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Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945
by Ronald D EllerAppalachia has played a complex and often contradictory role in the unfolding of American history. Created by urban journalists in the years following the Civil War, the idea of Appalachia provided a counterpoint to emerging definitions of progress. Early-twentieth-century critics of modernity saw the region as a remnant of frontier life, a reflection of simpler times that should be preserved and protected. However, supporters of development and of the growth of material production, consumption, and technology decried what they perceived as the isolation and backwardness of the place and sought to "uplift" the mountain people through education and industrialization. <P><P>Ronald D Eller has worked with local leaders, state policymakers, and national planners to translate the lessons of private industrial-development history into public policy affecting the region. In Uneven Ground: Appalachia since 1945, Eller examines the politics of development in Appalachia since World War II with an eye toward exploring the idea of progress as it has evolved in modern America. Appalachia's struggle to overcome poverty, to live in harmony with the land, and to respect the diversity of cultures and the value of community is also an American story. In the end, Eller concludes, "Appalachia was not different from the rest of America; it was in fact a mirror of what the nation was becoming."
Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945
by Ronald D. EllerThis award-winning history examines the politics of progress in America through a close look at industrial development in Appalachia since WWII.Appalachia has played a complex role in the unfolding of American history. Early-twentieth-century critics of modernity saw the region as a remnant of frontier life that should be preserved and protected. However, supporters of material production and technology decried what they saw as a the isolation and backwardness of the region and sought to “uplift” its people through education and industrialization.In Uneven Ground, Ronald D. Eller examines the politics of development in Appalachia while exploring the idea of progress as it has evolved in America. “Passionate, clear, concise, and at times profound,” this volume demonstrates that Appalachia's struggle to overcome poverty, to live in harmony with the land, and to respect the value of community is a truly American story (Chad Berry, author of Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles).Winner of the Appalachian Studies Association’s Weatherford Awardand the Southern Political Science Association’s V.O. Key Award
Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and Federal Law
by David Wilkins K. Tsianina LomawaimaIn the early 1970s, the federal government began recognizing self-determination for American Indian nations. As sovereign entities, Indian nations have been able to establish policies concerning health care, education, religious freedom, law enforcement, gaming, and taxation. Yet these gains have not gone unchallenged. Starting in the late 1980s, states have tried to regulate and profit from casino gambling on Indian lands. Treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather remain hotly contested, and traditional religious practices have been denied protection. Tribal courts struggle with state and federal courts for jurisdiction. David E. Wilkins and K. Tsianina Lomawaima discuss how the political rights and sovereign status of Indian nations have variously been respected, ignored, terminated, and unilaterally modified by federal lawmakers as a result of the ambivalent political and legal status of tribes under U.S. law.
Uneven Innovation: The Work of Smart Cities
by Jennifer ClarkThe city of the future, we are told, is the smart city. By seamlessly integrating information and communication technologies into the provision and management of public services, such cities will enhance opportunity and bolster civic engagement. Smarter cities will bring in new revenue while saving money. They will be more of everything that a twenty-first century urban planner, citizen, and elected official wants: more efficient, more sustainable, and more inclusive. Is this true?In Uneven Innovation, Jennifer Clark considers the potential of these emerging technologies as well as their capacity to exacerbate existing inequalities and even produce new ones. She reframes the smart city concept within the trajectory of uneven development of cities and regions, as well as the long history of technocratic solutions to urban policy challenges. Clark argues that urban change driven by the technology sector is following the patterns that have previously led to imbalanced access, opportunities, and outcomes. The tech sector needs the city, yet it exploits and maintains unequal arrangements, embedding labor flexibility and precarity in the built environment. Technology development, Uneven Innovation contends, is the easy part; understanding the city and its governance, regulation, access, participation, and representation—all of which are complex and highly localized—is the real challenge. Clark’s critique leads to policy prescriptions that present a path toward an alternative future in which smart cities result in more equitable communities.
The Uneven Offshore World: Mauritius, India, and Africa in the Global Economy (Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Politics)
by Justin Robertson Michael TyralaInformed by world-systems analysis, this book examines the shifting patterns of accommodation and resistance to the offshore world, with a particular focus on Mauritius as a critical but underappreciated offshore node mediating foreign investment into India and Africa. Drawing on a large pool of financial data and elite interviews, the authors present the first detailed comparative study of the Mauritius–India and Mauritius–Africa offshore relationships. These relationships serve as indicative test cases of the contemporary global tax reform agenda and its promise to rein in offshore finance. Whereas India’s economic power and multilateral track record have enabled it to actively shape this agenda and implement it in a robust manner, most African countries have found themselves either unable to meet its stringent criteria or unwilling to do so out of fear that it might discourage investment. Its impact on offshore financial centers has likewise been limited. A few of the least sophisticated ones appear to have fallen by the wayside, but the rest have either remained largely unaffected, or, like Mauritius, succeeded in consolidating their operations and surviving the current round of regulatory headwinds. The findings suggest that the contemporary global tax reform agenda has thus far not only failed to make good on its promise but also actually reinforced numerous existing power hierarchies. The Uneven Offshore World is written in an accessible style and aimed at readers without specialized knowledge of tax issues.
Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics
by Louis Desipio Todd Shaw Dianne Pinderhughes Toni-Michelle C. TravisUneven Roads helps students grasp how, when, and why race and ethnicity matter in U.S. politics. Using the metaphor of a road, with twists, turns, and dead ends, this incisive text takes students on a journey to understanding political racialization and the roots of modern interpretations of race and ethnicity. The book’s structure and narrative are designed to encourage comparison and reflection. Students critically analyze the history and context of U.S. racial and ethnic politics to build the skills needed to draw their own conclusions. In the Second Edition of this groundbreaking text, authors Shaw, DeSipio, Pinderhughes, and Travis bring the historical narrative to life by addressing the most contemporary debates and challenges affecting U.S. racial and ethnic politics. Students will explore important issues regarding voting rights, political representation, education and criminal justice policies, and the immigrant experience. A revised final chapter on intersectionality encourages students to examine how groups go beyond the boundaries of race and ethnicity to come together on matters of class, gender, and sexuality.
Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics
by Todd Shaw Louis Desipio Dianne Pinderhughes Toni-Michelle C. TravisNo other book on the market maps U.S. race and ethnic politics with the same breadth and scope as Todd Shaw, Louis DeSipio, Dianne Pinderhughes, and Toni-Michelle C. Travis’s Uneven Roads; it explores when, why, and how race and ethnicity matter in U.S. politics. The book begins with an introduction to broad political racialization and the roots of modern interpretations of race and ethnicity. Historical chapters on each of the five groups identified in the U.S. Census—Native American, African American, Latino, Asian American, and White—offer an engaging narrative on race, prejudice, equal rights and opportunity up to the 1960s. Policy and social issue chapters carry the story up to the present day, providing a wide lens on topics including voting rights, political representation, education and criminal justice policies, and the immigrant experience. A final chapter on intersectionality examines how groups go beyond the boundaries of race and ethnicity to come together on matters of class, gender, and sexuality. “Uneven Roads is truly excellent. There is no doubt in my mind that this book will impact the field for many years to come. Authors Shaw, DeSipio, Pinderhughes, and Travis are all eminent scholars in political science, and the way that this book is written shows why! It is well-written, engaging, and provides the reader with thoughtful analyses of some of the most important questions in racial and ethnic politics in America.” — Alvin B. Tillery, Jr., Northwestern University “Uneven Roads is extremely well-written and easy to understand – it introduces students to important concepts and ideas without a lot of jargon. It is also very thorough and weaves contemporary issues and current events throughout the text.” — Atiya Stokes-Brown, Bucknell University “The biggest strength of Uneven Roads is its ambitious and long-overdue attempt at filling a gap in the textbook market where no other book takes such a long and broad look at race and ethnicity in our history.” — Anirudh V.S. Ruhil, Ohio State University
Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics
by Todd Shaw Dianne Pinderhughes Louis DeSipio Toni-Michelle C. Travis Lorrie FrasureUneven Roads helps students grasp how, when, and why race and ethnicity matter in U.S. politics. Using the metaphor of a road, with twists, turns, and dead ends, this incisive text takes students on a journey to understanding political racialization and the roots of modern interpretations of race and ethnicity. The book’s structure and narrative are designed to encourage comparison and reflection. Students critically analyze the history and context of U.S. racial and ethnic politics to build the skills needed to draw their own conclusions. In the Third Edition of this groundbreaking text, authors Shaw, DeSipio, Pinderhughes, Frasure, and Travis bring the historical narrative to life by addressing the most contemporary debates and challenges affecting U.S. racial and ethnic politics. Students will explore important issues regarding voting rights, political representation, education and criminal justice policies, and the immigrant experience.
Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics
by Todd Shaw Dianne Pinderhughes Louis DeSipio Toni-Michelle C. Travis Lorrie FrasureUneven Roads helps students grasp how, when, and why race and ethnicity matter in U.S. politics. Using the metaphor of a road, with twists, turns, and dead ends, this incisive text takes students on a journey to understanding political racialization and the roots of modern interpretations of race and ethnicity. The book’s structure and narrative are designed to encourage comparison and reflection. Students critically analyze the history and context of U.S. racial and ethnic politics to build the skills needed to draw their own conclusions. In the Third Edition of this groundbreaking text, authors Shaw, DeSipio, Pinderhughes, Frasure, and Travis bring the historical narrative to life by addressing the most contemporary debates and challenges affecting U.S. racial and ethnic politics. Students will explore important issues regarding voting rights, political representation, education and criminal justice policies, and the immigrant experience.
Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics
by Toni-Michelle C. Travis Louis Desipio Todd Shaw Dianne PinderhughesUneven Roads helps you grasp how, when, and why race and ethnicity matter in U.S. politics. Using the metaphor of a road, with twists, turns, and dead ends, this incisive text takes you on a journey to understanding political racialization and the roots of modern interpretations of race and ethnicity. The book’s structure and narrative are designed to encourage comparison and reflection. You will critically analyze the history and context of U.S. racial and ethnic politics to build the skills needed to draw your own conclusions. In the Second Edition of this groundbreaking text, authors Shaw, DeSipio, Pinderhughes, and Travis bring the historical narrative to life by addressing the most contemporary debates and challenges affecting U.S. racial and ethnic politics. You will explore important issues regarding voting rights, political representation, education and criminal justice policies, and the immigrant experience. A revised final chapter on intersectionality encourages you to examine how groups go beyond the boundaries of race and ethnicity to come together on matters of class, gender, and sexuality.
Uneven Social Policies: The Politics of Subnational Variation in Latin America
by Sara NiedzwieckiSocial policies can transform the lives of the poor and marginalized, yet inequitable implementation often limits their access. Uneven Social Policies shifts the focus of welfare state analysis away from policy design and toward policy implementation. By examining variation in political motivations, state capacity, and policy legacies, it explains why some policies are implemented more effectively than others, why some deliver votes to incumbent governments while others do not, and why regionally elected executives block the implementation of some but not all national policies. Niedzwiecki explores this variation across provinces and municipalities by combining case studies with statistical analysis of conditional cash transfers and health policies in two decentralized countries, Argentina and Brazil. The analysis draws on original data gathered during fifteen months of field research that included more than 230 interviews with politicians and 140 with policy recipients.
Uneven Urbanscape: Spatial Structures and Ethnoracial Inequality (Cambridge Studies in Stratification Economics: Economics and Social Identity)
by Paul M. Ong Silvia R. GonzalezUneven Urbanscape takes a new theoretically grounded view of how society produces and reproduces ethnoracial economic inequality. Drawing on empirically rich documentation and quantitative analysis utilizing multiple data sources, including the US Bureau of the Census, Ong and Gonzalez assess the patterns, causes, and consequences of urban spatial disparities, specifically in home ownership, employment, and education. They focus on the global city of Los Angeles in order to examine outcomes across small geographic units that approximate neighborhoods and places, and to analyze the location-specific effects of geographic access and isolation within the region. Using a mix of micro-level data and aggregated statistics, Uneven Urbanscape provides one of the most comprehensive understandings of urban ethnoracial disparities and inequalities from 1960 to the present day.
Unexceptional Politics: On Obstruction, Impasse, and the Impolitic
by Emily ApterA new vision of politics “below the radar”One way to grasp the nature of politics is to understand the key terms in which it is discussed. Unexceptional Politics develops a political vocabulary drawn from a wide range of media (political fiction, art, film, and TV), highlighting the scams, imbroglios, information trafficking, brinkmanship, and parliamentary procedures that obstruct and block progressive politics. The book reviews and renews modes of thinking about micropolitics that counter notions of the “state of exception” embedded in theories of the “political” from Thomas Hobbes to Carl Schmitt. Emily Apter develops a critical model of politics behind the scenes, a politics that operates outside the norms of classical political theory. She focuses on micropolitics, defined as small events, happening in series, that often pass unnoticed yet disturb and interfere with the institutional structures of capitalist parliamentary systems, even as they secure their reproduction and longevity. Apter’s experimental glossary is arranged under headings that look at the apparently incidental, immaterial, and increasingly virtual practices of politicking: “obstruction,” “obstinacy,” “psychopolitics,” “managed life,” “serial politics.” Such terms frame an argument for taking stock of the realization that we really do not know what politics is, where it begins and ends, or how its micro-events should be described.
Unexpected Outcomes
by Saori N. Katada Carol Wise Leslie Elliott ArmijoThis volume documents and explains the remarkable resilience of emerging market nations in East Asia and Latin America when faced with the global financial crisis in 2008-2009. Their quick bounceback from the crisis marked a radical departure from the past, such as when the 1982 debt shocks produced a decade-long recession in Latin America or when the Asian financial crisis dramatically slowed those economies in the late 1990s. Why?This volume suggests that these countries' resistance to the initial financial contagion is a tribute to financial-sector reforms undertaken over the past two decades. The rebound itself was a trade-led phenomenon, favoring the countries that had gone the farthest with macroeconomic restructuring and trade reform. Old labels used to describe "neoliberal versus developmentalist" strategies do not accurately capture the foundations of this recovery. These authors argue that policy learning and institutional reforms adopted in response to previous crises prompted policymakers to combine state and market approaches in effectively coping with the global financial crisis.The nations studied include Korea, China, India, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, accompanied by Latin American and Asian regional analyses that bring other emerging markets such as Chile and Peru into the picture. The substantial differences among the nations make their shared success even more remarkable and worthy of investigation. And although 2012 saw slowed growth in some emerging market nations, the authors argue this selective slowing suggests the need for deeper structural reforms in some countries, China and India in particular.
Unexpected Outcomes
by Carol Wise Saori N. Katada Leslie Elliott ArmijoThis volume documents and explains the remarkable resilience of emerging market nations in East Asia and Latin America when faced with the global financial crisis in 2008-2009. Their quick bounceback from the crisis marked a radical departure from the past, such as when the 1982 debt shocks produced a decade-long recession in Latin America or when the Asian financial crisis dramatically slowed those economies in the late 1990s. Why?This volume suggests that these countries' resistance to the initial financial contagion is a tribute to financial-sector reforms undertaken over the past two decades. The rebound itself was a trade-led phenomenon, favoring the countries that had gone the farthest with macroeconomic restructuring and trade reform. Old labels used to describe "neoliberal versus developmentalist" strategies do not accurately capture the foundations of this recovery. These authors argue that policy learning and institutional reforms adopted in response to previous crises prompted policymakers to combine state and market approaches in effectively coping with the global financial crisis.The nations studied include Korea, China, India, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, accompanied by Latin American and Asian regional analyses that bring other emerging markets such as Chile and Peru into the picture. The substantial differences among the nations make their shared success even more remarkable and worthy of investigation. And although 2012 saw slowed growth in some emerging market nations, the authors argue this selective slowing suggests the need for deeper structural reforms in some countries, China and India in particular.
The Unexpected Patriot: How an Ordinary American Mother Is Bringing Terrorists to Justice
by Sue Carswell Shannen RossmillerAfter 9/11, when the nation was still in shock over the unprecedented attack on U.S. soil, Shannen Rossmiller, a country judge and mother of three in rural Montana, was formulating a plan. Soon she was devouring literature on Islamic culture, teaching herself Arabic, and preparing to infiltrate the central nervous system of global terror: online networks. Her efforts succeeded beyond imagination. Posing as an Islamic terrorist under dozens of screen aliases, she joined forces with the FBI and started trolling jihadist chat rooms, striking up conversations at 3am with men as far away as Pakistan, and amassing evidence against an array of suspected terrorists both at home and abroad. Her work laid the foundation for the online searches so crucial to law enforcement's fight against terror today. Shannen's husband, Randy, uncovered her double life after a chat room terrorist wiped out the family computer and reports rolled in that the Rossmillers were being targeted for reprisal. Undeterred, Shannen started working with the FBI on sting operations, involving everything from jihadist cells to weapons caches to bomb plots, and bringing many of her targets to justice, as well as pioneering the digital entrapment tactics that are at the forefront of today's war on terror. This is the story of one woman's unexpected courage and how it changed the face of this global struggle.
The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur
by Scott S. GreenbergerNobody expected the vice president, a New York political hack, to be president. And after President James A. Garfield was shot in 1881, nobody expected Chester A. Arthur to become a strong and effective president, a courageous anti-corruption reformer, and an early civil rights advocate. And yet...Despite his promising start as a young man, by his early fifties Chester A. Arthur was known as the crooked crony of New York machine boss Roscoe Conkling. For years Arthur had been perceived as unfit to govern, not only by critics and the vast majority of his fellow citizens but by his own conscience. As President James A. Garfield struggled for his life, Arthur knew better than his detractors that he failed to meet the high standard a president must uphold.And yet, from the moment President Arthur took office, he proved to be not just honest but brave, going up against the very forces that had controlled him for decades. He surprised everyone--and gained many enemies--when he swept house and took on corruption, civil rights for blacks, and issues of land for Native Americans.A mysterious young woman deserves much of the credit for Arthur's remarkable transformation. Julia Sand, a bedridden New Yorker, wrote Arthur nearly two dozen letters urging him to put country over party, to find "the spark of true nobility" that lay within him. At a time when women were barred from political life, Sand's letters inspired Arthur to transcend his checkered past--and changed the course of American history.This beautifully written biography tells the dramatic, untold story of a virtually forgotten American president. It is the tale of a machine politician and man-about-town in Gilded Age New York who stumbled into the highest office in the land, only to rediscover his better self when his nation needed him.
Unexpected Revolutionaries: How Central Banks Made and Unmade Economic Orthodoxy (Cornell Studies in Money)
by Manuela MoschellaIn Unexpected Revolutionaries, Manuela Moschella investigates the institutional transformation of central banks from the 1970s to the present. Central banks are typically regarded as conservative, politically neutral institutions that uphold conventional macroeconomic wisdom. Yet in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, central banks have upended observer expectations by implementing largely unknown and unconventional monetary policies. Far from abiding by well-established policy playbooks, central banks now engage in practices such as providing liquidity support for a wide range of financial institutions and quantitative easing. They have even stretched the remit of monetary policy into issues such as inequality and climate change. Moschella argues that the political nature of central banks lies at the heart of these transformations. While formally independent, central banks need political support to justify their policies and powers, and to obtain it, they carefully manage their reputation among their audienceselected officials, market actors, and citizens. Challenged by reputational threats brought about by twenty-first-century recessionary and deflationary forces, central banks such as the Federal Reserve System and the European Central Bank strategically deviated from orthodox monetary policies to preempt or manage political backlash and to regain public trust. Central banks thus evolved into a new role only in coordination with fiscal authorities and on the back of public contestation. Eye-opening and insightful, Unexpected Revolutionaries is necessary reading for discussions on the future of the neoliberal macroeconomic regime, the democratic oversight of monetary policymaking, and the role that central banks canor cannotplay in our domestic economies.
The Unexpected Scalia
by Dorsen David M.Antonin Scalia was one of the most important, outspoken, and controversial Justices in the past century. His endorsements of originalism, which requires deciding cases as they would have been decided in 1789, and textualism, which limits judges in what they could consider in interpreting text, caused major changes in the way the Supreme Court decides cases. He was a leader in opposing abortion, the right to die, affirmative action, and mandated equality for gays and lesbians, and was for virtually untrammelled gun rights, political expenditures, and the imposition of the death penalty. However, he usually followed where his doctrine would take him, leading him to write many liberal opinions. A close friend of Scalia, David Dorsen explains the flawed judicial philosophy of one of the most important Supreme Court Justices of the past century.
The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World's Most Notorious Terrorists
by Tracy Walder Jessica Anya BlauA highly entertaining account of a young woman who went straight from her college sorority to the CIA, where she hunted terrorists and WMDs"A thrilling tale...Walder’s fast-paced and intense narrative opens a window into life in two of America’s major intelligence agencies" —Publishers Weekly (starred review)When Tracy Walder enrolled at the University of Southern California, she never thought that one day she would offer her pink beanbag chair in the Delta Gamma house to a CIA recruiter, or that she’d fly to the Middle East under an alias identity.The Unexpected Spy is the riveting story of Walder's tenure in the CIA and, later, the FBI. In high-security, steel-walled rooms in Virginia, Walder watched al-Qaeda members with drones as President Bush looked over her shoulder and CIA Director George Tenet brought her donuts. She tracked chemical terrorists and searched the world for Weapons of Mass Destruction. She created a chemical terror chart that someone in the White House altered to convey information she did not have or believe, leading to the Iraq invasion. Driven to stop terrorism, Walder debriefed terrorists—men who swore they’d never speak to a woman—until they gave her leads. She followed trails through North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, shutting down multiple chemical attacks.Then Walder moved to the FBI, where she worked in counterintelligence. In a single year, she helped take down one of the most notorious foreign spies ever caught on American soil. Catching the bad guys wasn’t a problem in the FBI, but rampant sexism was. Walder left the FBI to teach young women, encouraging them to find a place in the FBI, CIA, State Department or the Senate—and thus change the world.
Unexpected State: British Politics and the Creation of Israel (Indiana Series in Middle East Studies)
by Carly BeckermanThis provocative historical reassessment sheds new light on the decisions of British politicians that led to the creation of Israel.Separating myth and propaganda from historical fact, Carly Beckerman explores how elite political battles in London inadvertently laid the foundations for the establishment of the State of Israel. Drawing on foreign policy analysis and previously unexamined archival sources, Unexpected State examines the strategic interests, international diplomacy, and political maneuvering in Westminster that determined the future of Palestine. Contrary to established literature, Beckerman shows how British policy toward the territory was dominated by domestic and international political battles that had little to do with Zionist or Palestinian interests. Instead, the policy process was aimed at resolving issues such as coalition feuds, party leadership battles, spending cuts, and riots in India. Considering detailed analysis of four major policy-making episodes between 1920 and 1948, Unexpected State interrogates key Israeli and Palestinian narratives and provides fresh insight into the motives and decisions behind policies that would have global implications for decades to come.
Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice
by Adam Benforado"A law professor sounds an explosive alarm on the hidden unfairness of our legal system." --Kirkus Reviews, starred A child is gunned down by a police officer; an investigator ignores critical clues in a case; an innocent man confesses to a crime he did not commit; a jury acquits a killer. The evidence is all around us: Our system of justice is fundamentally broken. But it's not for the reasons we tend to think, as law professor Adam Benforado argues in this eye-opening, galvanizing book. Even if the system operated exactly as it was designed to, we would still end up with wrongful convictions, trampled rights, and unequal treatment. This is because the roots of injustice lie not inside the dark hearts of racist police officers or dishonest prosecutors, but within the minds of each and every one of us. This is difficult to accept. Our nation is founded on the idea that the law is impartial, that legal cases are won or lost on the basis of evidence, careful reasoning and nuanced argument. But they may, in fact, turn on the camera angle of a defendant's taped confession, the number of photos in a mug shot book, or a simple word choice during a cross-examination. In Unfair, Benforado shines a light on this troubling new field of research, showing, for example, that people with certain facial features receive longer sentences and that judges are far more likely to grant parole first thing in the morning. Over the last two decades, psychologists and neuroscientists have uncovered many cognitive forces that operate beyond our conscious awareness. Until we address these hidden biases head-on, Benforado argues, the social inequality we see now will only widen, as powerful players and institutions find ways to exploit the weaknesses of our legal system. Weaving together historical examples, scientific studies, and compelling court cases--from the border collie put on trial in Kentucky to the five teenagers who falsely confessed in the Central Park Jogger case--Benforado shows how our judicial processes fail to uphold our values and protect society's weakest members. With clarity and passion, he lays out the scope of the legal system's dysfunction and proposes a wealth of practical reforms that could prevent injustice and help us achieve true fairness and equality before the law.From the Hardcover edition.
The Unfair Trade: How Our Broken Global Financial System Destroys the Middle Class
by Michael J. CaseyA wake-up call for middle class Americans who feel trapped in a post-crisis economic slump, The Unfair Trade is a riveting exposé of the vast global financial system whose flaws are the source of our economic malaise. Our livelihoods are now, more than ever, beholden to the workings of its imbalances and inequities. The trillions of dollars that make up the flow of international finance--money that is often steered away from the people who deserve it the most--have not just undermined the lives of working and middle class Americans. It is a world-wide phenomenon that is changing the culture of Argentina; destroying the factory system in Northern Mexico, enabling drug cartels to recruit thousands of young men into their gangs; that has taken down the economies of Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Greece, and possibly Italy; and is driving American companies such as a 60-year-old family owned manufacturer of printed circuit boards to shutter all but one of its factories. Veteran journalist Michael Casey has traveled the world--from China to Iceland, Spain to Argentina, Indonesia to Australia--recounting extraordinary stories about ordinary people from one continent to another whose lives are inextricably linked. By tracing the flow of money and goods across the world, he illustrates how an American homeowner's life is shaped by the same economic and social policies that determine those of a low wage migrant worker on an assembly line in China. This combination of financial acumen, narrative-driven reporting, and compelling story-telling gives The Unfair Trade a unique human angle. Casey shows that our economic problems are largely caused by political agendas that prevent the free market from encouraging fair competition and impeding the allocation of resources. Until governments work together to make this global system more efficient--until China removes incentives for its citizens to save excessively, for example, or the U.S. ends the de facto subsidies enjoyed by politically powerful banks--the global playing field will remain lopsided, job creation will lag, and our economies will be vulnerable to new crises.
Unfamiliar Fishes
by Sarah VowellIn Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as defining, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded first Cuba, then the Philippines, becoming an international superpower practically overnight. Vowell lights out to discover the off, emblematic, and exceptional history of the fiftieth state, and in so doing finds America, warts and all.
The Unfathomable Ascent: How Hitler Came to Power
by Peter Ross RangeThe chilling and little-known story of Adolf Hitler's eight-year march to the pinnacle of German politics.On the night of January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler leaned out of a spotlit window of the Reich chancellery in Berlin, bursting with joy. The moment seemed unbelievable, even to Hitler. After an improbable political journey that came close to faltering on many occasions, his march to power had finally succeeded.While the path of Hitler's rise has been told in books covering larger portions of his life, no previous work has focused solely on his eight-year climb to rule: 1925-1933. Renowned author Peter Ross Range brings this period back to startling life with a narrative history that describes brushes with power, quests for revenge, nonstop electioneering, American-style campaign tactics, and-for Hitler-moments of gloating triumph followed by abject humiliation.Indeed, this is the tale of a high-school dropout's climb from the infamy of a failed coup to the highest office in Europe's largest country. It is a saga of personal growth and lavish living, a melodrama rife with love affairs and even suicide attempts. But it is also the definitive account of Hitler's unrelenting struggle for control over his raucous movement, as he fought off challenges, built and bullied coalitions, quelled internecine feuds and neutralized his enemies-all culminating in the creation of the Third Reich and the western world's descent into darkness. One of the most dramatic and important stories in world history, Hitler's ascent spans Germany's wobbly recovery from World War I through years of growing prosperity and, finally, into crippling depression.