From its earliest days, America served as an arena for therevolutions in alternative spirituality that eventually swept theglobe. Esoteric philosophies and personas—from Freemasonry toSpiritualism, from Madame H. P. Blavatsky to EdgarCayce—dramatically altered the nation’s culture, politics, andreligion. Yet the mystical roots of our identity are often ignoredor overlooked. Opening a new window on the past, OccultAmerica presents a dramatic, pioneering study of the esotericundercurrents of our history and their profound impact acrossmodern life.
On September 11, 2001, hours after the terrorist attacks onNew York and Washington, the eminent military historian VictorDavis Hanson wrote an article in which he asserted that the UnitedStates, like it or not, was now at war and had the moral right torespond with force. An Autumn of War , which opens with thatfirst essay, will stimulate readers across the political spectrumto think more deeply about the attacks, the war, and their lessonsfor all of us.
Before the White House and Air Force One, before the TV adsand the enormous rallies, there was the real Barack Obama: a manwrestling with the momentous decision to run for the presidency,feeling torn about leaving behind a young family, and figuring outhow to win the biggest prize in politics. This book is the previously untold and epic story of how apolitical newcomer with no money and an alien name grew into theworld’s most powerful leader. But it is also a uniquely intimateportrait of the person behind the iconic posters and the SecretService code name Renegade. Drawing on a dozen unplugged interviews with the candidate andpresident, as well as twenty-one months covering his campaign as ittraveled from coast to coast, Richard Wolffe answers the simple yetenduring question about Barack Obama: Who is he? Based on Wolffe’s unprecedented access to Obama, Renegade reveals the making of a president, both on the campaign trail andbefore he ran for high office. It explains how the politician whoemerged in
Warfighting is an authentic American philosophy ofaction that will thrill the millions of fans of SunTzu's The Artof War and Musashi's T he Book of Five Rings . Thismodern classic of strategy and philosophy is the quintessentialguide to prevailing in competitive situations, be it war, work,play, or daily living. Sometimes life is war and sometimes business is war andsometimes you need to call in the Marines. Over the past twohundred years, the Marines have developed a reputation for gettingthe job done-fearlessly, boldly, and taking no prisoners. Whatbetter role model for the hidden warriors in ourselves? What betteradvice to call on when the stakes are high and sensitivity justisn't going to work? Written in 1989 as a philosophical andstrategic guide-book for the US. Marine Corps, Warfighting is a worthy successor to SunTzu's The Art Of War . Withclarity, brevity, and wisdom, it describes the basic forces at workin every competitive situation whether on the field of battle, inthe boardro
If the Watergate scandal was a previous generation'sNational Nightmare, then maybe the Clinton scandal was our NationalWet Dream, and who better to narrate it than the screenwriter JoeEszterhas? In American Rhapsody , Eszterhas, whosecredits include Basic Instinct and Showgirls, and Charlie Simpson's Apocalypse, for which he was nominated fora National Book Award, takes us through the events that threatenedto topple a president and left most of the nation's citizens with,at the very least, a bad taste in their mouths. Taking full advantage of his considerablejournalistic and storytelling talents, Eszterhas gives us everyfact, rumor, or innuendo surrounding the president's foibles in thecontext of late century American politics and entertainment. Here Washington and Hollywood do more than just flirt with eachother; they share the same bed. From scandalmongers MattDrudge (who began as a Hollywood gossip) and Ken Starr, to would-bepresident paramours Sharon Stone and Barbra Streisand, to hisfinal,
“Uttering lines that send liberals into paroxysms of rage,otherwise known as ‘citing facts,’ is the spice of life. When I seethe hot spittle flying from their mouths and the veins bulging andpulsing above their eyes, well, that’s when I feel trulyalive.” So begins If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans, AnnCoulter’s funniest, most devastating, and, yes, most outrageousbook to date. Coulter has become the brightest star in the conservativefirmament thanks to her razor-sharp reasoning and biting wit. Ofcourse, practically any time she opens her mouth, liberal elitesdenounce Ann, insisting that “She’s gone too far!” and hopefullypredicting that this time it will bring a crashing end to hercareer. Now you can read all the quotes that have so outraged her enemiesand so delighted her legions of fans. More than just the definitivecollection of Coulterisms, If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d BeRepublicans includes dozens of brand-new commentaries written byC
A gripping and unforgettable true story of bravery andpatriotism in the face of bitter hatred. Abraham Bolden was a young African American Secret Service agentin Chicago when he was asked by John F. Kennedy himself to join theWhite House Secret Service detail. For Bolden, it was a dream cometrue–and an encouraging sign of the charismatic president’s visionfor a new America. But the dream quickly turned sour. Bolden found himself regularlysubjected to open hostility and blatant racism, and he was appalledby the White House team’s irresponsible approach to security. Inthe wake of JFK’s assassination, Bolden sought to expose theagency’s negligence, only to find himself the victim of a sinisterconspiracy. The Echo from Dealey Plaza is the story of the terribleprice paid by one man for his commitment to truth and justice.
In this amazing and at times ribald story, Laton McCartneytells how Big Oil handpicked Warren G. Harding, an obscure Ohiosenator, to serve as our twenty-third president. Harding and his“oil cabinet” made it possible for cronies to secure vast fuelreserves that had been set aside for use by the U.S. Navy. Inexchange, the oilmen paid off senior government officials, bribednewspaper publishers, and covered the GOP campaign debt. When newsof the scandal finally emerged, the consequences were disastrous.Drawing on contemporary records newly made available to McCartney,The Teapot Dome Scandal reveals a shocking, revelatory picture ofjust how far-reaching the affair was, how high the stakes, and howpowerful the conspirators–all told in a dazzling narrativestyle.
In The Fatal Englishman, his first work of nonfiction,Sebastian Faulks explores the lives of three remarkable men. Eachhad the seeds of greatness; each was a beacon to his generation andleft something of value behind; yet each one died tragicallyyoung. Christopher Wood, only twenty-nine when he killed himself, was apainter who lived most of his short life in the beau monde of 1920sParis, where his charm, good looks, and the dissolute life thatfollowed them sometimes frustrated his ambition and achievement asan artist. Richard Hillary was a WWII fighter pilot who wrote a classicaccount of his experiences, The Last Enemy, but died in a mysterious trainingaccident while defying doctor’s orders to stay grounded afterhorrific burn injuries; he was twenty-three. Jeremy Wolfenden, hailed by his contemporaries as the brightestEnglishman of his generation, rejected the call of academia to become a hackjournalist in Cold War Moscow. A spy, alcoholic, and openhomosexual at a time when su
If you follow politics or the news, America is a country ofculture wars and great divides, a partisan place of red states andblue states, of us against them. From pundits to politicians itseems that anyone with an audience sees a polarized country - acountry at war with itself. In a radical departure from this "conventional wisdom," CarlAnderson explores what the talking heads have missed: anoverwhelming American consensus on many of the country's seeminglymost divisive issues. If the debates are shrill in public, he says,there is a quiet consensus in private - one that America'sinstitutions ignore at their peril. From health care, to the roleof religion in America, to abortion, to the importance oftraditional ethics in business and society, Anderson uses freshpolling data and keen insight in BEYOND A HOUSE DIVIDED toshow that a surprising consensus has emerged despite these debates.He sheds light on what's been missing in the public and politicaldebates of the last several years: the consensus that isn't ha
The remarkable story of a teacher who ran a grassrootscampaign for Congress . . . from her sixth-grade classroom “You can’t run for office in this country unless you’re amillionaire or you know a lot of millionaires.” This offhand remarkfrom one of her sixth-grade students dismayed public school teacherTierney Cahill. When she told the kids that in a democracy anyonecan run for office, they dared her to prove it–by running herself.She accepted their challenge on one condition: that they, herstudents, manage the campaign. A single mom with three kids and more than one job to make endsmeet, Cahill was in for a decidedly uphill battle, especially as aDemocrat in largely Republican Reno, Nevada. But Cahill had alwaysfelt a responsibility to make a positive impact on an increasinglyinequitable world. With her eager students leading the way, and awar chest of just seven thousand dollars (compared to opponentswith one hundred times the funds), Cahill not only got her name onthe ballot bu
“This is a thriller, a page-turner, a probing look into theinner workings of the assassination squads that Israel mobilizedafter the Munich massacre.” –David K. Shipler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Arab andJew “Gratitude is due to Mr. Klein for his painstaking . . . book, thebest one could possibly hope for.” –Walter Lacquer, The Wall Street Journal Award-winning journalist Aaron J. Klein tells, for the firsttime, the complete story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre andthe Israeli counterterrorism operation it spawned. Withunprecedented access to Mossad agents and an nparalleled knowledgeof Israeli intelligence, Klein peels back the layers of myth andmisinformation that have permeated previous books, films, andmagazine articles about the “shadow war” against Black Septemberand other related terrorist groups. In this riveting account,long-held secrets are finally revealed, including who was killedand who was not, how it was done, which targets were hit and whichwere m
This definitive edition of the original "Robert's" presentsrules of order, motions, debate, conduct of business, andadjournment. All problems of conducting a successful meetingsmoothly and fairly are resolved.
?《大动量：什么控制了我们的世界》的内容从金融次贷危机到伊拉克战争，从宗教信仰差异带来的行为到流行文化的潮流裹挟，从媒体网络的科技飞跃到全球环保运动所遭遇的支持与抵制，作者的视线遍及当今世界发展的各个关键领域，深刻剖析了随着“速度”（组织效率和传播速度）和“质量”（组织和投入的规模、影响力）的高度发展，大动量是如何对人类施加着支配性的、却又难以被察觉的巨大影响。?《大动量：什么控制了我们的世界》包含作者马克罗德对丰富案例的大量独到分析，文笔生动、鞭辟入里，并冷静地提醒世人小心大动量可能为世界带来的毁灭性打击，诚恳地建议我们如何在生活中保持冷静和独立的头脑，以幸存和完胜于这个易被各种危险动量所笼罩的“疯狂”世界。
Mike May spent his life crashing through. Blinded at agethree, he defied expectations by breaking world records in downhillspeed skiing, joining the CIA, and becoming a successful inventor,entrepreneur, and family man. He had never yearned for vision.Then, in 1999, a chance encounter brought startling news: arevolutionary stem cell transplant surgery could restore May’svision. It would allow him to drive, to read, to see his children’sfaces. But the procedure was filled with gambles, some of themdeadly, others beyond May’s wildest dreams. Beautifully written andthrillingly told, Crashing Through is a journey of suspense,daring, romance, and insight into the mysteries of vision and thebrain. Robert Kurson gives us a fascinating account of one man’schoice to explore what it means to see–and to truly live.NAMED ONEOF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
