Collection: Politics

"If you're only going to read one book on the Middle East, this is it."---Seymour M. Hersh

One of the most thought-provoking books ever written about the Middle East, From Beirut to Jerusalem remains vital to our understanding of this complex and volatile region of the world. Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas L. Friedman drew upon his ten years of experience reporting from Lebanon and Israel to write this now-classic work of journalism. In a new afterword, he updates his journey with a fresh discussion of the Arab Awakenings and how they are transforming the area, and a new look at relations between Israelis and Palestinians, and Israelis and Israelis. Rich with anecdote, history, analysis, and autobiography, From Beirut to Jerusalem will continue to shape how we see the Middle East for many years to come.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The intimate, inspiring, and authoritative biography of Sandra Day O'Connor, America's first female Supreme Court justice, drawing on exclusive interviews and first-time access to Justice O'Connor's archives--as seen on PBS's American Experience

"She's a hero for our time, and this is the biography for our time."--Walter Isaacson

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize - Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR and The Washington Post

She was born in 1930 in El Paso and grew up on a cattle ranch in Arizona. At a time when women were expected to be homemakers, she set her sights on Stanford University. When she graduated near the top of her law school class in 1952, no firm would even interview her. But Sandra Day O'Connor's story is that of a woman who repeatedly shattered glass ceilings--doing so with a blend of grace, wisdom, humor, understatement, and cowgirl toughness.

She became the first ever female majority leader of a state senate. As a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, she stood up to corrupt lawyers and humanized the law. When she arrived at the United States Supreme Court, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, she began a quarter-century tenure on the Court, hearing cases that ultimately shaped American law. Diagnosed with cancer at fifty-eight, and caring for a husband with Alzheimer's, O'Connor endured every difficulty with grit and poise.

Women and men who want to be leaders and be first in their own lives--who want to learn when to walk away and when to stand their ground--will be inspired by O'Connor's example. This is a remarkably vivid and personal portrait of a woman who loved her family, who believed in serving her country, and who, when she became the most powerful woman in America, built a bridge forward for all women.

Praise for First

"Cinematic . . . poignant . . . illuminating and eminently readable . . . First gives us a real sense of Sandra Day O'Connor the human being. . . . Thomas gives O'Connor the credit she deserves."--The Washington Post

"[A] fascinating and revelatory biography . . . a richly detailed picture of [O'Connor's] personal and professional life . . . Evan Thomas's book is not just a biography of a remarkable woman, but an elegy for a worldview that, in law as well as politics, has disappeared from the nation's main stages."--The New York Times Book Review

How human behavior brought our world to the brink, and how human behavior can save us.

The world is a mess. Our dire predicament, from collapsing social structures to the climate crisis, has been millennia in the making and can be traced back to the erroneous belief that the earth's resources are infinite. The key to change, says Don Norman, is human behavior, covered in the book's three major themes: meaning, sustainability, and humanity-centeredness. Emphasize quality of life, not monetary rewards; restructure how we live to better protect the environment; and focus on all of humanity. Design for a Better World presents an eye-opening diagnosis of where we've gone wrong and a clear prescription for making things better.

Norman proposes a new way of thinking, one that recognizes our place in a complex global system where even simple behaviors affect the entire world. He identifies the economic metrics that contribute to the harmful effects of commerce and manufacturing and proposes a recalibration of what we consider important in life. His experience as both a scientist and business executive gives him the perspective to show how to make these changes while maintaining a thriving economy. Let the change begin with this book before it's too late

A searing analysis of health and illness under capitalism from hosts of the hit podcast "Death Panel"

In this fiery, theoretical tour-de-force, Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant offer an overview of life and death under capitalism and argue for a new global left politics aimed at severing the ties between capital and one of its primary tools: health.

Written by co-hosts of the hit "Death Panel" podcast and longtime disability justice and healthcare activists Adler-Bolton and Vierkant, Health Communism first examines how capital has instrumentalized health, disability, madness, and illness to create a class seen as "surplus," regarded as a fiscal and social burden. Demarcating the healthy from the surplus, the worker from the "unfit" to work, the authors argue, serves not only to undermine solidarity but to mark whole populations for extraction by the industries that have emerged to manage and contain this "surplus" population. Health Communism then looks to the grave threat capital poses to global public health, and at the rare movements around the world that have successfully challenged the extractive economy of health.

Ultimately, Adler-Bolton and Vierkant argue, we will not succeed in defeating capitalism until we sever health from capital. To do this will require a radical new politics of solidarity that centers the surplus, built on an understanding that we must not base the value of human life on one's willingness or ability to be productive within the current political economy. Capital, it turns out, only fears health.

One of Inc.com's 6 New Leadership Books You Need to Read This Fall

"Daring . . . This visionary guide calls for a new form of advocacy that is both radically ambitious and practical." ―Inc.com

A Next Big Idea Club "Must Read"

"It's the year 2050... and racism has ended."

Could this really be our future? If so, what has to happen now to achieve such a radical change? In How We Ended Racism, Justin Michael Williams and Shelly Tygielski reveal a path for real and lasting global impact--not just talking about it, studying it, or making small steps, but actually ending racism in one generation.

Williams and Tygielski draw from a wide array of scientific studies, as well as their practical successes in teaching a multitude of diverse groups across perceived "divides," to show us how to shift our perspective and enact lasting change in our families, workplaces, communities, and beyond. Here they provide solid answers to the questions future generations will ask about this pivotal time in history, by laying out the eight conditions that needed to arise in humanity to realize this possibility, covering:

- How was it possible? The research on large-scale social change that showed racism could end
- What were the first steps? Overcoming doubt, owning our emotions, and committing to truth
- What were the biggest challenges? Shadow work, big conversations, and forgiveness
- Which tools actually worked? The field-tested methods that allowed us to heal and connect
- Who ended racism? How we--each of us--helped our culture evolve to make racism a thing of the past

"You don't fix racism," say the authors. "You don't fight it. You don't make it better. You end it. We learned how to bridge any political or ideological divide--inviting liberals, conservatives, and everyone in between to cocreate a future worth fighting for." Here is a guide that dares to envision a world beyond typical diversity, equity, and inclusion work while providing tools and action steps to create a liberated future--so that our descendants can look back at this era as the time when we decided to end racism for the good of all.

Born into slavery in Maryland in 1818, Frederick Douglass was determined to gain freedom--and once he realized that knowledge was power, he secretly learned to read and write to give himself an advantage. After escaping to the North in 1838, as a free man he gave powerful speeches about his experience as a slave. He was so impressive that he became a friend of President Abraham Lincoln, as well as one of the most famous abolitionists of the nineteenth century.

In 1980, William H. Whyte published the findings from his revolutionary Street Life Project in The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Both the book and the accompanying film were instantly labeled classics, and launched a mini-revolution in the planning and study of public spaces. They have since become standard texts, and appear on syllabi and reading lists in urban planning, sociology, environmental design, and architecture departments around the world.

Project for Public Spaces, which grew out of Holly's Street Life Project and continues his work around the world, has acquired the reprint rights to Social Life, with the intent of making it available to the widest possible audience and ensuring that the Whyte family receive their fair share of Holly's legacy.

From the forward:

For more than 30 years, Project for Public Spaces has been using observations, surveys, interviews and workshops to study and transform public spaces around the world into community places. Every week we give presentations about why some public spaces work and why others don't, using the techniques, ideas, and memorable phrases from William H. "Holly" Whyte's The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.

Holly Whyte was both our mentor and our friend. Perhaps his most important gift was the ability to show us how to discover for ourselves why some public spaces work and others don't. With the publication of The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces and its companion film in 1980, the world could see that through the basic tools of observation and interviews, we can learn an immense amount about how to make our cities more livable. In doing so, Holly Whyte laid the groundwork for a major movement to change the way public spaces are built and planned. It is our pleasure to offer this important book back to the world it is helping to transform.

Survival expert Cody Lundin's new book, When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes is what every family needs to prepare and educate themselves about survival psychology and the skills necessary to negotiate a disaster whether you are at home, in the office, or in your car.

This is not your father's scout manual or a sterile FEMA handout. It entertains as it informs, describing how to maximize a survival mind-set necessary for self-reliance. According to the book, living through an emergency scenario is 90 percent psychology, and 10 percent methodology and gear. Relevant quotes and tips are placed throughout the pages to help readers remember important survival strategies while under stress and anxiety.

Lundin also addresses basic first aid and hygiene skills and makes recommendations for survival kit items for the home, office, and car.

Watch naturalist Cody Lundin in "Dual Survival" on The Discovery Channel as he uses many of the same skills and techniques taught in his books.

When All Hell Breaks Loose provides solutions on how to survive a catastrophe. Lundin addresses topics such as:

* Potable drinking water

* Storing super-nutritious foods

* Heating or cooling without conventional power

* How to create alternative lighting options

* Building a makeshift toilet & composting the results

* Catching rodents for food

* Safely disposing of a corpse

New York Times Bestselling Author

Colin Powell, one of America's most admired public figures, reveals the unique lessons that shaped his life and career

It Worked for Me is a collection of lessons and personal anecdotes that shaped four star-general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell's legendary career in public service. At its heart are Powell's "Thirteen Rules,"--notes he accumulated on his desk that served as the basis for the leadership presentations he delivered throughout the world.

Powell's short-but-sweet rules such as "Get mad, then get over it" and "Share credit," are illuminated by revealing personal stories that introduce and expand on his principles for effective leadership: conviction, hard work, and above all, respect for others. In work and life, Powell writes, "It is the human gesture that counts."

A compelling storyteller, Powell shares parables both humorous and solemn that offer wise advice on succeeding in the workplace and beyond. "Trust your people," he councils as he delegates presidential briefing responsibilities to two junior aides. "Do your best--someone is watching," he advises those just starting out, recalling his own teenage summer job shipping cases of soda. Powell combines the insight he gained serving in the top ranks of the military and in four presidential administrations, as well as the lessons learned from his hardscrabble upbringing in the Bronx and his training in the ROTC. The result is a powerful portrait of a leader who was reflective, self-effacing, and grateful for the contributions of every employee, no matter how junior.

Powell's writing--straightforward, accessible, and often very funny--will inspire, move, and surprise readers. Thoughtful and revealing, his book is a brilliant and original blueprint for leadership.

A moving exploration of the crisis of homeless youth--told through the inspiring stories of a woman on the frontlines and the kids themselves.

They hide in plain sight. They survive on free school breakfasts and lunches, join school sports teams in order to shower, sleep on friends' couches, in parks, or on the streets. Their official designation is "unaccompanied homeless youth"--they are not "runaways" breaking free from strict parenting; these are kids seeking safety. They have escaped abusive parents, have been abandoned, or have never had a home to begin with.

When Vicki Sokolik's son brought home a classmate who was living on her own and was dropping out of school to support herself, Vicki stepped in to help. As she learned more about the invisible population of young people navigating life alone, she discovered the countless ways they are overlooked and impeded by the system. She founded a nonprofit and worked to change legislation in her home state of Florida to give these kids agency over their lives.

If You See Them wakes us up to the issue of youth homelessness in America, through Sokolik's own story of advocacy and through the voices of the kids themselves. Her grassroots action demonstrates the world-shifting power of compassion, acceptance, belonging, and self-determination, and the capacity each of us has to change our communities for the better.

First published in 1972, "Think Little" is cultural critic and agrarian Wendell Berry at his best: prescient about the dire environmental consequences of our mentality of greed and exploitation, yet hopeful that we will recognize war and oppression and pollution not as separate issues, but aspects of the same. "Think Little" is presented here alongside one of Berry's most popular and personal essays, "A Native Hill." This gentle essay of recollection is told alongside a poetic lesson in geography, as Berry explains at length and in detail, that what he stands for is what he stands on.

Each palm-size book in the Counterpoints series is meant to stay with you, whether safely in your pocket or long after you turn the last page. From short stories to essays to poems, these little books celebrate our most-beloved writers, whose work encapsulates the spirit of Counterpoint Press: cutting-edge, wide-ranging, and independent.

Celebrate Black History Month and discover the remarkable relationship between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, and how their bond affected the movement for Black pride and independence in the 1960s in this nonfiction book for young readers.

★ "From Civil Rights to Black Pride and Black Lives Matter, there isn't one social justice movement that these two men haven't impacted. Purchase for all American history shelves." --SLJ, starred review Freshly adapted for young readers, this in-depth portrait showcases the complex bond between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, revealing how Malcolm helped mold Cassius Clay into Muhammad Ali and influenced his rise as an international symbol of Black pride and Black independence. Yet when Malcolm was expelled from the Nation of Islam for criticizing the conduct of its leader, Elijah Muhammad, Ali turned his back on Malcolm, a choice that some believe tragically contributed to the minister's assassination in February 1965.

Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X is the story of how Ali redefined what it means to be a Black athlete in America, informed by Malcolm's leadership. An extraordinary portrait of love, friendship, and power as well as deceit and betrayal, here is a window into the public and private lives of two national icons, and the tumultuous period in the American Civil Rights Movement that they helped to shape.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning opinion columnist at The New York Times explores how people in power reveal themselves through their books and writings and, in so doing, illuminates the personal, political, and cultural conflicts driving Washington and the nation.

As a long-time book critic and columnist in Washington, Carlos Lozada dissects all manner of texts: commission reports, political reporting, Supreme Court decisions, and congressional inquiries to understand the controversies animating life in the capital. He also reads copious books by politicians and top officials: tell-all accounts by administration insiders, campaign biographies by candidates longing for high office, revisionist memoirs by those leaving those offices behind. With this provocative essay collection, Lozada argues that no matter how carefully political figures sanitize their experiences, positions, and records, no matter how diligently they present themselves in the best and safest and most electable light, they almost always let slip the truth. They show us their faults and blind spots, their ambitions and compromises, their underlying motives and insecurities. Whether they mean to or not, they tell us who they really are.

In his memoirs and speeches, Barack Obama constantly invoked the power and meaning of his life story, Lozada notes, a sign of how the former president capitalized on his personal symbolism, trying to transform it from inspiration on the campaign trail into an all-purpose governing tool. In a soliloquy about his hair in a self-help book published two decades ago, Donald Trump revealed not just his vanity, Lozada explains, but his utter isolation from the world, long before he entered the bubble of the White House. In deft and lacerating prose, Lozada interprets the unresolved tensions of Hillary Clinton's ideological beliefs. He imagines the wonderful memoir George H.W. Bush could have given us but instead left scattered in throughout various books and letters. He explores why Kamala Harris has struggled to carve out a distinctive role as vice president. He explains how Ron DeSantis's pitch to America is just a list of enemies. And he even glimpses what Vladimir Putin fears the most, and why he seeks conflict with the West. He does so all through their own books, and their own words.

Lozada reads these books so you don't have to. The Washington Book is the perfect guide to the state of our politics, and then men and women who dominate the terrain. It explores the construction of personal identity, the delusions of leadership, and that mix of subservience and ambition that can define a life in politics. The more we read the stories of Washington, Lozada contends, the clearer our understanding of the competing visions of our country.

"The most comprehensive account of the GOP and its competing impulses" (Los Angeles Times), now updated to cover the Trump presidency and its aftermath

When Abraham Lincoln helped create the Republican Party on the eve of the Civil War, his goal was economic opportunity for all Americans. Yet the party quickly became mired in an identity crisis. Would it be the party of democratic ideals? Or the party of moneyed interests?

In To Make Men Free, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson traces the shifting ideology of the Republican Party from the antebellum era to the Great Recession. While progressive Republicans like Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower revived Lincoln's vision and expanded the government, their opponents appealed to Americans' latent racism and xenophobia to regain political power, linking taxation and regulation to redistribution and socialism. In the modern era, the schism within the Republican Party has grown wider, pulling the GOP ever further from its founding principles.

Now with a new epilogue that reflects on the Trump era and what is likely to come after it, To Make Men Free is a sweeping history of the party that was once considered America's greatest political hope, but now lies in disarray.

* 2021 EUREKA! Nonfiction Children's Honor Book

"An inclusive and upbeat collection ideal for classrooms and libraries." - School Library Journal

In this stylishly illustrated biography anthology, meet 34 artists, thinkers, athletes, and activists with disabilities, from past and present. From Frida Kahlo to Stephen Hawking, find out how these iconic figures have overcome obstacles, owned their differences, and paved the way for others by making their bodies and minds work for them.

These short biographies tell the stories of people who have faced unique challenges that have not stopped them from becoming trailblazers, innovators, advocates, and makers. Each person is a leading figure in their field, be it sports, science, math, art, breakdancing, or the world of pop.

Challenge your preconceptions of disability and mental health with the eye-opening stories of these remarkable people:

Ludwig van Beethoven, Gustav Kirchhoff, Henri Matisse, Eliza Suggs, Helen Keller,
Frida Kahlo, John Nash, Stephen Hawking, Temple Grandin, Stevie Wonder, Nabil Shaban, Terry Fox,
Peter Dinklage, Catalina Devandas, Wanda Diaz-Merced, Victor Pineda, Arunima Sinha, Abraham Lincoln,
Demi Lovato, Matt Haig, Redouan Ait Chitt, Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, Farida Bedwei, Jonas Jacobsson,
Trischa Zorn, Ade Adepitan, Stella Young, Lady Gaga, Naoki Higashida, Isabella Springmuhl Tejada, Aaron Philip,
Michelle Akers, Lil Wayne, Dynamo

What Shakespeare's plays can teach us about modern-day politics

William Shakespeare understood power: what it is, how it works, how it is gained, and how it is lost.

In The Hollow Crown, Eliot A. Cohen reveals how the battling princes of Henry IV and scheming senators of Julius Caesar can teach us to better understand power and politics today. The White House, after all, is a court--with intrigue and conflict rivaling those on the Globe's stage--as is an army, a business, or a university. And each court is full of driven characters, in all their ambition, cruelty, and humanity. Henry V's inspiring speeches reframe John F. Kennedy's appeal, Richard III's wantonness illuminates Vladimir Putin's brutality, and The Tempest's grace offers a window into the presidency of George Washington.

An original and incisive perspective, The Hollow Crown shows how Shakespeare's works transform our understanding of the leaders who, for good or ill, make and rule our world.