Book picks similar to
The Good Fight: Declare Your Independence and Close the Democracy Gap by Ralph Nader
politics
non-fiction
history
political
The Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America's Politics and Culture
Brink Lindsey - 2007
From slavery to the New Deal, political parties organized around economic interests and engaged in fervent debate over the best allocation of agonizingly scarce resources. But with the explosion of the nation's economy in the years after World War II, a new set of needs began to emerge—a search for meaning and self-expression on one side, and a quest for stability and a return to traditional values on the other.In The Age of Abundance, Brink Lindsey offers a bold reinterpretation of the latter half of the twentieth century. In this sweeping history of postwar America, the tumult of racial and gender politics, the rise of the counterculture, and the conservative revolution of the 1980s and 1990s are portrayed in an entirely new light. Readers will learn how and why the contemporary ideologies of left and right emerged in response to the novel challenges of mass prosperity.The political ideas that created the culture wars, however, have now grown obsolete. As the Washington Post aptly summarized Lindsey's take on the contradictions of American politics, "Republicans want to go home to the United States of the 1950s while Democrats want to work there." Struggling to replace today's stale conflicts is a new consensus that mixes the social freedom of the left with the economic freedom of the right into a potentially powerful ethos of libertarianism. The Age of Abundance reveals the secret formula of this remarkable alchemy. The book is a breathtaking reevaluation of our recent past—and will change the way we think about the future.
The Nature and Logic of Capitalism
Robert L. Heilbroner - 1985
By the end of this tour we have grappled not only with ideas of Adam Smith and Karl Marx but with Freud and modern anthropologists as well. And we are far closer to understanding capitalism in our time, its possibilities and limits.
The Untold History of The United States
Oliver Stone - 2012
Most are loathe to admit that the United States has any imperial pretensions. But history tells a different story as filmmaker Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick reveal in this riveting account of the rise and decline of the American empire.Aided by the latest archival findings and recently declassified documents and building on the research of the world’s best scholars, Stone and Kuznick construct an often shocking but meticulously documented “People’s History of the American Empire” that offers startling context to the Bush-Cheney policies that put us at war in two Muslim countries and show us why the Obama administration has had such a difficult time cleaving a new path.Stone and Kuznick will introduce readers to a pantheon of heroes and villains as they show not only how far the United States has drifted from its democratic traditions, but the powerful forces that have struggled to get us back on track.The authors reveal that:· The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were militarily unnecessary and morally indefensible.· The United States, not the Soviet Union, bore the lion’s share of responsibility for perpetuating the Cold War.· The U.S. love affair with right-wing dictators has gone as far as overthrowing elected leaders, arming and training murderous military officers, and forcing millions of people into poverty.· U.S.-funded Islamist fundamentalists, who fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan, have blown back to threaten the interests of the U.S. and its allies.· U.S. presidents, especially in wartime, have frequently trampled on the constitution and international law.· The United States has brandished nuclear threats repeatedly and come terrifyingly close to nuclear war.American leaders often believe they are unbound by history, yet Stone and Kuznick argue that we must face our troubling history honestly and forthrightly in order to set a new course for the twenty-first century. Their conclusions will challenge even experts, but there is one question only readers can answer: Is it too late for America to change?
The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise
Joe Scarborough - 2009
Delivering a searing indictment of the political leaders who have led us astray, Scarborough inspires conservatives to reclaim their heritage by drawing upon the strength of the movement’s rich history.With independent thinking and straight talk, Scarborough explains:• How Washington and Wall Street conspired to create the housing bubble that caused America’s financial meltdown• How the “candidate of change” has not only maintained but accelerated the reckless spending policies that led us to this historic economic collapse• How Washington’s bailout culture will cripple America’s future if left unchecked• How Barack Obama’s stimulus plan devolved into a socialist spending spree that would make FDR and LBJ shudder• And how conservatives need to take a closer look at Ronald Reagan’s political career before claiming his great legacyA fearlessly argued conservative manifesto that brings American conservatism into the twenty-first century, The Last Best Hope is a must-read for all who care about the direction America is heading.
The Myth of America's Decline: Politics, Economics, and a Half Century of False Prophecies
Josef Joffe - 2013
A provocative and contrarian work—filled with great lessons from history—that challenges the pervasive notion that America is on the decline.
Hard America, Soft America: Competition Vs. Coddling and the Battle for the Nation's Future
Michael Barone - 2004
Indeed, American students lag behind their peers in other nations, but America remains on the leading edge economically, scientifically, technologically, and militarily. The reason for this paradox, explains Barone in this brilliant essay, is that “from ages six to eighteen Americans live mostly in what I call Soft America—the parts of our country where there is little competition and accountability. But from ages eighteen to thirty Americans live mostly in Hard America—the parts of American life subject to competition and accountability.” While Soft America coddles, Hard America plays for keeps. Educators, for example, protect children from the rigors of testing, ban dodgeball, and promote just about any student who shows up. But most adults quickly figure out that how they do depends on what they produce. Barone sweeps readers along, showing how we came to the current divide—for things weren’t always this way. In fact, no part of our society is all Hard or all Soft, and the boundary between Hard America and Soft America often moves back and forth. Barone also shows where America is headed—or should be headed. We don’t want to subject kindergartners to the rigors of the Marine Corps or leave old people uncared for. But Soft America lives off the productivity, creativity, and competence of Hard America, and we have the luxury of keeping part of our society Soft only if we keep most of it Hard.Hard America, Soft America reveals: • How the American situation is unique: In Europe, schooling is competitive and demanding, but adult life is Soft, with generous welfare benefits, short work hours, long vacations, and state pensions• How the American military has reclaimed the Hard goals and programs it abandoned in the Vietnam era• How Hardness drives America’s economy—an economy that businesses and economists nearly destroyed in the 1970s by spurning competition • How America’s schools have failed because they are bastions of Softness—but how they are finally showing signs of Hardening• The benefits of Softness: How government programs like Social Security were necessary in what was a harsh and unforgiving America• Hard America, Soft America is a stunningly original and provocative work of social commentary from one of this country’s most respected political analysts.From the Hardcover edition.
Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy
Andy Ngo - 2021
But those who'd been following Ngo's reporting in outlets like the New York Post and Quillette knew that the attack was only the latest in a long line of crimes perpetrated by Antifa. In Unmasked, Andy Ngo tells the story of this violent extremist movement from the very beginning. He includes interviews with former followers of the group, people who've been attacked by them, and incorporates stories from his own life. This book contains a trove of documents obtained by the author, published for the first time ever.
The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror
George Soros - 2006
As a survivor of the Holocaust and a life-long proponent of free expression, Soros understands the meaning of freedom. And yet his differences with George Bush, another proponent of freedom, are profound. In this powerful essay Soros spells out his views and how they differ from the president's. He reflects on why the Democrats may have lost the high ground on these values issues and how they might reclaim it. As he has in his recent books, On Globalization and The Bubble of American Supremacy , Soros uses facts, anecdotes, personal experience and philosophy to illuminate a major topic in a way that both enlightens and inspires.
The Economics of Discontent: From Failing Elites to The Rise of Populism
Jean-Michel Paul - 2019
Houses, health care and higher education have become unaffordable to a majority of people, while the burden of unregulated monopolies, globalization and uncontrolled immigration has fallen disproportionately on the lower and middle classes. Wrapped in political correctness, an increasingly out of touch Western elite continues catering to special interests and fails to grasp the urgency for change. Populist movements harnessing public anger appear unable to propose and implement effective solutions. The last financial crisis was bad enough. But the next crisis will spread deeper and wider. And yet we stand economically, politically and most of all intellectually unprepared. This book is the story of how we have arrived at the brink of disaster and how we can move away from the win-lose policies of recent decades to restore much-needed balance.
God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of 'Academic Freedom'
William F. Buckley Jr. - 1951
This book rocked the academic world and catapulted its young author, William F. Buckley Jr., into the public spotlight.
Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda
Ezra Levin - 2017
A practical guide for resisting the Trump agendaFormer congressional staffers reveal best practices for making Congress listen.
Party Politics in America
Marjorie Randon Hershey - 1976
It covers the historic 2008 Presidential campaign and election while looking ahead to assess what the shifting political winds have in store for the future of the major political parties and Americans' political views.
The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
Andrew J. Bacevich - 2008
involvement in endless wars, driven by a deep infatuation with military power, has been a catastrophe for the body politic. These pressing problems threaten all of us, Republicans and Democrats. If the nation is to solve its predicament, it will need the revival of a distinctly American approach: the neglected tradition of realism.Andrew J. Bacevich, uniquely respected across the political spectrum, offers a historical perspective on the illusions that have governed American policy since 1945. The realism he proposes includes respect for power and its limits; sensitivity to unintended consequences; aversion to claims of exceptionalism; skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving force; and a conviction that the books will have to balance. Only a return to such principles, Bacevich argues, can provide common ground for fixing America’s urgent problems before the damage becomes irreparable.
The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy
T.R. Reid - 2004
It eschews military force but offers guaranteed health care and free university educations. And the new “United States of Europe” is determined to be a superpower. Tracing the EU’s emergence from the ruins of World War II and its influence everywhere from international courts to supermarket shelves, T. R. Reid explores the challenge it poses to American political and economic supremacy. The United States of Europe is essential reading.
Follow the Money: The Shocking Deep State Connections of the Anti-Trump Cabal
Dan Bongino - 2020
Starting with the Trump impeachment hearings, Bongino works forward and backward to piece together the connections of a vast, well-funded cabal of wealthy Democrats and D.C. swamp elite to the non-stop deluge of manufactured scandals launched specifically to attack, destabilize, and ultimately remove Trump and his administration. Zooming in on Ukraine, Bongino unspools a complex sequence of corruption—from the miraculous “discovery” of a mysterious black ledger that linked financial transactions to Trump campaign insider Paul Manafort and cast a shadow over the entire Trump team, to Joe Biden’s unexamined quid pro quo interference with Kyiv politics as he threatened to withhold a loan unless a prosecutor was removed from office. The former Secret Service agent exposes how Glenn Simpson, the corrupt cheerleader behind the lie-filled Steele dossier, wrangled millions from top Democrat donor George Soros to meddle in Ukraine politics. Bongino also reveals Soros’s desperate multimillion-dollar plan to stop Trump’s re-election. Using FBI documents, Bongino reveals the outrageous actions of Robert Mueller’s investigators, who sat on evidence that proved the supposedly damning Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and senior campaign officials was nothing more than a twenty-minute waste of time for all involved. Other chapters delve into the disturbing presence of Obama’s fixer, obstruction angel Kathryn “Kathy” Ruemmler, who represents a rogues gallery of Russiagate political operatives; the FBI’s inside source on the National Security Council, Anthony Ferrante, who dedicated himself to the fruitless task of trying to prove the Steele dossier was legitimate; and “Special Agent 1” Stephen M. Somma’s curious obsession with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, which was stoked by a Flynn-fixated paid operative named Stefan Halper. Flynn is the centerpiece of one of the book’s most revealing chapters, in which Bongino deconstructs the FBI’s elaborate takedown of Trump’s National Security Advisor, revealing how and why the three-star general was set up not once…but three times. Bongino also returns to the last, desperate attempt to derail Trump—the impeachment trial—and uncovers Adam Schiff’s lies and the Ukraine-call whistleblower’s multiple secret ties to never-Trumpers and Schiff himself. In the final chapter, Bongino unveils the newest front to stop Trump: the unleashing of COVID-19 from China and how the disease mutated from a killer plague in Wuhan to a weapon to destroy America’s economy and, with it, Trump’s re-election chances. Follow the Money displays dizzying detective work from a truly relentless, passionate, and patriotic reporter. An astonishing chronicle of the relentless war to destroy Donald Trump and his administration, this exposé is a must-read for anyone who wants to unravel the most shocking and corrupt campaign to unseat a sitting president in American history.