Noam Chomsky's backpocket classic on wartime propaganda and opinion control begins by asserting two models of democracy-one in which the public actively participates, and one in which the public is manipulated and controlled. According to Chomsky, "propaganda is to democracy as the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state," and the mass media is the primary vehicle for delivering propaganda in the United States. From an examination of how Woodrow Wilson's Creel Commission "succeeded, within six months, in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population," to Bush Sr.'s war on Iraq, Chomsky examines how the mass media and public relations industries have been used as propaganda to generate public support for going to war. Chomsky further touches on how the modern public relations industry has been influenced by Walter Lippmann's theory of "spectator democracy," in which the public is seen as a "bewildered herd" that needs to be directed, not empowered; and how the public relations industry in the United States focuses on "controlling the public mind," and not on informing it. Media Control is an invaluable primer on the secret workings of disinformation in democratic societies.
When our founding fathers secured the Constitutional "right of the people to keep and
bear arms," they also added the admonition that this right SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.
It is the only time this phrase appears in the Bill of Rights. So why aren't more people
listening?
History has proven that guns are essential to self-defense and liberty-but tragedy
is a powerful force and has led many to believe that guns are the enemy, that the Second
Amendment is outdated, and that more restrictions or outright bans on firearms will somehow
solve everything.
They are wrong.
In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals
why gun control isn't really about controlling guns at all; it's about controlling us. In doing
so, he takes on and debunks the common myths and outright lies that are often used to
vilify guns and demean their owners:
The Second Amendment is ABOUT MUSKETS . . . GUN CONTROL WORKS in other countries
. . . 40 percent of all guns are sold without BACKGROUND CHECKS . . . More GUNS
MEAN more MURDER . . . Mass shootings are becoming more common . . . These awful
MASSACRES ARE UNIQUE TO AMERICA . . . No CIVILIAN needs a "weapon of war" like
the AR-15 . . . ARMED GUARDS in schools do nothing, just look at Columbine . . . Stop
FEARMONGERING, no one is talking about TAKING YOUR GUNS AWAY.
Backed by hundreds of sources, this handbook gives everyone who cares about the
Second Amendment the indisputable facts they need to reclaim the debate, defeat the fear,
and take back their natural rights.
The essential moments of the Civil Rights Movement are introduced and set in historical context by the author of the magisterial America in the King Years trilogy-Parting the Waters; Pillar of Fire; and At Canaan's Edge.
Taylor Branch's three-volume history endures as a masterpiece of storytelling on American race, violence and democracy. With this brief volume, which brings to life the pivotal scenes, he relates the dramatic story of how the Movement evolved from a bus strike to a political revolution, and brings this historic achievement to a wider audience.
While the conflict over slavery was a factor in the Civil War, the abolition of slavery did not become a stated objective until Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on January 1, 1863. Now, to commemorate the 150 year anniversary of the Proclamation, here is a new, unabridged audio recording of that historic document, freeing the slaves held in the still Confederate controlled states. Heralded as one of America's most significant documents, this is a piece of history not to be missed.
The relationship between those who wield power and those whose job it is to tell us what they are doing has always been fraught with tension. Politicians now expect to be on camera and facing aggressive questions from the moment they open their front door to the moment they return home at night. Everything they say and do is instantly broadcast and dissected on 24-hour news channels, blogs and Twitter.
It was not always this way. Live from Downing Street takes us on an absorbing journey through the hard-fought battles for the right to tell the public about the decisions taken on their behalf. Parliament once imprisoned those who dared to report what MPs had said. Broadcasters used to be banned by law from debating anything newsworthy and even from covering elections. Since that censorship ended, the two sides have clashed repeatedly.
We follow the fluctuations of the power struggle from Walpole to modern times, dwelling in fascinating detail on those who fought back - Churchill, Wilson, Thatcher and Blair. At the same time we learn of the emergence of the equally charismatic key players from radio and television: the Dimblebys, Day, Frost, Walden, Paxman and Humphrys.
Nick Robinson provides a colourful and personal examination of what life is like as the BBC's Political Editor - a role described in a report for the White House as 'the most important job in British political journalism'. Peppered with informative but witty anecdotes, his account reveals his own considered view of the controversial issue of impartial reporting. Live from Downing Street is a gripping story written by someone uniquely placed to add his own perceptive insights and observations.
For decades, the Left has been putting on a play with themselves as heroes in an ongoing civil rights movement. Long after pervasive racial discrimination ended, they kept pretending America was being run by the Klan and that liberals were black America's only protectors. It took the O. J. Simpson verdict to shut down the white guilt bank. But now, fewer than two decades later, our 'postracial' president has returned us to the pre-OJ era of nonstop racial posturing. Going where few authors dare, Coulter shines the light of truth on cases ranging from Tawana Brawley to the LA riots and the Duke lacrosse scandal. And she shows how the 2012 Obama campaign is going to inspire the greatest racial guilt mongering of all time.
In Rebuild the Dream, green economy pioneer Van Jones reflects on his journey from grassroots outsider to White House insider. For the first time, he shares intimate details of his time in government - and reveals why he chose to resign his post as a special advisor to the Obama White House. Jones puts his hard-won lessons to good use, proposing a powerful game plan to restore hope, fix our democracy and renew the American Dream.
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The Obama administration's overreaching and pervasive secularist policies represent the greatest government-directed assault on religious freedom in American history. So argues conservative movement leader Phyllis Schlafly and journalist George Neumayr. In No Higher Power, Schlafly and Neumayr show how Obama is waging war on our religious liberties and actively working to create one nation under him rather than one nation under God.
"Obama views traditional religion as a temporary opiate for the poor, confused, and jobless-a drug that will dissipate as the federal government assumes more God-like powers, and his new secularist beliefs and policies gain adherents," write Schlafly and Neumayr.
From cutting funding for religious schools to Obama's deliberate omission of God and religion in public speeches to his assault on the Catholic church, No Higher Power is a shocking and comprehensive look at how Obama is violating one of our most fundamental rights-and remaking our country into a nation our Founding Fathers would hardly recognize.
"A powerful exposé...A practical guide for reclaiming what should never have been lost."
-David Limbaugh, New York Times bestselling author, on The Flipside of Feminisim
From a top level operative in the counterterrorism unit of the CIA comes an explosive memoir about the behind-the-scenes fight against Al Qa'ida after September 11.
Osama Bin Laden's death is the culmination of years of covert operations and tactics largely overseen by Jose Rodriguez from 2001 to late 2007. During Rodriguez's at times controversial tenure as Chief Operations Officer of the Counterterrorism Center, CIA officers captured and detained senior Al Qa'ida operatives and implemented Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, which were an integral part of the War on Terror. HARD MEASURES will examine how the current political climate and resultant policies have negatively impacted the CIA's efficiency and taken away the mechanisms that made feats like the successful Bin Laden operation possible.
Rodriguez shares his unlikely journey from an upbringing in three Latin American countries to law school student, to CIA recruit and finally, at the end of a thirty-one year career, to being America's top spy. He sparked controversy and a three year investigation by his decision to order the destruction of videotapes showing CIA officers conducting harsh, but what he describes as "legal, necessary and effective interrogation."
Social networks are the defining cultural movement of our time, empowering us in constantly evolving ways. We can all now be reporters, alerting the world to breaking news; participate in crowd-sourced scientific research; and become investigators, helping the police solve crimes. Social networks have even helped to bring down governments. But they have also greatly accelerated the erosion of our personal privacy rights-and anyone could become a victim. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest nation in the world. While that nation appears to be a comforting small town in which we socialize with our selective group of friends, it and the rest of the Web are actually lawless frontiers of hidden and unpredictable dangers. The same power of information that can topple governments can destroy a person's career or marriage.
As leading expert on social networks and privacy Lori Andrews shows through groundbreaking research and a host of stunning stories of abuses, as we work and chat and shop and date over the Web, we are opening ourselves up to increasingly intrusive and anonymous surveillance by employers, schools, lawyers, the police, and aggressive data aggregator services. Some mobile Web devices are even being programmed to listen in on us and feed data services a steady stream of information about what we are doing. Even the best services can't remove our personal data from the Web for long.
As Andrews shows, the legal system cannot be counted on to protect us. In the thousands of cases brought to trial by those whose rights have been violated, judges have most often ruled against them. That is why, in addition to revealing the dangers and providing the best expert advice about protecting ourselves, Andrews proposes that we all become supporters of a constitution for the Web, which she has drafted and introduces in this book. Now is the time to join her and take action-the very future of privacy is at stake.
"Informative."-New York Times
Since its launch in 2006, WikiLeaks has rapidly grown into the most powerful and influential whistleblowing organisation ever. Its status as a repository and publisher of leaked sensitive and confidential governmental, corporate, organisational or religious documents while preserving the anonymity and untraceability of its contributors, and the statements and behaviour of its leader Julian Assange have made WikiLeaks both daily front page news and a topic of enormous controversy.
In an eye-opening account, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who joined WikiLeaks in its early days and became its spokesman, reveals never-disclosed details about the inner workings of the organisation that has struck fear into governments and businesses worldwide and prompted the Pentagon to convene a 120-man investigative task force. He also provides a remarkably up-close portrait of Julian Assange himself.
Under the pseudonym Daniel Schmitt, Domscheit-Berg was the effective No. 2 at WikiLeaks and its most public face after Assange. In this book, he tells the backstories of leaks ranging from the Church of Scientology and the Afghanistan and Iraq War logs to Cablegate, and reveals the evolution, finances and inner tensions of the whistleblower organisation, beginning with his first meeting with Assange in December 2007. He also describes what led to his September 2010 withdrawal from WikiLeaks, including his disenchantment with its lack of transparency, its abandonment of political neutrality, and Assange's increasing concentration of power.
What has been made public so far about WikiLeaks is only a small fraction of the truth. With his insider knowledge, Domscheit-Berg is uniquely able to tell the full story.
An inspiration behind the film The Fifth Estate, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which examines the relationship between Julian Assange and the author, Daniel Domscheit-Berg.
What's a congressman from Virginia doing in places where bullets fly and babies starve?
Thirty years ago, Frank Wolf was elected to the U.S. Congress to address local transportation issues. Fueled by a faith that made him believe he could do something about it, the congressman grew to champion human and religious rights around the world---from cracking down on gang-related crimes in the U.S. to relieving suffering from war, AIDS, and famine in places like Darfur, China, and Bosnia. Eventually, he became a key proponent of opposing radical Jihadists and creating a National Committee on Terrorism.
As Wolf visited some of the most dangerous places in the world, he saw firsthand the need for members of Congress to speak out for persecuted people around the globe.
In Prisoner of Conscience, he shares intimate stories of his adventures from the halls of political power to other dangerous places around the world, what he has learned along the way, and what you can do about it now.
