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Political science

  • Author:
    Roosevelt, Theodore
    Summary:

    The firsthand account of the life of adventurer, scholar, war hero, and twenty-sixth president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt.There must be the keenest sense of duty, and with it must go the joy of living. Here, in his own words, Theodore Roosevelt recounts his remarkable journey from a childhood plagued with illnesses to the US presidency and beyond. With candor and vivid detail, this personal account describes a life guided by a restless intelligence, a love for adventure, and an unflagging duty to his country. Roosevelt sheds light on his wide array of roles, from New York police commissioner, where he waged a battle against corruption, to cattle rancher in the Dakotas to assistant secretary of the US Navy under William McKinley to leader of the legendary Rough Riders at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, when he led the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry to victory in the Battle of San Juan Hill. These extraordinary accomplishments earned Roosevelt national fame and set the stage for his ascent to the White House. As twenty-sixth president of the United States, he ushered in the Progressive Era with his domestic policies, such as the Square Deal, and trust-busting of monopolies, such as Standard Oil. He was a war hero, scholar, statesman, adventurer, and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography provides unique insight into the truly remarkable life of one of America's most beloved presidents. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

  • Author:
    Dowd, Maureen
    Summary:

    New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd traces the psychologies and pathologies in one of the nastiest and most significant battles of the sexes ever. If America is on the escalator to hell, then The Year of Voting Dangerously is the perfect guide for this surreal, insane ride.

  • Author:
    Russell, Helen
    Summary:

    When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland, but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long dark winters, cured herring, Lego, and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born, or made? Helen decides there is only one way to find out: she will give herself a year, trying to uncover the formula for Danish happiness. From childcare, education, food, and interior design to SAD, taxes, sexism and an unfortunate predilection for burning witches, The Year of Living Danishly is a record of a journey that shows us where the Danes get it right, where they get it wrong, and how we might just benefit from living a little more Danishly ourselves.

  • Author:
    Rowe, Bill
    Summary:

    Part memoir, part history, The Worst and Best of the Premiers and Some We Never Had is Bill Rowe’s most ambitious work of non-fiction to date. The book observes with a critical and humorous eye the landscape of Newfoundland and Labrador politics since Confederation in 1949.

    Forty-two leaders are presented here, of all political stripes. Bill Rowe, with his inimitable style, examines the professional lives of each leader—from Chesley A. Crosbie in the 1940s to Dwight Ball, present-day premier of the province—and grades them based on accomplishment during their time in public life.

    Bill Rowe is a national bestselling author and former MHA and minister in the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and he was a long-time host of Open Line, a popular radio talk show. His books Danny Williams: The War With Ottawa and The Premiers Joey and Frank: Greed, Power, and Lust have appeared on the Globe and Mail bestsellers lists. His non-fiction works have also appeared on the annual best books lists of the Hill Times in Ottawa.

  • Author:
    Craig, William
    Summary:

    A "virtually faultless" account of the final weeks of World War II in the Pacific and the definitive history of the battle for Stalingrad together in one volume (The New York Times Book Review). Author William Craig traveled to three different continents, reviewed thousands of documents, and interviewed hundreds of survivors to write these New York Times-bestselling histories, bringing the Eastern Front and the Pacific Theater of World War II to vivid life. The Fall of Japan masterfully recounts the dramatic events that brought an end to the Pacific War and forced a once-mighty nation to surrender unconditionally. From the ferocious fighting on Okinawa to the all-but-impossible mission to drop the second atom bomb, and from Franklin D. Roosevelt's White House to the Tokyo bunker where tearful Japanese leaders first told the emperor the war was lost, Craig draws on Japanese and American perspectives to capture the pivotal events of these climactic weeks with spellbinding authority. Enemy at the Gates chronicles the bloodiest battle of the war and the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. On August 5, 1942, giant pillars of dust rose over the Russian steppe, marking the advance of Hitler's 6th Army. The Germans were supremely confident; in three years, they had not suffered a single defeat. The siege of Stalingrad lasted five months, one week, and three days. Nearly two million men and women died, and the 6th Army was completely destroyed. The Soviet victory foreshadowed Nazi Germany's downfall and the rise of a communist superpower. Heralded by Cornelius Ryan, author of The Longest Day, as "the best single work on the epic battle of Stalingrad," Enemy at the Gates was the inspiration for the 2001 film of the same name, starring Joseph Fiennes and Jude Law.

  • Author:
    West, Lindy
    Summary:

    Lindy West provides an incisive look at how patriarchy, intolerance, and misogyny have conquered politics and culture in America.

  • Author:
    Helberg, Jacob
    Summary:

    From the former news policy lead at Google, an urgent and groundbreaking account of the high-stakes global cyberwar brewing between Western democracies and the autocracies of China and Russia that could potentially crush democracy. From 2016 to 2020, Jacob Helberg led Google's global internal product policy efforts to combat disinformation and foreign interference. During this time, he found himself in the midst of what can only be described as a quickly escalating two-front technology cold war between democracy and autocracy. On the front-end, we're fighting to control the software-applications, news information, social media platforms, and more-of what we see on the screens of our computers, tablets, and phones, a clash which started out primarily with Russia but now increasingly includes China and Iran. Even more ominously, we're also engaged in a hidden back-end battle-largely with China-to control the Internet's hardware, which includes devices like cellular phones, satellites, fiber-optic cables, and 5G networks. This tech-fueled war will shape the world's balance of power for the coming century as autocracies exploit twenty-first-century methods to re-divide the world into twentieth century-style spheres of influence. Helberg cautions that the spoils of this fight are power over every meaningful aspect of our lives, including our economy, our infrastructure, our national security, and ultimately, our national sovereignty. Without a firm partnership with the government, Silicon Valley is unable to protect democracy from the autocrats looking to sabotage it from Beijing to Moscow and Tehran. The stakes of the ongoing cyberwar are no less than our nation's capacity to chart its own future, the freedom of our democratic allies, and even the ability of each of us to control our own fates, Helberg says. And time is quickly running out.

  • Author:
    Pilkington, Richard
    Summary:

    In 1971, authorities in Islamabad perpetrated mass atrocities in East Pakistan. How did the North Atlantic powers - the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada - respond? The West and the Birth of Bangladesh explores decision-making processes and ethical debates in Washington, Ottawa, and London during the crucial first few months of the crisis offering an insightful comparison of the actions of their respective countries during a significant moment in South Asian history. US president Richard Nixon and his national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, brought strong influence to bear on a strategy of appeasement. The Canadian government was unwilling to hazard bilateral ties with Islamabad or to draw attention to its own separatist issue in Quebec. In the UK, strong public sympathy for the victims of the clampdown had only a limited influence on policy.Richard Pilkington analyzes both the formulation and interplay of US, Canadian, and British policies toward East Pakistan in terms of collaborative opportunities accepted and spurned, as well as the available policy options. This insightful book reveals how, even as human rights movements began to emerge in the West, blinkered government actors there remained too preoccupied with protecting narrowly construed national interests, and explains how officials employed obfuscation and excuse to avoid firmer action during the crisis.

  • Author:
    Mazzetti, Mark
    Summary:

    Presents a revelatory account of the transformation of the CIA and America's special forces into competing covert paramilitary agencies responsible for the defeat of Osama bin Laden and other strategic war efforts, offering insight into the new ways that the nation is fighting wars.

  • Author:
    Lorinc, John, McClelland, Michael, Scheinberg, Ellen, Taylor, Tatum
    Summary:

    The story of the growth and destruction of Toronto’s first 'priority neighbourhood.' From the 1840s until the Second World War, waves of newcomers who migrated to Toronto - Irish, Jewish, Italian, African American and Chinese, among others - landed in 'The Ward.' Crammed with rundown housing and immigrant-owned businesses, this area, bordered by College and Queen, University and Yonge streets, was home to bootleggers, Chinese bachelors, workers from the nearby Eaton's garment factories and hard-working peddlers. But the City considered it a slum, and bulldozed the area in the late 1950s to make way for a new civic square. The Ward finally tells the diverse stories of this extraordinary and resilient neighbourhood through archival photos and contributions from a wide array of voices, including historians, politicians, architects, storytellers, journalists and descendants of Ward residents. Their perspectives on playgrounds, tuberculosis, sex workers, newsies and even bathing bring The Ward to life and, in the process, raise important questions about how contemporary cities handle immigration, poverty and the geography of difference. Contents & Contributors Introduction - John Lorinc Searching for the Old Ward - Shawn Micallef  No Place Like Home - Howard Akler Before the Ward: Macauleytown - Stephen A. Otto  My Grandmother the Bootlegger - Howard Moscoe  Against All Odds: The Chinese Laundry - Arlene Chan VJ Day - Arlene Chan Merle Foster's Studio: 'A Spot Of Enchantment' - Terry Murray Missionary Work: The Fight for Jewish Souls - Ellen Scheinberg  King of the Ward - Myer Siemiatycki  Where the Rich Went for Vice - Michael Redhill A Fresh Start: Black Toronto in the 19th Century - Karolyn Smardz Frost Policing the Lord's Day - Mariana Valverde 'The Maniac Chinaman' - Edward Keenan Elsie's Story - Patte Roseban Lawren Harris's Ward Period - Jim Burant  'Fool's Paradise': Hastings' Anti-Slum Crusade - John Lorinc Strange Brew: The Underground Economy of Blind Pigs - Ellen Scheinberg  The Consulate, the Padroni and the Labourers - Andrea Addario Excerpt: The Italians in Toronto - Emily P. Weaver Arthur Goss: Documenting Hardship - Stephen Bulger Fresh Air: The Fight Against TB - Cathy Crowe The Stone Yard - Gaetan Heroux William James: Toronto's First Photojournalist - Vincenzo Pietropaolo The Avenue Not Taken - Michael McClelland Timothy Eaton's Stern Fortifications - Michael Valpy Settling In: Central Neighbourhood House - Ratna Omidvar and Ranjit Bhaskar Toronto's Girl with the Curls - Ellen Scheinberg Chinese Cafes: Survival and Danger - Ellen Scheinberg and Paul Yee Defiance and Divisions: The Great Eaton's Strike - Ruth A. Frager Elizabeth Street: What the City Directories Reveal - Denise Balkissoon Growing Up on Walton Street - Cynthia MacDougall Revitalizing George Street: The Ward's Lessons - Alina Chatterjee and Derek Ballantyne Taking Care of Business in the Ward -  Ellen Scheinberg  'A Magnificent Dome': The Great University Avenue Synagogue - Jack Lipinsky Reading the Ward: The Inevitability of Loss - Kim Storey and James Brown Toronto's First Little Italy - John Lorinc The Elizabeth Street Playground, Revisited - Bruce Kidd Divided Loyalties - Sandra Shaul Crowded by Any Measure - John Lorinc A Peddler and His Cart: The Ward's Rag Trade - Deena Nathanson Toronto's Original Tenement: Wineberg Apartments - Richard Dennis Excerpt: Tom Thomson's Diary - Tom Thomson  An Untimely Death - Brian Banks Paper Pushers - Ellen Scheinberg  The BMR's Wake-Up Call - Laurie Monsebraaten Excerpt: Report of the Medical Health Officer ... - Charles J. Hastings Dr. Clarke's Clinic - Thelma Wheatley Slum-Free: The Suburban Ideal - Richard Harris The Glionna Clan and Toronto's First Little Italy - John E. Zucchi 'The Hipp' - Michael Posner Before Yorkville - John Lorinc Sex Work and the Ward's Bachelor Society - Elise Chenier Public Baths: Schvitzing on Centre Avenue - Ellen Scheinberg The Health Advocates: McKeown on Hastings - John Lorinc Remembering Toronto's First Chinatown - Kristyn Wong-Tam Tabula Rasa - Mark Kingwell Unrealized Renewal - J. David Hulchanski A Short History of the 'Civic Square' Expropriation - John Lorinc Storytelling is Part of the Story - Tatum Taylor How We Think About What (Little) Survives - Patrick Cummins Institutional Memory - Scott James & Victor Russell Alternative Histories - Michael McClelland

  • Author:
    Livy
    Summary:

    Livy chronicles the events of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, until the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. He vividly recreates the immense armies of Hannibal, complete with elephants, crossing the Alps; the panic as they approached the gates of Rome; and the decimation of the Roman army at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. Yet it is also the clash of personalities that fascinates Livy, from great debates in the Senate to the historic meeting between Scipio and Hannibal before the decisive battle. Livy never hesitates to introduce both intense drama and moral lessons into his work, and here he brings a turbulent episode in history powerfully to life.

  • Author:
    Kinsella, Warren, Chrétien, Jean
    Summary:

    The term war room, in political parlance, was coined by the team of U.S. strategists (specifically James Carville) who worked for Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign in the early 1990s. In a nutshell, a war room is a political command centre where a candidate’s strategists and media officers work to counter attacks by opponents while gathering research to mount an offensive in an ongoing, immediate fashion. Warren Kinsella’s The War Room profiles and analyzes some of the best political warriors and spinners around. He employs personal anecdotes, political wisdom culled from his extensive experience on Liberal Party federal and provincial election campaigns, historical examples from other Canadian and American campaigns, and generous amounts of humour to deliver a book about what it takes to survive challenges not just in politics but in any kind of business or non-governmental agency, whether it sells music, movies, cars, or computers, or raises money to preserve the environment, combat cancer, or save animals.

  • Author:
    Shawn Otto
    Summary:

    Shawn Ottos provocative audio book investigates the historical, social, philosophical, political, and emotional reasons for why and how evidence-based politics are in decline and authoritarian politics are once again on the rise, and offers a vision, an argument, and compelling solutions to bring us to our collective senses, before its too late.

  • Author:
    Turner, Chris
    Summary:

    A passionate and meticulously researched argument against the Harper government's war on science.
    In this arresting and passionately argued indictment, award-winning journalist Chris Turner argues that Stephen Harper's attack on basic science, science communication, environmental regulations, and the environmental NGO community is the most vicious assault ever waged by a Canadian government on the fundamental principles of the Enlightenment. From the closure of Arctic research stations as oil drilling begins in the High Arctic to slashed research budgets in agriculture, dramatic changes to the nation’s fisheries policy, and the muzzling of government scientists, Harper's government has effectively dismantled Canada's long-standing scientific tradition.
    Drawing on interviews with scientists whose work has been halted by budget cuts and their colleagues in an NGO community increasingly treated as an enemy of the state, The War on Science paints a vivid and damning portrait of a government that has abandoned environmental stewardship and severed a national commitment to the objective truth of basic science as old as Canada itself.

  • Author:
    Mallea, Paula
    Summary:

    A criminal prosecutor discusses the illegal drug trade and the failure of the so-called “War on Drugs” to stop it. In 1971, President Richard Nixon coined the term “War on Drugs.” His campaign to eradicate illegal drug use was picked up by the media and championed by succeeding presidents, including Reagan. Canada was a willing ally in this “war,” and is currently cracking down on drug offences at a time when even the U.S. is beginning to climb down from its reliance on incarceration. Elsewhere in the world, there has been a sea change. The Global Commission on Drug Policy, including international luminaries like Kofi Annan, declared that the War on Drugs “has not, and cannot, be won.” Former heads of state and drug warriors have come out in favour of this perspective. Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton agree with legions of public health officials, scientists, politicians, and police officers that a new approach is essential. Paula Mallea, in The War on Drugs, approaches this issue from a variety of points of view, offering insight into the history of drug use and abuse in the twentieth century; the pharmacology of illegal drugs; the economy of the illegal drug trade; and the complete lack of success that the war on drugs has had on drug cartels and the drug supply. She also looks ahead and discusses what can and is being done in Canada, the U.S., and the rest of the world to move on from the “war” and find better ways to address the issue of illegal drugs and their distribution, use, and abuse.

  • Author:
    Wooldridge, Adrian, Micklethwait, John
    Summary:

    The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that governments matter again, that competent leadership is the difference between living and dying. A few governments proved adept at handling the crisis while many others failed. Are Western governments healthy and strong enough to keep their citizens safe from another virulent virus, and protect their economies from collapse? Is global leadership passing from the United States to Asia, and particularly China?

  • Author:
    Miklian, Jason, Carney, Scott
    Summary:

    In November 1970, a storm set a collision course with the most densely populated coastline on Earth. Over the course of just a few hours, the Great Bhola Cyclone would kill 500,000 people and begin a chain reaction of turmoil, genocide, and war. Scott Carney and Jason Miklian tell the dramatic story of how that storm sparked a country to revolution.

  • Author:
    Kendzior, Sarah
    Summary:

    From the St. Louis-based journalist often credited with first predicting Donald Trump's presidential victory. "A collection of sharp-edged, humanistic pieces about the American heartland...Passionate pieces that repeatedly assail the inability of many to empathize and to humanize." - Kirkus In 2015, Sarah Kendzior collected the essays she reported for Al Jazeera and published them as The View from Flyover Country, which became an ebook bestseller and garnered praise from readers around the world. Now, The View from Flyover Country is being released in print with an updated introduction and epilogue that reflect on the ways that the Trump presidency was the certain result of the realities first captured in Kendzior's essays. A clear-eyed account of the realities of life in America's overlooked heartland, The View from Flyover Country is a piercing critique of the labor exploitation, race relations, gentrification, media bias, and other aspects of the post-employment economy that gave rise to a president who rules like an autocrat. The View from Flyover Country is necessary reading for anyone who believes that the only way for America to fix its problems is to first discuss them with honesty and compassion. "Please put everything aside and try to get ahold of Sarah Kendzior's collected essays, The View from Flyover Country. I have rarely come across writing that is as urgent and beautifully expressed. What makes Kendzior's writing so truly important is [that] it ... documents where the problem lies, by somebody who lives there."-The Wire "Sarah Kendzior is as harsh and tenacious a critic of the Trump administration as you'll find. She isn't some new kid on the political block or a controversy machine... .Rather she is a widely published journalist and anthropologist who has spent much of her life studying authoritarianism." -Columbia Tribune

  • Author:
    Carpenter, Amanda B.
    Summary:

    She is the darling of the Manhattan elite, the hope of the national Democratic Party, the MVP of the pro-choice feminist movement, the rock star of the Hollywood Left, and the favorite of the liberal media. Luckily, over here at the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, we've been keeping a file on her. Written in the style and format of the New York Times bestseller The Official Handbook of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, this expose is full of fresh reporting, devastating quotes, scandalous stories, funny sidebars, and forgotten but telling incidents from Hillary Clinton's past.

  • Author:
    Ladner, Peter
    Summary:

    Our reliance on industrial agriculture has resulted in a food supply riddled with hidden environmental, economic and health care costs and beset by rising food prices. With only a handful of corporations responsible for the lion's share of the food on our supermarket shelves, we are incredibly vulnerable to supply chain disruption. The Urban Food Revolution provides a recipe for community food security based on leading innovations across North America. The author draws on his political and business experience to show that we have all the necessary ingredients to ensure that local, fresh sustainable food is affordable and widely available. He describes how cities are bringing food production home by: growing community through neighborhood gardening, cooking and composting programs; rebuilding local food processing, storage and distribution systems; investing in farmers markets and community supported agriculture; reducing obesity through local fresh food initiatives in schools, colleges and universities; and ending inner-city food deserts. Producing food locally makes people healthier, alleviates poverty, creates jobs, and makes cities safer and more beautiful. The Urban Food Revolution is an essential resource for anyone who has lost confidence in the global industrial food system and wants practical advice on how to join the local food revolution.

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