“Saudi Arabia is more and more an irrational state—a place thatspawns global terrorism even as it succumbs to an ancient anddeeply seated isolationism, a kingdom led by a royal family thatcan’t get out of the way of its own greed. Is this the fulcrum wewant the global economy to balance on?” In his explosive New York Times bestseller, See No Evil ,former CIA operative Robert Baer exposed how Washington politicsdrastically compromised the CIA’s efforts to fight globalterrorism. Now in his powerful new book, Sleeping with the Devil,Baer turns his attention to Saudi Arabia, revealing how ourgovernment’s cynical relationship with our Middle Eastern ally andAmerica’ s dependence on Saudi oil make us increasingly vulnerableto economic disaster and put us at risk for further acts ofterrorism. For decades, the United States and Saudi Arabia have been locked ina “harmony of interests.” America counted on the Saudis for cheapoil, political stability in the Middle East, and lucrative businessrelati
In America’s battle against al-Qaeda and their allies, thegoal of the Navy SEALs is to be the best guns in thefight—stealthy, effective, professional, and lethal. Here for thefirst time is a SEAL insider’s battle history of these SpecialOperations warriors in the war on terrorism. “Down range” is what SEALs in Afghanistan and Iraq call theirarea of operations. In this new mode of warfare, “down range” canrefer to anything from tracking roving bands of al-Qaeda on aremote mountain trail in Afghanistan to taking down an armedcompound in Tikrit and rousting holdouts from Saddam Hussein’sregime. It could mean interdicting insurgents smuggling car-bombexplosives over the Iraqi-Syrian border or silently boarding afreighter on the high seas at night to enforce an embargo. In otherwords, “down range” could be anywhere, anytime, under anyconditions. In Down Range , author Dick Couch, himself a former Navy SEALand CIA case officer, uses his unprecedented access to bring thereader firs
“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
Nationally syndicated talk-radio host and noted film criticMichael Medved has taken an extraordinary journey from liberalactivist to outspoken conservative. Along the way he has earnedmillions of admirers—and more than his share of enemies—with hisdisarming wit and slashing arguments on issues of pop culture andpolitics. In the candid, illuminating Right Turns, Medved chronicles thelessons and adventures that changed him from a Vietnam protestleader to an optimistic promoter of American patriotism, fromsecularism to religion, from adventurous single guy to dotinghusband and father. He skewers leftist orthodoxy, revealing why theRight is right and why his former colleagues on the Left remainhopelessly wrong on every cultural, political, and socialissue.
COP: “Buddy, I think this is a whorehouse.” BUDDY CIANCI: “Now I know why they made you a detective.” Welcome to Providence, Rhode Island, where corruption isentertainment and Mayor Buddy Cianci presided over thelongest-running lounge act in American politics. In The Prince ofProvidence, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Mike Stanton tells aclassic story of wiseguys, feds, and politicians on a carousel ofcrime and redemption. Buddy Cianci was part urban visionary, part Tony Soprano—a flawedpolitical genius in the mold of Huey Long and James Michael Curley.His lust for power cost him his marriage, his family, and closefriendships. Yet he also revitalized the city of Providence, whereethnic factions jostle with old-moneyed New Englanders andblack-clad artists from the Rhode Island School of Design rubshoulders with scam artists from City Hall. For nearly a quarter of a century, Cianci dominated this uneasymelting pot. During his first administration, twenty-two politic
Jefferson Davis is one of the most complex and controversialfigures in American political history (and the man whom Oscar Wildewanted to meet more than anyone when he made his tour of the UnitedStates). Elected president of the Confederacy and later accused ofparticipating in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he is asource of ongoing dissension between northerners and southerners.This volume, the first of its kind, is a selected collection of hiswritings culled in large part from the authoritative Papers ofJefferson Davis , a multivolume edition of his letters andspeeches published by the Louisiana State University Press, andincludes thirteen documents from manu* collections and oneprivately held document that have never before appeared in a modernscholarly edition. From letters as a college student to his sister,to major speeches on the Constitution, slavery, and sectionalissues, to his farewell to the U.S. Senate, to his inauguraladdress as Confederate president, to letters from prison to hiswif
In this provocative and timely book, Middle East expert LeeSmith overturns long-held Western myths and assumptions about theArab world, offering advice for America’s future success in theregion. Seeking the motivation behind the September 11 attacks, Smithmoved to Cairo, where he discovered that the standard explanation—aclash of East and West—was simply not the case. Middle Eastconflicts have little to do with Israel, the United States, or theWest in general, but are endemic to the region. According toSmith’s “Strong Horse Doctrine,” the Arab world naturally alignsitself with strength, power, and violence. He argues that Americamust be the strong horse in order to reclaim its role there, andthat only by understanding the nature of the region’s ancientconflict can we succeed.
In this groundbreaking book, Joe Scarborough tells RepublicanParty bosses what they don’t want to hear, explains why Democratsare making matters so much worse, and then shows leaders of bothparties the way forward. The Last Best Hope draws on the forgotten genius of conservatismto offer a road map for the movement and the country. Delivering asearing indictment of the political leaders who have led us astray,Scarborough inspires conservatives to reclaim their heritage bydrawing upon the strength of the movement’s rich history.
You've heard of the SEALs. . . . now meet their bloodbrothers! The Official United States Air Force Elite Workout: An OfficialFive Star Fitness Guide Featuring: Running ? Swimming ? Weight Training ? O'Course ?Calisthenics ? and much more! Known as the PJ's and the CCT's, the pararescuemen and combatcontrol technicians are the elite forces of the United States AirForce. PJ's, whose motto is "that others may live", routinely go inharm's way to bring back downed pilots and crewmembers. CCT's,"first to fight", are responsible to enter hostile territory aheadof the rest and establish safe landing sites for arrivingforces. Their self-sacrificing efforts are heroic. Their training isintense, exciting, and before this book, little known. Now for thevery first time, their powerful training techniques are brought tolight in this profusely illustrated and documentedpresentation. Includes sections on: stretching, weight training, calisthenics,running, swimming, rope climbing, e
Crush the Cell demolishes, with simple logic, the edifice offalse “terror punditry” that has been laid, brick by brick,since9/11. A veteran of special ops, international diplomacy,andbruising clasheswith federal lawenforcement agencies,MichaelSheehan delivers in this book a two-part message:First,thatwe’vewasted—and are continuing towaste—billions ofdollarson thewrong protectivemeasures, and second, that knowingthebad guys’nextmove is paramount. Here, Sheehan showswhydefensivefortresses don’t work, but offensive operational intelligencedoes.He peels back themystery surrounding terrorist cells,explains justhow“terror experts”andmembers of themedia areplaying into theterrorists’ hands…and provides perhaps the clearest picture yet ofwhat modern terror-fighting is all about.
Before September 11, 2001, one terrorist group had killed moreAmericans than any other: Hezbollah, the “Party of God.” Today itremains potentially more dangerous than even al Qaeda. Yet littlehas been known about its inner workings, past successes, and futureplans–until now. Written by an accomplished journalist and a law-enforcementexpert, Lightning Out of Lebanon is a chilling and essentialaddition to our understanding of the external and internal threatsto America. In disturbing detail, it portrays the degree to whichHezbollah has infiltrated this country and the extent to which itintends to do us harm. Formed in Lebanon by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 1982,Hezbollah is fueled by hatred of Israel and the United States. Its1983 truck-bomb attack against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirutkilled 241 soldiers–the largest peacetime loss ever for the U.S.military–and caused President Reagan to withdraw all troops fromLebanon. Since then, among other atrocities, Hezbollah has mu
“I don’t own a single share of stock.” —Michael Moore Members of the liberal left exude an air of moral certitude. Theypride themselves on being selflessly committed to the highestideals and seem particularly confident of the purity of theirmotives and the evil nature of their opponents. To correct economicand social injustice, liberals support a whole litany of policiesand principles: progressive taxes, affirmative action, greaterregulation of corporations, raising the inheritance tax, strictenvironmental regulations, children’s rights, consumer rights, andmuch, much more. But do they actually live by these beliefs? Peter Schweizer decidedto investigate in depth the private lives of some prominentliberals: politicians like the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, theKennedys, and Ralph Nader; commentators like Michael Moore, AlFranken, Noam Chomsky, and Cornel West; entertainers andphilanthropists like Barbra Streisand and George Soros. Usingeverything from real estate transactions, IRS records, courtdeposit
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 Breakthrough , veteran journalist Gwen Ifillsurveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on theimpact of Barack Obama’s stunning presidential victory andintroducing the emerging young African American politicians forginga bold new path to political power. Ifill argues that the Black political structure formed during theCivil Rights movement is giving way to a generation of men andwomen who are the direct beneficiaries of the struggles of the1960s. She offers incisive, detailed profiles of such prominentleaders as Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Massachusetts Governor DevalPatrick, and U.S. Congressman Artur Davis of Alabama (allinterviewed for this book), and also covers numerous up-and-comingfigures from across the nation. Drawing on exclusive interviewswith power brokers such as President Obama, former Secretary ofState Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, hisson Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., and many others, as well as herown razor-sharp observations an
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
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
How did America become a nation that tortured prisoners, spiedon its citizens, and gave its president unchecked powers in mattersof defense? Has justice been the greatest casualty of the war onterror?After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bushadministration swiftly began to rethink its approach to nationalsecurity. In a series of memos and policy decisions, many topsecret and only made public much later, the administration’slawyers dismissed the Geneva conventions as “quaint,” justified thetorture of suspected terrorists, argued that the president in hiscapacity as commander in chief was bound by no laws in defendingthe nation at home and abroad, and approved a domestic surveillanceprogram that flagrantly violated US law.In Justice at War, DavidCole takes a critical look at the men who made the decisions thatshaped America’s war on terror. After September 11, AttorneyGeneral John Ashcroft aggressively expanded federal law enforcementpowers. John Yoo, who served in the Justice Department
“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
“[Jack Valenti] lived his life as a gentleman andpatriot....He might have been the last of the breed.” —New YorkTimes An Influential and Varied Life The list of notable names—people that Jack Valenti knew and withwhom he worked—is astonishing. Aside from LBJ, there were Jack andBobby Kennedy, Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, Robert McNamara,Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Julia Roberts, Cary Grant, LewWasserman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas,Warren Beatty, and Bill Clinton, to begin a very long list. ThisTime, This Place is a candid, unforgettable memoir of the life ofan extraordinary key political player and Hollywood rainmaker. Itis also a sweeping and important historical record, written by abrilliantly successful man who helped shape politics andentertainment in the second half of the twentieth century, and whoalways found himself at the center of any storm. “A wonderful story.” —International Herald Tribune “[Valenti] offers a rousing ac
The complete American presidential inaugural addressesfeaturing historical background by a National Book Awardwinner A testament to the power of oratory, this stirring and oftensurprising collection includes all fifty-five United Statespresidential inaugural addresses, as well as a general introductionand commentary that provides historical context for each speech.Marking pivotal moments in American history, readers willlearn: ? How George Washington came to ad-lib “So help me, God” at theend of his first inaugural address ? Why Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address is consideredone of the finest ever delivered ? The historical background behind Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Theonly thing we have to fear is fear itself” and John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what youcan do for your country.”
Commemorating the 200th anniversary of Lincoln s birth, hereis his extraordinary story as only the Smithsonian could tell it,featuring the unpublished Lincoln collections at the NationalMuseum of American History. For the first time, the Smithsonian is publishing its unparalleledLincoln collection. Its many historical treasures include: Lincolns top hat, his gold pocket watch from his days as a Springfieldlawyer, the inkstand he used to draft the EmancipationProclamation, his patent model for lifting boats, one of MaryLincoln s White House gowns and jewelry, and prison hoods andshackles worn by the Lincoln conspirators. With more than 125 colorphotographs, Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life tells a new andintimate story of the life and legacy of this remarkable Americanicon.
The wide ranging adventures of outdoorsman, naturalist andU.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt, are collected in this anthologyof African safaris, ranch life in the American West, and a perilfilled trip down Brazil's legendary River of Doubt.
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.