Global Politics Audiobooks | Politics

Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics

Collectively, people think and act in ways that are different from how they think and act as individuals. Understanding these differences, says William (Bill) Bonner-a longtime maverick observer of the financial world and the vagaries of the investing public-is vital to preserving your wealth and personal dignity. From the witch hunts of the early modern world to the war on terror, from the dot-com mania to the real estate bubble, people have always been caught up in frauds, conceits, and wild guesses-often with devastating results. Now Bonner and co-author Lila Rajiva show groupthink at work in an improbable array of instances throughout history and reveal why swimming against the current pays. The explain why people so often abandon good sense and good behavior to "follow the crowd" and show you how to avoid getting caught up in the public spectacles around you. If an investor merely recognizes the way mob sentiment works, he is far ahead of others. Ordinary people turn billions of dollars worth of their hard-earned money over to brokers and fund managers daily, believing that these strangers will give them back even more. Why? This audio book demonstrates that investors are in fact caught between a rock and a soft place-between the private world they can understand and master and the misleading public spectacle of the markets. "The farther away you get fro your investments, and the less you suffer the consequences if they go bad, the worse your performance will be." Say Bonner and Rajiva. "That's why 'collective' investments like index-linked funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance funds, and pension funds are usuall so bad. The investors are too far from the facts-and the managers are too far from the consequences." The authors' thoughtful and always entertaining approach offers sound investing principles for avoiding the pitfalls of the public spectacle, thinking for yourself, and protecting your money, your sanity and your soul.

Lila Rajiva, William Bonner (Author), Erik Synnestvedt (Narrator)

Audiobook

Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System

A groundbreaking major bestseller in Italy, Gomorrah is Roberto Saviano's gripping nonfiction account of the decline of Naples under the rule of the Camorra, an organized crime network with a large international reach and stakes in construction, high fashion, illicit drugs, and toxic-waste disposal. Known by insiders as "the System," the Camorra affects cities and villages along the Neapolitan coast and is the deciding factor in why Campania, for instance, has the highest murder rate in all of Europe and why cancer levels there have skyrocketed in recent years. Saviano tells of huge cargoes of Chinese goods that are shipped to Naples and then quickly distributed unchecked across Europe. He investigates the Camorra's control of thousands of Chinese factories contracted to manufacture fashion goods, legally and illegally, for distribution around the world, and relates the chilling details of how the abusive handling of toxic waste is causing devastating pollution not only for Naples but also China and Somalia. In pursuit of his subject, Saviano worked as an assistant at a Chinese textile manufacturer, as a waiter at a Camorra wedding, and on a construction site. A native of the region, he recalls seeing his first murder at the age of fourteen and how his own father, a doctor, suffered a brutal beating for trying to aid an eighteen-year-old victim who had been left for dead in the street. Gomorrah is a bold and important work of investigative writing that holds global significance, one heroic young man's impassioned story of a place under the rule of a murderous organization.

Roberto Saviano (Author), Michael Kramer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons

Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark are internationally renowned investigative journalists. In Deception, they reveal the decades-long story of Pakistan's nuclear program-and how the United States has been complicit in the spread of nuclear arms. Based on hundreds of interviews from around the world, this work will force Americans to reexamine national priorities.

Adrian Levy, Catherine Scott-Clark (Author), Richard Poe (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics

The Big Con is a brilliantly revealing look at how the radical ideas of a small group of economic hucksters have taken over the American political system and perverted our nation's policies. Through vivid portraits of self-interested politicians and pseudoeconomists, with wry analysis of their bogus theories, Jonathan Chait gives us the tools to understand what's really behind economic policy debates in Washington: a riveting drama of greed and deceit.

Jonathan Chait (Author), David Drummond (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack

Although it has been over five years since the 9/11 attacks, Americans still do not have a clear sense of how our government is waging the war on terror. In The Terrorist Watch, bestselling author Ronald Kessler takes listeners behind the scenes to reveal exactly how our leaders, charged with protecting the American people, are stopping terrorists.

Ronald Kessler (Author), Alan Sklar (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire

The term "blowback," invented by the CIA, refers to the unintended consequences of American actions abroad. In this incisive and controversial book, Chalmers Johnson lays out in vivid detail the dangers faced by our overextended empire and reveals the ways in which our misguided policies are planting the seeds of future disaster. "Boldly provocative....A useful and timely alert."-New York Times

Chalmers Johnson (Author), Tom Weiner (Narrator)

Audiobook

Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad

A veteran of three Republican administrations and a nominee for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, John Bolton reveals how the U.S. can lead the way to a more realistic global security arrangement for the twenty-first century and identifies the next generation of threats to America. With no-holds-barred candor, he recounts his appointment in 2005 as Ambassador to the United Nations, his headline-making Senate confirmation battle, and his sixteen-month tenure at the United Nations. Bolton offers keen insight into such international crises as North Korea's nuclear test, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and much more. Recounting both his successes and frustrations he also exposes the operational inadequacies that hinder the U.N.'s effectiveness in international diplomacy and its bias against Israel and the United States. At home, he criticizes the pernicious bureaucratic inertia in the U.S. State Department that can undermine presidential policy. A fascinating chronicle of the career of a distinguished lawyer and diplomat, Surrender Is Not An Option is sure to become a staple for everyone interested in international affairs.

John Bolton (Author), John Bolton (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire

The term "blowback," invented by the CIA, refers to the unintended consequences of American actions abroad. In this incisive and controversial book, Chalmers Johnson lays out in vivid detail the dangers faced by our overextended empire, which insists on projecting its military power to every corner of the earth and using American capital and markets to force global economic integration on its own terms. From a case of rape by US servicemen in Okinawa to our role in Asia's financial crisis, from our early support for Saddam Hussein to our conduct in the Balkans, Johnson reveals the ways in which our misguided policies are planting the seeds of future disaster. In a new edition that addresses recent international events from 9/11 to the war in Iraq, this now classic book remains as prescient and powerful as ever.

Chalmers Johnson (Author), Tom Weiner (Narrator)

Audiobook

Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That Is Destroying America

Inspired by their popular USA Today column, conservative Cal Thomas and liberal Bob Beckel show politicians of both stripes how to get beyond partisanship, restore civility, and move our country forward. Thomas and Beckel are a unique pair in today's political climate, pundits from opposite sides who not only talk to each other but work together to find common ground on some of the most divisive issues facing us, from the war in Iraq to gay marriage to the Patriot Act. Common Ground unmasks the hypocrisy of many of the issues, organizations, and individuals who created and deepened the partisan divide at the center of American politics, and makes a strategic case for why this bickering must stop. Throughout, Thomas and Beckel explode conventional wisdom and offer surprising new conclusions: -The Red State/Blue State divide: Myth! -A "common ground" presidential candidate can win in 2008: Reality! -"Polarizers" like Ann Coulter and Michael Moore are the future of political debate: Myth! -Major-party politics faces extinction: Reality! These guys should know. For years Beckel and Thomas contributed to the climate of polarization in Washington . . . and they admit it. "We're two guys who spent a lot of years in the polarizing business, but on opposing sides," they write. "We helped write the game plan, and we have participated in everything from getting money out of true believers to appearing on television to help spread the contentious message. In many cases, we wrote the message. We know the gig, and it's just about up." In this much-needed book, Thomas and Beckel go beyond their column to offer a sobering overview of the current political divide and its corrosive effect on us all.They also explain how bipartisanship and consensus politics are not only good for the day-to-day democratic process but essential for our nation's future well-being. Entertaining and informative, funny and healing, Common Ground is must reading for all concerned citizens.

Bob Beckel, Cal Thomas (Author), Bob Beckel, Cal Thomas, Richard Rohan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Kids Are Americans Too: Your Rights to a Good, Safe, Fun Life

Kids Are Americans Too! And that means you have rights just like everybody else. But it\'s not enough to just say you have them. You have to know what those rights are...and are not! Luckily for you, Bill O\'Reilly is back opining for kids on that very subject, your legal rights. O\'Reilly and his coauthor Charles Flowers, dole out the kind of blunt, cogent, commonsense commentary you count on them for. Together they explore timely questions being debated in and out of courts today including: Can a kid wear an anti-gay T-shirt on campus? Does a school newspaper have the right to badmouth a principal? Does a mother have the right to eavesdrop on her daughter\'s telephone conversations? Some of the answers will surprise you. Some will empower you. All will make you think.

Bill O'Reilly (Author), Rick Adamson (Narrator)

Audiobook

What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World

In this all new collection of conversations, Noam Chomsky explores the most immediate and urgent concerns: Iran's challenge to the United States, the deterioration of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the rise of China, and the growing power of the left in Latin America, as well as the Democratic victory in the U.S. midterm elections and its ramifications for the future. As always, Chomsky presents his ideas clearly and accessibly, with uncompromising principle and clarifying insight. The latest audiobook from a long-established, trusted partnership, What we Say Goes shows once again that no interlocutor engages with Noam Chomsky more effectively than David Barsamian. These interviews confirm that Chomsky is an unparalleled resource for anyone seeking to understand our world today.

David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky (Author), David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky (Narrator)

Audiobook

Bill of Wrongs

Throughout her long career of "afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted," the cause closest to Molly Ivins's heart was working to protect the freedoms we all value. Sadly, today we're living in a time when dissent is equated with giving aid to terrorists, when any of us can be held in prison without even knowing the charges against us, and when our constitutional rights are being interpreted by a president who calls himself "The Decider." Ivins got the idea for Bill of Wrongs while touring America to honor her promise to speak out, gratis, at least once a month in defense of free speech. In her travels Ivins met ordinary people going to extraordinary measures to safeguard our most precious liberties, and when she first started writing this book, she intended it to be a joyous celebration of those heroes. But during the Bush years, the project's focus changed. Ivins became concerned about threats to our cherished freedoms–among them the Patriot Act and the weakening of habeas corpus–and she observed with anger how dissent in the defense of liberties was being characterized as treason by the Bush administration and its enablers. From illegal wiretaps, the unlawful imprisonment of American citizens, and the undermining of freedom of the press to the creeping influence of religious extremism on our national agenda and the erosion of the checks and balances that prevent a president from seizing unitary powers, Ivins and her longtime collaborator, Lou Dubose, co-author of Shrub and Bushwacked, describe the attack on America's vital constitutional guarantees. With devastating humor and keen eyes for deceit and hypocrisy, they show how severe these incursions have become, and they ask us all to take an active role in protecting the Bill of Rights. In life and on the printed page, Molly Ivins was too cool to offer a posthumous valedictory (or even to take a victory lap for her many triumphs over inane, vainglorious, and addlepated politicos). But in Bill of Wrongs, her final and perhaps greatest book, the irrepressible Molly Ivins really does have the last word.

Lou Dubose, Molly Ivins (Author), Liz Smith (Narrator)

Audiobook

Global Politics Audiobooks in Politics