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Municipalities and Finance: A Sourcebook for Capacity Building (Municipal Capacity Building Series)
by Nick Devas Ian Blore Richard SlaterFinance is a critical issue for municipal governments around the world, and a major constraint on the delivery of pro-poor services at the local level. In many countries, decentralisation has brought the issue of municipal finance to the fore. This sourcebook provides a framework for analysing municipal finance capacity and ways of addressing financial constraints. The ideas come from real-life innovative practice in four countries - India, Brazil, Kenya and Uganda - with additional examples from elsewhere. Emphasis is given to how those innovations and improvements were developed and sustained. The book identifies a strategic framework for diagnosing municipal finance capacity and focusing financial goals. It applies the analysis to a number of critical areas of municipal finance including local taxes, charges for services, budgeting, cost control, accounting reforms and investment finance. This is the third in a series of capacity-building sourcebooks that includes Focusing Partnerships: A Sourcebook for Municipal Capacity Building in Public-Private Partnerships and Municipalities and Community Participation: A Sourcebook for Capacity Building.
Muqtada Al-Sadr and the Battle for the Future of Iraq
by Patrick CockburnTimemagazine listed him as one of its "100 People Who Shape Our World. " Newsweek featured him on its cover under the headline "How Al-Sadr May Control U. S. Fate in Iraq. " Paul Bremer denounced him as a "Bolshevik Islamist" and ordered that he be captured "dead or alive. " Who is Muqtada al-Sadr, and why is he so vital to the future of Iraq and, arguably, the entire Middle East?In this compellingly readable account, prize-winning journalist Patrick Cockburn tells the story of Muqtada's rise to become the leader of Iraq's poor Shi'ites and the resistance to the occupation. Cockburn looks at the killings by Saddam's executioners and hit men of the young cleric's father, two brothers, and father-in-law; his leadership of the seventy-thousand-strong Mehdi Army; the fierce rivalries between him and other Shia religious leaders; his complex relationship with the Iraqi government; and his frequent confrontations with the American military, including battles that took place in Najaf in 2004. The portrait that emerges is of a complex man and a sophisticated politician, who engages with religious and nationalist aspirations in a manner unlike any other Iraqi leader. Cockburn, who was among the very few Western journalists to remain in Baghdad during the Gulf War and has been an intrepid reporter of Iraq ever since, draws on his extensive firsthand experience in the country to produce a book that is richly interwoven with the voices of Iraqis themselves. His personal encounters with the Mehdi Army include a tense occasion when he was nearly killed at a roadblock outside the city of Kufa. Though it often reads like an adventure story,Muqtadais also a work of painstaking research and measured analysis that leads to a deeper understanding both of one of the most critical conflicts in the world today and of the man who may well be a decisive voice in determining the future of Iraq when the Americans eventually leave.
Muqtada: Muqtada Al-sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq
by Patrick CockburnTime magazine listed him as one of its "100 People Who Shape Our World." Newsweek featured him on its cover under the headline "How Al-Sadr May Control U.S. Fate in Iraq." Paul Bremer denounced him as a "Bolshevik Islamist" and ordered that he be captured "dead or alive." Who is Muqtada al-Sadr, and why is he so vital to the future of Iraq and, arguably, the entire Middle East? In this compellingly readable account, prize-winning journalist Patrick Cockburn tells the story of Muqtada's rise to become the leader of Iraq's poor Shi'ites and the resistance to the occupation. Cockburn looks at the killings by Saddam's executioners and hit men of the young cleric's father, two brothers, and father-in-law; his leadership of the seventy-thousand-strong Mehdi Army; the fierce rivalries between him and other Shia religious leaders; his complex relationship with the Iraqi government; and his frequent confrontations with the American military, including battles that took place in Najaf in 2004. The portrait that emerges is of a complex man and a sophisticated politician, who engages with religious and nationalist aspirations in a manner unlike any other Iraqi leader. Cockburn, who was among the very few Western journalists to remain in Baghdad during the Gulf War and has been an intrepid reporter of Iraq ever since, draws on his extensive firsthand experience in the country to produce a book that is richly interwoven with the voices of Iraqis themselves. His personal encounters with the Mehdi Army include a tense occasion when he was nearly killed at a roadblock outside the city of Kufa. Though it often reads like an adventure story, Muqtada is also a work of painstaking research and measured analysis that leads to a deeper understanding both of one of the most critical conflicts in the world today and of the man who may well be a decisive voice in determining the future of Iraq when the Americans eventually leave.
Murals and the City: A Comparative Perspective on Practices, Policies, and Regulations
by Eynat Mendelson-Shwartz Nir MualamThis book provides a cross-urban account on murals, street art, and public art in cities around the globe. It reviews the rules, policies, and regulations that frame how murals and street art are managed across a range of cities and contexts. Murals and street art serve as dynamic stages for communities and individuals with multiple and sometimes opposing identities, with the potential to cause disturbance and conflict. The book investigates the challenges they present to cities and city administrations, and the policies and practices that are crafted to address them. The global landscape of today's mural policies is discussed comparatively across a range of cities, and the impact of written rules, unofficial practices, and institutional arrangements on city spaces, walls, and surfaces is examined. An important contribution to this growing field, the book will appeal to students, practitioners, and scholars with an interest in public art, municipal governance, public space management, cultural policy, and urban design.
Murder In Memoriam
by Didier Daeninckx Liz HeronOn the evening of October 17, 1961 twenty-thousand Algerians marched in Paris in defiance of and in protest against a curfew imposed by Maurice Papon, chief of the Paris Metropolitan Police. The protesters were met with ferocious and uninhibited violence. Eleven-thousand were arrested; more than one thousand injured; as many as three hundred were killed, many of them thrown into the Seine, from which their bodies were later recovered.In recreating the scene of the atrocities in Murder in Memoriam, his controversial alarum first published in 1984, Didier Daeninckx introduces a fictional observer of the riot, Roger Thiraud, a middle-aged history teacher in a public school, only steps from his home and his waiting, pregnant wife. In the first few minutes of the demonstration, he will be assassinated, in cold blood, by a member of the anti-terrorist secret police.For nearly forty years after October 1961, France would deny the killings. Upon the independence of Algeria in 1962 an amnesty put its perpetrators safely beyond prosecution. The records were buried.In 1981, Bernard Thiraud, Roger's son, is researching the archives in Toulouse, intent on completing his father's history of his birthplace, Drancy, now notorious as the site of a detention and transit camp from which Jews were deported to Auschwitz. One afternoon, after leaving the town hall, he too is murdered -- the victim of what appears to investigating officers to be a professional killing. When inspector Cadin of the Toulouse prefecture learns of the unsolved murder of the young man's father, he suspects a connection. But why would anybody want to kill two bourgeois, politically unconnected history teachers?Didier Daeninckx has located the link between the two murders in the history that France had yet to confront -- in its colonial racism and its complicity in genocide. Daeninckx made this connection in fiction, deliberately provoking its acknowledgment in fact. Murder in Memoriam anticipated by more than a decade the shocking revelations provided by the exposure, trial, and conviction of Maurice Papon -- the Parisian chief of police in 1961, and the never-named villain whose real crimes, unrevealed at the time of its first publication, haunt this account -- for crimes against humanity; for his part in the administration of the deportation of the Jews from Bordeaux to Auschwitz.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Murder Over Kodiak: An Alaska Wilderness Mystery Novel
by Barefield RobinWhen a floatplane mysteriously explodes above the Alaska wilderness, investigators begin digging into the lives of the five passengers and the pilot. Was the target of the bomb the U.S. senator in the midst of a hotly contended re-election campaign or her husband, a corporate raider with no shortage of enemies? Or could the bomb have been meant for the cannery owner involved in a contentious divorce, or the refuge manager who has a long list of adversaries, including one who has vowed to get even with him. Even the pilot could have been the target, since his girlfriend has violent tendencies and knows how to use explosives. Dr. Jane Marcus is determined to find who murdered her young assistant and the other passengers and the pilot of the floatplane, but when her own life is threatened, she knows she must and the murderer, before she becomes the next victim.
Murder and Politics in Mexico
by Sara SchatzMurder and Politics in Mexico studies the causes of political killings in Mexico's liberalization-democratization within the larger context of political repression. Mexico's democratization process has entailed a little known but highly significant cost of human lives in pre- and post-election violence. The majority of these crimes remain in a state of impunity: in other words, no person had been charged with the crime and/or no investigation of it had occurred. This has several consequences for Mexican politics: when the level of violence is extreme and when political killings that are systematic and invasive are involved, this could indicate a real fracture in the democratic system. This book analyzes several dimensions regarding impunity and political crime, more specifically, the political killings of members of the PRD in the post-1988 period in Mexico. The main argument proposed in this book is that impunity for political killings is a structured system requiring one central precondition, namely the failure of the legal system to function as a system of restraint for killings. Dr Schatz's research finds that political assassinations are indeed rational, targeted actions but they do not occur within an institutional vacuum. Political assassinations are calculated strategies of action aimed at eliminating political rivals. As a form of interpersonal violence, political assassination involves direct or implied authorization from political leaders, the availability of assassins for hire and the willingness of some political leaders to utilize them against political opponents, and violent interactions between political parties combined with judicial system ineffectiveness. A corrupt legal system facilitates the use of political assassination and explains the persistence of impunity for political murder over time. To reduce political violence in the transition to electoral democracy, specific institutional conditions, namely a structured system of impunity for murder, must be overcome.
Murder at Camp Delta
by Joseph HickmanThe revelatory eyewitness account about Guantánamo Bay--detainees murdered, a secret CIA facility for torture, and the US government cover up--by the Staff Sergeant who felt honor-bound to uncover it.Staff Sergeant Joe Hickman was a loyal member of the armed forces and a proud American patriot. For twenty years, he worked as a prison guard, a private investigator, and in the military, earning more than twenty commendations and awards. When he re-enlisted after 9/11, he served as a team leader and Sergeant of the Guard in Guantánamo Naval Base. From the moment he arrived at Camp Delta, something was amiss. The prisons were chaotic, detainees were abused, and Hickman uncovered by accident a secret facility he labeled "Camp No." On June 9, 2006, the night Hickman was on duty, three prisoners died, supposed suicides, and Hickman knew something was seriously wrong. So began his epic search for the truth, an odyssey that would lead him to conclude that the US government was using Guantánamo not just as a prison, but as a training ground for interrogators to test advanced torture techniques. For the first time, Hickman details the inner workings of Camp Delta: the events surrounding the death of three prisoners, the orchestrated the cover-up, and the secret facility at the heart of it all. From his own eyewitness account, and a careful review of thousands of documents, he deconstructs the government's account of what happened and proves that the military not only tortured prisoners, but lied about their deaths. By revealing Guantánamo's true nature, Sergeant Hickman shows us why the prison has been so difficult to close. This book opens an important window onto government overreach, secrecy, and one man's principled search for the truth.
Murder at Ford's Theatre (Capital Crimes #19)
by Margaret TrumanIt was the site of one of the most infamous assassinations in American history. Now bestselling mystery master Margaret Truman premieres a new murder at Ford’s Theater–one that’s hot off today’s headlines. The body of Nadia Zarinski, an attractive young woman who worked for senator Bruce Lerner–and who volunteered at Ford’s–is discovered in the alley behind the theatre. Soon a pair of mismatched cops–young, studious Rick Klieman and gregarious veteran Moses “Mo” Johnson–start digging into the victim’...
Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia
by Douglas B. ChambersIn 1732 Ambrose Madison, grandfather of the future president, languished for weeks in a sickbed then died. The death, soon after his arrival on the plantation, bore hallmarks of what planters assumed to be traditional African medicine. African slaves were suspected of poisoning their master.
Murder in Amsterdam
by Ian BurumaIt was the emblematic crime of our moment: On a cold November day in Amsterdam, an angry young Muslim man, Mohammed Bouyeri, the son of Moroccan immigrants, shot and killed the celebrated and controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, great-grandnephew of Vincent and iconic European provocateur, for making a movie with the vocally anti-Islam Somali-born Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali that blasphemed Islam. After Bouyeri shot van Gogh, he calmly stood over the body and cut his throat with a curved machete, as if performing a ritual sacrifice, which in a very real sense he was. The murder horrified quiet, complacent, prosperous Holland, a country that prides itself on being a bastion of tolerance, and sent shock waves across Europe and around the world. Shortly thereafter, Ian Buruma returned to his native country to try to make sense of it all and to see what larger meaning should and shouldn't be drawn from this story. The result is Buruma's masterpiece: a book with the intimacy and narrative control of a true-crime page-turner and the intellectual resonance we've come to expect from one of the most well-regarded journalists and thinkers of our time. Ian Buruma's entire life has led him to this narrative: In his hands, it is the exemplary tale of our age, the story of what happens when political Islam collides with the secular West and tolerance finds its limits.
Murder in Brentwood
by Mark FuhrmanPeople know Mark Fuhrman as the most pivotal witness of the O.J. Simpson trial. Now, readers can meet the real Mark Fuhrman, as he sets the record straight on the most infamous trial of the century. Includes 16 pages of never-before-published court documents and evidence photos.
Murder in Georgetown (Capital Crimes #7)
by Margaret TrumanNew York Times Bestseller: The author of Murder at the FBI delivers a political thriller that &“ends with several bangs&” (Publishers Weekly). When the corpse of a young woman is found floating down Washington&’s C&O Canal, everyone is shocked to learn the victim is none other than Valerie Frolich—a senator&’s daughter, Georgetown graduate, and a rising star in the cutthroat world of investigative journalism. Washington Post reporter Joe Potamos is good at unearthing the skeletons in the nation&’s capital, so when he&’s assigned the Frolich story, he immediately senses this case is rife with secrets. As he digs further to uncover the truth about Valerie&’s death, it soon becomes apparent someone wanted the young, beautiful reporter dead. And when Joe&’s search reveals an evil labyrinth of intrigue involving murder, bribery, kidnapping, and even international espionage, he&’ll have to race to find Valerie&’s killer—before his own life is snuffed out. &“Truman[&’s] . . . murder mysteries . . . evoke brilliantly the Washington she knows so well.&” —The Houston Post &“Truman does it again!&” —United Press International
Murder in Mykonos (Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mysteries #1)
by Jeffrey SigerOne woman dead, another missing—and time is running outPolitically incorrect detective Andreas Kaldis, promoted out of Athens to serve as police chief for Mykonos, is certain his homicide investigation days are over. Murders don't happen in Greece's tourist heaven. At least that's what he's thinking as he stares at the remains of a young woman, ritually bound and buried on a pile of human bones inside a remote mountain church.Teamed with the nearly-retired local homicide chief, Andreas must find the killer before the world-wide media attention can destroy the Greek island's fabled reputation with rumors of a mystery that's haunted Mykonos for decades.When another young woman disappears, political niceties no longer matter. The murder mystery quickly becomes a rescue operation, and Andreas races against a killer intent on claiming a new victim...This high-stakes adventure introduces Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, and begins a series perfect for armchair travelers interested in pairing the idyllic views of Greece with devious mysteries.
Murder in the Family: How the Search for My Mother's Killer Led to My Father
by Jeff BlackstockDiplomat father. Murdered mother. Emotionally neglected children. An apparent cover-up. Family dinners will never be the same."I think that my father murdered my mother." That terrible belief spurs author Jeff Blackstock to investigate the circumstances of his mother Carol's death when he was a child. Carol Blackstock died at age 24 in 1959--poisoned by arsenic--but the cause of her death remained shrouded in mystery for decades. Jeff's father George Blackstock was a career diplomat in Canada's foreign service, posted to glamorous Buenos Aires with his wife Carol and their three children. A little more than a year after the family's arrival, the vivacious young mother, now emaciated and in terrible pain, was transferred to Montreal for treatment of a mysterious illness that proved fatal. In the following year, George Blackstock remarried, and a young woman named Ingrid became the feared stepmother to Jeff and his two siblings. Carol's parents soon had suspicions about their son-in-law George but were unable to get justice for their daughter. Class privilege--George was the scion of a Toronto establishment family and Carol was from modest beginnings--and an aversion to scandal all figured in an apparent cover-up. But secrets have a way of eventually disrupting all families. A damning autopsy report about arsenic poisoning, found among their grandmother's effects, leads Jeff Blackstock and his sister to horrifying revelations about their father. Eventually, they confront him and accuse him of their mother's murder. But George offers only vague explanations that don't add up. George died a broken man, mostly abandoned by his adult children.A compelling story of a high-society murder, a heartbreaking tale of emotionally neglected children, and an inquiry into the power and privilege of the Anglo upper classes of the time, Murder in the Family chronicles the shocking legacy of deeply buried secrets and betrayal in one's own family.
Murder in the Gulag: The explosive account of how Putin poisoned Alexei Navalny
by John Sweeney'Murder in the Gulag is brilliant journalistic writing: punchy, eloquent, page-turning and factual. It's a powerful reminder of what an extraordinary man Navalny was' - Roland Oliphant, TelegraphThe gripping sequel to the bestselling Killer in the Kremlin2:19pm, Moscow time, 16 February 2024. The Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District announces that Alexei Navalny is dead. The news sends shockwaves around the world.In Murder in the Gulag, award-winning journalist John Sweeney goes behind the headlines to reveal what really happened to the Russian opposition leader in the freezing Polar Wolf penal colony in a remote part of Siberia. The book is less a whodunnit - Russian President Vladimir Putin's machinery of repression killed Navalny - than a howdunnit.The narrative relates Navalny's extraordinary life story in technicolour detail, from his childhood summers spent with his grandparents in the shadow of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine to his untimely death at the age of 47, cut down in his prime.This is a warts-and-all portrayal of a highly charismatic but controversial figure who flirted with far-right Russian nationalists before course-correcting, told by an intrepid journalist, based in London and Kyiv, who knew Navalny personally.Murder in the Gulag contains a warning. Navalny made a fatal misjudgement in returning to Russia after his poisoning by Novichok in 2020, betting that Vladimir Putin wouldn't kill him. But as Putin has gained in strength, with the death of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and the fortunes of war slowly turning in Russia's favour, Navalny lost that bet. Sweeney argues that if the West fails to stand up more forcefully to Putin, we are in danger not just of betraying Ukraine but our own security too.
Murder in the Gulag: The explosive account of how Putin poisoned Alexei Navalny
by John Sweeney'Murder in the Gulag is brilliant journalistic writing: punchy, eloquent, page-turning and factual. It's a powerful reminder of what an extraordinary man Navalny was' - Roland Oliphant, TelegraphIn this revised and updated paperback edition, award-winning journalist John Sweeney goes behind the headlines to investigate what really happened to Alexei Navalny in the freezing Polar Wolf penal colony in a remote part of Siberia in February 2024. This is a warts-and-all portrayal of the highly charismatic but controversial Russian opposition leader who at one time flirted with the far right. Murder in the Gulag lifts the lid on the reality of life in Russia today and asks what Navalny's death means for the future of Putin, Russia and the West.
Murder in the Gulag: The explosive account of how Putin poisoned Alexei Navalny
by John Sweeney'Murder in the Gulag is brilliant journalistic writing: punchy, eloquent, page-turning and factual. It's a powerful reminder of what an extraordinary man Navalny was' - Roland Oliphant, TelegraphIn this revised and updated paperback edition, award-winning journalist John Sweeney goes behind the headlines to investigate what really happened to Alexei Navalny in the freezing Polar Wolf penal colony in a remote part of Siberia in February 2024. This is a warts-and-all portrayal of the highly charismatic but controversial Russian opposition leader who at one time flirted with the far right. Murder in the Gulag lifts the lid on the reality of life in Russia today and asks what Navalny's death means for the future of Putin, Russia and the West.
Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet
by Jonathan GreenOn September 30, 2006 gunfire echoed through the thin air near Advance Base Camp on Cho Oyu Mountain. Frequented by thousands of climbers each year, Cho Oyu lies nineteen miles east of Mt. Everest on the border between Tibet and Nepal. To the elite mountaineering community, it offers a straightforward summit-a warm-up climb to her formidable sister. To Tibetans, Cho Oyu promises a gateway to freedom through a secret glacial path: the Nangpa La. Murder in the High Himalaya is the unforgettable account of the brutal killing of Kelsang Namtso-a seventeen-year-old Tibetan nun fleeing to India-by Chinese border guards. Witnessed by dozens of Western climbers, Kelsang’s death sparked an international debate over China’s savage oppression of Tibet. Adventure reporter Jonathan Green has gained rare entrance into this shadow-land at the rooftop of the world. In his affecting portrait of modern Tibet, Green raises enduring questions about morality and the lengths we go to achieve freedom.
Murder in the Welsh Hills: A gripping spy thriller of danger and deceit
by Vic EvansIn the majestic mountains of North Wales, retired MI5 agent Huw Cecil is reluctantly drawn back into a world of espionage and murder. Perfect for fans of Simon McCleave, Lesley Cookman, Marsali Taylor, Ana Sampson and Congrad Jones. A secret mission.A deadly enemy.A fight for survival.While visiting his childhood home of Llangollen, Cecil becomes embroiled in a dangerous mission to obtain top-secret information that could lead to the total collapse of the NATO Alliance. But when his Russian contact is brutally killed, Huw knows that he is the next target.In a deadly game of cat and mouse, with no one left to trust, Cecil enlists the help of Lottie Williams-Parry, a local woman who is struggling to overcome her own dark secrets, and together they take on dark forces and evil assassins in a bid to outwit their enemies and expose the shocking truth..._______Praise for Vic Evans' brilliantly researched and exquisitely told Miriam: 'Excellent book.. Congrats to author for such an original and well written book.' ***** Reader Review'I didn't want to put it down. Very well written. Lots of historical data written in an interesting way.' ***** Reader Review'Compelling characters and powerful story set in an unimaginably brutish time and place... I highly recommend this book.' ***** Reader Review
Murder in the Welsh Hills: A gripping spy thriller of danger and deceit
by Vic EvansIn the majestic mountains of North Wales, retired MI5 agent Huw Cecil is reluctantly drawn back into a world of espionage and murder. Perfect for fans of Simon McCleave, Lesley Cookman, Marsali Taylor, Ana Sampson and Congrad Jones.A secret mission.A deadly enemy.A fight for survival.While visiting his childhood home of Llangollen, Cecil becomes embroiled in a dangerous mission to obtain top-secret information that could lead to the total collapse of the NATO Alliance. But when his Russian contact is brutally killed, Huw knows that he is the next target.In a deadly game of cat and mouse, with no one left to trust, Cecil enlists the help of Lottie Williams-Parry, a local woman who is struggling to overcome her own dark secrets, and together they take on dark forces and evil assassins in a bid to outwit their enemies and expose the shocking truth..._______Praise forVic Evans' brilliantly researched and exquisitely told Miriam:'Excellent book.. Congrats to author for such an original and well written book.' ***** Reader Review'I didn't want to put it down. Very well written. Lots of historical data written in an interesting way.' ***** Reader Review'Compelling characters and powerful story set in an unimaginably brutish time and place... I highly recommend this book.' ***** Reader Review
Murder on Air Force One (The Kate Dawson Mysteries)
by John L. FlynnWhen a woman dies under mysterious circumstances aboard Air Force One, a San Francisco detective uncovers presidential conspiracies and cover-ups.When Insp. Kate Dawson is called in the wee hours of the morning, she had no idea what would be waiting for her on the tarmac of San Francisco International Airport. Air Force One landed with a corpse in the lavatory, and everyone on board is a suspect—including Madame President, the First Man, and a slew of reporters and other presidential personnel.The female victim was engaging in kinky foreplay at the time of her death. Did her penchant for limited oxygen simply go too far? Or did someone take advantage of her compromised position and finish her off? Kate&’s highly sensitive investigation is about to uncover international politics, conspiracies, affairs, and cover-ups—all involving the First Family.
Murder on Safari (The Mbuno & Pero Thrillers)
by Peter RivaIn this action-packed thriller series opener, a producer and his crew uncover a deadly terrorist plot while filming a nature show in East Africa. Film producer Pero Baltazar and his team have arrived in Kenya to shoot footage for a nature television show. Showing them around is Pero&’s friend and expert safari guide Mbuno. It&’s just another adventure expected to be like all the ones they&’ve loved before. That is until one of the crew vanishes only to be found dead. Further investigation reveals terrorists are likely behind the murder . . . Hoping to evade further danger, Pero and his crew head to their next location. But the sinister villains follow, revealing their plan to kill thousands. But how? And where? And does it have anything to do with Pero&’s secret work for the US State Department? No matter the answer, Pero and his crew must now put down their cameras and pool their skills before anyone else falls prey to the terrorist threat . . .
Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful
by David Enrich"Authoritarian governments abroad have long used legal threats and lawsuits against journalists to cover up their disinformation, corruption, and violence. Now, as master investigative journalist David Enrich reveals, those tactics have arrived in America.” — Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen. <p> David Enrich, the New York Times Business Investigations Editor and the #1 bestselling author of Dark Towers, produces his most consequential and far-reaching investigation yet: an in-depth exposé of the broad campaign—orchestrated by elite Americans—to silence dissent and protect the powerful. <p> It was a quiet way to announce a revolution: In an obscure 2019 case that the Supreme Court refused to even hear, Justice Clarence Thomas raised the prospect of overturning the legendary New York Times v. Sullivan decision. Though hardly a household name, Sullivan is one of the most consequential free speech decisions, ever. Fundamental to the creation of the modern media as we know it, it has enabled journalists and writers all over the country—from top national publications to revered local newspapers to independent bloggers—to pursue the truth aggressively and hold the wealthy, powerful, and corrupt to account. <p> Thomas’s words were a warning—the public awakening of an idea that had been fomenting on the conservative fringe for years. Now it is going mainstream. From the Florida statehouse to small town New Hampshire to Donald Trump's White House, this movement today consists of some of the world’s richest and most powerful people and companies, who believe they should be above scrutiny and want to silence or delegitimize voices that challenge their supremacy. Indeed, many of the same businessmen, politicians, lawyers, and activists are already weaponizing the legal system to intimidate and punish journalists and others who dare criticize them. <p> In this masterwork of investigative reporting, David Enrich, New York Times Business Investigations Editor, traces the roots and reach of this growing threat to our modern democracy. With Trump’s emboldened right-wing coalition committed to demonizing and punishing those who attempt to hold them accountable, Murder the Truth sounds the alarm about the looming war over facts, laying bare the stakes of losing our most sacrosanct rights. The result is a story about power in the age of Trump—the way it’s used by those who have it and the lengths to which they will go to avoid it being questioned. <b>New York Times Bestseller</b>