the world.” Read more

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Stopping Radicalism: We Can Stop Jim DeMint's Crusade for Stupidity (Paperback)

Stopping Radicalism: We Can Stop Jim DeMint's Crusade for Stupidity (Paperback)
By Barrett Maners

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Stopping Radicalism: We Can Stop Jim DeMint's Crusade for Stupidity attacks the rhetoric coming from the far right-wing of the American political spectrum. The book's primary focus is on debunking the ideas of Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), especially those expressed in his 2009 book, Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America's Slide Into Socialism. DeMint's ideology is typical of followers of the "Tea Party" movement and is anchored in Christian fundamentalism, the doctrine of "American Exceptionalism," and a white-washed version of history. DeMint, who was labeled by the National Journal as the Senate's most conservative member and has been "positioning himself as the Great Awakener—a national leader of a highly decentralized tea-party movement", casts himself as a spiritual leader as much as he does a political one. He has said that "as this thing (the Tea Party movement) continues to roll you're going to see a parallel spiritual revival that goes along with it."

Stopping Radicalism analyzes the ideology and objectives of the "prophet of a coming resurgence" and exposes the flawed reasoning, misinformation, and undesirable consequences associated with them. The book provides views that run counter to the simplistic and convenient anecdotes that are often used by leaders of the far right. Beginning with a criticism of the worldview advocated by many fundamentalist Christians and a truthful version of America's history, Stopping Radicalism brings to light some of the biggest social and political issues that are currently being faced by Americans and explains how the ideas promoted by people like Jim DeMint and his comrades are the causes of many of our problems, not the solutions. Read more

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Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class (Hardcover)

Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class (Hardcover)
By Jacob S. Hacker

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A groundbreaking work that identifies the real culprit behind one of the great economic crimes of our time— the growing inequality of incomes between the vast majority of Americans and the richest of the rich. We all know that the very rich have gotten a lot richer these past few decades while most Americans haven’t. In fact, the exorbitantly paid have continued to thrive during the current economic crisis, even as the rest of Americans have continued to fall behind. Why do the “haveit- alls” have so much more? And how have they managed to restructure the economy to reap the lion’s share of the gains and shift the costs of their new economic playground downward, tearing new holes in the safety net and saddling all of us with increased debt and risk? Lots of so-called experts claim to have solved this great mystery, but no one has really gotten to the bottom of it—until now. In their lively and provocative Winner-Take-All Politics, renowned political scientists Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson demonstrate convincingly that the usual suspects—foreign trade and financial globalization, technological changes in the workplace, increased education at the top—are largely innocent of the charges against them. Instead, they indict an unlikely suspect and take us on an entertaining tour of the mountain of evidence against the culprit. The guilty party is American politics. Runaway inequality and the present economic crisis reflect what government has done to aid the rich and what it has not done to safeguard the interests of the middle class. The winner-take-all economy is primarily a result of winner-take-all politics. In an innovative historical departure, Hacker and Pierson trace the rise of the winner-take-all economy back to the late 1970s when, under a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress, a major transformation of American politics occurred. With big business and conservative ideologues organizing themselves to undo the regulations and progressive tax policies that had helped ensure a fair distribution of economic rewards, deregulation got under way, taxes were cut for the wealthiest, and business decisively defeated labor in Washington. And this transformation continued under Reagan and the Bushes as well as under Clinton, with both parties catering to the interests of those at the very top. Hacker and Pierson’s gripping narration of the epic battles waged during President Obama’s first two years in office reveals an unpleasant but catalyzing truth: winner-take-all politics, while under challenge, is still very much with us. Winner-Take-All Politics—part revelatory history, part political analysis, part intellectual journey— shows how a political system that traditionally has been responsive to the interests of the middle class has been hijacked by the superrich. In doing so, it not only changes how we think about American politics, but also points the way to rebuilding a democracy that serves the interests of the many rather than just those of the wealthy few. Read more

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From The Pea Patch (Paperback)

From The Pea Patch (Paperback)
By L. J. Martin

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A country boy's look at what's happening in and to America...and what to do about it. L. J. Martin is the author of over 20 novels and 3 non-fiction works. Before becoming a writer, as a R.E. broker he sold farms, ranches, and development properties all over the west. He and his wife, NYT best-selling novelist Kat Martin, live in Montana and winter in California. Read more

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The Communist Manifesto (the original definitive English edition) (Paperback)

The Communist Manifesto (the original definitive English edition) (Paperback)
By Friedrich Engels

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THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO is one of the world's most influential political books even to this day, and continues to shape our hopes and our ideals. The manifesto suggested a course of action for creating an equal and classless society. This work has stood the test of time and is today as popular as ever among intellectual readers and thinkers interested in the improvement of the common working person's lot in life. A must-have political masterpiece."A spectre is haunting Europe," Karl Marx and Frederic Engels wrote in 1848, "the spectre of Communism." This new edition of The Communist Manifesto, commemorating the 150th anniversary of its publication, includes an introduction by renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm which reminds us of the document's continued relevance. Marx and Engels's critique of capitalism and its deleterious effect on all aspects of life, from the increasing rift between the classes to the destruction of the nuclear family, has proven remarkably prescient. Their spectre, manifested in the Manifesto's vivid prose, continues to haunt the capitalist world, lingering as a ghostly apparition even after the collapse of those governments which claimed to be enacting its principles. Read more

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The Economist - US Edition (Kindle Edition)

The Economist - US Edition (Kindle Edition)
By The Economist

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The color Kindle edition of The Economist - US Edition is now available on the Kindle Reading App for your Android device. Download issues at no extra cost from Archived Items.

The Economist is the premier source for the analysis of world business and current affairs, providing authoritative insight and opinion on international news, world politics, business, finance, science and technology, as well as overviews of cultural trends and regular Special reports on industries and countries.

Established in 1843 to campaign against the protectionist corn laws, The Economist remains, in the second half of its second century, true to the liberal principles of its founder. James Wilson, a hat maker from the small Scottish town of Hawick, believed in free trade, internationalism and minimum interference by government, especially in the affairs of the market. The Economist also takes a fiercely independent stance on social issues, from gay marriage to the legalisation of drugs, but its main service to its readers is as a global newspaper: To uncover new ideas from all around the world.

The Kindle Edition of The Economist contains all of the articles and graphics found in the print edition, but will not include all photos. For your convenience, issues are auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle each Friday at the same time the print edition hits the newsstand.

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