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Robert A. Lovett And The Development Of American Air Power
by David M. JordanRobert Lovett grew up in Texas, went to Yale, and earned his wings as a naval air force hero in World War I. He played a key role in the development of the Army Air Force in World War II. His emphasis on strategic bombing was instrumental in defeating Hitler's Germany. During his postwar State Department service, he was influential in initiating the Marshall Plan, the formation of NATO and planning the Berlin Airlift. He served as Truman's Secretary of Defense during the Korean War, was a consultant for his friend Dwight Eisenhower and served John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Between tours of duty in Washington, he was an international banker on Wall Street. This first complete biography covers his life and career in detail.
The Little Blue Book
by Elisabeth Wehling George LakoffThe indispensable handbook for Democrats Voters cast their ballots for what they believe is right, for the things that make moral sense. Yet Democrats have too often failed to use language linking their moral values with their policies. The Little Blue Book demonstrates how to make that connection clearly and forcefully, with hands-on advice for discussing the most pressing issues of our time: the economy, health care, women's issues, energy and environmental policy, education, food policy, and more. Dissecting the ways that extreme conservative positions have permeated political discourse, Lakoff and Wehling show how to fight back on moral grounds and in concrete terms. Revelatory, passionate, and deeply practical, The Little Blue Book will forever alter the way Democrats and progressives think and talk about politics.
Balance
by Tim Kane Glenn HubbardIn this groundbreaking book, two economists explain why economic imbalances cause civil collapse--and why America could be next.From the Ming Dynasty to Ottoman Turkey to Imperial Spain, the Great Powers of the world emerged as the greatest economic, political, and military forces of their time--only to collapse into rubble and memory. What is at the root of their demise--and how can America stop this pattern from happening again? A quarter century after Paul Kennedy's Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane present a bold, sweeping account of why powerful nations and civilizations break down under the heavy burden of economic imbalance. Introducing a profound new measure of economic power, Balance traces the triumphs and mistakes of imperial Britain, the paradox of superstate California, the long collapse of Rome, and the limits of the Japanese model of growth. Most importantly, Hubbard and Kane compare the twenty-first century United States to the empires of old and challenge Americans to address the real problems of our country's dysfunctional fiscal imbalance. Without a new economics and politics of balance, they show the inevitable demise ahead.
Why We're Polarized
by Ezra KleinAmerica’s political system isn&’t broken. The truth is scarier: it’s working exactly as designed. In this book, journalist Ezra Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us—and how we are polarizing it—with disastrous results. <P><P> In Why We’re Polarized, Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America&’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. <P><P>Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics. Over the past fifty years in America, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. These merged identities have attained a weight that is breaking much in our politics and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together. <P><P>Klein shows how and why American politics polarized around identity in the twentieth century, and what that polarization did to the way we see the world and one another. And he traces the feedback loops between polarized political identities and polarized political institutions that are driving our system toward crisis. This is a revelatory book that will change how you look at politics, and perhaps at yourself. <P><P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914-1918
by Michael KazinThe untold story of the movement that came close to keeping the United States out of the First World War.This book is about the Americans who tried to stop their nation from fighting in one of history’s most destructive wars and then were hounded by the government when they refused to back down. In the riveting War Against War, Michael Kazin brings us into the ranks of the largest, most diverse, and most sophisticated peace coalition up to that point in US history. They came from a variety of backgrounds: wealthy and middle and working class, urban and rural, white and black, Christian and Jewish and atheist. They mounted street demonstrations and popular exhibitions, attracted prominent leaders from the labor and suffrage movements, ran peace candidates for local and federal office, and founded new organizations that endured beyond the cause. For almost three years, they helped prevent Congress from authorizing a massive increase in the size of the US army—a step advocated by ex-president Theodore Roosevelt. Soon after the end of the Great War, most Americans believed it had not been worth fighting. And when its bitter legacy led to the next world war, the warnings of these peace activists turned into a tragic prophecy—and the beginning of a surveillance state that still endures today. War Against War is a dramatic account of a major turning point in the history of the United States and the world.
Breakthrough: Our Guerilla War to Expose Fraud and Save Democracy
by James O'KeefeIn this New York Times bestseller, controversial ambush journalist James O'Keefe takes a hard-hitting look at how the media and government conspire to protect the status quo: "A spine-tingling, true crime thriller about the quest for truth in the age of media obfuscation" (Gavin McInnes, FOX News contributor).Hailed by David Weigel in Slate as having "had more of an impact on the 2012 election than any journalist," James O'Keefe is young, brash, and provocative: a new breed of guerrilla reporter for the twenty-first century. He and his associates have famously infiltrated some of America's most protected organizations and institutions. Now, in Breakthrough, O'Keefe chronicles the harrowing undercover investigation that opened America's eyes to the chicanery of its state houses and the duplicity of the White House during one of the most compromised election campaigns in our nation's history: the 2012 presidential race. Of all his controversial sting operations, this was the one that his late mentor, Andrew Breitbart, called "his most consequential." While still on federal probation, O'Keefe organized an army of citizen journalists, planned a series of video stings to reveal the American system's vulnerability to voter fraud, and went nose to nose with the most powerful political machine in the world. Along the way, O'Keefe found disheartening evidence that Americans are not nearly as free as we may believe, but also showed just how much real change ordinary citizens can bring about when they are willing to risk the wrath of the powerful. Free of ideology, Breakthrough is at its core a clarion call for a more ethical society. Despite being vilified and libeled by an establishment media dedicated to suppressing the truth, James O'Keefe has dared to break through the firewall and reshape public opinion by showing things as they really are.
Breakthrough
by James O'KeefeIn this hard-hitting look at the way media and government conspire to protect the status quo, controversial ambush journalist James O'Keefe shows the reader what happens when a young citizen journalist challenges some of America's most powerful and protected organizations.James O'Keefe has been on the front lines of journalism since his student days at Rutgers. In Breakthrough, he takes the reader through his effrts to expose the duplicity of Planned Parenthood, ACORN, Medicaid, NPR, the New Jersey Educational Association, labor unions and politicians. He shows how the major media slandered him at almost every turn, how state officials harassed him, and how federal officials arrested him and his colleagues on contrived charges in New Orleans. While still on federal probation, legal necessity forced O'Keefe to train an army of citizen journalists to take on what mentor Andrew Breitbart called his "most consequential" investigation to date: a series of video stings that revealed the total vulnerability of American elections to vote fraud. O'Keefe tells the story of his team's harrowing adventures, as O'Keefe learns that we are not nearly as free a people as we think we are. Breakthrough shows the opportunity that still exists for independent journalists to break through the media firewall, reshape public opinion, and inspire political reform.
Newsfail
by Jamie Kilstein Allison KilkennyA hilarious and informative primer on the most urgent issues of our day, from the creators and co-hosts of Citizen Radio, a 100% listener-supported show whose slogan is "independent radio that won't lead you to war."#Newsfail is not your grandmother's comedic-memoir-slash-political-manifesto. From page one (in a preface titled, "In Which the Authors Interview Ralph Nader in the Bathtub"), comedian Jamie Kilstein and journalist Allison Kilkenny pledge to give you the news like you've never gotten it before. On issues ranging from feminism to gun control, climate change to class war, foreign policy to net neutrality, they tell you how the mainstream media gets it left, right, and utterly, unforgivably, irresponsibly wrong--think Noam Chomsky as channeled by Fred and Carrie from "Portlandia." #Newsfail is all this, plus the story of Allison and Jamie's own DIY foray into independent media via their podcast, Citizen Radio, which has featured guests such as Jeremy Scahill, Sarah Silverman, Glenn Greenwald, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and been downloaded millions of times by people all over the world. Their mission is truth-telling above brainwashing. All you have to do is listen.
Libertad y Tiranía
by Mark R. LevinCuando Libertad y tiranía, del conductor radial con distribución nacional Mark R. Levin, apareció en los primeros meses de la presidencia de Obama, los estadounidenses respondieron haciendo de su claro y sonoro llamado por una nueva era conservadora, el bestseller #1 del New York Times por unas asombrosas once semanas consecutivas. Tan provocativa, bien razonada, robusta e informada como su comentario radial, con su amor por nuestro país y el legado de los Padres Fundadores reflejados en cada página, la narrativa estimulante de Levin provee un marco filosófico, histórico y práctico para revitalizar la visión conservadora y asegurar la preservación de la sociedad estadounidense. Ante el asalto liberal moderno de los valores basados en la Constitución, un ataque que ha resultado en un gobierno federal que es un conglomerado masivo e inexplicable, el tiempo de reforzar el argumento intelectual y práctico por el conservatismo es este. En una serie de ensayos poderosos, Levin explica cómo los conservadores pueden contrarrestar la corrosión liberal tiránica que se ha filtrado en cada cuestión oportuna afectando así nuestra vida cotidiana, desde la economía hasta el seguro de salud, el calentamiento global, inmigración y más--e ilustra cómo el cambio, tal cual es visto por la lente del conservador, siempre es prudente, y siempre una mejora para la libertad individual.
Grass Roots (Will Lee Series #4)
by Stuart WoodsWoods introduces Will Lee, the brilliant and loyal chief aide to Washington's most influential senator. When the senator succumbs to a stroke, he asks Lee to run for office, and Lee is faced with scandal, rivals, and a white supremacist organization that would rather see him dead than in office.
Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans
by Ben ShapiroIn this galvanizing and alarming New York Times bestseller, “Ben Shapiro shows once and for all that the left is the single greatest source of bullying in modern American life” (Sean Hannity).While President Obama and the left like to pretend that they oppose bullying with all their hearts and souls, the truth is far darker: the left is the greatest purveyor of bullying in modern American history. Bullying has morphed into the left’s go-to tactic, as they attempt to quash their opponents through fear, threat of force, violence, and rhetorical intimidation on every major issue facing America today. In Bullies, Ben Shapiro uncovers the simple strategy used by liberals and their friends in the media: bully the living hell out of conservatives. Play the race card, the class card, the sexism card. Use any and every means at your disposal to demonize your opposition—to shut them up. Then pretend that such bullying is justified, because, after all, conservatives are the true bullies, and need to be taught a lesson for their intolerance. Hidden beneath the left’s supposed hatred of bullying lies a passionate love of its vulgar tactics. Dubbed by Glenn Beck “a warrior for conservatism, against those who use fear and intimidation to stifle honest debate,” Shapiro takes on the leftist bullies—the most despicable people in America. By exposing their hypocrisy, he offers conservatives a reality check in the face of what has become the gravest threat to American liberty: the left’s single-minded focus on ending political debate through bully tactics.
To Be a Friend Is Fatal: The Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind
by Kirk W. JohnsonThe stunning memoir of "one of the few genuine heroes of America's war in Iraq" (Dexter Filkins), a rare glimpse into the perspective of the Iraqi people, and a searching exploration of America's moral obligations to those Iraqis who stepped forward to help.In January 2005 Kirk Johnson, then twenty-four, arrived in Baghdad as USAID's only Arabic-speaking American employee. Despite his opposition to the war, Johnson felt called to civic duty and wanted to help rebuild Iraq. Appointed as USAID's first reconstruction coordinator in Fallujah, he traversed the city's IED-strewn streets, working alongside idealistic Iraqi translators--young men and women sick of Saddam, filled with Hollywood slang, and enchanted by the idea of a peaceful, democratic Iraq. It was not to be. As sectarian violence escalated, Iraqis employed by the US coalition found themselves subject to a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and assassination. On his first brief vacation, Johnson, swept into what doctors later described as a "fugue state," crawled onto the ledge outside his hotel window and plunged off. He would spend the next year in an abyss of depression, surgery, and PTSD--crushed by having failed in Iraq. One day, Johnson received an email from an Iraqi friend, Yaghdan: People are trying to kill me and I need your help. After being identified by a militiaman, Yaghdan had emerged from his house to find the severed head of a dog and a death threat. That email launched Johnson's now seven-year mission to get help from the US government for Yaghdan and thousands of abandoned Iraqis like him. The List Project has helped more than 1,500 Iraqis find refuge in America. To Be a Friend Is Fatal is Kirk W. Johnson's unforgettable portrait of the human rubble of war and his efforts to redeem a shameful chapter of American history.
To Be a Friend Is Fatal: The Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind
by Kirk W JohnsonIn January 2005 Kirk Johnson, then twenty-four, arrived in Baghdad as USAID's only Arabic-speaking American employee. Despite his opposition to the war, Johnson felt called to civic duty and wanted to help rebuild Iraq. Appointed as USAID's first reconstruction coordinator in Fallujah, he traversed the city's IED-strewn streets, working alongside idealistic Iraqi translators--young men and women sick of Saddam, filled with Hollywood slang, and enchanted by the idea of a peaceful, democratic Iraq. It was not to be. As sectarian violence escalated, Iraqis employed by the US coalition found themselves subject to a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and assassination. On his first brief vacation, Johnson, swept into what doctors later described as a "fugue state," crawled onto the ledge outside his hotel window and plunged off. He would spend the next year in an abyss of depression, surgery, and PTSD--crushed by having failed in Iraq. One day, Johnson received an email from an Iraqi friend, Yaghdan: "People are trying to kill me and I need your help. " After being identified by a militiaman, Yaghdan had emerged from his house to find the severed head of a dog and a death threat. That email launched Johnson's now seven-year mission to get help from the US government for Yaghdan and thousands of abandoned Iraqis like him. The List Project has helped more than 1,500 Iraqis find refuge in America. "To Be a Friend Is Fatal" is Kirk W. Johnson's unforgettable portrait of the human rubble of war and his efforts to redeem a shameful chapter of American history.
Reason To Believe
by Mario CuomoThe former governor of New York offers a critical view of the 1994 Republican victory, arguing that only a practical assessment of government's strengths will solve such problems as the deficit and welfare dependency.
Blood Sport: The President and His Adversaries
by James B. StewartIn July 1993, White House official Vincent Foster wrote an anguished lament: "in Washington...ruining people is considered a sport." Nine days later, Foster was dead. Shock at the apparent suicide of one of President Clinton's top aides turned to mystery, then suspicion, as the White House became engulfed in an ever-widening net of unanswered questions. Among the confidential matters Foster was working on when he died was the Clinton's ill-fated investment in Whitewater, an Arkansas land development. Soon conspiracy theories were circulating, alleging that Foster was murdered because he knew too much. And the Whitewater affair, a minor footnote to the 1992 presidential campaign, was suddenly resurrected in the national media. To a degree that left them sunned and at times depressed, the president and the first lady have been buffeted by a succession of scandals, from the first lady's profitable commodities trading to the sexual harassment allegations of Paula Jones. Like his predecessors, the Clinton presidency son found itself engulfed in allegations of scandal, conspiracy, and cover-up.Drawing on hundreds of interviews, many with people speaking publicly for the first time, James B. Stewart also sheds startling new light on these and other mysteries of the Clinton White House. In a fast-paced narrative that ranges from a backwater town in the Ozarks to the Oval Office, from newsrooms in New York and Los Angeles to offices of conservative think tanks and special prosecutors, the result is an unprecedented portrait of political combat as it is waged in America today.as politics and acting under duress in the White House. It is the story of the people around them, many disgraced or tarnished by what happened: Bernard Nussbaum, the embattled White House counsel; Webb Hubbell, the Arkansas ally at the Justice Department who confessed to felonies; Bill Kennedy, a top White House lawyer forced to return to Little Rock. And it is the full story of Vince Foster, a quiet, reserved, and loyal confidant and friend of the first family whose tortured career in Washington can be seen as a metaphor for the toll public service exacts today. Going beyond the news headlines, Blood Sport also tells the fascinating stories of key figures at the heart of the action, such as Jim McDougal, once Clinton's political and financial mentor, and his glamorous but naive wife, Susan, who swept up the Clintons into their real estate empire, then faced financial ruin. It is the story of top national reporters and editors such as Jeff Gerth of The New York Times, who broke the Whitewater story only to find himself the object of controversy. It is the story of David Bossie, the tireless conservative operative who became a one-man army against the Clintons and even penetrated a network news operation. It is the story of Paula Jones, a small-town girl with dreams of Hollywood, and of the Arkansas state troopers who broke their code of silence to add fuel to the Clinton scandals. It is the story of prosecutors Kenneth Starr and Robert Fiske, the secretive, powerful independent counsels whose wide-ranging investigations could vindicate - or destroy - a president. Set against a backdrop of national affairs and political intrigue, Blood Sport is more than the story of the Clintons' political trial by combat. It is a vivid portrait of our times, destined to be an enduring examination of political power and its limitations, of information and its dissemination, and, ultimately, of human nature. For anyone interested in American democracy, the revelations of Blood Sport will reverberate for this and future presidencies.
88 Days to Kandahar
by Robert L. GrenierThe First American-Afghan War, a CIA war, was approved by President George W. Bush and directed by the author, Robert Grenier, the CIA station chief in Islamabad. Forging separate alliances with warlords, Taliban dissidents, and Pakistani intelligence, Grenier launched the "southern campaign," orchestrating the final defeat of the Taliban and Hamid Karzai's rise to power in eighty-eight chaotic days.In his gripping narrative, we meet: General Tommy Franks, who bridled at CIA control of "his" war; General "Jafar Amin," a gruff Pakistani intelligence officer who saved Grenier from committing career suicide; Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's brilliant ambassador to the US, who tried to warn her government of the al-Qa'ida threat; "Mark," the CIA operator who guided Gul Agha Shirzai to bloody victory over the Taliban; General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani, a cautious man who became the most powerful man in Pakistan, struggling with Grenier's demands while trying to protect his country; and Hamid Karzai, the puzzling anti-Taliban insurgent, a man of courage, petulance, and vacillating moods. Grenier's enemies out in front prove only slightly more lethal than the ones behind his own lines. This first war is won despite Washington bureaucrats who divert resources, deny military support, and try to undermine the only Afghan allies capable of winning. Later, as he directed the CIA's role in the Iraq War, Grenier watched the initial victory squandered. His last command was of CIA's CounterTerrorism Center (CTC), as Bush-era terrorism policies were being repudiated, as the Taliban re-emerged in Afghanistan, and as Pakistan descended into fratricidal violence.
Strategic Failure
by Mark MoyarA distinguished historian with over a decade inside the US Department of Defense shows how the downsizing of our armed forces lowers the nation's defense and puts us at risk.In this stunningly detailed account of US military power in the Obama era, Mark Moyar reveals how Obama's military decisions have led to the international catastrophes of his second term. While our current downward spiral did not grab the attention of the American people until 2014, Moyar finds its roots in Obama's first-term decisions to shrink the US military and replace large overseas military commitments with "light footprints." Obama's preoccupation with his political self-interest has consistently trumped the national interest. Moyar documents how Obama has failed to deliver on his substitutes for military power. Cutting through the chaff of partisan bickering with penetrating analysis, he homes in on the events and personalities driving failures across the globe. Moyar illustrates how Obama's policies led to the rise of ISIS, and how conditions are primed for future cataclysms. He shows how the killing of the US ambassador at Benghazi was the result of a light-footprint approach in Libya, and reveals the problems stemming from our reliance on drone strikes. The ongoing military drawdown and international perceptions of Obama's passivity have heightened the risks to America from her enemies. Drawing upon the lessons of Obama's presidency, Moyar concludes by identifying a better way for US national security in the twenty-first century. Strategic Failure is a timely and fascinating opening salvo in the looming 2016 showdown between Republican and Democratic presidential contenders.
Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution
by Clint Bolick Jeb BushThe immigration debate has challenged our nation since its founding. But today, it divides Americans more stridently than ever, due to a chronic failure of national leadership by both parties. Here at last is an attainable resolution guided by two core principles: first, immigration is vital to America's future; second, any enduring resolution must adhere to the rule of law. Unfortunately, current laws are so cumbersome and irrational that millions have circumvented them and entered the United States illegally, taxing our system to the breaking point. Jeb Bush and Clint Bolick contend there are other unique factors currently at play: America's future population expansion will come solely from immigrants. And for the first time, the U.S. must compete with other countries for immigrant workers and their skills. In the first book to offer a practical, nonpartisan approach, Bush and Bolick propose a compelling six-point strategy for reworking our policies that begins with erasing all existing, outdated immigration structures and starting over. From there, Immigration Wars details their plan for advancing the national goals that immigration policy is supposed to achieve: build a demand-driven immigration system; increase states' autonomy based on varying needs; reduce the significant physical risks and financial costs imposed by illegal immigration; unite Mexico and America in their common war against drug cartels; and educate aspiring citizens in our nation's founding principles and why they still matter. Here too is a viable variation of the DREAM Act as a legal status for children brought here illegally, and sound strategies for the Republican Party to revitalize their ever-decreasing core constituency. With Immigration Wars as a beacon of hope, Americans can finally solidify a national identity that is based on a set of ideals enriched and reinvigorated by immigrants, most of whom fervently embrace our core values--family, faith, hard work, education, and patriotism.
Vida Total: Mi Historia Increíble
by Arnold SchwarzeneggerLA MEJOR HISTORIA DE INMIGRACIÓN DE NUESTROS TIEMPOSSu historia es única, divertida, y en estas páginas la cuenta de manera brillante. Nació durante un año de hambruna en un pequeño pueblo de Austria, hijo de un jefe de policía muy austero. Soñaba con mudarse a los Estados Unidos para convertirse en campeón del fisiculturismo y estrella de cine. A los veintiún años vivía en Los Ángeles y ya había sido coronado como Mr. Universo. Cinco años más tarde había aprendido a hablar inglés y se había convertido en el mejor fisiculturista del mundo. Diez años más tarde había completado su título universitario y se había vuelto millonario gracias a sus empresas comerciales en el sector inmobiliario, el paisajismo y el fisiculturismo. También había ganado un Golden Globe por su debut como actor dramático en Stay Hungry. Veinte años más tarde era la estrella de cine más famosa del mundo, estaba casado con Maria Shriver y era un líder republicano emergente que formaba parte de la familia Kennedy. Treinta y seis años después de haber llegado a los Estados Unidos, el hombre que alguna vez fue conocido entre sus compañeros fisiculturistas como el "roble austriaco" fue elegido como gobernador de California, la séptima economía más grande del mundo. Gobernó el estado a lo largo de una crisis presupuestaria, desastres naturales y disturbios políticos, trabajando con ambos lados del espectro político para crear un mejor ambiente, reformas electorales y soluciones bipartidistas. Con Maria Shriver crió a cuatro hijos fantásticos. En medio del escándalo que él mismo creó, intentó mantener a su familia unida. Hasta ahora nunca ha contado la historia completa de su vida, en su propia voz. Éste es Arnold. Ésta es su vida total.
I Got Schooled: The Unlikely Story of How a Moonlighting Movie Maker Learned the Five Keys to Closing America’s Education Gap
by M. Night ShyamalanIn this vital new book, the famed filmmaker tells how his passion for education reform led him to learn that there are five tested, indispensable keys to transforming America's underperforming schools.I Got Schooled offers a look at America's educational achievement gap that could only have come from an outsider. Famed director M. Night Shyamalan has long had a serious interest in education. The foundation he and his wife started once gave college scholarships to promising inner-city students, but Shyamalan realized that these scholarships did nothing to improve education for all the other students in under-performing schools. When he learned that some schools were succeeding with similar student populations, he traveled across the country to find out how they did this and whether these schools had something in common. He eventually learned that there are five keys to closing America's achievement gap. But just as we must do several things to maintain good health-- eat the right foods, exercise regularly, get a good night's sleep--so too must we use all five keys to turn around our lowest-performing schools. These five keys are used by all the schools that are succeeding, and no schools are succeeding without them. Before he discovered them, Shyamalan investigated some popular reform ideas that proved to be dead ends, such as smaller class size, truculent unions, and merit pay for teachers. He found that the biggest obstacle to school reform is cognitive biases: too many would-be reformers have committed themselves to false solutions. This is a deeply personal book by an unbiased observer determined to find out what works and why so that we as a nation can fulfill our obligation to give every student an opportunity for a good education.
Schooled
by M. Night ShyamalanIn this vital new book, the famed filmmaker tells how his passion for education reform led him to learn that there are five tested, indispensable keys to transforming America's underperforming schools.When he was scouting locations for a film, M. Night Shyamalan spent time in two Philadelphia-area schools--one a welcoming institution, the other a building with metal detectors, windows with bars, and locked classroom doors. The striking difference resonated with the filmmaker, convincing him to become more involved in education reform. Now, after years of dedicating himself to the issue and consulting with America's leading education experts and reformers, he has found something astonishing in the research. Schools are closing the achievement gap in poor neighborhoods all across the country, more than fifty of which are identified in Schooled. What they have in common are five distinct practices, similar to, and inspired by, the keys to a healthy lifestyle: Each one necessary, no one sufficient. These five, identified by the Shyamalan family foundation's researchers are: Longer Hours, whether an increased school day, or extended year; Small Schools; using evidence-tested teaching methods via Data-Driven Instruction; Leaders who spend their time on instruction instead of administration; and identifying and retaining the Best Teachers, including a fresh approach to the tenure system. Shyamalan embarked on this project with no preconceived notions, hoping only to learn which methods succeed. Working closely with experts, he has produced a book based solely on empirical data--a guide that should inform America's ongoing debate about how to improve our educational system.
Agenda 21
by Glenn Beck Harriet Parke"I was just a baby when we were relocated and I don't remember much. Everybody has that black hole at the beginning of their life. That time you can't remember. Your first step. Your first taste of table food. My real memories begin in our assigned living area in Compound 14." Just a generation ago, this place was called America. Now, after the worldwide implementation of a UN-led program called Agenda 21, it's simply known as "the Republic." There is no president. No Congress. No Supreme Court. No freedom. There are only the Authorities. Citizens have two primary goals in the new Republic: to create clean energy and to create new human life. Those who cannot do either are of no use to society. This bleak and barren existence is all that eighteen-year-old Emmeline has ever known. She dutifully walks her energy board daily and accepts all male pairings assigned to her by the Authorities. Like most citizens, she keeps her head down and her eyes closed. Until the day they come for her mother. "You save what you think you're going to lose." Woken up to the harsh reality of her life and her family's future inside the Republic, Emmeline begins to search for the truth. Why are all citizens confined to ubiquitous concrete living spaces? Why are Compounds guarded by Gatekeepers who track all movements? Why are food, water and energy rationed so strictly? And, most important, why are babies taken from their mothers at birth? As Emmeline begins to understand the true objectives of Agenda 21 she realizes that she is up against far more than she ever thought. With the Authorities closing in, and nowhere to run, Emmeline embarks on an audacious plan to save her family and expose the Republic--but is she already too late?
Hidden Order: A Thriller (The Scot Harvath Series #12)
by Brad Thor#1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brad Thor returns with his hottest and most action-packed thriller yet!The most secretive organization in America operates without accountability to the American people. Hiding in the shadows, pretending to be part of the United States Government, its power is beyond measure. Control of this organization has just been lost and the future of the nation has been thrust into peril. When the five candidates being considered to head this mysterious agency suddenly go missing, covert counter-terrorism operative, Scot Harvath is summoned to Washington and set loose on the most dangerous chase ever to play out on American soil. But as the candidates begin turning up murdered, the chase becomes an all-too-public spectacle with every indicator suggesting that the plot has its roots in a shadowy American cabal founded in the 1700s. With the United States on the verge of collapse, Harvath must untangle a web of conspiracy centuries in the making and head off the greatest threat America has ever seen. This is thriller writing at its absolute best where the stakes have never been higher, nor the line between good and evil so hard to discern.
Act of War: A Thriller (The Scot Harvath Series #13)
by Brad ThorThe #1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brad Thor delivers his most frightening and pulse-pounding thriller ever!After a CIA agent mysteriously dies overseas, his top asset surfaces with a startling and terrifying claim. There&’s just one problem—no one knows if she can be trusted. But when six exchange students go missing, two airplane passengers trade places, and one political-asylum seeker is arrested, a deadly chain of events is set in motion. With the United States facing an imminent and devastating attack, America&’s new president must turn to covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath to help carry out two of the most dangerous operations in the country&’s history. Code-named &“Gold Dust&” and &“Blackbird,&” they are shrouded in absolute secrecy as either of them, if discovered, will constitute an act of war.
Code of Conduct: A Thriller (The Scot Harvath Series #14)
by Brad Thor&“Thor tops himself again and again.&” —Bookreporter &“Feels like the TV show 24 on the page.&” —Associated Press #1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor presents his greatest thriller ever—an action-packed literary tour de force!Hidden deep within one of the world&’s most powerful organizations is a secret committee with a devastating agenda. Its members are afforded incredible protections—considered elites, untouchables. But when four seconds of video is captured halfway around the world and anonymously transmitted to DC, covert wheels are set in motion, and counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath is tapped to undertake the deadliest assignment of his career. What begins as a favor will evolve into a globe-spanning drama of highly personal stakes played out against a backdrop of stunning international intrigue, duplicitous political gamesmanship, and the darkest, most clandestine fears of the espionage world. With razor-sharp plotting, richly rendered characters, and heart-stopping surprises on every page, Thor isn&’t just at the top of his game—he owns the entire genre.