NCW Libraries

"YES! magazine cofounder Sarah van Gelder was worried about the current state of American society. Environmental destruction, growing poverty, urban decay, rural decline - it's a long list. Can we turn this around, she wondered? Are there answers we haven't found yet? She confided her fears to a friend, who said to her, 'If the universe could deploy the one small person that is you, what would it have you do?' Her answer surprised them both: 'I'd...

"From CNN's veteran Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta, an explosive, first-hand account of the dangers he faces reporting on the current White House while fighting on the front lines in President Trump's war on truth." -- Publisher's description. "Jim Acosta never wanted to be the story. A veteran reporter long known for asking tough, blunt questions, Acosta had survived the gauntlet of covering Trump's 2016 presidential campaign thinking...

"Dispatches from the 2016 election that provide an eerily prescient take on our democracy's uncertain future, by the country's most perceptive and fearless political journalist. The 2016 presidential contest as told by Matt Taibbi, from its tragicomic beginnings to its apocalyptic conclusion, is in fact the story of Western civilization's very own train wreck. Years before the clown car of candidates was fully loaded, Taibbi grasped the essential...

'By the Light of Burning Dreams' chronicles some of the most important moments of activism from the 60s and 70s, and ties them into the arrival of today's major political players and major progressive movements. David and Margaret Talbot are both very well-connected, with contacts such as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., George R.R. Martin,Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, and Oliver Stone. From the founder of Salon, and the author of 'The Devil's Chessboard.'...

"American society is more polarized than ever before. We are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation--the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth--and it comes at us from all sides: opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, among others. It's endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including...

"From Fox News' politics editor Chris Stirewalt -- a fun and lively account of America's populist tradition, from Andrew Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt, to Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and Donald Trump. Whatever the ideological fad of the moment, American populism has always been home to a fascinating assortment of charismatic leaders, characters, kooks, cranks, and sometimes charlatans who have--with widely varying degrees of success--led the charge of...

The former Obama White House aides who launched the Pod Save America podcast deliver a guide to becoming involved and making a difference via politics without losing hope. From donating to a campaign to running for office, they suggest ways to have the most impact.

"Even in this precarious moment for American democracy, the institutions of American federalism-that is, state governments-remain almost universally lauded. For many, the present era of national partisan polarization makes local politics even more appealing. The truth about federalism in this polarized age, however, is a bit more concerning, as Grumbach details. As the state level has become an increasingly important site of public policies that affect...

In Transforming Leadership, Burns illuminates the evolution of leadership structures, from the chieftains of tribal African societies, through Europe's absolute monarchies, to the blossoming of the Enlightenment's ideals of liberty and happiness during the American Revolution. Along the way he looks at key breakthroughs in leadership and the towering leaders who attempted to transform their worlds-Elizabeth I, Washington, Jefferson, Gandhi, Eleanor...

"An award-winning political journalist for The Atlantic tells the inside story of how the embattled Democratic party, seeking a direction for its future during the Trump years, successfully regained the White House. The 2020 presidential campaign was a defining moment for America. As Donald Trump and his nativist populism cowed the Republican Party into submission, many Democrats-haunted by Hillary Clinton's shocking loss in 2016, which led to a four-year-long...