Political Doctrines Books

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

Barack Obama

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 550 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Barack Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father, was a compelling and moving memoir focusing on personal issues of race, identity, and community. With his second book The Audacity of Hope, Obama engages themes raised in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, shares personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves repairing a "political process that is broken" and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people. We had the opportunity to ask Senator Obama a few questions about writing, reading, and politics--see his responses below. --Daphne Durham

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20 Second Interview: A Few Words with Barack Obama

Q: How did writing a book that you knew would be read so closely by so many compare to writing your first book, when few people knew who you were?
A: In many ways, Dreams from My Father was harder to write. At that point, I wasn't even sure that I could write a book. And writing the first book really was a process of self-discovery, since it touched on my family and my childhood in a much more intimate way. On the other hand, writing The Audacity of Hope paralleled the work that I do every day--trying to give shape to all the issues that we face as a country, and providing my own personal stamp on them.

Q: What is your writing process like? You have such a busy schedule, how did you find time to write?
A: I'm a night owl, so I usually wrote at night after my Senate day was over, and after my family was asleep--from 9:30 p.m. or so until 1 a.m. I would work off an outline--certain themes or stories that I wanted to tell--and get them down in longhand on a yellow pad. Then I'd edit while typing in what I'd written.

Q: If readers are to come away from The Audacity of Hope with one action item (a New Year's Resolution for 2007, perhaps?), what should it be?
A: Get involved in an issue that you're passionate about. It almost doesn't matter what it is--improving the school system, developing strategies to wean ourselves off foreign oil, expanding health care for kids. We give too much of our power away, to the professional politicians, to the lobbyists, to cynicism. And our democracy suffers as a result.

Q: You're known for being able to work with people across ideological lines. Is that possible in today's polarized Washington?
A: It is possible. There are a lot of well-meaning people in both political parties. Unfortunately, the political culture tends to emphasize conflict, the media emphasizes conflict, and the structure of our campaigns rewards the negative. I write about these obstacles in chapter 4 of my book, "Politics." When you focus on solving problems instead of scoring political points, and emphasize common sense over ideology, you'd be surprised what can be accomplished. It also helps if you're willing to give other people credit--something politicians have a hard time doing sometimes.

The Revolution: A Manifesto

Ron Paul

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Total reviews: 599 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

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This Much Is True: You Have Been Lied To.

• The government is expanding.
  
• Taxes are increasing.
  
• More senseless wars are being planned.
  
• Inflation is ballooning.
  
• Our basic freedoms are disappearing.

The Founding Fathers didn't want any of this. In fact, they said so quite clearly in the Constitution of the United States of America. Unfortunately, that beautiful, ingenious, and revolutionary document is being ignored more and more in Washington. If we are to enjoy peace, freedom, and prosperity once again, we absolutely must return to the principles upon which America was founded. But finally, there is hope . . .

In THE REVOLUTION,Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul has exposed the core truths behind everything threatening America, from the real reasons behind the collapse of the dollar and the looming financial crisis, to terrorism and the loss of our precious civil liberties. In this book, Ron Paul provides answers to questions that few even dare to ask.

Despite a media blackout, this septuagenarian physician-turned-congressman sparked a movement that has attracted a legion of young, dedicated, enthusiastic supporters . . . a phenomenon that has amazed veteran political observers and made more than one political rival envious. Candidates across America are already running as "Ron Paul Republicans."

"Dr. Paul cured my apathy," says a popular campaign sign. THE REVOLUTION may cure yours as well.

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

Jonah Goldberg

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Total reviews: 304 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

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“Fascists,” “Brownshirts,” “jackbooted stormtroopers”—such are the insults typically hurled at conservatives by their liberal opponents. Calling someone a fascist is the fastest way to shut them up, defining their views as beyond the political pale. But who are the real fascists in our midst?

Liberal Fascism offers a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths with surprising and enlightening research, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left, and that liberals from Woodrow Wilson to FDR to Hillary Clinton have advocated policies and principles remarkably similar to those of Hitler's National Socialism and Mussolini's Fascism.

Contrary to what most people think, the Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term “National socialism”). They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs. They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. They purged the church from public policy, promoted a new form of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life. The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia, and gun control. They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly, and maintained a strict racial quota system in their universities—where campus speech codes were all the rage. The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian, and Himmler was an animal rights activist.

Do these striking parallels mean that today’s liberals are genocidal maniacs, intent on conquering the world and imposing a new racial order? Not at all. Yet it is hard to deny that modern progressivism and classical fascism shared the same intellectual roots. We often forget, for example, that Mussolini and Hitler had many admirers in the United States. W.E.B. Du Bois was inspired by Hitler's Germany, and Irving Berlin praised Mussolini in song. Many fascist tenets were espoused by American progressives like John Dewey and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR incorporated fascist policies in the New Deal.

Fascism was an international movement that appeared in different forms in different countries, depending on the vagaries of national culture and temperament. In Germany, fascism appeared as genocidal racist nationalism. In America, it took a “friendlier,” more liberal form. The modern heirs of this “friendly fascist” tradition include the New York Times, the Democratic Party, the Ivy League professoriate, and the liberals of Hollywood. The quintessential Liberal Fascist isn't an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore.

These assertions may sound strange to modern ears, but that is because we have forgotten what fascism is. In this angry, funny, smart, contentious book, Jonah Goldberg turns our preconceptions inside out and shows us the true meaning of Liberal Fascism.

America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It

Mark Steyn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 480 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Every American citizen needs to read this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is a call to arms for all Americans who wish to retain the real values that this country was founded upon. This country is too special, too unique to be allowed to waste away and melt into a European model that is clearly broken. All immigrants who come to this country MUST wish to become true Americans and ONLY American. We can no longer welcome all and allow them to shun the American way of life and begin to impose foreign laws on this government. This has been and always will be the greatest way of life that was ever created and it must not die. We can and will embrace many cultures as part of the fabric of America, but never to the exclusion of the ideals that make it great.

Truly Exceptional 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is an exceptionally written and argued book. The central theme, that demographics favor radical Islam, and that the challenge posed is existential and immediate, is a Steyn classic.

You won't be disappointed.

A Must Read if you care about your future 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Mark Steyn tells it like it is. Western Europe is in decline; Canada is in decline; America is on the brink. There is nothing politically correct about Mark's discourse. It's a frank discussion about how the Islamist/Muslim world is in its ascendancy while we (the West) are in decline based largely on current demographics. It scared the heck out of me, and if I can do nothing else I can at least spread the word. We need to react before our way of life, our culture is no more.America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It

Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream

Ross Douthat, Reihan Salam

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“Memo to John McCain: Please, please READ THIS BOOK. It can help you win the election and guide Republicans in shaping the political future.

Memo to Democrats: Don’t read this book. It's going to be THE political book of 2008. Republicans will be better off if you choose to ignore it.”
--William Kristol, editor, The Weekly Standard

In a provocative challenge to Republican conventional wisdom, two of the Right's rising young thinkers call upon the GOP to focus on the interests and needs of working-class voters.

Grand New Party lays bare the failures of the conservative revolution and presents a detailed blueprint for building the next Republican majority. Blending history, analysis, and fresh, often controversial recommendations, Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam argue that it is time to move beyond the Reagan legacy and the mind-set of the current Republican power structure.

In a concise examination of recent political trends, the authors show that the Democrats' cultural liberalism makes their party inherently hostile to the interests and values of the working class. But on a host of issues, today's Republican Party lacks a message that speaks to their economic aspirations. Grand New Party offers a new direction—a conservative vision of a limited-but-active government that tackles the threats to working-class prosperity and to the broader American Dream.

With specific proposals covering such hot-button topics as immigration, health care, and taxes, Grand New Party will shake up the Right, challenge the Left, and force both sides to confront and adapt to the changing political landscape.

Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works

Newt Gingrich

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Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Road Map to a Better Future 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich has written this timely book calling for real change in American governance. He calls for reforms in education, immigration, entitlements, the judiciary, and many other areas, and is even willing to have the government offer cash prizes to individuals who develop necessary innovations such as hydrogen cars.

Gingrich rightly states that meaningful change to our current bureaucratic government system will never come from the Left, given that it is beholden to the usual liberal interest groups, and that the current Right so lacks a spine that it will not be bold enough to offer real change. The GOP, he says, fell into the trap of holding onto power for power's sake instead of trying hard enough to work for reforms that would replace the bureaucratic model with a more free-market approach. In order to make the necessary reforms that will prevent the slow national decline that will come if we refuse to cut the size of government, it is important to replace the current, stale order of politicians with limited-government conservatives.

However, no one on the presidential ballot in 2008 is likely to offer the reforms that we need to ensure that America remains peaceful and prosperous for decades to come. Hopefully, in 2012 someone will run as a conservative reformer who will adopt a platform defined by ideas similar to the ones in this book.

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

Shane Claiborne

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Shane Tells and Shows a New Way to Live 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Shane shares in a clear and compelling way a revolutionary way of living and relating to others that can, one person at a time, bring about change in small but significant steps. He indicates the way to make a difference in the world is by each person living and relating differently, not by governments or political systems. He doesn't just tell us what we should do he shares his story as he actually lives out what he believes. A great read that you won't want to put down. Be careful however it can ruin your life and move you from comfortable to uncomfortable with the way things are and what you are doing to make a difference through your life.

An Irresistible Revolution...the Simple Way 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you're ready to roll up your sleeves, and march in God's army, pick up a copy of The Irresistible Revolution and get ready to load up on some serious ammunition. And for good measure, you'll also get a fresh compass and a friend to help you dig out of the trenches and be counted as a radical who is courageous and foolish enough to stand out as a true follower of Christ.

From the streets of Calcutta, to war-zones of Iraq, to neighbourhood slums, to money-multiplying Wall Street, Shane Claiborne transports the face of Christ into a suffering and lonely world. In Irresistible Revolution, he converts his stories into a compelling case for the "ordinary radical" . His down to earth style will engage you, much like a conversation with an old friend. But be prepared, much of what he has to say is far from comfortable. In these pages you will be dared to take up your cross, and tear down some walls. You will hear first hand of the miracle of community, of working together, being one body in Christ. You will be asked to drop the rock of unforgiveness and embrace the poor, the needy and the "ugly". And kiss complacency good-bye.

Watch out for the gut-wrenching and heart-breaking moments laced in pain...and some joyful, triumphant ones. Watch how you never lose the distinct feeling that Jesus is right there walking through every page as you read along. You will sense his presence watching over you, holding out His hand, insisting, "Come follow me...come and see." Watch yourself capture a fresh and renewed understanding of who Jesus was and what He asks of you...and behold the absolute ironic beauty of a revolution (a heart revolv-ing around Him) that is truly irresistible.

Editorial Review:

Using unconventional examples from his own life, Shane Claiborne stirs up questions about the church and the world, and challenges readers to truly live out their Christian faith.

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Jeff Sharlet

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A journalist's penetrating look at the untold story of christian fundamentalism's most elite organization, a self-described invisible network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful

They are the Family—fundamentalism's avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the new chosen—congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators who meet in confidential cells, to pray and plan for a "leadership led by God," to be won not by force but through "quiet diplomacy." Their base is a leafy estate overlooking the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have reported from inside its walls.

The Family is about the other half of American fundamentalist power—not its angry masses, but its sophisticated elites. Sharlet follows the story back to Abraham Vereide, an immigrant preacher who in 1935 organized a small group of businessmen sympathetic to European fascism, fusing the far right with his own polite but authoritarian faith. From that core, Vereide built an international network of fundamentalists who spoke the language of establishment power, a "family" that thrives to this day. In public, they host Prayer Breakfasts; in private, they preach a gospel of "biblical capitalism," military might, and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin, and Mao as leadership models, the Family's current leader, Doug Coe, declares, "We work with power where we can, build new power where we can't."

Sharlet's discoveries dramatically challenge conventional wisdom about American fundamentalism, revealing its crucial role in the unraveling of the New Deal, the waging of the cold war, and the no-holds-barred economics of globalization. The question Sharlet believes we must ask is not "What do fundamentalists want?" but "What have they already done?"

Part history, part investigative journalism, The Family is a compelling account of how fundamentalism came to be interwoven with American power, a story that stretches from the religious revivals that have shaken this nation from its beginning to fundamentalism's new frontiers. No other book about the right has exposed the Family or revealed its far-reaching impact on democracy, and no future reckoning of American fundamentalism will be able to ignore it.

Outrage: How Illegal Immigration, the United Nations, Congressional Ripoffs, Student Loan Overcharges, Tobacco Companies, Trade Protection, and Drug Companies Are Ripping Us Off . . . and

Dick Morris, Eileen Mcgann

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Total reviews: 74 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann are outrage—and you should be, too!

• Half of all illegal immigrants came into this country legally—and we have no way of knowing they're still here!
• Congressmen are putting their wives on their campaign payrolls!
• The UN is a cover for massive corruption!
• Drug companies pay off doctors to write scrips—whether we need them or not!
• Teachers unions block the firing of bad teachers—and battle against higher education standards!
• Katrina victims are being stiffed by their insurance companies!
• Special interests cost our consumers $45 billion through trade quotas that save only a handful of jobs!

Unaware of these abuses? It's not surprising since the mainstream media don't talk about them. Too many powerful people are working very hard to cover them up. But in Outrage, New York Times bestselling authors Dick Morris and Eileen McGann give you the cold, hard facts you won't read about anywhere else—and offer tough, common-sense proposals on how to fight the special interests of the left and right . . . so we can start making these outrageous inequities things of the past!

One Man's America: The Pleasures and Provocations of Our Singular Nation

George Will

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In his provocative and compelling new book, America’s most widely read and most influential commentator casts his gimlet eye on our singular nation. Moving far beyond the strict confines of politics, George F. Will offers a fascinating look at the people, stories, and events–often unheralded–that make the American drama so endlessly entertaining and instructive.

With Will’s signature erudition and wry wit always on display, One Man’s America chronicles a spectacular, eclectic procession of figures who have shaped our cultural landscape–from Playboy founder Hugh Hefner to National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr., from Victorian poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, from cotton picker— turned—country singer Buck Owens to actor-turned-president Ronald Reagan.

Will crisscrosses the country to illuminate what it is that makes America distinctive. He visits the USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor and ponders its enduring links to the present. He travels to Milwaukee to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of an iconic brand, Harley-Davidson. In Los Angeles he finds the inspiring future of education, while in New York he confronts the dispiriting didacticism of the avant-garde. He ventures to the Civil War battlefields of Virginia to explore what we risk when we efface our own history. And on the outskirts of Chicago he investigates one of the darkest chapters in American history, only to discover a shining example of resilience and grace–the best the country has to offer.

Will’s wide lens takes in much more as well–everything from the “most emblematic novel of the 1930s” (and no, it is not about the Joads) to the cult of ESPN to Brooks Brothers and Ben & Jerry’s. And of course, One Man’s America would not be complete without the author’s insights on the national pastime, baseball–the icons and the cheats, the hapless and the greats.

Finally, in a personal and reflective turn, Will writes movingly of his thirty-five-year-old son Jon, born with Down syndrome, and pays loving and poignant tribute to his mother, who died at the age of ninety-eight after a long struggle with dementia.

The essays in One Man’s America, even when critiquing American culture, reflect Will’s deep affection and regard for our nation. After all, he notes, when America falls short, it does so only as compared to “the uniquely high standards it has set for itself.” In the end, this brilliantly informative and entertaining book reminds us of the enduring value of “the simple virtues and decencies that can make communities flourish and that have made America great and exemplary.”