Back in print, the seminal work by "arguably the most important intellectual alive"--The New York Times. American Power and the New Mandarins is Noam Chomsky's first political book, widely considered to be among the most cogent and powerful statements against the American war in Vietnam. Long out of print, this collection of early, seminal essays helped to establish Chomsky as a leading critic of United States foreign policy. These pages mount a scathing critique of the contradictions of the war, and an indictment of the mainstream, liberal intellectuals--the "new mandarins"--who furnished what Chomsky argued was the necessary ideological cover for the horrors visited on the Vietnamese people. As America's foreign entanglements deepen by the month, Chomsky's lucid analysis is a sobering reminder of the perils of imperial diplomacy. With a new foreword by Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, American Power and the New Mandarins is a renewed call for independent analysis of America's role in the world.

Traces the history of relations between blacks and American Indians, and the existence of black Indians, from the earliest foreign landings through pioneer days.

Until now, there has been no detailed account of Israel's nuclear history. Previous treatments of the subject relied heavily on rumors, leaks, and journalistic speculations. But with Israel and the Bomb, Avner Cohen has forged an interpretive political history that draws on thousands of American and Israeli government documents--most of them recently declassified and never before cited--and more than one hundred interviews with key individuals who played important roles in this story. Cohen reveals that Israel crossed the nuclear weapons threshold on the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War, yet it remains ambiguous about its nuclear capability to this day. What made this posture of "opacity" possible, and how did it evolve? Cohen focuses on a two-decade period from about 1950 until 1970, during which David Ben-Gurion's vision of making Israel a nuclear-weapon state was realized. He weaves together the story of the formative years of Israel's nuclear program, from the founding of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission in 1952, to the alliance with France that gave Israel the sophisticated technology it needed, to the failure of American intelligence to identify the Dimona Project for what it was, to the negotiations between President Nixon and Prime Minister Meir that led to the current policy of secrecy. Cohen also analyzes the complex reasons Israel concealed its nuclear program--from concerns over Arab reaction and the negative effect of the debate at home to consideration of America's commitment to nonproliferation. Israel and the Bomb highlights the key questions and the many potent issues surrounding Israel's nuclear history. This book will be a critical resource for students of nuclear proliferation, Middle East politics, Israeli history, and American-Israeli relations, as well as a revelation for general readers.

"Bagels, deli sandwiches and gefilte fish are only a few of the Jewish foods to have crossed into American culture and onto American plates. Rhapsody in Schmaltz traces the history and social impact of the cuisine that Yiddish-speaking Jews from Central and Eastern Europe brought to the U.S. and that their American descendants developed and refined. The book looks at how and where these dishes came to be, how they varied from region to region, the role they played in Jewish culture in Europe, and the role that they play in Jewish and more general American culture and foodways today. Rhapsody in Schmaltz traces the pathways of Jewish food from the Bible and Talmud, to Eastern Europe, to its popular landing pads in North America today. With an eye for detail and a healthy dose of humor, Michael Wex also examines how these impact modern culture, from temple to television. He looks at Diane Keaton's pastrami sandwich in Annie Hall, Andy Kaufman's stint as Latke on Taxi and Larry David's Passover seder on Curb Your Enthusiasm, shedding light on how Jewish food permeates our modern imaginations. Rhapsody in Schmaltz is a journey into the sociology, humor, history, and traditions of food and Judaism"--

The exhortation to “Go West!” has always sparked the American imagination. But for gays, lesbians, and transgendered people, the City of Angels provided a special home and gave rise to one of the most influential gay cultures in the world. Drawing on rare archives and photographs as well as more than three hundred interviews, Lillian Faderman and Stuart Timmons chart L.A.'s unique gay history, from the first missionary encounters with Native American cross-gendered “two spirits” to cross-dressing frontier women in search of their fortunes; from the bohemian freedom of early Hollywood to the explosion of gay life during World War II to the underground radicalism set off by the 1950s blacklist; and from the 1960s gay liberation movement to the creation of gay marketing in the 1990s.

"Published in France as La jeune née in 1975, and now translated for the first time into English, The Newly Born Woman seeks to uncover the veiled structures of language and society that have situated women in the position called "woman's place." Through their readings of historical, literary, and psychoanalytic accounts, Hélène Cixous and Catherine Clément explore what is hidden and repressed in culture, revealing the unconscious of history. Their work is set within the context of American feminism in Sandra M. Gilbert's introduction, and translator, Betsy Wing's glossary provides the special vocabulary necessary for English-language readers."--

A New Birth of Freedom is the culmination of over a half a century of study and reflection by one of America's foremost scholars of American politics, Harry V. Jaffa. This long-awaited sequel to Crisis of the House Divided, first published in 1959, continues Jaffa's piercing examination of the political thought of Abraham Lincoln and the themes of self-government, equality, and statesmanship. Whereas Crisis of the House Divided focused on the famous senate campaign debates between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, this volume expands and deepens Jaffa's analysis of American political thought, and gives special attention to Lincoln's refutation of the arguments of John C. Calhoun—the intellectual champion of the Confederacy. According to Jaffa, the Civil War is the characteristic event in American history—not because it represents a statistical frequency, but rather because through the conflict of that war we are able to understand what is fundamentally at stake in the American experiment in self-government.

From one of the country's most brilliant political commentators, the national bestselling author of Then Everything Changed , comes an extraordinary, thought-provoking look at John F. Kennedy's presidency - after November 22nd 1963. In Then Everything Changed , Jeff Greenfield created a 'riveting' ( The New York Times ), 'captivating' (Doris Kearns Goodwin) exploration of three modern political alternate histories. Based on memoirs, histories, oral histories, fresh reporting, and his own deep knowledge of the players, the book looked at the tiny hinges of history - and the extraordinary changes that would have resulted if they had gone another way. Now Greenfield presents his most compelling narrative of all, about the historical event that has rivited us for fifty years. What if John F. Kennedy had not been killed on that fateful day? What would the 1964 campaign have looked like? Would changes have been made to the ticket? How would a Kennedy second term have approached Vietnam, civil rights, the Cold War? What would Kennedy have had to give up - and what would he have gained? With powerful enemies against him, would his indiscreet private life finally have become public? How would his health issues have affected his presidency? And what small turns of fate in the days and years before Dallas might have kept him from ever reaching the White House in the first place? As in Then Everything Changed , the answers Greenfield provides, the scenarios he develops, are startlingly realistic, rich in detail, shocking in their projections, but always deeply, remarkably plausible - and a pure delight to read. It is a tour de force of American political history. Acclaim for Then Everything Changed 'Shrewdly written, often riveting, gripping . . . Thanks to Mr. Greenfield's own familiarity with American politics and a lot of energetic research, he turns these twists of fate into accelerating historical snowballs that rumble through our recent history, altering the social landscape in ways both small and large.' Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times 'Not only thoughtful and sophisticated, but marked by the author's enthusiasm. Greenfield is having fun here, and you can feel it on every page. His scenarios are relentlessly grounded in plausibility. This is a book political junkies will adore.' Bryan Burrough, The Washington Post 'Satisfying, entertaining, insightful. The key to Greenfield's success is that he knows his politics and the strengths and weaknesses of leaders. Greenfield's storytelling is compelling and his research superb.' The Miami Herald 'Historians have long been tantalized by the what-ifs of history. In the hands of this tremendously gifted storyteller, Then Everything Changed will captivate the reader every step along the way.' Doris Kearns Goodwin 'You expect intelligence and a devilish sense of humor and a profound knowledge of political history from Jeff Greenfield. But there is a deeper, haunting quality to this book as well. By adding a simple twist of fate, Greenfield brings fresh - and exhilarating - insights to the history of our times.' Joe Klein, columnist, Time 'Jeff Greenfield has taken the 'what-if' game and turned it into something else entirely - a trio of thought-provoking, interesting, and downright clever scenarios that remind us just how much individuals do matter.' Bob Schieffer, moderator, Face the Nation

Here is the spine-tingling, true story of that first American blast into the realm of the stars, of the men who underwent rigorous training for that epic mission, and of the one man who made the safe journey. This is the factual account of the history of rocketry, its triumphs and its failures, our shame in the neglect of it, and our pride in its later accomplishments. Here, too, is a glimpse into the future, as only science fiction writer Robert Silverberg could foresee: orbiting space stations, a man on the moon, and more!

From Nathan Rabin, former staff writer for The A.V. Club and The Dissolve and the author of Weird Al: The Book, You Don't Know Me But You Don't Like Me, and The Weird Accordion to Al, comes The Fractured Mirror, an exhaustively researched exploration of American movies about filmmaking. This loving deep dive chronicles, with humor, wit, and affection, a solid century of cinema about cinema, with illustrations from Felipe Sobreiro ( The Return of the Blues Brothers ) and a foreword from legendary filmmaker Joe Dante ( Gremlins, Matinee ). As an homage to The Golden Turkey Awards, which included a fake movie along with a plethora of real-life stinkers, Rabin got bad movie luminaries like How Did This Get Made's Paul Scheer, Dan McCoy of The Flop House, Andrew Jupin of We Hate Movies and Author/Humorist Mike Sacks to create blurbs for movies that exist only in their imaginations. The Fractured Mirror covers over 500 movies, from internationally beloved classics to notorious flops. It documents Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star and Burden of Dreams, and everything in between. Movie history has never been so much fun! Praise for The Fractured Mirror "Nathan Rabin doesn't just write about Hollywood, he rewires how you watch it. The Fractured Mirror channels the same brilliance he brought to My Year of Flops and points it straight at showbiz itself. Every chapter left me itching to rewatch movies I'd written off, this time with brand-new eyes."- Paul Scheer "In this sparkling and essential compendium, one of America's all-time greatest cultural critics turns his keen eye and full heart to movies about American filmmaking, and thank goodness. This "casual epic," to paraphrase Rabin on Tarantino, deserves a spot on your shelf between Kael's FOR KEEPS and Peary's CULT MOVIES." - Julie Klausner, " The Fractured Mirror is an absolute feast for movie lovers, especially movie lovers who enjoy movies about making movies. And man, is it comprehensive! Possibly obsessive. But so much fun. Rabin's writing is smart, witty, and lively throughout."- Bill Corbett " The Fractured Mirror is such a fun, engaging read. Nathan's work always has a certifiable uniqueness and introspection that delivers laughs and deeper ways to rethink our views on film and pop culture."- Greg Sestero "Nathan Rabin's "The Fractured Mirror" sent me down a Proustian memory hole, bringing to mind not only how many of these titles our Tenna-Rotor (tm) brought in from distant New York, but of how films about filmmaking planted the absurd dream in my mind that I could someday join that crazy circus, myself. Hats off to Nathan - and to the next generation of filmmakers, his lovingly curated list will inspire!"- Steven E. DeSouza, screenwriter, 48 Hours, Commando, Die Hard

Celebrate America's 250th anniversary with this stirring picture book biography about a forgotten hero of the American Revolution who rose to the occasion and served his country, not with muskets or canons, but with gingerbread! Christopher Ludwick was a German-born American patriot with a big heart and a talent for baking. When cries of "Revolution!" began, Christopher was determined to help General George Washington and his hungry troops. Not with muskets or cannons, but with gingerbread! Cheerfully told by Mara Rockliff and brought to life by Vincent Kirsch's inventive cut-paper illustrations, Gingerbread for Liberty is the story of an unsung hero of the Revolutionary War who changed the course of history one loaf at a time.

ACES AGAINST JAPANThe American Aces Speak Volume IEric HammelIn this superb, originally conceived offering, noted military historian, Eric Hammel brings us first-person accounts from thirty-nine of the American fighter aces who blasted their way across the skies of the Pacific and East Asia from December 7, 1941, until the final air battles over Japan itself in August 1945.Coupled with a clear view of America's far-flung air war against Japan, Hammel's detailed interviews bring out the most thrilling in-the-cockpit experiences of the air combat that the Pacific War's best Army, Navy, and Marine pilots have chosen to tell. Meet Frank Holmes, who defied death in an outmoded P-36 while still clad in a seersucker suit he had worn to mass earlier that morning. Fly with Scott McCuskey as, single-handed at Midway, he takes out two waves of Japanese dive-bombers that are attacking his precious aircraft carrier. Sweat out the last precious drops of fuel in a defective Marine Wildcat fighter as Medal of Honor recipient Jeff DeBlanc bores ahead to his target to keep the faith with the bomber crews he has been assigned to protect. Experience the ecstasy of total victory as Ralph Hanks becomes the Navy's first Hellcat ace-in-a-day when he destroys five Japanese fighters over the Gilbert Islands in a single mission. A superb interviewer, Hammel has collected some of the very best air-combat tales from America's war with Japan. Combined with the four other volumes in The American Aces Speak series, this work will stand as an enduring testament to the brave men who fought the first and last air war in which high-performance, piston-engine fighters held sway. These are stories of bravery and survival, of men and machines pitted against one another in heart-stopping, unforgiving high-speed aerial combat. The American Aces Speak is a highly-charged emotional rendering of what men felt in the now-dim days of personal combat at the very edge of our living national history. There was never a war like it, and there never will be again. These are America's eagles, and the stories are their own, in their very own words. Eric Hammel is the author of more than thirty-five other books, including Pacifica Military History's Coral and Blood, Carrier Clash, Aces Against Germany, Aces Against Japan II, Aces at War, and Aces in Combat. He lives with his family near San Francisco. Critical Acclaim for The American Aces Speak Series The Marine Corps Aviation Association Yellow Sheet says: "The recounting of each story is done in the pilot's own words. This is a powerful technique that draws readers into the action and introduces them to the world of the fighter pilot" The American Fighter Aces Bulletin says: "Some of [the] episodes are well-known; others have never been written before. But each account delivers something intensely personal about the Pacific Air War." The Library Journal says: "No PR hype or dry-as-dust prose here. Hammel allows his flyers to tell their stories in their own way . . . Exciting stuff aviation and World War II buffs will love." Book Page says: "For those who have an interest in World War II, or those who simply like to read of drama in the skies, Eric Hammel's [Aces Against Japan] is recommended reading. It is a must for any historian's bookshelf. "WWII Aviation Booklist says: "Hammel provides a veritable feast of aviation combat narrative. As always in this series, the entries [in Aces at War] have been carefully selected to provide the most entertaining ride possible for his readers. Easily the best series available on air combat! Get them all!"

This encyclopedia provides the first standard reference work on the lives, history and activities of Jewish women in the United States. Covering a period which extends from the arrival of the first Jewish women in North America in 1654 to the present, this two-volume set presents the most comprehensive and detailed portrait of American Jewish women ever published, and brings together for the first time the wealth of recent scholarship on this subject. Includes: * Biographical entries on over 800 individual women. * 128 topical articles on organizations such as Hadassah, the National Council of Jewish Women, Mizrachi, and the Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. * Major essays on Jewish women's participation in the movement for women's suffrage, social reform, civil rights, and the recent women's movement. * The activities of Jewish women in politics, business, education, the arts, and religion. * A readable, inviting format with over 500 large photographs. * Bibliographies at the end of each entry which include overviews of major scholarship in the field, complete citations of more general works and citations of additional bibliographical and reference sources. * The comprehensive index includes citations to every substantive discussion in the entries as well as all proper names appearing in the text, such as organizations, book, song and film titles, schools, and individuals. The "Encyclopedia" provides information on American Jewish women in all fields of endeavor, and pays special attention to the work of women in the arts, academics, law, the labor movement, education, science, medicine, journalism and publishing, and on the lives of ordinary Jewish women during all time periods and in all regions of the United States.

In the wake of 9/11, America and its people have experienced a sense of vulnerability unprecedented in the nation's recent history. Buffeted by challenges from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the financial crisis, from Washington dysfunction to the rise of China and the dawn of the era of cyber warfare, two very different presidents and their advisors have struggled to cope with a relentless array of new threats. You may think you know the story. But in National Insecurity , David Rothkopf offers an entirely new perspective into the hidden struggles, the surprising triumphs, and the shocking failures of those charged with leading the United States through one of the most difficult periods in its history. Thanks to his extraordinary access, Rothkopf provides fresh insights drawing on more than one hundred exclusive interviews with the key players who shaped this era. At its core, National Insecurity is the gripping story of a superpower in crisis, seeking to adapt to a rapidly changing world, sometimes showing inspiring resilience—but often undone by the human flaws of those at the top, the mismanagement of its own system, the temptation to concentrate too much power within the hands of too few in the White House itself, and an unwillingness to draw the right lessons from the recent past. Nonetheless, within that story are unmistakable clues to a way forward that can help restore American leadership.

For many commentators, September 11 inaugurated a new era of fear. But as Corey Robin shows in his unsettling tour of the Western imagination--the first intellectual history of its kind--fear has shaped our politics and culture since time immemorial. From the Garden of Eden to the Gulag Archipelago to today's headlines, Robin traces our growing fascination with political danger and disaster. As our faith in positive political principles recedes, he argues, we turn to fear as the justifying language of public life. We may not know the good, but we do know the bad. So we cling to fear, abandoning the quest for justice, equality, and freedom. But as fear becomes our intimate, we understand it less. In a startling reexamination of fear's greatest modern interpreters--Hobbes, Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and Arendt--Robin finds that writers since the eighteenth century have systematically obscured fear's political dimensions, diverting attention from the public and private authorities who sponsor and benefit from it. For fear, Robin insists, is an exemplary instrument of repression--in the public and private sector. Nowhere is this politically repressive fear--and its evasion--more evident than in contemporary America. In his final chapters, Robin accuses our leading scholars and critics of ignoring "Fear, American Style," which, as he shows, is the fruit of our most prized inheritances--the Constitution and the free market. With danger playing an increasing role in our daily lives and justifying a growing number of government policies, Robin's Fear offers a bracing, and necessary, antidote to our contemporary culture of fear.

Theodore H. White's landmark Making of the President series revolutionized American political journalism, investing his subject with both epic scope and a fresh frankness about backroom political strategy that was unlike anything that had come before. In this second volume of his groundbreaking series, White offers an intimate chronicle of the 1964 campaign for the White House, from the earthshaking tragedy of President Kennedy's assassination through the battle for power between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater, whose candidacy paved the way for the modern conservative movement. White reports from within both campaigns, bringing to life a turbulent year in America's history and a furious contest between two tough and seasoned political pros.

Sam Sax's bury it, winner of the 2017 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, begins with poems written in response to the spate of highly publicized young gay suicides in the summer of 2010. What follows are raw and expertly crafted meditations on death, rituals of passage, translation, desire, diaspora, and personhood. What's at stake is survival itself and the archiving of a lived and lyric history. Laughlin Award judge Tyehimba Jess says "bury it is lit with imagery and purpose that surprises and jolts at every turn. Exuberant, wild, tightly knotted mesmerisms of discovery inhabit each poem in this seethe of hunger and sacred toll of toil. A vitalizing and necessary book of poems that dig hard and lift luminously." In this phenomenal second collection of poems, Sam Sax invites the reader to join him in his interrogation of the bridges we cross, the bridges we burn, and bridges we must leap from.

'An ambitious and engrossing investigation of the moral legacies which stubbornly refuse to pass' Brendan Simms As the western world struggles with its legacies of racism and colonialism, what can we learn from the past in order to move forward? Susan Neiman's Learning from the Germans delivers an urgently needed perspective on how a country can come to terms with its historical wrongdoings. Neiman, who grew up as a white girl in the American South during the civil rights movement, is a Jewish woman who has spent much of her adult life in Berlin. In clear and gripping prose, she uses this unique perspective to combine philosophical reflection, personal history and conversations with both Americans and Germans who are grappling with the evils of their own national histories. Through focusing on the particularities of those histories, she provides examples for other nations, whether they are facing resurgent nationalism, ongoing debates over reparations or controversies surrounding historical monuments and the contested memories they evoke. It is necessary reading for all those confronting their own troubled pasts.

History--with the good bits put back. Discover the drama, discoveries, dirty deeds and derring-do that won the American West. With a storyteller's voice and attention to the details that make history real and interesting, Steve Sheinkin's Which Way to the Wild West? delivers America's greatest adventure. From the Louisiana Purchase (remember: if you're negotiating a treaty for your country, play it cool.) to the gold rush (there were only three ways to get to California--all of them bad) to the life of the cowboy, the Indian wars, and the everyday happenings that defined living on the frontier.

Publisher's description: Robert Rubin was sworn in as the seventieth U.S. Secretary of the Treasury in January 1995 in a brisk ceremony attended only by his wife and a few colleagues. As soon as the ceremony was over, he began an emergency meeting with President Bill Clinton on the financial crisis in Mexico. This was not only a harbinger of things to come during what would prove to be a rocky period in the global economy; it also captured the essence of Rubin himself--short on formality, quick to get into the nitty-gritty. From his early years in the storied arbitrage department at Goldman Sachs to his current position as chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup, Robert Rubin has been a major figure at the center of the American financial system. He was a key player in the longest economic expansion in U.S. history.