Political Advocacy Audiobooks | Politics

It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, and Winning True Equality

Marriage equality has surged across the country. Closet doors have burst open in business, entertainment, and even major-league sports. But as longtime advocate Michelangelo Signorile argues in his most provocative book yet, the excitement of such breathless change makes this moment more dangerous than ever. Puncturing the illusion that victory is now inevitable, Signorile marshals stinging evidence that an age-old hatred, homophobia, is still a basic fact of American life. He exposes the bigotry of the brewing religious conservative backlash against LGBT rights and challenges the complacency and hypocrisy of supposed allies in Washington, the media, and Hollywood. Not just a wake-up call, It's Not Over is a battle plan for the fights to come in the march toward equality. Signorile tells the stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans who have refused to be merely tolerated and are demanding full acceptance. And he documents signs of hope in schools and communities that are finding new ways to combat ignorance, bullying, and fear. Urgent and empowering, It's Not Over is a necessary book from one of our most electrifying voices.

Michelangelo Signorile (Author), Patrick Lawlor (Narrator)

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Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide

A masterful account of the assassins who hunted down the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide In 1921, a tightly knit band of killers set out to avenge the deaths of almost one million victims of the Armenian Genocide. They were a humble bunch: an accountant, a life insurance salesman, a newspaper editor, an engineering student, and a diplomat. Together they formed one of the most effective assassination squads in history. They named their operation Nemesis, after the Greek goddess of retribution. The assassins were survivors, men defined by the massive tragedy that had devastated their people. With operatives on three continents, the Nemesis team killed six major Turkish leaders in Berlin, Constantinople, Tiflis, and Rome, only to disband and suddenly disappear. The story of this secret operation has never been fully told, until now. Eric Bogosian goes beyond simply telling the story of this cadre of Armenian assassins by setting the killings in the context of Ottoman and Armenian history, as well as showing in vivid color the era's history, rife with political fighting and massacres. Casting fresh light on one of the great crimes of the twentieth century and one of history's most remarkable acts of vengeance, Bogosian draws upon years of research and newly uncovered evidence. Operation Nemesis is the result--both a riveting read and a profound examination of evil, revenge, and the costs of violence.

Eric Bogosian (Author), Eric Bogosian (Narrator)

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Gettysburg Address & Emancipation Proclamation

While the conflict over slavery was a factor in the Civil War, the abolition of slavery did not become a stated objective until President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on January 1, 1863. Freeing the slaves held in the still Confederate controlled states, it is heralded as one of America's most significant documents. Likewise, The Gettysburg Address, delivered by Lincoln on November 19, 1863 in the aftermath of a Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, is considered one of the greatest speeches in American history.

Abraham Lincoln (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

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The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action

Nonviolence is not the recourse of the weak but actually calls for an uncommon kind of strength; it is not a refraining from something but the engaging of a positive force, renowned peace activist Michael Nagler writes. Here he offers a step-by-step guide to creatively using nonviolence to confront any problem and to build change movements capable of restructuring the very bedrock of society. Nagler identifies some specific tactical mistakes made by unsuccessful nonviolent actions such as the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and the Occupy protests and includes stories of successful nonviolent resistance from around the world, including an example from Nazi Germany. And he shows that nonviolence is more than a tactic' it is a way of living that will enrich every area of our lives.

Michael N Nagler, Michael N Nagler, Ph.D., Michael N. Nagler (Author), Michael N Nagler, Michael N Nagler, Ph.D., Michael N. Nagler (Narrator)

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Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life

Conventional wisdom holds that John F. Kennedy was the first celebrity president, in no small part because of his innate television savvy. But as Kathryn Brownell shows, Kennedy capitalized on a tradition and style rooted in California politics and the Hollywood studio system. Since the 1920s, politicians and professional showmen have developed relationships and built organizations institutionalizing Hollywood styles, structures, and personalities in the American political process. Brownell explores how similarities developed between operating a studio, planning a successful electoral campaign, and ultimately running an administration. Using their business and public relations know-how, figures such as Louis B. Mayer, Bette Davis, Jack Warner, Harry Belafonte, Ronald Reagan, and members of the Rat Pack made Hollywood connections an asset in a political world being quickly transformed by the media. Brownell takes listeners behind the camera to explore the negotiations and relationships that developed between key Hollywood insiders and presidential candidates from Dwight Eisenhower to Bill Clinton, analyzing how entertainment replaced party spectacle as a strategy to raise money, win votes, and secure success for all those involved. She demonstrates how Hollywood contributed to the rise of mass-mediated politics, making the twentieth century not just the age of the political consultant but also the age of showbiz politics.

Kathryn Cramer Brownell (Author), Pam Ward (Narrator)

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Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite

A haunting memoir of teaching English to the sons of North Korea's ruling class during the last six months of Kim Jong-il's reign Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without noticing, begins to hum it. It is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields—except for the 270 students at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), a walled compound where portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il look on impassively from the walls of every room, and where Suki has accepted a job teaching English. Over the next six months, she will eat three meals a day with her young charges and struggle to teach them to write, all under the watchful eye of the regime. Life at PUST is lonely and claustrophobic, especially for Suki, whose letters are read by censors and who must hide her notes and photographs not only from her minders but from her colleagues—evangelical Christian missionaries who don't know or choose to ignore that Suki doesn't share their faith. She is mystified by how easily her students lie, unnerved by their obedience to the regime. To them, everything in North Korea is the best, the tallest, the most delicious, the envy of all nations. Still, she cannot help but love them—their boyish enthusiasm, their eagerness to please, the flashes of curiosity that have not yet been extinguished. As the weeks pass, she begins to hint at the existence of a world beyond their own—at such exotic activities as surfing the Internet or traveling freely and, more dangerously, at electoral democracy and other ideas forbidden in a country where defectors risk torture and execution. The students in turn offer Suki tantalizing glimpses into their lives, from their thoughts on how to impress girls to their disappointment that soccer games are only televised when the North Korean team wins. Then Kim Jong-il dies, leaving the students devastated, and leading Suki to question whether the gulf between her world and theirs can ever be bridged. Without You, There Is No Us offers a moving and incalculably rare glimpse of life in the world's most unknowable country, and at the privileged young men she calls "soldiers and slaves."

Suki Kim (Author), Janet Song (Narrator)

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Don’t Wait for the Next War: A Strategy for American Growth and Global Leadership

With the end of the Cold War came not the end of history, but the end of America’s sense of its strategic purpose in the world. Then, after a decade of drift, the United States was violently dragged back into international conflict. Its armed forces responded magnificently, but its leaders’ objectives were substantially flawed. We fought the wrong war—twice—for reasons that were opaque, and few American citizens understood the cause for which their sons and daughters were fighting and dying. War is a poor substitute for strategic vision, and decisions made in the heat of imminent conflict are often limited by the emotions of the moment. In Don’t Wait for the Next War, Wesley K. Clark, a retired four-star general of the US Army and former Democratic candidate for president, presents a compelling argument for continued American global leadership and the basis on which it can succeed: a new American strategy. America needs both new power and deeper perspective. The platform for American leadership is to use America’s energy resources to spark sustainable economic growth, building new strength to deal with pressing domestic issues like the deficit as well as the longer term challenges to US security—terrorism, cyber threats, the next financial crisis, China’s rising power, and climate change. Such a strategy is not only achievable but essential, and it is urgently needed. This is the true test of American leadership for the next two decades, but it must start now so America has the power and vision to deal with the acute crises that will inevitably come—in the Middle East, Europe, or Asia. “In a time when US foreign policy must be adroit for our nation to be safe and successful, it’s no surprise that leading Democrats have been tapping Wes Clark for advice.”—Bill Maher, praise for the author

General Wesley K. Clark (Author), Donald Corren (Narrator)

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Submission

It’s been 10 years since Submission’s director, Theo van Gogh, was murdered in retaliation for making this controversial short film that confronts the violence against women that is permitted under the Koran and practiced in conservative Islamic cultures. Thane Rosenbaum leads a discussion with the film’s screenwriter, human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bret Stephens (Author), Thane Rosenbaum (Narrator)

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The Best of the Thom Hartmann Program: Volume II: Our Living History

The Best of Thom Hartmann Program features excerpts from some of Thom's classic Air America shows, including conversations with bestselling authors from across the political spectrum. Volume 2: Our Living History (90 minutes) – Thom brings his deep grounding in American history to bear on current events. He explores ripped-from-the-headlines topics like the right-wing war on the middle class, the dangers of privatizing the military and the healthcare, the threat of theocracy, the legacy of the American labor movement, and what those Republican tax cuts really mean. In this volume Thom talks to Chris Hedges (author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning), Kevin Phillips, and Paul Krugman.

Thom Hartmann (Author), Thom Hartmann (Narrator)

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The Best of the Thom Hartmann Program: Volume I: We the People

The Best of Thom Hartmann Program features excerpts from some of Thom's classic Air America shows, including conversations with bestselling authors from across the political spectrum. Volume 1: We the People (90 minutes) focuses on the state of American democracy--its historical roots and its present imperiled health. Thom discusses the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Kennedy-Nixon debates, executive power, and more. This volume includes in-depth conversations with George Lakoff, John Dean, and Arianna Huffington.

Thom Hartmann (Author), Thom Hartmann (Narrator)

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A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity

An essential, galvanizing narrative about making a difference here and abroad—a road map to becoming the most effective global citizens we can be. In their number one New York Times best seller Half the Sky, husband-and-wife team Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn brought to light struggles faced by women and girls around the globe, and showcased individuals and institutions working to address oppression and expand opportunity. A Path Appears is even more ambitious in scale: nothing less than a sweeping tapestry of people who are making the world a better place and a guide to the ways that we can do the same—whether with a donation of $5 or $5 million, with our time, by capitalizing on our skills as individuals, or by using the resources of our businesses. With scrupulous research and on-the-ground reporting, the authors assay the art and science of giving, identify successful local and global initiatives, and share astonishing stories from the front lines of social progress. We see the compelling, inspiring truth of how real people have changed the world, upending the idea that one person can’t make a difference. We meet people like Dr. Gary Slutkin, who developed his landmark Cure Violence program to combat inner-city conflicts in the United States by applying principles of epidemiology; Lester Strong, who left a career as a high-powered television anchor to run an organization bringing in older Americans to tutor students in public schools across the country; MIT development economist Esther Duflo, whose pioneering studies of aid effectiveness have revealed new truths about, among other things, the power of hope; and Jessica Posner and Kennedy Odede, who are transforming Kenya’s most notorious slum by expanding educational opportunities for girls. A Path Appears offers practical, results-driven advice on how best each of us can give and reveals the lasting benefits we gain in return. Kristof and WuDunn know better than most how many urgent challenges communities around the world face today. Here they offer a timely beacon of hope for our collective future.

Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn (Author), Olivia Wilde (Narrator)

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Please Stop Helping Us

In Please Stop Helping Us, Jason L. Riley examines how well-intentioned welfare programs are in fact holding black Americans back. Minimum-wage laws may lift earnings for people who are already employed, but they price a disproportionate number of blacks out of the labor force. Affirmative action in higher education is intended to address past discrimination, but the result is fewer black college graduates than would otherwise exist. And so it goes with everything from soft-on-crime laws, which make black neighborhoods more dangerous, to policies that limit school choice out of a mistaken belief that charter schools and voucher programs harm the traditional public schools that most low-income students attend. In theory these efforts are intended to help the poor—and poor minorities in particular. In practice they become massive barriers to moving forward. Please Stop Helping Us lays bare these counterproductive results. People of goodwill want to see more black socioeconomic advancement, but in too many instances the current methods and approaches aren’t working. Acknowledging this is an important first step.

Jason L. Riley (Author), JD Jackson (Narrator)

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Political Advocacy Audiobooks in Politics