Niall Ferguson is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History atHarvard University, a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College,Oxford University, and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution,Stanford University. The bestselling author of Paper andIron , The House of Rothschild , The Pity of War , The Cash Nexus , Empire , and Colossus , he alsowrites regularly for newspapers and magazines all over the world.Since 2003 he has written and presented three highly successfultelevision documentary series for British television: Empire , American Colossus , and, most recently, TheWar of the World .

Party Influence in Congress challenges current arguments andevidence about the influence of political parties in the U.S.Congress. Steven S. Smith argues that theory must reflect policy,electoral, and collective party goals. These goals call forflexible party organizations and leadership strategies. They demandthat majority party leaders control the flow of legislation;package legislation and time action to build winning majorities andattract public support; work closely with a president of theirparty; and influence the vote choices for legislators. Smithobserves that the circumstantial evidence of party influence isstrong, multiple collective goals remain active ingredients afterparties are created, party size is an important factor in partystrategy, both negative and positive forms of influence areimportant to congressional parties, and the needle-in-the-haystacksearch for direct influence continues to prove frustrating.

A WATERSHED ACCOUNT OF THE MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL FRIENDSHIPIN AMERICAN HISTORY In Madison and Jefferson, esteemed historians Andrew Burstein andNancy Isenberg join forces to reveal the crucial partnership of twoextraordinary founders, creating a superb dual biography that is athrilling and unprecedented account of early America. The third and fourth presidents have long been considered properand noble gentlemen, with Thomas Jefferson’s genius overshadowingJames Madison’s judgment and common sense. But in this revelatorybook, both leaders are seen as men of their times, ruthless andhardboiled operatives in a gritty world of primal politics wherethey struggled for supremacy for more than fifty years. In most histories, the elder figure, Jefferson, looms larger. YetMadison is privileged in this book’s title because, as Burstein andIsenberg reveal, he was the senior partner at key moments in theformation of the two-party system. It was Madison who did the mostto initiate George W

From an award-winning historian, a stirring (and timely)narrative history of American labor from the dawn of the industrialage to the present day. From the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, the first realfactories in America, to the triumph of unions in the twentiethcentury and their waning influence today, the con?test betweenlabor and capital for their share of American bounty has shaped ournational experience. Philip Dray’s ambition is to show us the vitalaccomplishments of organized labor in that time and illuminate itscentral role in our social, political, economic, and culturalevolution. There Is Power in a Union is an epic, character-drivennarrative that locates this struggle for security and dignity inall its various settings: on picket lines and in union halls,jails, assembly lines, corporate boardrooms, the courts, the hallsof Congress, and the White House. The author demonstrates,viscerally and dramatically, the urgency of the fight for fairnessand economic democracy—a strugg

In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners’ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Senator Obama called “the audacity of hope.” Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politics–a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the “endless clash of armies” we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of “our improbable experiment in democracy.” He explores those forces–from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media–that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating hu

First published in 1923, The Prospects of IndustrialCivilization is considered the most ambitious of BertrandRussell's works on modern society. It offers a rare glimpse intooften-ignored subtleties of his political thought and in it heargues that industrialism is a threat to human freedom, since it isfundamentally linked with nationalism. His proposal for onegovernment for the whole world as the ultimate solution, along withhis argument that the global village and prevailing politicaldemocracy should be its eventual results, is both provocative andthoroughly engaging.

One ofthe most critical battles of the Afghan War is now revealed asnever before. Lions of Kandahar is an inside account from theunique perspective of an active-duty U.S. Army Special Forcescommander, an unparalled warrior with multiple deployments to thetheater who has only recently returned from combatthere. Southern Afghanistan was slipping away.That was clear to then-Captain Rusty Bradley as he began his thirdtour of duty there in 2006. The Taliban and their allies wereinfiltrating everywhere, poised to reclaim Kandahar Province, theirstrategically vital onetime capital. To stop them, the NATOcoalition launched Operation Medusa, the largest offensive in itshistory. The battlefield was the Panjwayi Valley, a densely packedwarren of walled compounds that doubled neatly as enemy bunkers,lush orchards, and towering marijuana stands, all laced withtreacherous irrigation ditches. A mass exodus of civilians heraldedthe carnage to come. Dispatched as a diversionary force insuppo

"The phenomenon that is Barack Obama has intrigued us all. Who is Barack Obama? The editors of LIFE have gone a very long way toward helping us all answer this question. Senator Obama's singularly American life has been characterized by tragedy and triumph, drama and despair, anxiety and anticipation, and, ultimately, enormous excitement and the deepest historical significance. In this book, Obama's tale is told in all of its dimensions, from the mistakes he has made and the obstacles he has confronted and overcome, to his moments of almost sublime and glorious transcendence. With spectacular photographs--funny, surprising,exceptional in detail--combined with a highly readable narrative, Obama's biography comes to life, from his youth in Hawaii to his roots in Africa, from Harvard to Chicago and, eventually, to his life as a public servant in Washington. Who is Barack Obama? Read these compelling words and study these exceptionally candid and beautiful photographs and discover the answer for yourself." (Henry

Praise for Man of the People "Among the many legends who have made America great stands John McCain. Man of the People, Revised and Updated lyrically tells his quintessentially American story: a seemingly ordinary man doing extraordinarily heroic and selfless things—out of a pure devotion to his country. This dynamic biography shows why it's easy to imagine him among the ranks of Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan, who led America with such daring and wisdom. McCain's life is so organically American, so true to the legacies of the leaders who preceded him, that the greatest chapter of his story is still to be written." —Monica Crowley, panelist, The McLaughlin Group; host, The Monica Crowley Show "John McCain is a real man. By that I mean he has faults and weaknesses like anybody else. But he has supplemented those with a ferocious courage and intensity. Paul Alexander brings McCain's life to life in a way the reader will never forget." —Bill O'Reilly, anchor, The O'Reilly Fac

Remote, forbidding, and volatile, the Caspian Sea longtantalized the world with its vast oil reserves. But outsiders,blocked by the closed Soviet system, couldn't get to it. Then theSoviet Union collapsed, and a wholesale rush into the regionerupted. Along with oilmen, representatives of the world's leadingnations flocked to the Caspian for a share of the thirty billionbarrels of proven oil reserves at stake, and a tense geopoliticalstruggle began. The main players were Moscow and Washington-theformer seeking to retain control of its satellite states, and thelatter intent on dislodging Russia to the benefit of theWest. The Oil and the Glory is the gripping account of this latestphase in the epochal struggle for control of the earth's "blackgold." Steve LeVine, who was based in the region for The WallStreet Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek, weaves anastonishing tale of high-stakes political gamesmanship, greed, andscandal, set in one of the most opaque corners of the world. InLeVine's tel

1 On Interpretation: Literature as a Socially Symbolic Act 2 Magical Narratives: On the Dialectical Use of'Genre Criticism 3 Realism and Desire: Balzac and the Problem of the Subject 4 Authentic Resscntiment: Generic Discontinuities and Ideologemes in the "Experimental" Novels of George Gissing 5 Romance and Reification: Plot Construction and Ideological Closure in Joseph Conrad 6 Conclusion: The Dialectic of"Utopia and Ideology INDEX

Revival is the dramatic inside story of the definingperiod of the Obama White House. It is an epic tale that followsthe president and his inner circle from the crisis of defeat tohistoric success. Over the span of an extraordinary two months inthe life of a young presidency, Obama and his senior aides engagedin a desperate struggle for survival that stands as the measure ofwho they are and how they govern. Bestselling Obama biographer Richard Wolffe draws on unrivaledaccess to the West Wing to write a natural sequel to his criticallyacclaimed book about the president and his campaign. He traces anarc from near death to resurrection that is a repeated pattern forObama, first as a candidate and now as president. Starting at thefirst anniversary of the inauguration, Wolffe paints a portrait ofa White House at work under exceptional strain across a sweepingset of challenges: from health care reform to a struggling economy,from two wars to terrorism. Revival is a road map to understanding the dynamics,cha

In this riveting collection, published for the first time,we follow Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson, two giants of thepost–World War II period, as they move from an officialrelationship to one of candor, humor, and personal expression.Together they were primarily responsible for the Marshall Plan andNATO, among other world-shaping initiatives. And in these letters,spanning the years from when both were newly out of office untilAcheson’s death at the age of seventy-eight, we find them sharingthe often surprising and always illuminating opinions, ideas, andfeelings that the strictures of their offices had previously keptthem from revealing. Adapting easily to their private lives, they nonetheless felt apowerful need to keep in touch as they viewed with dismay what theyconsidered to be the Eisenhower administration’s fumbling offoreign affairs, the impact of Joseph McCarthy, John FosterDulles’s foreign policy, and the threat of massive nuclearretaliation. Adlai Stevenson’s poor campaign o

Who were the three men the American and Soviet superpowersexchanged at Berlin's Glienicke Bridge and Checkpoint Charlie inthe first and most legendary prisoner exchange between East andWest? Bridge of Spies vividly traces their paths to that exchangeon February 10, 1962, when their fate helped to define theconflicts and lethal undercurrents of the most dangerous years ofthe Cold War. Bridge of Spies is the true story of three extraordinarycharacters – William Fisher, alias Rudolf Abel, a British born KGBagent arrested by the FBI in New York City and jailed as a Sovietsuperspy for trying to steal America’s most precious nuclearsecrets; Gary Powers, the American U-2 pilot who was captured whenhis plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission overthe closed cities of central Russia; and Frederic Pryor, a youngAmerican graduate student in Berlin mistakenly identified as a spy,arrested and held without charge by the Stasi, East Germany’ssecret police. By weaving

After nearly a dozen books and service as secretary of statefor presidents Nixon and Ford, Kissinger has established himself asa major thinker, writer, and actor on the world's diplomatic stage.His newest work is a remarkable survey of the craft ofinternational relations from the early 17th century to the presentera. Beginning with the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, Kissingersummarizes three centuries of Western diplomacy, giving specialattenton to the influence of Wilsonian idealism on 20th-centuryAmerican foreign policy. He is not shy about describing his owncontributions to Nixon's foreign gambits, nor is he reticient aboutoffering his own advice to the current administration on how tohandle Russia, China, or the rest of the world. From Kissinger welearn that there is really little new about the New World Order.This is an important contribution to the theoretical literature onforeign affairs and will also serve quite ably as a one-volumesynthesis of modern diplomatic history. All libraries should havethi

For the last sixty years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, burying its blunders in top-secret archives. Its mission was to know the world. When it did not succeed, it set out to change the world. Its failures have handed us, in the words of President Eisenhower, "a legacy of ashes." Now Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tim Weiner offers the first definitive history of the CIA-and everything is on the record. LEGACY OF ASHES is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA itself, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence. It takes the CIA from its creation after World War II, through its battles in the cold war and the war on terror, to its near-collapse after 9/ll. Tim Weiner's past work on the CIA and American intelligence was hailed as "impressively reported" and "immensely entertaining" in The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal called it "truly extr

A riveting exploration of the world's most highly trained military units, from the ancient Spartans to modern-day US Navy SEALs, this is the definitive guide to the world's special military forces. 作者简介： Hugh McManners is a former commando and the author of many books, including Scars of War, and several successful DK titles, including The Outdoor Training Manual, Backpackers Handbook, and The Complete Wilderness Training Book.

About national and international power in the "modern" or PostRenaissance period. Explains how the various powers have risen andfallen over the 5 centuries since the formation of the "newmonarchies" in W. Europe.

A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, agroundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plansand the Western intelligence failures that culminated in theassault on America. Lawrence Wright’s remarkable book is based onfive years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conductedin Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England,France, Germany, Spain, and the United States. The Looming Tower achieves an unprecedented level of intimacy andinsight by telling the story through the interweaving lives of fourmen: the two leaders of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Aymanal-Zawahiri; the FBI’s counterterrorism chief, John O’Neill; andthe former head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turkial-Faisal. As these lives unfold, we see revealed: the crosscurrents ofmodern Islam that helped to radicalize Zawahiri and bin Laden . . .the birth of al-Qaeda and its unsteady development into anorganization capable of the American embassy bombings in Kenya andTanza

The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene militarily against “failed states” around the globe. In this much-anticipated follow-up to his international bestseller Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky turns the tables, showing how the United States itself shares features with other failed states—suffering from a severe “democratic deficit,” eschewing domestic and international law, and adopting policies that increasingly endanger its own citizens and the world. Exploring the latest developments in U.S. foreign and domestic policy, Chomsky reveals Washington’s plans to further militarize the planet, greatly increasing the risks of nuclear war. He also assesses the dangerous consequences of the occupation of Iraq; documents Washington’s self-exemption from international norms, including the Geneva conventions and the Kyoto Protocol; and examines how the U.S. electoral system is designed to eliminate genuine political alternatives, impeding any meaningful democracy. Forceful

The most up-to-date, incisive, and accessible reference on theAmerican presidency, with essays by the nation's leadinghistorians. An indispensable resource for the curious reader andthe serious historian alike, The American Presidency showcases someof the most provocative interpretive history being written today.This rich narrative history sheds light on the hubris, struggles,and brilliance of our nation's leaders. Coupling vivid writing withunparalleled scholarship, these insightful essays from well-knownhistorians cover every presidency from the first through theforty-third.

From the best-selling author of The Working Poor, animpassioned, incisive look at the violations of civil liberties inthe United States that have accelerated over the past decade—andtheir direct impact on our lives. How have our rights to privacy and justice been undermined? Whatexactly have we lost? Pulitzer Prize–winner David K. Shiplersearches for the answers to these questions by examining thehistorical expansion and contraction of our fundamental rights and,most pointedly, the real-life stories of individual men and womenwho have suffered. With keen insight and telling detail hedescribes how the Supreme Court’s constitutional rulings play onthe streets as D.C. police officers search for guns in poor AfricanAmerican neighborhoods, how a fruitless search warrant turns thehome of a Homeland Security employee upside down, and how thesecret surveillance and jailing of an innocent lawyer result froman FBI lab mistake. Each instance—shocking and compelling—is aclear illustration of the ri

A fresh, controversial, brilliantly written account of one ofthe epic dramas of the Cold War-and its lessons for today. "History at its best." -Zbigniew Brzezinski "Gripping, well researched, and thought-provoking, with manylessons for today." -Henry Kissinger "Captures the drama [with] the 'You are there' storytellingskills of a journalist and the analytical skills of the politicalscientist." - General Brent Scowcroft In June 1961, Nikita Khrushchev called it "the most dangerousplace on earth." He knew what he was talking about. Much has been written about the Cuban Missile Crisis a yearlater, but the Berlin Crisis of 1961 was more decisive in shapingthe Cold War-and more perilous. For the first time in history,American and Soviet fighting men and tanks stood arrayed againsteach other, only yards apart. One mistake, one overzealouscommander-and the trip wire would be sprung for a war that would gonuclear in a heartbeat. On one side was a young, untested U.S.president stil