"Discerning Experts assesses the assessments that many governments rely on to help guide environmental policy and action. Through their close look at environmental assessments involving acid rain, ozone depletion, and sea level rise, the authors explore how experts deliberate and decide on the scientific facts about problems like climate change. They also seek to understand how the scientists involved make the judgments they do, how the organization and management of assessment activities affects those judgments, and how expertise is identified and constructed."--cover.

"Barack Obama's election as the first African American president seemed to usher in a new era, and he took office in 2009 with great expectations. But by his second term, Republicans controlled Congress, and, after the 2016 presidential election, Obama's legacy and the health of the Democratic Party itself appeared in doubt. In The Presidency of Barack Obama, Julian Zelizer gathers leading American historians to put President Obama and his administration into political and historical context. These writers offer strikingly original assessments of the big issues that shaped the Obama years, including the conservative backlash, race, the financial crisis, health care, crime, drugs, counterterrorism, Iraq and Afghanistan, the environment, immigration, education, gay rights, and urban policy. Together, these essays suggest that Obama's central paradox is that, despite effective policymaking, he failed to receive credit for his many achievements and wasn't a party builder. Provocatively, they ask why Obama didn't unite Democrats and progressive activists to fight the conservative counter-tide as it grew stronger." -- Publisher's description

In 2002, Einhorn spoke publicly about Allied Capital--a leader in the private finance industry--presenting it as an excellent short opportunity. Einhorn describes the incredible events that followed his speech and how Allied and the investment community attacked him to protect the company--and its stock price. Informative and intriguing, "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time" details how the current environment on Wall Street--and the world of hedge funds in particular-- not only allows for such behavior, but how it protects the companies and attacks those who attempt to uncover them.--From publisher's description.

Evaluation in the Planning Process examines the role of evaluation in the overall planning process and the implications of evaluation for the organization and management of studies. Emphasis is placed on the nature of evaluation and the functions it should fulfill in the urban and regional planning process, as well as the interrelationships that should exist between evaluation and other planning activities. This book consists of 12 chapters organized into three sections. The first section focuses on principles governing the use of evaluation in the planning process and includes a model of general urban and regional planning. Various methods that are available for evaluating planning proposals are considered, with emphasis on the social cost-benefit approach and the planning balance sheet method. The chapters that follow explore the role of measurement in plan evaluation and review seven planning studies to critically examine UK experience in the application of evaluation methods to urban and regional planning problems. This book concludes by presenting the principles and guidelines for the short-listing of options and assessing the influence of various practical circumstances on the planning process. Some final recommendations on the organization and structure of the planning process, and the nature and role of evaluation within it, are offered. This book is intended for specialists, planners, and those who are engaged in the task of aiding decisions on urban and regional planning problems. This text will appeal especially to those who are concerned with formulating planning processes and with the management of studies.