In the panic of 1869, Cornelius Vanderbilt “appeared in the role of a hero,” Stiles writes, praised for steadying the markets with his confidence and his cash. In reality, Vanderbilt’s own machinations had helped push the markets to the brink. He gambled not only his fortune but, with it, the “health of the national economy,” and “the only thing more remarkable than his recklessness was his success.” Vanderbilt started out running a ferry off Staten Island and went on to control shipping lines and railroads; he built Grand Central with his own money. The canvas of his life is so large that giants like Jay Gould appear as bit characters. (There’s also Tennessee Claflin, a “magnetic physician” and clairvoyant turned stockbroker; Stiles thinks that she and Vanderbilt had an affair but discounts some of the more vivid stories about their relationship.) Mark Twain described Vanderbilt as something like the Grinch, the “idol of . . . a crawling swarm of small souls”—a cartoon that Stiles does a good job of redrawing.

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Richard E. Wentz - John Williamson Nevin; America n Theologian (1997).jpg

This study of the life and thought of John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886) offers a revised interpretation of an important nineteenth-century religious thinker. Along with the historian, Phillip Schaff, Nevin was a leading exponent of what became known as the Mercersburg Movement, named for the college and theological seminary of the German Reformed Church located in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. The story is a neglected aspect of American studies.

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Richard E. Wentz - John Williamson Nevin; America n Theologian (1997).pdf

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Jeff Benedict - Little Pink House; A True Story of Defiance and Courage (2009).jpg

Benedict (The Mormon Way of Doing Business) has taken a complicated court case centered on eminent domain and turned it into a page-turner with a conscience. In 1997, an EMT named Susette Kelo left her husband, bought a cottage and started over in the economically depressed Ft. Trumbull neighborhood of New London, Conn. In February 1998, the New London Development Corporation began trying to muscle the neighborhood into selling homes to make way for a Pfizer research complex. Benedict's passionate account is rife with heroes and villains—he delights in pillorying Kelo's foil, Claire Gaudiani, the president of Connecticut College who lured Pfizer to consider New London. The fight escalated when the city tried exercising eminent domain to seize the homes of Kelo and others who refused to sell, leading to the case, Kelo v. City of New London, reaching the Supreme Court in 2005. Raising important questions about the use of economic development as a justification for displacing citizens, this book will leave readers indignant and inspired.

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P. Adams Sitney - Visionary Film; The American Ava nt-garde, 1943-2000 (2002).jpg

Critics hailed previous editions of Visionary Film as the most complete work written on the exciting, often puzzling, and always controversial genre of American avant-garde film. This book has remained the standard text on American avant-garde film since the publication of its first edition in 1974. Now P. Adams Sitney has once again revised and updated this classic work, restoring a chapter on the films of Gregory J. Markopoulos and bringing his discussion of the principal genres and major filmmakers up to the year 2000.

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P. Adams Sitney - Visionary Film; The American Ava nt-garde, 1943-2000 (2002).pdf

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Anton Treuer - Living Our Language; Ojibwe Tales & Oral Histories (2001).jpg

A language carries a people's memories, whether they are recounted as individual reminiscences, as communal history, or as humorous tales. This collection of stories from Anishinaabe elders offers a history of a people at the same time that it seeks to preserve the language of that people. Based on interviews Treuer conducted with ten elders this anthol-ogy presents the elders' stories transcribed in Ojibwe with English translation on facing pages. These stories contain a wealth of information, including oral histories of the Anishinaabe people and personal reminiscences, educational tales, and humorous anecdotes. Treuer's translations of these stories preserve the speakers' personalities, allowing their voices to emerge from the page. Treuer introduces each speaker, offering a brief biography and noting important details concerning dialect or themes; he then allows the stories to speak for themselves. This dual-language text will prove instructive for those interested in Ojibwe language and culture, while the stories themselves offer the gift of a living language and the history of a people.

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Gary A. Keith - Eckhardt; There Once Was a Congres sman from Texas (2007).jpg

Renowned for his "brilliant legislative mind" and political oratory—as well as for bicycling to Congress in a rumpled white linen suit and bow tie—U.S. Congressman Bob Eckhardt was a force to reckon with in Texas and national politics from the 1940s until 1980. A liberal Democrat who successfully championed progressive causes, from workers' rights to consumer protection to environmental preservation and energy conservation, Eckhardt won the respect of opponents as well as allies. Columnist Jack Anderson praised him as one of the most effective members of Congress, where Eckhardt was a national leader and mentor to younger congressmen such as Al Gore.
In this biography of Robert Christian Eckhardt (1913-2001), Gary A. Keith tells the story of Eckhardt's colorful life and career within the context of the changing political landscape of Texas and the rise of the New Right and the two-party state. He begins with Eckhardt's German-American family heritage and then traces his progression from labor lawyer, political organizer, and cofounder of the progressive Texas Observer magazine to Texas state legislator and U.S. congressman. Keith describes many of Eckhardt's legislative battles and victories, including the passage of the Open Beaches Act and the creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve, the struggle to limit presidential war-making ability through the War Powers Act, and the hard fight to shape President Carter's energy policy, as well as Eckhardt's work in Texas to tax the oil and gas industry.
The only thorough recounting of the life of a memorable, important, and flamboyant man, Eckhardt also recalls the last great era of progressive politics in the twentieth century and the key players who strove to make Texas and the United States a more just, inclusive society.

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Gary A. Keith - Eckhardt; There Once Was a Congres sman from Texas (2007).pdf

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Greg Roensch - Furman V. Georgia; Cruel And Unusua l Punishment (2007).jpg

Furman V. Georgia: Cruel And Unusual Punishment (Great Supreme Court Decisions)
Greg Roensch (Author)

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Greg Roensch - Furman V. Georgia; Cruel And Unusua l Punishment (2007).pdf

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Tariq Ali - The Duel; Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power (2008).jpeg

A veteran journalist on Pakistan, Ali reviews the country’s six-decade political history critically, indicting the leadership class and its ties to the U.S. Viewing the country as in neocolonial thrall to U.S. strategic interests, Ali comments freely in a narrative that acquaints readers with the country’s main political events, from Pakistan’s creation in 1947 to its situation in the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007. The military being the dominant feature of Pakistani politics, Ali applies his caustic pen to descriptions of its leaders, particularly those in command during Pakistan’s 1971 debacle of losing what is now Bangladesh. As for civilian leaders such as Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his late daughter, Benazir, Ali regards them as corrupt and no more interested in, and certainly no more effective at, alleviating the appalling poverty and illiteracy in which most Pakistanis live. Imparting personal detail about his visits to Pakistan and interviews with political figures, Ali offers strongly argued opinions on the past, and his preferred future, of Pakistani politics.

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Veronica Makowsky - Susan Glaspell's Century of Am erican Women (1993).jpg

Tracing the evolution of Susan Glaspell's writing, Veronica Makowsky provides fascinating glimpses of the life of a woman who broke the barriers against female journalists, advocated socialism, struggled with the precepts of Greenwich Village free love, was one of the founders of the Provincetown Players, participated in the sessions of the feminist Heterodoxy Club, placed women's concerns on the stage as a playwright and actress, and wrote about a turbulent century of American women with courage, optimism, sensitivity, and love. This is the first full-length book about Glaspell's works, including the fiction and lifewriting that bracketed her relatively brief career as the playwright best-known for the one-act drama Trifles. Also the author of many other plays, including the Pulitzer prize-winning Alison's House, a number of collected and uncollected short stories, nine novels, and a biography of her husband the iconoclastic George Cram Cook, Glaspell was an artist of formidable, but ill-acknowledged talent. Makowsky places Glaspell's work in its biographical and cultural context, with particular attention to Glaspell's depiction of women's roles over a century of American history.

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Veronica Makowsky - Susan Glaspell's Century of Am erican Women (1993).pdf

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E. Thomas Sullivan - The Political Economy of the Sherman Act (1991).jpg

This book examines the legislative history and the political economy of the Sherman Antitrust Act--the main federal statute that regulates economic activity in the United States. Tracing the evolution of the antitrust movement in the United States since 1890, this collection of essays examines the role of government in regulating markets, and the balance it and its critics seek between the goal of limited government and the protection of free, open and competitive markets, With markets today being more international in nature and the world economy being globalized, Americans need to rethink how laws have defined markets and the implications for international transactions. Given the recent changes in Europe, this book has a significant contribution to make to the intellectual understanding of antitrust laws impact on American business here and abroad, on the European Economic Community (EEC) as it creates a single market by 1992, and on Eastern Europe as it moves to a market economy.

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E. Thomas Sullivan - The Political Economy of the Sherman Act (1991).pdf

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United States Army in World War II - Charles B. Ma cDonald, Sidney T. Mathews - Three Battles; Arnavi lle, Altuzzo, and Schmidt (1993).jpg

USA Books1 - United States Army in World War II - Charles B. MacDo... - Three Battles Arnaville, Altuzzo, and Schmidt 1993.jpg

Describes battles on three fronts within the European theater: Arnaville, France; Monte Altuzzo, Italy; and Schmidt, Germany from September through November of 1944. Pictures the difficulties of small unit commanders and soldiers in executing missions assigned by higher headquarters.

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United States Army in World War II - Charles B. Ma cDonald, Sidney T. Mathews - Three Battles; Arnavi lle, Altuzzo, and Schmidt (1993).pdf

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United States Army in World War II - Martin Blumen son - Salerno to Cassino (1993).jpg

The focus of the American and British war effort in 1943 was on the ancient lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea where in May victory came at last in Tunisia and where in July Allied armies began a five-week campaign to conquer Sicily. The invasion of Italy in September sharpened that focus as Allied troops for the first time since 1940 confronted the German Army in a sustained campaign on the mainland of Europe. The fighting that followed over the next eight months was replete with controversial actions and decisions. These included apparent American peril during the early hours in the Salerno beachhead; a British advance from the toe of the peninsula that failed to ease the pressure at Salerno; the fight to cross a flooded Rapido River; the bombing of the Benedictine abbey on Monte Cassino; and the stalemated landings at Anzio. The author addresses these subjects objectively and candidly as he sets in perspective the campaign in Italy and its accomplishments.

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United States Army in World War II - Martin Blumen son - Salerno to Cassino (1993).pdf

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Jeremy Varon - Bringing the War Home; The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutiona ry Violence in the Sixties and Seventies (2004).jpg

USA Books1 - Jeremy Varon - Bringing the War Home The Weather Under...olutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies 2004.jpg

In this first comprehensive comparison of left-wing violence in the United States and West Germany, Jeremy Varon focuses on America's Weather Underground and Germany's Red Army Faction to consider how and why young, middle-class radicals in prosperous democratic societies turned to armed struggle in efforts to overthrow their states. Based on a wealth of primary material, ranging from interviews to FBI reports, this book reconstructs the motivation and ideology of violent organizations active during the 1960s and 1970s. Varon conveys the intense passions of the era--the heat of moral purpose, the depth of Utopian longing, the sense of danger and despair, and the exhilaration over temporary triumphs. Varon's compelling interpretation of the logic and limits of dissent in democratic societies provides striking insights into the role of militancy in contemporary protest movements and has wide implications for the United States' current "war on terrorism."
Varon explores Weatherman and RAF's strong similarities and the reasons why radicals in different settings developed a shared set of values, languages, and strategies. Addressing the relationship of historical memory to political action, Varon demonstrates how Germany's fascist past influenced the brutal and escalating nature of the West German conflict in the 60s and 70s, as well as the reasons why left-wing violence dropped sharply in the United States during the 1970s. Bringing the War Home is a fascinating account of why violence develops within social movements, how states can respond to radical dissent and forms of terror, how the rational and irrational can combine in political movements, and finally how moral outrage and militancy can play both constructive and destructive roles in efforts at social change.

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Donald Lazere - American Media and Mass Culture, L eft Perspectives (1987).jpg

[Goes] beyond analyzing the personal attitudes of individual reporters, editors, and news producers to examining some of the broader cultural effects of television as a marketer of consumer good and pacifier of citizen activism. -- Christian Science Monitor

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Donald Lazere - American Media and Mass Culture, L eft Perspectives (1987).pdf

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Tracy Daugherty - Hiding Man; A Biography of Donal d Barthelme (2009).jpeg

Critics unanimously applaud Daugherty for the first comprehensive, analytical biography of his former teacher. The Oregonian calls Hiding Man a "remarkably tender, sympathetic treatment" of Barthelme, and while Daugherty may have given Barthelme a glowing biography, he doesn't downplay his more negative traits. The book also does an excellent job of connecting the writer to his literary and social context. The Oregonian notes that while Barthelme can be difficult to read, "in Daugherty's hands the stories seem not nearly as challenging as they are inviting," a point echoed by the Washington Post. Readers interested in Barthelme will find an informative, entertaining biography; readers unacquainted with this postmodern giant may wish to start with one of his short story collections.

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Tracy Daugherty - Hiding Man; A Biography of Donal d Barthelme (2009).epub

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Raghuram G. Rajan - Fault Lines; How Hidden Fractu res Still Threaten the World Economy (2010).jpeg

Raghuram Rajan was one of the few economists who warned of the global financial crisis before it hit. Now, as the world struggles to recover, it's tempting to blame what happened on just a few greedy bankers who took irrational risks and left the rest of us to foot the bill. In Fault Lines, Rajan argues that serious flaws in the economy are also to blame, and warns that a potentially more devastating crisis awaits us if they aren't fixed.
Rajan shows how the individual choices that collectively brought about the economic meltdown--made by bankers, government officials, and ordinary homeowners--were rational responses to a flawed global financial order in which the incentives to take on risk are incredibly out of step with the dangers those risks pose. He traces the deepening fault lines in a world overly dependent on the indebted American consumer to power global economic growth and stave off global downturns. He exposes a system where America's growing inequality and thin social safety net create tremendous political pressure to encourage easy credit and keep job creation robust, no matter what the consequences to the economy's long-term health; and where the U.S. financial sector, with its skewed incentives, is the critical but unstable link between an overstimulated America and an underconsuming world.
In Fault Lines, Rajan demonstrates how unequal access to education and health care in the United States puts us all in deeper financial peril, even as the economic choices of countries like Germany, Japan, and China place an undue burden on America to get its policies right. He outlines the hard choices we need to make to ensure a more stable world economy and restore lasting prosperity.

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Nate Anderson, Peter Bright, Jacqui Cheng, Eric Ba ngeman, Aurich Lawson - Unmasked (2011).jpg

Anonymous got lucky. When five of its hackers attacked security company HBGary Federal on February 6, 2011, they were doing so in order to defend the group’s privacy. It wasn’t because they hoped to reveal plans to attack WikiLeaks, create surveillance cells targeting pro-union organizations, and sell sophisticated rootkits to the US government for use as offensive cyber weapons—but that’s what they found.

In the weeks after the attack, the hackers released tens of thousands of e-mail messages and made headlines around the world. Aaron Bar, the CEO of HBGary Federal, eventually resigned; 12 Congressman called for an investigation; an ethics complaint was lodged against a major DC law firm involved with some of the more dubious plans.

Join Ars' editors as they dig into the secret world of Anonymous and hackers for hire in Unmasked.

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Nate Anderson, Peter Bright, Jacqui Cheng, Eric Ba ngeman, Aurich Lawson - Unmasked (2011).pdf

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Frederick J. Sheehan - Panderer to Power. The Unto ld Story of How Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Stree t and Left a Legacy of Recession (2009).jpg

USA Books1 - Frederick J. Sheehan - Panderer to Power. The Untold ...iched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession 2009.jpg

Alan Greenspan’s 18-year stint as head of the Federal Reserve Bank witnessed some of the most massive upward redistributions of wealth in our nation’s history. It’s now clear that his policies contributed greatly to the transformation of Wall Street from an engine that financed American business to a business-destroying machine—and that Greenspan abetted the hollowing out of the U.S. economy by giving Wall Street and Washington everything they could possibly want.

To take the full measure of Greenspan’s culpability, we need to look beyond the disgraced public persona and see him within the broader sweep of his life and times. In Panderer to Power, author Frederick J. Sheehan delivers the first in-depth, critical biography of the man who, for nearly two decades, served as the world’s most powerful banker.

Beginning with Greenspan’s formative years as a Depression-era kid from New York City, Sheehan traces his subject’s progress from his days touring America as a reed man with the Henry Jerome Orchestra in the 1940s through his emergence as one of America’s first celebrity economists to his ascent through the ranks of power in D.C.

What emerges is a searing portrait of a shameless media hound who ferociously promoted his image as a straight-laced numbers cruncher, a Machiavelli whose political skills far surpassed his skills as an economist.

Drawing upon a vast array of original sources, the author leaves little room for doubt: either the “economic genius of our time” was oblivious to the hazards of his irresponsible policy decisions or he knew full well what he was doing, but chose, as he had throughout his career, to put self-interest above the public good.

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