Spy tells, for the first time, the full, authoritative storyof how FBI agent Robert Hanssen, code name grayday, spied forRussia for twenty-two years in what has been called the “worstintelligence disaster in U.S. history”–and how he was finallycaught in an incredible gambit by U.S. intelligence. David Wise, the nation’s leading espionage writer, has called onhis unique knowledge and unrivaled intelligence sources to writethe definitive, inside story of how Robert Hanssen betrayed hiscountry, and why. Spy at last reveals the mind and motives of a man who was awalking paradox: FBI counterspy, KGB mole, devout Catholic,obsessed pornographer who secretly televised himself and his wifehaving sex so that his best friend could watch, defender of familyvalues, fantasy James Bond who took a stripper to Hong Kong andcarried a machine gun in his car trunk. Brimming with startling new details sure to make headlines, Spydiscloses: -the previously untold story of how the FBI got the a
The election of Barack Obama has brought worldwide attentionnot only to what his policies will be, but to what kind of FirstLady Michelle Obama will be. Throughout the long campaign season,Michelle Robinson Obama garnered a good amount of attention, kudosand criticism about her words, actions, even her appearance, butfew people know what kind of role she will play once she settlesinto the White House. One clue is to examine her words andstatements of the past, and the proposed book Michelle Obama In HerOwn Words will show readers who are eager to learn more aboutAmericas new history-making First Lady. Michelle Obama In Her OwnWords will be a book that contains 200-250 quotations arranged inapproximately 75 different categories. A short introduction andbiography of the new First Lady will precede the quotes. Drawing onquotations from a variety of newspaper and magazine articles,tran*s, speeches, and TV interviews and profiles, thequotations date from Michelles career as a high-powered corporatelawyer in
Neglected by scholars and journalists alike, the years ofconflict in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 offer surprises not onlyabout how the war was fought, but about what was achieved. Drawingfrom thousands of hours of previously unavailable (and stillclassified) tape-recorded meetings between the highest levels ofthe American military command in Vietnam, A Better War is aninsightful, factual, and superbly documented history of these finalyears. Through his exclusive access to authoritative materials,award-winning historian Lewis Sorley highlights the dramaticdifferences in conception, conduct, and-at least for a time-resultsbetween the early and later years of the war. Among his mostimportant findings is that while the war was being lost at thepeace table and in the U.S. Congress, the soldiers were winning onthe ground. Meticulously researched and movingly told, A Better Warsheds new light on the Vietnam War.
Kindred spirits despite their profound differences inposition, Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman shared a vision of thedemocratic character. They had read or listened to each other’swords at crucial turning points in their lives, and both wereutterly transformed by the tragedy of the Civil War. In thisradiant book, poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein tracks theparallel lives of these two titans from the day that Lincoln firstread Leaves of Grass to the elegy Whitman composed after Lincoln’sassassination in 1865. Drawing on a rich trove of personal and newspaper accounts anddiary records, Epstein shows how the influence and reverence flowedbetween these two men–and brings to life the many friends andcontacts they shared. Epstein has written a masterful portrait oftwo great American figures and the era they shaped through wordsand deeds.
Starred Review。 Some failures lead to phenomenal successes,andthis American nurse’s unsuccessful attempt to climb K2,the world’ssecond tallest mountain,is one of them。Dangerously ill when hefinished his climb in 1993,Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeksby the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised tobuild the impoverished town’s first school, a project that grewinto the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed morethan 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan。 CoauthorRelin recounts Mortenson’s efforts in fascinating detail,presenting compelling portraits of the village elders,con artists,philanthropists,mujahideen, Taliban officials,ambitious schoolgirls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way。As the bookmoves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that theUnited States must fight Islamic extremism in the region throughcollaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access toeducation,
The late 1990s saw a number of attacks against American military and governmental offices,most notably the U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa in 1998. On September 11,2001, however,the scale of this conflict changed dramatically,The hijacking of four commercial airliners on that sunny Tuesday morning led to the deaths of some 3,000 people. As in 1998, the terrorist group responsible for this devastating campaign was Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, or "The Base," a loose network of extremists many of whom are willing to die for their cause, the promotion of a militant form of Islam and the destruction of the West. In Al-Qaeda, Jane Corbin, the award-winning senior BBC correspondent for Panorama the British equivalent of 60 Minutes -- crosses four continents in search of bin Laden's terror network. The result of four years research, reporting and travel throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Aanerica, she has conducted hundreds of interviews with key eyewitnesses, investigators, and intelligence officers a
The Politics of Upheaval, 1935-1936, volume three of PulitzerPrize-winning historian and biographer Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr."sAge of Roosevelt series, concentrates on the turbulent concludingyears of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term. A measure of economicrecovery revived political conflict and emboldened FDR's critics todenounce "that man in the White house." To his left were demagoguesHuey Long, Father Coughlin, and Dr. Townsend. To his right were thechampions of the old order ex-president Herbert Hoover, theAmerican Liberty League, and the august Supreme Court. For a time,the New Deal seemed to lose its momentum. But in 1935 FDR ralliedand produced a legislative record even more impressive than theHundred Days of 1933 a set of statutes that transformed the socialand economic landscape of American life. In 1936 FDR coasted toreelection on a landslide. Schlesinger has his usual touch withcolorful personalities and draws a warmly sympathetic portrait ofAlf M. Landon, the Republican candidate of 1936.
Since it was first published in 1952, Lincoln and HisGenerals has remained one of the definitive accounts ofLincoln’s wartime leadership. In it T. Harry Williams dramatizesLincoln’s long and frustrating search for an effective leader ofthe Union Army and traces his transformation from a politician withlittle military knowledge into a master strategist of the CivilWar. Explored in depth are Lincoln’s often fraught relationshipswith generals such as McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Fremont,and of course, Ulysses S. Grant. In this superbly writtennarrative, Williams demonstrates how Lincoln’s persistent“meddling” into military affairs was crucial to the Northern wareffort and utterly transformed the president’s role ascommander-in-chief.
As his parents finished packing the few personal belongines they were permitted to take out of Germany,the bespectacled 15-year-old stood in the corner of the apartment memorizing the details of the scene.He was a bookish and reflective child,with that odd mixture of ego and insecurity that can come from growing up smart yet persecuted.“I'll be back someday.”he saide to the cutoms inspector who was surveying the boses.Years later,he would recall how the offciual looded at him“with the disdain of ages”and said nothing. Henry Kissinger was right:he did come bacd to his Bavarian birthplace,first as a soldier with the U.S. Army counterintelligence corps,them as a ren owned scholar of international relations,and eventually as the dominant relations,and eventually as the dominant statesman of his era. Bya the time he was made secretary of stalte in 1973,he had become,according to the Gallup Poll,the most admired person in America.In addition.as the conducted foreign ploicy with the air of a gues
During the civil rights movement, epic battles for justicewere fought in the streets, at lunch counters, and in theclassrooms of the American South. Just as many battles were waged,however, in the hearts and minds of ordinary white southernerswhose world became unrecognizable to them. Jason Sokol’s vivid andunprecedented account of white southerners’ attitudes and actions,related in their own words, reveals in a new light thecontradictory mixture of stubborn resistance and pragmaticacceptance–as well as the startling and unexpected personaltransformations–with which they greeted the enforcement of legalequality.
The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has broughtnew attention to the huge costs of our oil dependence. In thisstunning and revealing book, Peter Maass examines the social,political, and environmental impact of petroleum on the countriesthat produce it. Every unhappy oil-producing nation is unhappy in its own way, butall are touched by the “resource curse”—the power of oil toexacerbate existing problems and create new ones. Peter Maasspresents a vivid portrait of the troubled world oil has created.From Saudi Arabia to Equatorial Guinea, from Venezuela to Iraq, thestories of rebels, royalty, middlemen, environmentalists,indigenous activists, and CEOs—all deftly and sensitivelypresented—come together in this startling and essential account ofthe consequences of our addiction to oil.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963,continues to inspire interest ranging from well-meaning speculationto bizarre conspiracy theories and controversial filmmaking. But inthis landmark book, reissued with a new afterword for the 40thanniversary of the assassination, Gerald Posner examines all of theavailable evidence and reaches the only possible conclusion: LeeHarvey Oswald acted alone. There was no second gunman on the grassyknoll. The CIA was not involved. And although more than fourmillion pages of documents have been released since Posner firstmade his case, they have served only to corroborate his findings. Case Closed remains the classic account against which allbooks about JFK’s death must be measured.
On September 11, 2011, the world will be watching astheNational September 11 Memorialopens on the site of the WorldTrade Center. With photographs and architectural plans never beforepublished, paired with comments in the very voices of those whowitnessed the event, those who struggled in its shadow for days andmonths after, and those who have dedicated the years since torebuilding a place of hope and meditation at Ground Zero, this bookwill stand apart from all the reston the tenth anniversary of thatworld-changing event. Heavily illustrated and elegantly designed,the book recalls the excitement and symbolism of the Twin Towers,the horror and chaos of the attack of 9/11, the fierce devotion andexhaustion as rescue of living victims became recovery of remains.But it also carries on from that date in history to tell the insidestory of the long, complex, and sometimes contentious efforts toturn eight acres of Downtown Manhattan into a lasting memorial tothose lost in New York, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon.
Thomas E. Ricks, senior Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post , puts forth in Fiasco a masterfulreckoning with the planning and execution of the American militaryinvasion and occupation of Iraq, now with a preface on recentdevelopments. Ricks draws on the exclusive cooperation of anextraordinary number of American personnel—including more than onehundred senior officers—and access to more than 30,000 pages ofofficial documents, many of them never before made public.Tragically, it is an undeniable account—explosive, shocking, andauthoritative—of unsurpassed tactical success combined withunsurpassed strategic failure that indicts some of America’s mostpowerful and honored civilian and military leaders.
The series of essays that comprise The Federalist constitutes one of the key texts of the American Revolution and thedemocratic system created in the wake of independence. Written in1787 and 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay topromote the ratification of the proposed Constitution, these papersstand as perhaps the most eloquent testimonial to democracy thatexists. They describe the ideas behind the American system ofgovernment: the separation of powers; the organization of Congress;the respective positions of the executive, legislative, andjudiciary; and much more. The Federalist remains essentialreading for anyone interested in politics and government, andindeed for anyone seeking a foundational statement about democracyand America. This new edition of The Federalist is edited by Robert Scigliano, aprofessor in the political science department at Boston College.His substantive Introduction sheds clarifying new light on thehistorical context and meaning of The Federalist . Scig
“An alarming but necessary book that reads like a thriller. Byraising uncomfortable questions, Ken Timmerman has performed asignificant public service.” –Michael Medved, nationally syndicated talk radio host Some have called it the CIA’s greatest covert operation of alltime. It is an intelligence war conducted behind the scenes, aimed atconfusing, misleading, and ultimately defeating the enemy. The goalis nothing less than toppling the regime in power. A network ofagents has been planted at key crossroads of power, stealingsecrets, planting disinformation, and cooking intelligence. Theplan involves sophisticated political sabotage operations thatbring in opposition forces who can challenge the regime openly, ina way the CIA cannot. The scope is breathtaking. Who is the target of this vast, sophisticated CIA operation? Notthe mullahs in Tehran or North Korea’s power-mad Kim Jong Il; thetarget is America’s president, George W. Bush. Drawing on exclusive informati
The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and politicalleader of our time, A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM brilliantly re-createsthe drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela'sdestiny. Emotive, compelling and uplifting, A LONG WALK TO FREEDOMis the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story of hardship,resilience and ultimate triumph told with the clarity and eloquenceof a born leader. 'Burns with the luminosity of faith in theinvincible nature of human hope and dignity ...Unforgettable' AndreBrink 'Enthralling ...Mandela emulates the few great politicalleaders such as Lincoln and Gandhi, who go beyond mere consensusand move out ahead of their followers to break new ground' DonaldWoods in the SUNDAY TIMES --This text refers to the Paperbackedition. From the Back Cover The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and politicalfigure of our time, Long Walk to Freedom is the exhilarating storyof Nelson Mandela's epic life; a story of hardship, resilience andultimate triumph told with the clar