In his first book since What Went Wrong? Bernard Lewis examines the historical roots of the resentments that dominate the Islamic world today and that are increasingly being expressed in acts of terrorism. He looks at the theological origins of political Islam and takes us through the rise of militant Islam in Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, examining the impact of radical Wahhabi proselytizing, and Saudi oil money, on the rest of the Islamic world.
The Crisis of Islam ranges widely through thirteen centuries of history, but in particular it charts the key events of the twentieth century leading up to the violent confrontations of today: the creation of the state of Israel, the Cold War, the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, the Gulf War, and the September 11th attacks on the United States.
While hostility toward the West has a long and varied history in the lands of Islam, its current concentration on America is new. So too is the cult of the suicide bomber. Brilliantly disentangling the crosscurrents of Middle Eastern history from the rhetoric of its manipulators, Bernard Lewis helps us understand the reasons for the increasingly dogmatic rejection of modernity by many in the Muslim world in favor of a return to a sacred past. Based on his George Polk Award-winning article for The New Yorker, The Crisis of Islam is essential reading for anyone who wants to know what Usama bin Ladin represents and why his murderous message resonates so widely in the Islamic world.
Bernard Goldberg, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly to name only three have had their day on bestseller lists exposing the alleged buffoonery and incompetence of the so-called liberal media. Until now, not a single journalist has undertaken an investigation, let alone a refutation, of the myth that the mainstream media slants the news to the left, thereby duping the American public and keeping it ignorant of the truth about the world in which we live.
In What Liberal Media? Eric Alterman takes these accusations seriously and in brisk, light-hearted prose exposes the fallacy of the vast left-wing conspiracy that never was. Starting from the fundamental position that the media is neither the conservative monolith nor the liberal majority that many make it out to be, Alterman lays out a surprising defense of the media as it now stands. It isn't individual journalists who dictate the news, he claims, but rather the corporate news structure--be it television or print--that determines what we see and read. This very structure, much more than the personal idealogies of prominent news figures, defines the current state of the media--one that Alterman describes as more conservatively oriented than critics on the right are willing to admit.
Armed with data that debunk many of the more inflammatory accusations made against the media and expose just who controls the purse strings of the press, What Liberal Media? is a must-hear for all those outraged, confused, or just plain disgused at the current critical stalemate about who the media serves and why it exists.
From Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, star of NBC's The Chris Matthews Show, and the New York Times bestselling author of Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think, comes this celebration of the American Spirit.
Fiercely independent, in love with freedom, convinced we can make it, we are like no other people on earth. We are a people reluctant to fight who become ferocious warriors when threatened or attacked. We are suspicious of govermental power yet quick to embrace our flag in times of danger. A deeply practical nation, we loom as the world's great optimists.
What unites us Americans is not so much language or ethnicity, but a set of distinct notions about ourselves that comprise our American-ness. The self-made country. The constant rebel. The reluctant warrior. The lone hero. The pioneer. The optimist. You see them in the movies we make, the books we write, the history we have lived. What stirred the souls of our ancestors two centuries ago -- and all the generations in between -- still does.
In American, Matthews presents a portrait of a country that enters the world arena armed with an extremely potent weapon: the collective notions we carry of America at its best. It's a picture of more than just a nation challenged but of a people ready, and eager to prevail.
Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon began working on this book shortly after leaving the National Security Council, where, as director and senior director for counterterrorism, they watched the rise of al-Qaeda and helped coordinate America’s fight against Usama bin Laden and his organization. They warned in articles and interviews about the appearance of a new breed of terrorists who were determined to kill on the grand scale. More than a year before September 11, 2001, they began writing The Age of Sacred Terror to sound the alarm for a nation that had not recognized the gravest threat of our time.
One of their book’s original goals has remained: to provide the insights to understand an enemy unlike any seen in living memory—one with an extraordinary ability to detect weakness and exploit it, one with a determination to inflict catastrophic damage, one that will not be deterred. But after September 11, a second, equally crucial goal was added: to understand how America let its defenses down, how warnings went unheeded, and how key parts of the government failed at vital tasks. The Age of Sacred Terror also describes the road ahead, where the terrorists will look to draw strength, and what the United States must do, at home and abroad, to stop them. For a year after the attacks that redefined terrorism and devastated the public’s sense of security, America has been searching for answers about those responsible for one of the darkest days in our history and explanations for the glaring gaps in our defenses. The Age of Sacred Terror provides both, with unique authority. It is the book that Americans must read to understand the foremost challenge we face.
In New York City, a a handful of veteran FBI agents, police officers and investigative journalists had known for years that a terrorist event on the scale of 9/11 was likely. Ironically, one of the men who had been most aware of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden had recently left the FBI, where he had been following the movements of bin Laden and al Qaeda, to become Chief of Security at the World Trade Center. John O'Neill died on that awful day. The FBI's O'Neill, along with Neil Herman, reporter John Miller and very few others, had been on bin Laden's trail for years. To them, he had long been considered the most dangerous man on the planet.
In The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It, John Miller, an award-winning journalist and co-anchor of ABC's 20/20, along with veteran reporters Michael Stone and Chris Mitchell, takes us back more than ten years to the birth of the terrorist cell that later metastasized into Qaeda's New York operation.
This remarkable audiobook offers a firsthand account of what it is to be a police officer, an FBI agent or a reporter obsessed with a case few people will take seriously. The Cell contains a first-person account of Miller's face-to-face meeting with bin Laden and provides the first complete treatment to piece together what led to the events of 9/11, ultimately delivering the disturbing answer to the question: why, with all the information the intelligence community had, was no one able to stop the September 11 attacks?
Barbara Olson was a trenchant critic of the Clinton White House, which she considered to be the home of two of the slickest kleptocrats ever to disgrace the Oval Office. In THE FINAL DAYS, Olson depicted the excesses and outright crimes she claims took place as the Clintons prepared to leave office. These include the granting of pardons to people of dubious legal status, such as the shadowy financier Marc Rich, and the last-minute signing into law of thousands of executive orders, a feat comparable only to John Adams’s appointment of the "midnight judiciary." Olson’s indignation knew no bounds when it came to the Clintons, and if you feel the same way, you’ll relish every minute of this book.
Barbara Olson was killed in the hijacked plane flown into the Pentagon during the terrorist attack on America.
"Olson was a pundit superstar…fighting the culture wars on a wide range of fronts." (The National Review)
In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on September 11, one question has been on everyone's mind: 'How did this happen?' This book seeks to answer this question in all its critical aspects--the motives and actions of the terrorists, the status of the U.S. military, the context of the Middle East, bioterrorism, airport security, diplomatic pressures--and to provide readers with perspective, information, and sound interpretation. The editors of Foreign Affairs have brought together noted experts whose insights make the events of that terrible day more understandable, even as we steel ourselves for the conflicts ahead.
On September 11, 2001, the world changed forever as more than three thousand men, women, and children lost their lives in the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. The attack was masterminded by Osama bin Laden and his Jihad group -- an organization that CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen calls Holy War, Inc. One of the few Western journalists to have interviewed bin Laden face-to-face, Bergen has produced the definitive book on the global Jihadist network, revealing:
How bin Laden lives, travels, and communicates with his "cells."
How his role in the crushing defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan made him a hero to Muslims all over the world.
How the bombings of the American embassies in Africa and the USS Cole in Yemen were planned and executed.
What we can expect from Islamic extremists in the future.
Above all, Peter Bergen helps us to see bin Laden's organization in a radically new light: as a corporation that has exploited modern technology and weaponry in the service of global terrorism and the destruction of the West.
Why are Americans so disinterested in politics? Because we can be. Democracy is voluntary. And our lack of interest hasn't happened overnight. It can be traced directly back to our ever-decreasing attention spans. We need anything politically important rationed out like Pez-small, sweet, and coming out of a funny plastic head.
Why has flying in this country, especially boarding the plane, turned into this tedious Bataan death march with American Tourister overnight bags? And when did flight attendants get so cranky?
Who do we find ourselves locked in this pointless pas de doo-doo over something called "arts funding?" The federal tab involved here is a lousy 500 million dollars. One-fifth the national budget! Less than the money spent on 1-900 calls from Air Force One.
Mothers, immigration, marriage, parenthood, sports, political correctness, and our general attitudes toward each other-all are equally worthy of Dennis Miller's close inspection and ridicule. What's really going on in this country? Ask Dennis Miller. Or don't ask. He'll tell you anyway. Not that he really wants to go off on another rant. Remember, it's only his opinion, he could be wrong.
Rush Limbaugh is a way of life for over twelve million avid and devoted listeners. For three hours every day this comic conservative of the airwaves with "talent on loan from God" entertains, provokes and persuades friend sand enemies alike in a no-holds-barred show that is one of the biggest draws in radio history.Using personal anecdotes, Limbaugh now reveals the major influences on his life and views, and blasts off on all the leading issues of our day. Nothing escapes his acerbic wit and huggable charm as he proves why he is on the cutting edge of societal evolution and the epitome of morality and virtue. Here he holds forth on such subjects as: Anita Hill, The Homeless Fraud, The Media, and many others.Tackling the hottest topics of the times from Feminazis to Environmentalist Wackos, Rush Limbaugh is at his satirical best---the provocative conservative and the showman who is "documented to be almost always right 97.9% of the time" about The Way Things Ought To Be.
