A former Wall Street manager turned muckraking journalist gets inside how the banks looted the Treasury, stole the bailout, and continued with business as usual

We've all watched as packs of former Big Finance leaders commandeer posts in Washington and lavish trillions in bailouts to "save" big Wall Street firms that will use that money for anything and everything except to fill in Main Street's potholes.

Former Wall Streeter Nomi Prins has been watching, too, and she isn't going to let them get away with it. She knows all about Big Finance and big money and moving numbers - and in this book she exposes the fundamental follies of our economic system and the schemes of the bigwigs who have no intention of letting it change. Prins:
• Explains that the current crisis did not happen because ordinary citizens were able to borrow a little more than they could afford, but because Wall Street converted loans into assets that allowed it to borrow much, much more than it could afford.
• Reveals all the ways corporations inhaling bailout money have gamed the system to get the most money with the least oversight.
• Exposes the power-bankers that bagged more than $5 billion in compensation before and after their companies siphoned off more than a trillion dollars in federal bailout subsidies.
• Shows how the most egregious pillagers work at the Fed and Treasury department, detailing how Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Tim Geithner siphoned off $10.7 trillion from the public’s future for Big Finance’s present.
• Slams a financial system that will not change, if our government doesn't force it to change, no matter what happens in the so-called free market.
• Is a former managing director at Goldman Sachs, now a senior fellow at Demos, who writes regularly on corruption in Washington and Wall Street for news outlets ranging from Fortune to Mother Jones. It Takes a Pillage is her third non-fiction book.
If you've found yourself enraged and frustrated with how the bank bailout went bust for the American people, or how Wall Street continues to operate as if the rest of the world doesn’t matter, It Takes a Pillage gives voice to your outrage, and provides a deeper understanding of what we really have to be angry about and how we can fight for some real change.

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Profile Morskie 71 - S. Brzezinski - Amerykanski P ancernik USS New Mexico - The American Battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40) (2005).jpg

Detailed look for modellers at this US battleship as she was in 1944. 16 black/white photos and 18 pages of detail drawings. Polish/English text. Separate scale plan and colour profile.

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Profile Morskie 71 - S. Brzezinski - Amerykanski P ancernik USS New Mexico - The American Battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40) (2005).pdf

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Eric Micheletti, Yves Debay - Victory in the Gulf (1991).jpg

A colour photographic account of the First Gulf War. Records the whole extraordinary story of the invasion of Kuwait, from the first U.S. deployments to the final surrender of Saddam's legions.

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107,8 MB
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Eric Micheletti, Yves Debay - Victory in the Gulf (1991).pdf

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Roger G. Miller - Billy Mitchell, Stormy Petrel of the Air (2004).jpg

On July 21, 1921, Brig. Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell circled high above the rough surface of the Chesapeake Bay, exultant witness to an event he had orchestrated and produced. Shortly after noon, the mortally wounded, former-German battleship Ostfriesland began to roll, turning completely over while air escaping from the huge hull gave sounds that some present interpreted as the sighs of a great beast dying. By one o’clock it was over, and Ostfriesland had slipped below the surface. It was not the sinking that was unique, however. Modern battleships had sunk before. They had been lost in storms and split their hulls on reefs and rocks. They had been hit by torpedoes, crushed by shell fire, and even sunk by mines and scuttling charges. But no battleship had ever gone to the bottom as the direct result of aerial bombs dropped from the fragile airplane, a new invention then barely eighteen years old. Disbelieving observers aboard the nearby U.S.S. Henderson were shocked, appalled, and dismayed as the Ostfriesland disappeared. Among the naval officers were some with tears in their eyes. But for the outspoken, flamboyant Billy Mitchell it was fulfillment and vindication. He had prophesied that aircraft could sink battleships; had fought for the trials that had just taken place; and had selected, organized, and trained the airmen who had accomplished their mission. Sinking the Ostfriesland was in many ways the summit of his military career, and Billy was not about to let anyone ignore his victory. Command pennant streaming from his aircraft, Mitchell paraded past the Henderson waving his wings, rubbing salt into a deep Navy wound.

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Roger G. Miller - Billy Mitchell, Stormy Petrel of the Air (2004).pdf

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Gerald C Horne - Cold War in a Hot Zone, The Unite d States Confronts Labor and Independence Struggle s in the British West Indies (2007).jpg

USA Books - Gerald C Horne - Cold War in a Hot Zone, The United St...Independence Struggles in the British West Indies 2007.jpg

Focused on the region as a whole and drawing from archives in Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana, St. Kitts, Antigua, the U.S. and U.K., this book details the region's impact on the U.S. (particularlyÂ on Jim Crow), as it charts the British Empire's retreat in the face of a challenge from Washington.

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Gerald C Horne - Cold War in a Hot Zone, The Unite d States Confronts Labor and Independence Struggle s in the British West Indies (2007).pdf

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Roger G. Miller - A Preliminary to War, The 1st Ae ro Squadron and the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916 (2003).jpg

USA Books - Roger G. Miller - A Preliminary to War, The 1st Aero S...dron and the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916 2003.jpg

On March 15, 1916, the 1st Aero Squadron arrived at Columbus, New Mexico, its train steaming into the crowded, chaotic town at 9:15 in the morning. Led by Capt. Benjamin D. Foulois, a lantern-jawed, bantam-weight former enlisted man, the squadron included eleven officers, eighty-two enlisted men, and one civilian technician. Under Foulois's direction, the men unloaded an automobile, six motorcycles, and twelve motor trucks, vehicles rare in 1916 New Mexico and even rarer in an army still wedded to the horse and mule. These were followed by wooden crates containing eight wood, wire, and fabric Curtiss JN--3 biplanes, every airplane owned by the U.S. Army, save those assigned to its aviation school at San Diego, California. The squadron was in Columbus to join an expedition commanded by Brig. Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing. President Woodrow Wilson had ordered Pershing's force into Mexico in response to a March 9 attack on the tiny border town by the Mexican desperado, Francisco "Pancho" Villa. The event was auspicious. For the first time, the U.S. Army's entire air force---the 1st Aero Squadron---had deployed for an active campaign. The 1st Aero Squadron played a significant role in the Punitive Expedition, but, in dramatic contrast to how an air force functions today, it served as a means of communication and observation, not as a combatant arm. Some experiments with bombs and machine guns had been conducted, and the war in Europe was quickly turning the airplane into a serious weapon of war. Nevertheless, U.S. Army leaders envisioned aviation's primary mission to be the receipt and transmission of information for tactical commanders and long-distance scouting as an adjunct to the cavalry. Accordingly, during the mobile phase of the Punitive Expedition, the 1st Aero Squadron enabled Pershing to locate and communicate with his widely dispersed, fast-moving columns and carried dispatches between Pershing's main and advanced bases. The squadron also scouted for hostile forces and kept a watch for threats to Pershing's line of communications. As will be seen, these efforts were made in some of the worst weather and poorest conditions imaginable, and by the end of April, all eight airplanes had been destroyed. During the static phase of the Punitive Expedition, the 1st Aero Squadron remained at Columbus, where Foulois and his men operated a test and evaluation program for a wide variety of airplanes and aviation equipment. During both phases of the campaign, the officers and men of the 1st Aero Squadron learned lessons about airplanes, equipment, and operations in the field that would be applied in France less than a year later.

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Roger G. Miller - A Preliminary to War, The 1st Ae ro Squadron and the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916 (2003).pdf

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Michael O. West - From Toussaint to Tupac, The Bla ck International since the Age of Revolution (2009 ).jpg

Transcending geographic and cultural lines, From Toussaint to Tupacis an ambitious collection of essays exploring black internationalism and its implications for a black consciousness. At its core, black internationalism is a struggle against oppression, whether manifested in slavery, colonialism, or racism. The ten essays in this volume offer a comprehensive overview of the global movements that define black internationalism, from its origins in the colonial period to the present. FromToussaint to Tupac focuses on three moments in global black history: the American and Haitian revolutions, the Garvey movement and the Communist International following World War I, and the Black Power movement of the late twentieth century.Contributors demonstrate how black internationalism emerged and influenced events in particular localities, how participants in the various struggles communicated across natural and man-made boundaries, and howthe black international aided resistance on the local level, creating a collective consciousness. In sharp contrast to studies that confine Black Power to particular national locales, this volume demonstrates the global reach and resonance of the movement. The volume concludes with a discussion of hip hop, including its cultural and ideological antecedents in Black Power.

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Michael O. West - From Toussaint to Tupac, The Bla ck International since the Age of Revolution (2009 ).pdf

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Mary Kathryn Barbier - D-Day Deception, Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion (2007).jpg

On 6 June 1944, Allied forces stormed the beaches at Normandy. The invasion followed several years of argument and planning by Allied leaders, who remained committed to a return to the European continent after the Germans had forced the Allies to evacuate at Dunkirk in May 1940. Before the spring of 1944, however, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and other British leaders remained unconvinced that the invasion was feasible. At the Teheran Conference in November 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill promised Josef Stalin that Allied troops would launch Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, in the spring. Because of their continuing concerns about Overlord, the British convinced the Americans to implement a cover plan to help ensure the invasion's success. The London Controlling Section (LCS) devised an elaborate two-part plan called Operation Fortitude that SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force) helped to fine tune and that both British and American forces implemented. Historians analyzing the Normandy invasion frequently devote some discussion to Operation Fortitude. Although they admit that Fortitude North did not accomplish all that the Allied deception planners had hoped, many historians heap praise on Fortitude South, using phrases such as, "unquestionably the greatest deception in military history." Many of these historians assume that the deception plan played a crucial role in the June 1944 assault. A reexamination of the sources suggests, however, that other factors contributed as much, if not more, to the Allied victory in Normandy and that Allied forces could have succeeded without the elaborate deception created by the LCS. Moreover, the persistent tendency to exaggerate the operational effect of Fortitude on the German military performance at Normandy continues to draw attention away from other, technical-military reasons for the German failures there.

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Mary Kathryn Barbier - D-Day Deception, Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion (2007).pdf

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Tim McNeese - Civil War Battles (2009).jpg

For four straight years, the people of the United States fought against one another in a brutal civil war that resulted in the deaths of approximately 620,000 men in uniform. Between 1861 and 1865, more Americans died during this bloody conflict than in all other American wars combined. With fighting across the South and in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Kentucky, some battles proved to be key in the overall outcome of the war. The clashes between the Union and the Confederates are nearly countless, ranging from minor skirmishes to full-scale engagements that sometimes stretched across battlefields measuring miles in length. Sometimes, these battles displayed the limits of a man's endurance and revealed the honorable manhood of the armies. The story of these battles in "Civil War Battles" is the story of the men who risked their lives for a personal cause and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

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Tim McNeese - Civil War Battles (2009).pdf

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Dictionary of American History 10 volume set 3rd E dition (2003).jpg

The third edition of the Dictionary of American History (Stanley I. Kutler, ed. in chief) is the first comprehensive revision of the classic Scribner reference source, originally published in 1940. Entries from previous editions have been updated and revised in light of historical developments and current scholarship, and over 800 entirely new entries have been commissioned to cover recent events ("Bush v. Gore") and topics neglected by previous editions ("Harlem Renaissance"). For the first time, illustrations and maps will be incorporated into the main body of the work, illuminating the text of the Dictionary and thereby enriching the reader's experience. This work will serve students, scholars, and the interested general reader in search of a quick and authoritative reference covering a wide range of topics in American history-from the well-studied ("Louisiana Purchase") to the obscure ("Camels in the West").

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Dictionary of American History 10 volume set 3rd E dition (2003) vol 02.pdf

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Lisa Finnegan - No Questions Asked, News Coverage since 9-11 (2006).jpg

The Fourth Estate's most important job is to present unbiased, accurate information about events, issues, and policies to the public. Without public scrutiny, administrations can become a breeding ground for bad and dangerous ideas. In recent years, for several reasons--including the brilliant psychological manipulation of the nation after the September 11, 2001, attacks--the American media have allowed administration officials to present information to the public without having to worry much about answering uncomfortable questions or having their policies deconstructed for public consumption. Relevant information is buried deep inside newspapers, and gaping holes can be found in many stories; in short, obvious and important questions remain unasked. The lack of questions from reporters led to a misunderstanding of the facts by the American public and, consequently, to their support of policies based on misinformation. Polls have revealed that more than half of Americans believe mistruths about the war in Iraq and world terrorism. Many, including members of the media, say the press has failed to do its job. Very few news reports filled in the basic blanks--the who, what, where, when, and whys--about U.S. foreign policy, the USA Patriot Act, the administration's insistence on the need for secrecy and more power, the truth about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the necessity of sending our soldiers to topple another country's dictator, throwing an already tenuous region into dangerous imbalance. Very few reports are filling in those blanks now. No Questions Asked takes an overarching view of media coverage from the day of the 9/11 attacks through the war in Iraq. It also compares and contrasts how the U.S. vs. international media covered key events during this period. Fact-based rather than polemical, it explains why journalists responded the way they did during wartime and explores the ramifications for democracy of a weak press.

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Lisa Finnegan - No Questions Asked, News Coverage since 9-11 (2006).pdf

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David Runciman - The Politics of Good Intentions, History, Fear and Hypocrisy in the New World Order (2006).jpg

USA Books - David Runciman - The Politics of Good Intentions, Hist...istory, Fear and Hypocrisy in the New World Order 2006.jpg

Tony Blair has often said that he wishes history to judge the great political controversies of the early twenty-first century--above all, the actions he has undertaken in alliance with George W. Bush. This book is the first attempt to fulfill that wish, using the long history of the modern state to put the events of recent years--the war on terror, the war in Iraq, the falling out between Europe and the United States--in their proper perspective. It also dissects the way that politicians like Blair and Bush have used and abused history to justify the new world order they are creating. Many books about international politics since 9/11 contend that either everything changed or nothing changed on that fateful day. This book identifies what is new about contemporary politics but also how what is new has been exploited in ways that are all too familiar. It compares recent political events with other crises in the history of modern politics--political and intellectual, ranging from seventeenth-century England to Weimar Germany--to argue that the risks of the present crisis have been exaggerated, manipulated, and misunderstood. David Runciman argues that there are three kinds of time at work in contemporary politics: news time, election time, and historical time. It is all too easy to get caught up in news time and election time, he writes. This book is about viewing the threats and challenges we face in real historical time.

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James Oliver Horton - Slavery and Public History, The Tough Stuff of American Memory (2008).jpg

America's slave past is being analyzed as never before, yet it remains one of the most contentious issues in U.S. memory. In recent years, the culture wars over the way that slavery is remembered and taught have reached a new crescendo. From the argument about the display of the Confederate flag over the state house in Columbia, South Carolina, to the dispute over Thomas Jefferson's relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and the ongoing debates about reparations, the questions grow ever more urgent and more difficult.

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James Oliver Horton - Slavery and Public History, The Tough Stuff of American Memory (2008).pdf

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Steven E. Woodworth - Decision in the Heartland, T he Civil War in the West (2008).jpg

The verdict is in: the Civil War was won in the "West"--that is, in the nation's heartland, between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Yet, a person who follows the literature on the war might still think that it was the conflict in Virginia that ultimately decided the outcome. Each year sees the appearance of new books aimed at the popular market that simply assume that it was in the East, often at Gettysburg, that the decisive clashes of war the took place. For decades, serious historians of the Civil War have completed one careful study after another, nearly all tending to indicate the pivotal importance of what people during the war referred to as "the West." In this fast paced overview, Woodworth presents his case for the decisiveness of the theater. Overwhelming evidence now indicates that it was battles like Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Chattanooga, and Atlanta that sealed the fate of the Confederacy-not the nearly legendary clashes at Bull Run or Chancellorsville or the mythical "high-water mark" at Gettysburg. The western campaigns cost the Confederacy vast territories, the manufacturing center of Nashville, the financial center of New Orleans, communications hubs such as Corinth, Chattanooga, and Atlanta, along with the agricultural produce of the breadbasket of the Confederacy. They sapped the morale of Confederates and buoyed the spirits of Unionists, ultimately sealing the northern electorate's decision to return Lincoln to the presidency for a second term and thus to see the war through to final victory. Detailing the "Western" clashes that proved so significant, Woodworth contends that it was there alone that the Civil War could be--and was--decided.

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Steven E. Woodworth - Decision in the Heartland, T he Civil War in the West (2008).pdf

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Scott W. Allard - Out of Reach, Place, Poverty, an d the New American Welfare State (2008).jpg

Sweeping changes in welfare programs since 1996 have transformed the way America cares for its poor. Today, for every dollar spent on cash welfare payments, some twenty dollars are spent on service programs targeted at the working poor—job training, adult education, child care, emergency assistance, mental health care, and other social services. This important book examines our current system and the crucial role that geography plays in the system’s ability to offer help. Drawing on unique survey data from almost 1,500 faith-based and secular service organizations in three cities, Scott W. Allard examines which agencies are most accessible to poor populations and looks at the profound impact of unstable funding on assistance programs. Allard argues that the new system has become less equitable and reliable, and he concludes with practical policy recommendations that address some of the more pressing issues in improving the safety net.

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Scott W. Allard - Out of Reach, Place, Poverty, an d the New American Welfare State (2008).pdf

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Michael Mandel - How America Gets Away With Murder , Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage and Crimes Again st Humanity (2004).jpg

USA Books - Michael Mandel - How America Gets Away With Murder, Il...s, Collateral Damage and Crimes Against Humanity 2004.jpg

* How impartial are war crimes tribunals?
* Are all crimes against humanity treated equally?
The trial of Slobodan Milosevic has raised the prospect of many former political leaders being tried for crimes against humanity. War crimes tribunals and the international criminal courts are supposedly independent mechanisms through which we can administer international justice, and through which tyrants and errant regimes can be brought to account. But is it really that simple? For example, although Milosevic wound up on trial at The Hague, other attempts at war crimes prosecutions -- notably Pinochet and Sharon -- face insurmountable obstacles. Despite the hopes raised about "an end to impunity", the United States is currently exempting itself entirely from the jurisdiction of the new International Criminal Court. This new book by renowned scholar Michael Mandel offers the first truly critical account of the war crimes movement. Mandel argues that this movement is not actually about ending war crimes, or impunity for war crimes, but about selectively punishing "the usual suspects" as part of the imperial strategy of the great powers -- primarily the United States. Examining issues chapter-by-chapter, Mandel explores the moral and legal debates over the recent wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, supposed exercises in "humanitarian intervention" and "self-defense." He analyzes the role the war crimes movement has played in these wars, variously promoting them or not stopping them, despite their immorality and illegality. Mandel takes a hard look at the development of the International Criminal Court and its likely destiny. He gives special attention to recent tribunals -- like the one trying Milosevic -- and the way they have been used to prosecute America's enemies. He shows how these tribunals shield America and its allies from responsibility for what is termed "collateral damage," but what is in reality murder on a vast scale.

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