100 Ways America is Screwing up the World or Kennedy Women

100 Ways America is Screwing up the World

Author: John Tirman

What do George W. Bush, Wal-Mart, Halliburton, gangsta rap, and SUVs have in common? They're all among the hundred ways in which America is screwing up the world. The country that was responsible for many, if not most, of the twentieth century's most important scientific and technological advancements now demonizes its scientists and thinkers in the twenty-first, while dumbing down its youth with anti-Darwin/pro-"Intelligent Design" propaganda. The longtime paragon of personal freedoms now supports torture and illegal wiretapping—spreading its principles and policies at gunpoint while ruthlessly bombing the world with Big Macs and Mickey Mouse ears.

At once serious-minded and satirical, John Tirman's 100 Ways America Is Screwing Up the World is an insightful, unabashed, entertaining, and distressing look at where we've gone terribly wrong—from the destruction of the environment to the promotion of abhorrent personal health and eating habits to the "wussification" of the free press—an alternately admonishing and amusing call to arms for patriotic Blue America.

Publishers Weekly

As a liberal response to the wealth of pop conservative writing-such as last year's 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America by Bernard Goldberg and Peter Schweitzer's Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy-this collection of 100 pithy salvos against current U.S. culture, and domestic and foreign policy hits its mark. Tirman, an unabashed liberal and the executive director of MIT's Center for International Studies, has a sly style and makes his often predictable points with unexpected panache. Whether he `s skewering the American obsession with consumerism, the rise of the pro-war progressive ("when I see a liberal hawk, I smell a rat") or the recent globalization of Christian evangelism, Tirman stays just this side of cranky and avoids preaching only to the converted. About a third of the time, he makes arresting points, such as that the media obsesses over white "damsels in distress," like Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway, while refusing to discuss truly important issues such as "rapes of girls as a weapon of war." As quick-sketch political commentary goes, these laconic essays are terrific. But the bottom line is that while Tirman is arguably fairer and more nuanced than Goldberg or Schweitzer, none of these books contributes to substantive political understanding or debate. (Aug. 1) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family

Author: Laurence Leamer

Monumental in scope and extraordinary in sensitivity, The Kennedy Women chronicles five matrilineal generations in our nation's premier political dynasty. Not merely distinguished cultural history, it is a story of epic sweep, brimming with triumph and tragedy, courage and compliance, self-sacrifice and self-delusion. Moving from steerage on an immigrant vessel to the slums of Boston, from the Court of St. James's to the White House and beyond, The Kennedy Women paints startling, in-depth portraits of the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters who stood beside some of the most dynamic men of the twentieth century through occasions of great opulence and heartbreak, victory and scandal. Among its revelations: how Rose's marriage almost ended on her wedding day; the poignantly detailed life stories of mentally challenged Rosemary and the glorious, lost Kathleen; Jackie's near death in the weeks before the inauguration; Eunice's struggle, despite chronic illness, to build the Special Olympics; a long-guarded account of Rose's response to Chappaquiddick; Jean Kennedy Smith's and the family's private reactions to the William Kennedy Smith rape charges; Jackie's gallant battle to live and die with dignity and privacy; and the unique challenges and pressures confronting future Kennedy matriarchs Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, Maria Shriver Schwarzenegger, Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and Rory Kennedy. Here, finally, is the women's story; even those who feel they know all there is to know about the Kennedys will discover how much more there is to the story. For five years, Laurence Leamer researched this book, receiving unprecedented cooperation from family members, interviewing scores of relatives and close associates, gaining access to hundreds of personal documents. Included are thirty-two pages of rare and fascinating family photographs. The Kennedy Women combines exhaustive and superb scholarship with a gripping narrative.

Publishers Weekly

Five generations of Kennedys are chronicled in this unauthorized biography of the women who helped shape the image of this enduring dynasty. (June)

Library Journal

This intimate portrait of five generations of Kennedy women is the basis for a minidocudrama airing in October.

Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization or Lincoln and the Civil War

Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization

Author: Jason Brownle

Far from sweeping the globe uniformly, the 'third wave of democratization' left burgeoning republics and resilient dictatorships in its wake. Applying more than a year of original fieldwork in Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, and the Philippines, Jason Brownlee shows that the mixed record of recent democratization is best deciphered through a historical and institutional approach to authoritarian rule. Exposing the internal organizations that structure elite conflict, Brownlee demonstrates why the critical soft-liners needed for democratic transitions have been dormant in Egypt and Malaysia but outspoken in Iran and the Philippines. By establishing how ruling parties originated and why they impede change, Brownlee illuminates the problem of contemporary authoritarianism and informs the promotion of durable democracy.

Interesting textbook: Advanced VBScript for Microsoft Windows Administrators or Joel Whitburn Presents Songs and Artists

Lincoln and the Civil War

Author: John M Hay

A unique document by an extraordinary man about one of the giants of American history, this edition features a new forward by Henry Steele Commager, who sheds new light on the Lincoln-Hay relationship.

The Best Damn Cybercrime and Forensics Book Period or Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy

The Best Damn Cybercrime and Forensics Book Period

Author: Jack Wiles

Electronic discovery refers to a process in which electronic data is sought, located, secured, and searched with the intent of using it as evidence in a legal case. Computer forensics is the application of computer investigation and analysis techniques to perform an investigation to find out exactly what happened on a computer and who was responsible. IDC estimates that the U.S. market for computer forensics will be grow from $252 million in 2004 to $630 million by 2009. Business is strong outside the United States, as well. By 2011, the estimated international market will be $1.8 billion dollars. The Techno Forensics Conference has increased in size by almost 50% in its second year; another example of the rapid growth in the market.

This book is the first to combine cybercrime and digital forensic topics to provides law enforcement and IT security professionals with the information needed to manage a digital investigation. Everything needed for analyzing forensic data and recovering digital evidence can be found in one place, including instructions for building a digital forensics lab.

* Digital investigation and forensics is a growing industry
* Corporate I.T. departments needing to investigate incidents related to corporate espionage or other criminal activities are learning as they go and need a comprehensive step-by-step guide to e-discovery
* Appeals to law enforcement agencies with limited budgets

Table of Contents:

Email Forensics Developing a Digital Investigative/Electronic Discovery Capability Digital Forensics in a Multi Operating System Environment Digital Forensic Investigation Operations Balancing Records & Information Cyber Crime Investigations Windows and DVD Forensics Alternate Data Storage Forensics Buidling a Digital Forensics Lab

Book review: Digital Communications or Latin Journey

Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen

Author: Susan Griffin

What does it mean to be a citizen of the United States? In this compelling and personal work, Susan Griffin—cultural historian, poet, public intellectual—blends history, cultural critique, and memoir to discover the essence of our democracy. From the Declaration of Independence to the war in Iraq, from Thomas Jefferson to John Muir to Jelly Roll Morton, Griffin charts the rise and fall of the American vision of freedom and equality.

Within the American psyche, Griffin explains, there is an enduring battle between the "psychology of empire," characterized by a desire for safety, order, and control, and the "psychology of democracy," characterized by equality, empathy, and truth-telling. "As a social body," she writes, " we are caught between conflicting desires, between the wish for freedom and the desire for order and safety, between the psychology of subjects and the psychology of citizens." Griffin's probing exploration of the history of American democracy is interwoven with sections of memoir exploring her own upbringing and political awakenings as the daughter of working-class parents in 1950s California.

Throughout this unique work—which gives special emphasis to the inner lives of pivotal historical figures—Griffin demonstrates that ultimately democracy is not only a system of governance, but, in its fullest form, represents a revolution in consciousness, one that is still unfolding today. We are still wrestling with the promise of democracy and, as American citizens, are deeply affected by the ongoing struggle between tyranny and freedom.

Bob Nardini Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information - School Library Journal

Griffin began her "social autobiography" with A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War(1992), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and continued with What Her Body Thought. She now delivers a third volume, in which autobiographical fragments blend with reflections on the lives of Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Muir, Jelly Roll Morton, and other Americans and with diary entries recording Griffin's thoughts on current events such as Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War. She aims to trace intersections between the growth of a sense of freedom in individuals and the evolution of democratic consciousness in the nation. "It is the inner states that generate and are generated by democracy that interest me," she writes. Griffin, also a poet and playwright, has written many books, and no doubt her latest will find its readers. Yet those who have not encountered Griffin may consider many passages, such as "I was more in touch with myself than ever before," self-absorbed and trite. Optional for public and academic libraries.