In a sweeping narrative about the people and the politics behind the
budget, Wessel looks at the 2011 fiscal year (which ended September 30)
to see where all the money was actually spent, and why the budget
process has grown wildly out of control. Through the eyes of key
people--Jacob Lew, White House director of the Office of Management and
Budget; Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office;
Blackstone founder and former Commerce Secretary Pete Peterson; and
more--Wessel gives readers an inside look at the making of our
unsustainable budget.
In this powerful and culminating work about a group of inner-city
children he has known for many years, Jonathan Kozol returns to the
scene of his prize-winning books
,
and to the children he has vividly portrayed, to share with us their
fascinating journeys and unexpected victories as they grow into
adulthood.
For nearly fifty years Jonathan has pricked the conscience of his
readers by laying bare the savage inequalities inflicted upon children
for no reason but the accident of being born to poverty within a wealthy
nation. A winner of the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Book
Award, and countless other honors, he has persistently crossed the
lines of class and race, first as a teacher, then as the author of
tender and heart-breaking books about the children he has called “the
outcasts of our nation’s ingenuity.” But Jonathan is not a distant and
detached reporter. His own life has been radically transformed by the
children who have trusted and befriended him.
Never has this intimate acquaintance with his subjects been more apparent, or more stirring, than in
,
as Jonathan tells the stories of young men and women who have come of
age in one of the most destitute communities of the United States. Some
of them never do recover from the battering they undergo in their early
years, but many more battle back with fierce and, often, jubilant
determination to overcome the formidable obstacles they face. As we
watch these glorious children grow into the fullness of a healthy and
contributive maturity, they ignite a flame of hope, not only for
themselves, but for our society.
The urgent issues that
confront our urban schools – a devastating race-gap, a pathological
regime of obsessive testing and drilling students for exams instead of
giving them the rich curriculum that excites a love of learning – are
interwoven through these stories. Why certain children rise above it
all, graduate from high school and do well in college, while others are
defeated by the time they enter adolescence, lies at the essence of this
work.
Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in December
2001, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke to a world
still reeling from the terrorist attacks of September 11. “Ladies and
Gentlemen,” proclaimed Annan, “we have entered the third millennium
through a gate of fire. If today, after the horror of 11 September, we
see better, and we see further—we will realize that humanity is
indivisible. New threats make no distinction between races, nations, or
regions.” Yet within only a few years the world was more divided than
ever—polarized by the American invasion of Iraq, the Arab-Israeli
conflict, the escalating civil wars in Africa, and the rising influence
of China.
Interventions: A Life in War and Peace is the story of
Annan’s remarkable time at the center of the world stage. After forty
years of service at the United Nations, Annan shares here his unique
experiences during the terrorist attacks of September 11; the American
invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan; the war between Israel, Hizbollah,
and Lebanon; the brutal conflicts of Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia; and
the geopolitical transformations following the end of the Cold War. With
eloquence and unprecedented candor,
Interventions finally reveals Annan’s unique role and unparalleled perspective on decades of global politics.
The first sub-Saharan African to hold the position of
Secretary-General, Annan has led an extraordinary life in his own right.
His idealism and personal politics were forged in the Ghanaian
independence movement of his adolescence, when all of Africa seemed to
be rising as one to demand self-determination. Schooled in Africa,
Europe, and the United States, Annan ultimately joined the United
Nations in Geneva at the lowest professional level in the still young
organization. Annan rose rapidly through the ranks and was by the end of
the Cold War prominently placed in the dramatically changing department
of peacekeeping operations. His stories of Presidents Clinton and Bush,
dictators like Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe, and public figures of
all stripes contrast powerfully with Annan’s descriptions of the courage
and decency of ordinary people everywhere struggling for a new and
better world.
Showing the successes of the United Nations, Annan also reveals the
organization’s missed opportunities and ongoing challenges—inaction in
the Rwanda genocide, continuing violence between Israelis and
Palestinians, and the endurance of endemic poverty. Yet Annan’s great
strength in this book is his ability to embed these tragedies within the
context of global politics, demonstrating how, time and again, the
nations of the world have retreated from the UN’s founding purpose. From
the pinnacle of global politics, Annan made it his purpose to put the
individual at the center of every mission for peace and prosperity.
A personal biography of global statecraft, Annan’s
Interventions is as much a memoir as a guide to world order—past, present, and future.
Published in 1957,
Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's greatest
achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatizes her
unique philosophy through an intellectual mystery story that integrates
ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics, and sex.
Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a
result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and
industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human
life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the
great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for
his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the
woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker
in her train tunnels.
Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with
towering questions of good and evil,
Atlas Shrugged is a
philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.
Colorado senator Morgan Carroll brings us
an inside look at how state legislatures really work and how ordinary
citizens can make and change law and policy in their state and become
their own lobbyists. This hands-on guide includes practical tips, form
letters, documents, checklists, online content, and resources to empower
all citizens to help make government work for them.
Take Back Your Government
is an accessible book that can teach anyone how to be an effective
advocate and a better-informed citizen and will give readers the ability
to push back the influence of paid lobbyists. This book will appeal to
people of all political persuasions.
Morgan Carroll is a Colorado state senator whose own civic
activism launched her ultimate decision to run for office. She is the
Colorado majority caucus chair, the chair of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, and a practicing attorney. Carroll has served in the Colorado
legislature since 2005, and she has conducted hundreds of town hall
meetings and community seminars teaching ordinary citizens how to make
and change laws.
The
New York Times Magazine's original "Ethicist" Randy Cohen
helps readers locate their own internal ethical compasses as he delivers
answers to life's most challenging dilemmas—timeless and contemporary
alike. Organized thematically in an easy-to-navigate Q&A format, and
featuring line illustrations throughout, this amusing and engaging book
challenges readers to think about how they would (or should) respond
when faced with everyday moral challenges, from sex and love to
religion, technology, and much more. Sure to ignite brain cells and
spark healthy debate,
Be Good is a book to refer to again and again.
