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Crossroads: The Future Of American Politics
Andrew Cuomo

An array of leading Democrats, Republicans, and independent thinkers provide a road map for America's political future. America is at a turning point. For the first time in history, the United States is the world's lone superpower--in Andrew Cuomo's words, "both the tamer and target of an unstable world." New technology and the omnipresent media have transformed the way we do everything, from amassing wealth to practicing politics. Simultaneously, the U.S. economy is in a shambles, with the largest federal budget deficit in our history. The coming octogenarian boom promises to put the greatest strain on federal government resources the United States has ever known, and America is faced with new security threats and diplomatic crises daily. The success of our nation in the coming decades will depend on how our elected leaders respond to these challenges. Can the Democrats, divided and ineffectual since well before the crushing defeats of 2002, revitalize their agenda, forge a meaningful message, and end the Republican stranglehold on the federal government? Can Republicans, fresh from new victories, build on their successes? And how will a younger generation, largely alienated from both parties but often intensely political, articulate its desires in the years ahead? The writers invited by Andrew Cuomo to contribute to this landmark book, a who's who of American leadership, address these and other pressing questions of our political life. At once a diagnosis and a call to arms, Crossroads will set the terms of political debate as America moves forward.

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The Republican Noise Machine: Right Wing Media And How It Corrupts Democracy
David Brock

In The Republican Noise Machine, David Brock skillfully documents perhaps the most important but least understood political development of the last thirty years: how the Republican Right has won political power and hijacked public discourse in the United States. Brock, a former right-wing insider and the author of the New York Times bestseller Blinded by the Right, uses his keen understanding of the strategies, tactics, financing, and personalities of the American right wing to demonstrate how the once-fringe phenomenon of right-wing media has all but subsumed the regular media conversation, shaped the national consciousness, and turned American politics sharply to the right. Brock documents how in the last several decades the GOP built a powerful media machine--newspapers and magazines, think tanks, talk radio networks, op-ed columnists, the FOX News Channel, Christian Right broadcasting, book publishers, and high-traffic internet sites--to sell conservatism to the public and discredit its opponents. This unabashedly biased multibillion-dollar communications empire disregards journalistic ethics and universal standards of fairness and accuracy, manufacturing "news" that is often bought and paid for by a tight network of corporate-backed foundations and old family fortunes. By dissecting the appeal, techniques, and reach of the booming right-wing media market, Brock demonstrates that it is largely based on bigotry, ignorance, and emotional manipulation closely tied to America's longstanding cultural divisions and the buying power of anti-intellectual traditionalists. From the disputed 2000 presidential election to the war with Iraq to the political battles of 2004, Brock's penetrating analysis of right-wing media theories and methodology reveals that the Republican Right views the media as an extension of a broader struggle for political power. By tracing the political impact of right-wing media, Brock shows how disproportionate conservative influence in the media is integrally linked to the Republican Right's current domination of all three branches of government, to the propping up of the Bush administration, and to the inability of Democrats to voice their opposition to this political sea change or to compete on an even playing field. As only an ex-conservative intimately familiar with the imperatives of the American right wing could, David Brock suggests ways in which concerned Americans can begin to redress the conservative ascendancy and cut through the propagandistic fog. Writing with verve and deep insight, he reaches far beyond typical bromides about media bias to produce an invaluable account of the rise of right-wing media and its political consequences.

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It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair With The GOP
Peter Robinson

After Ronald Reagan, after George Bush, after Bill Clinton, where is the Republican Party headed today? This is exactly the question former White House speechwriter and special assistant to the president Peter Robinson asked himself-and the answers he discovered surprised even him. IT'S MY PARTY is part irreverent memoir, part "travel diary," and part impassioned call to arms. In it, Robinson shows just what the GOP has got going for it-and how its most triumphant years are yet to come. Along with Robinson's personal, and sometimes hilarious, lifelong relationship with Republicanism, IT'S MY PARTY takes us through history and geography to trace the party's roots. It pushes the hot buttons of headline issues that other political professionals are afraid to touch. It introduces us to both the party's leaders and its foot soldiers, from George Bush, Sr. to Rep. Chris Cox, from Newt Gingrich to Bret Schundler, mayor of Jersey City, N.J. It follows the surprising rite of passage of one gifted young African-American Republican and provides one woman officeholder's perspective, revolutionary in its simplicity, on the gender gap. And it looks up close at the two men most likely to carry the standard of the Republican Party into the new century: George W. Bush and New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. At the end of the journey, the Grand Old Party proves grander than Robinson had thought. Of course, it looms as the champion of the time-honored principles of self-reliance, limited government, and respect for the Judeo-Christian moral tradition. But ultimately, it stands for nothing less than the success of American democracy. For the author, it's been a love affair, messy and all-consuming, with an institution that became more fascinating the better he knew it, without losing its ability to infuriate and annoy. It's his party, he tells us. And it's still kicking.

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Fluke
Martin Blinder

In America, anybody can become president. In 1920, anybody did. Harding was a strikingly handsome man, a high school graduate of impenetrable ignorance whose only two qualifications for the presidency were that he looked and sounded presidential--provided you didn't look or listen too closely. Ohio's "favorite son" at the nominating convention, he recognized his deficiencies, did not want such high office, and never expected to be nominated, no less elected. But his destiny was to become the first packaged candidate, elected largely on the strength of a carefully crafted image. Thus began 12 years of Republican rule that fostered unbridled capitalism and willful isolation, leading to the Great Depression and the rise of European dictatorships, which set the stage for World War II. Greatly complicating things was the relationship between Harding and Nan, who shared a deeper intimacy and hotter sex than anything enjoyed by more contemporary White House occupants. But woven around and through their furtive couplings is the tapestry of corruption and scandal generated by a half-dozen uniquely odious presidential cronies. But this tale is not unremittingly bleak. After having been content all of his life to just slide by, Harding reinvented himself in his last year, proving that nobility can triumph over selfishness, that listening to your heart may be more reliable than listening to your head, and that love which is pure can transcend death itself.

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Staircase B
Bob Wiltz And Bob Rustico

She seemed to have it all-a wealthy family, a to-die-for job as a political columnist, and a front row seat at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Beauty, brains, and a blossoming career have catapulted Brit Nevins to the top of her world. In the presence of the national candidates and their staff, Brit begins to experience vivid images of sex, violence and finally murder. The unwelcome and embarrassing imagery is threatening her entire existence. Even worse, these "visions" are not of her own life! The very people she is supposed to be interviewing, the celebrity ticket for the highest offices in the land, are hiding something sinister. Their secrets are emerging, unbidden, through Brit's subconscious mind. Her race to expose them before they can silence her involves a dangerous game that will tear apart the Democratic National Ticket--and once again end in murder.

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A Call To Service: My Vision For A Better America
John Kerry

John Kerry has had a remarkable life and is one of the most respected public servants in America today, having come to the forefront of national consciousness as a veteran speaking out against the Vietnam War just after he returned from the front lines. He is one of the most powerful leaders of the Democratic Party and-with a fierce landmark presidential campaign looming before the 2004 election-could one day become the most powerful man in the world. As an outsider among insiders in the U.S. Senate, John Kerry has never been afraid to battle the political establishment and fight the fights that need fighting. Now, in A Call to Service, Kerry formally introduces himself to the nation. In a book rich with autobiographical details that explain the experiences behind the ideas, Kerry offers his vision for America.

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Les Misèrables
Victor Hugo

Les Miserables is the great epic masterpiece of the mid-nineteenth century. Begun in 1845, the year Louis Philippe conferred a peerage and a lifetime seat in the Senate upon Victor Hugo, it was completed when the author was living in exile in the Channel Islands. Les Miserables is a product as well as a document of the political, social, and religious upheaval that followed the Napoleonic Wars and Europe's great democratic revolutions. The story is centered on Jean Valjean, a peasant who enters the novel a hardened criminal after nineteen years spent in prison for stealing a loaf of bread for the starving children of his sister. The path of Valjean's last twenty-five years, leading from the French provinces to the battlefield of Waterloo and the ramparts of Paris during the Uprising of 1832, introduces us to secret societies of revolutionaries and the vast world of the French lower classes. Jean Valjean's flight from the police agent Javert--the prototype of over a hundred years of fictional detectives--culminates in one of the most famous scenes in all literature, the chase through the sewers of Paris. Les Miserables sold out its large first printing in twenty-four hours and has remained enormously popular.

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Crashing The Party
Ralph Nader

He is one of America's most effective social critics. He has been called a muckraker, consumer crusader, and the people's public defender. Time magazine called him "America's toughest customer." And in this past election, almost three million people voted for him. Crashing the Party takes us inside Nader's campaign and will explain: What it takes to fight the two-party juggernaut. How old liberal friends (many from Hollywood) turned on Nader and blamed him for Al Gore's loss. Why Gore and Bush were afraid to let Nader in on their debates. How the campaign celebrated when Mastercard threatened to sue them for copying their "priceless" ads. Why more and more progessive Democrats are moving towards the Green Party. The 2000 election gave the Green Party legitimacy and an important foothold on national politics. With humor and insight, Crashing the Party will be the ONE honest retelling of the 2000 campaign.

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Run The Other Way: Fixing The Two-Party System, One Campaign At A Time
Bill Hillsman

Bill Hillsman is simply, in the words of Slate.com, "the world's greatest political adman." With his groundbreaking consulting work on Paul Wellstone's senatorial, Jesse Ventura's gubernatorial, and Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns, he was the first to publicly challenge the conventional strategies of political campaigns, the inefficiency of campaign spending, the desultory, banal, and insulting political ads. As Hillsman says, "I don't believe you can annoy someone into voting for your candidate." Hillsman first rocked the political establishment during Wellstone's 1990 Senate bid, with witty, sharp political ads that had audiences glued to their television sets and talking about the commercials for weeks afterward. In the end, he helped Wellstone overcome a $7 million campaign spending disadvantage to win the election. And the risk taking continued when he ran Jesse Ventura's Reform Party gubernatorial and Ralph Nader's Green Party presidential campaigns. In one Nader ad, a child looks out at the viewer and says, "When I grow up, I want politicians to ignore me." In an ad from Ventura's campaign, a boy playing with a Jesse Ventura action figure ("New, from the Reform Party!") takes on Ventura's voice to growl, "I don't want your stupid money!" With bold and brilliant ads like these, Hillsman helped two underdog candidates become senator and governor, transformed Minnesota politics, and showed the country that it has viable and appealing options outside of the two major parties. Run the Other Way offers fascinating and disturbing insights into the shadowy, cronyistic world of political consulting: the grossly overpaid consultants, incompetent and inaccurate pollsters, fundraisers who take a dollar for every dollar they raise, and strategists who use negative advertising to intentionally keep people from voting. But it also gives us a from-the-trenches look at how Americans can turn the weapons trained on us back against the master propagandists, and in so doing revitalize our badly damaged democracy. Fleshing out his case with real-life stories from his involvement in numerous campaigns, Hillsman takes us behind the electioneering scenes of old Washington hands and trouble-making independents, including Ross Perot, Warren Beatty, John McCain, Arianna Huffington, and Colin Powell. An outsider with an insider's vantage point, Hillsman sees America at a crucial historical moment defined by the continuing decline of both major political parties and the rise of independent voters. Edgy, controversial, and often humorous, his political ads have energized voters and revolutionized election campaigning over the last fifteen years. This is a book for everyone who's ever run for office, thought about running for office, or voted for someone running for office. Run the Other Way investigates the many imperfections in the greatest system of government in the world and challenges all of us to make it better.

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The Great Game Of Politics: Why We Elect Whom We Elect
Dick Stoken

From our nation's inception there has been a constant dynamic of tension between those political philosophies that we have labeled the left and the right despite the fact that the vast majority of voting citizens really fall into the category of moderates. On one hand we have the right, concerned with business, conservation and development of capitol and wealth. They want the government to provide security that will protect the nation's interest while allowing free market forces to increase prosperity. On the other hand we have the left, concerned with personal rights, equality, and fostering of prosperity for all citizens through an active and involved federal government. One saves. The other spends. One is in favor of limiting government and curtailing spending. The other is in favor of growing government to meet the needs of the populus. Back and forth. Republican and Democrat, it's a constant pendulum shift in leadership between these poles. Why? It's The Great Game of Politics. Dick Stoken examines the history of the Presidency in terms of this game, highlighting the shifts and actions that occur that force a change back towards the center that usually results in the changing of party power at the executive level. Stoken looks at all of the presidencies and determines who had the most influence on our nation's direction, who failed, who stayed the course and who charted a new one.

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Up, Simba!: 7 Days On The Trail Of An Anticandidate
David Foster Wallace

In February 2000, Rolling Stone magazine sent David Foster Wallace, "NOT A POLITICAL JOURNALIST," on the road for a week with Senator John McCain's campaign to win the Republican nomination for the Presidency. They wanted to know why McCain appealed so much to so many Americans, and particularly why he appealed to the "Young Voters" of America who generally show nothing but apathy. iPublish is bringing out the "Director's Cut" (three times longer than the RS article) of this incisive, funny, thoughtful piece about life on "Bullsh*t One" (the nickname for the press bus that followed McCain's Straight Talk Express). McCain may be out of the race, but as we gear up for the showdown in November, this piece is more relevant than ever in its discussion of what we know, don't know, and don't want to know about the way our political campaigns work.

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Republican Party Reptile: The Confessions, Adventures, Essays, and Other Outrages Of P. J. O'Rourke
P. J. O'Rourke

The Republican Party Reptile is a creature of the eighties. It's neoconservatism with its pants down around its ankles. In the twenty-one pieces in this book, P.J. O'Rourke, reactionary and humorist, articulates this strange philosophy and shows us the progenitor of the species (namely himself) in action. O'Rourke visits the Lebanese civil war and the Marcos election campaign, sees Russia through the bottom of vodka bottle, examines sundry aspects of Western civilization such as the great bicycle menace and the history of the last fifteen minutes, and even explains how to drive a pickup truck into the woods at sixty miles an hour.

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1984
George Orwell

Perhaps no other novel in this century has had a greater impact upon the way we think and talk about our world than George Orwell's classic, 1984. "Big Brother," "doublespeak," and "the thought police" have become part of our everyday lexicon, and the term "Orwellian" has become a familiar adjective for any situation-real or imagined-where conformity is compulsory and where someone always seems to be watching. Orwell's novel also has the distinction of being, along with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange and his own Animal Farm, one of the most important works of anti-utopic fiction produced in this century. These novels, which began to flourish after World War I, imagine a nightmarish society where all that is ugly and perverse about human nature has prevailed, and people are powerless to resist an insidious, coercive order. In 1984, the insidious order is known as "Big Brother," a personification of the regime that both demands and ensures absolute loyalty and obedience from all of its citizens. One of these citizens is a man named Winston Smith, the protagonist of the novel and a worker in the state's Ministry of Truth. Through following Winston, we see the myriad methods Big Brother employs to keep the populace servile and under its heavy thumb. Winston's work at the Ministry is to help rewrite history so that Big Brother's pronouncements, in retrospect, always appear to be infallible. Just as sinister is the propagation of "Newspeak," an abridged version of English whose eventual adoption, the party members hope, will limit anyone's ability to think or talk in a way that opposes Big Brother. Perhaps the most often-discussed component to Big Brother's control is the use of the telescreens, television-like gadgets installed in every home that act as surveillance devices and keep track of who is obeying and who is not. Winston, skeptical of Big Brother, but unsure of who or what to trust, tries to find ways of resisting the state's coercive power, and asserting his individuality. But Big Brother is watching. Although 1984 is almost universally hailed as a landmark in twentieth century fiction, critics have been divided as to how we are to read it. Some see it, as Orwell himself described it, as a dire warning about the future. Others view it as a polemic criticizing Stalin's regime, the government that Big Brother most resembles and that Orwell saw as a monstrous perversion of Marxist ideals. Still others consider it a satire of contemporary England, a deliberately exaggerated version of the propaganda, conformity and denial of history that can exist even in a liberal, democratic state. These interpretations are by no means mutually exclusive, of course, and it is a testament to Orwell's genius that his work continues to speak in different ways to students of history, politics, philosophy, and literature alike.

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The Journalist
G. L. Rockey

The year is 2008. The incumbent President of the United States sees his support dwindling both at home and abroad. In a desperate bid for re-election, he conspires with his top advisors to use the growing threat of global terrorism and a media desperate for the next big story to undermine the democratic process. In Miami, a maverick newspaper editor uncovers the plot and knows he has to stop it. The only question that isn’t answered is whether he can stay alive long enough.

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The Ten Things You Can't Say In America
Larry Elder

Is the Federal Government too intrusive? Should Americans practice self-help or hold their hats for handouts? Does this country have a race problem or are we all held hostage to a "victicrat" mentality? Do you believe in media bias? Larry Elder is a firebrand libertarian who tells truths this nation's public figures are afraid to address. He turns conventional "wisdom" on its head and backs up his commonsense philosophy with cold, hard facts many ignore. Elder has been igniting listeners on The Larry Elder Show on KABC in Los Angeles for five years, bravely shouting out his ideas about smaller government, why he thinks the health-care "crisis" is a lie, and why drugs aren't this nation's biggest problem but illegitimacy is. What he has to say about education, the glass ceiling, and race will surprise and inspire you. In The Ten Things You Can't Say in America, Larry Elder punctures pretension, topples sacred cows, and puts us all on notice that the status quo needs to be shaken up. You'll agree with him passionately or debate him vigorously--but you've never heard a fresher, clearer voice on the issues that really matter today.

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