The landmark political treatise that refuted the so-called divine right of kings and established the principles of representative government   "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."   With these stirring words, Jean-Jacques Rousseau begins The Social Contract-the first shot in a battle of ideas that would set the stage for the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. In the feverish days of the Enlightenment, Rousseau...

Common Sense by Thomas Paine (Bauer World Press) In his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas Paine presents a compelling and erudite argument for the independence of the American colonies from the British Crown. With sagacious prose, Paine explicates the inherent injustices and impracticalities of the colonial system, and passionately advocates for the establishment of a new, independent nation. Pane's incisive logic addresses the economic,...

Explains how Vladimir Putin and Russia hacked an American election as part of a covert operation to subvert the United States' democracy and help Donald Trump win the presidency.

"An infamous Renaissance classic, The Prince shocked Europe upon publication with its ruthless tactics for gaining absolute power and its abandonment of conventional morality. Niccolo Machiavelli even came to be regarded by some as an agent of the Devel, his name taken for the intriguer "Machevill" of Jacobean tragedy. For his treatise on statecraft Machiavelli drew upon his own experience of office under the turbulent Florentine republic, rejecting...

"With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump's White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the...

Friedman discusses how the key to understanding the 21st century is understanding that the planet's three largest forces -- Moore's law (technology), the market (globalization) and Mother Nature (climate change and biodiversity loos) -- are accelerating all at once. And these accelerations are transforming the five key realms: the workplace, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and community. Friedman posits that we should purposely "be late" -- we should...

An exploration of liberalism profiles the individuals and movements that formed its tradition of radical change through humane measures.

"The Public and Its Problems" by John Dewey is a seminal work in political philosophy and social theory that explores the nature of democracy, the challenges it faces, and the role of the public in addressing societal problems. In this thought-provoking book, Dewey examines the relationship between democracy, individualism, and the collective responsibility of the public. Dewey begins by critiquing the traditional notion of the public as a mere aggregation...

Michael Lewis's nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. A thirteen-year-old girl's science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm's-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting...

"No one is above the law. This belief is as American as freedom of speech and turkey on Thanksgiving--held sacred by Democrats and Republicans alike. But as celebrated Supreme Court lawyer and former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal argues in Impeach, if President Trump is not held accountable for repeatedly asking foreign powers to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, this could very well mark the end of our democracy. To quote President...