1.

Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey--and Even Iraq--Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport מאת Simon Kuper Why do England lose? Why does Scotland suck? Why doesn’t America dominate the sport internationally...and why do the Germans play with such an efficient but robotic style? These are questions every soccer aficionado has asked. Soccernomics answers them. Using insights and analogies...

2.

Wag the Dog: A Novel מאת Larry Beinhart Once upon a time there was a mean, dying GOP chairman who had a brilliant scheme to assure that his man would retain the office of president of the United States of America. And the only man who could pull off this elaborate plan was a celebrated Hollywood director. Add to the mix a left-coast gumsh...

3.

El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City מאת John Ross John Ross has been living in the old colonial quarter of Mexico City for the last three decades, a rebel journalist covering Mexico and the region from the bottom up. He is filled with a gnawing sense that his beloved Mexico City’s days as the most gargantuan, chaotic, crime-ridden, toxically...

4.

Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone מאת Eduardo Galeano Throughout his career, Eduardo Galeano has turned our understanding of history and reality on its head. Isabelle Allende said his works “invade the reader’s mind, to persuade him or her to surrender to the charm of his writing and power of his idealism.” Mirrors, Galeano’s most...

5.

Blood of the Earth: The Battle for the World's Vanishing Oil Resources מאת Dilip Hiro China is now the world's second largest energy consumer, trailing only behind America. And India has moved up into the fourth place behind Russia, after overtaking Japan in 2001. Dramatically changing the geopolitics of oil in the new century, China and India are rapidly expanding their navies ...

6.

Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians מאת Chris Hedges Collateral Damage brings together testimony from the largest number of on the record, named, combat veterans who reveal the disturbing, daily reality of war and occupation in Iraq. Through their eyes, we learn how the mechanics of war lead to the abuse and frequent killing of innocents...

7.

Travel as a Political Act מאת Rick Steves Travel connects people with people. It helps us fit more comfortably and compatibly into a shrinking world. And it inspires creative new solutions to persistent problems facing our nation. We can’t understand our world without experiencing it. Traveling as a Political Act help...

8.

After Empire: The Birth of a Multipolar World מאת Dilip Hiro American corporations have to beg for capital from the cash-rich Sovereign Wealth Funds in the Persian Gulf. By invading Iraq, President George W. Bush grossly undermined American credibility in the international arena and irrevocably weakened Washington’s diplomatic clout. Together, these ...

9.

Madame Dread: A Tale of Love, Vodou and Civil Strife in Haiti מאת Kathie Klarreich Civil violence mass slaughter, coups, and U.S. intervention: Kathie Klarriech saw all this up close and on a daily basis as a reporter in Haiti. Often risking life and limb, mistaken for a CIA agent, losing a man she loved to an assassin’s bullet – she tenaciously soldiered on, establishing cred...

10.

The Librarian: A Novel מאת Larry Beinhart How on earth did nebbish university librarian David Goldberg end up on Virginia’s Ten Most Wanted Criminals list for bestiality? And how did he get ensnared in a vast right-wing conspiracy to steal the presidency? It all begins so innocently when Goldberg starts moonlighting for eccentric, conserv...

11.

Gangs in Garden City: How Immigration, Segregation, and Youth Violence are Changing America's Suburbs מאת Sarah Garland For the past five years, journalist Sarah Garland has followed the lives of current and former gang members living in Hempstead on the border of Garden City, Long Island. Affiliated with Mara Salvatrucha and 18th Street, their troubling personal stories expose the cruel realities of segregation...

12.

Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus מאת Rick Perlstein Acclaimed historian Rick Perlstein chronicles the rise of the conservative movement in the liberal 1960s. At the heart of the story is Barry Goldwater, the renegade Republican from Arizona who loathed federal government, despised liberals, and mocked “peaceful coexistence” with the USSR. Pe...

13.

Salvation Boulevard: A Novel מאת Larry Beinhart A professor is dead. A suspect—who has confessed—is in custody. But nothing is what it seems. The dead man is an atheist, the accused an Islamic foreign student, the defense attorney a Jew, and the detective a Born Again Christian. As the detective gets deeper and deeper into the investigat...

14.

Salvation Boulevard: A Novel מאת Larry Beinhart Some cases test a private investigator’s wits, others test his courage, and still others, his character. In Salvation Boulevard, P.I. Carl Van Wagener has found a case that tests them all, and then goes on to test his soul. A professor is dead and a suspect—who has confessed—is in ...

15.

The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again מאת Robert W. McChesney Daily newspapers are closing across America. Washington bureaus are shuttering; whole areas of the federal government are now operating with no press coverage. International bureaus are going, going, gone. Journalism, the counterbalance to corporate and political power, the lifeblood of Ameri...

16.

The American Dream: Walking in the Shoes of Carnies, Arms Dealers, Immigrant Dreamers, Pot Farmers, and Christian Believers מאת Harmon Leon In the tradition of Hunter S. Thompson and Sacha Baron Cohen, social chameleon Harmon Leon takes us on a journey into the savage heart of the American Dream. For some, the American Dream is a pre-fab house in the suburbs with 2.5 kids and a two-week vacation at the end of the year. To others, i...

17.

Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement מאת Scott Ritter Scott Ritter, former Marine and UN weapons inspector, argues that there is a growing despondency amongst the anti-war movement. Ritter proposes the anti-war movement seek guidance from sources they normally spurn — that one must study the "enemy" in order to learn the art of campaigning and o...

18.

The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi מאת Aram Roston From an Emmy award-winning investigative reporter--an explosive biography that tells the untold story of the man most responsible for the war in Iraq. Ahmad Chalabi literally changed the world. If anyone were to get the most credit for pushing the United States to war in Iraq, Chalabi, a wealth...

19.

A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears מאת Antonino D'Ambrosio A Heartbeat and a Guitar tells of the collaboration of two distinct yet connected musicians—iconoclast Johnny Cash and pioneering folk artist Peter La Farge—and the album they created, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian. It also tells of the unique personal, politica...

20.

Belching Out the Devil: Global Adventures with Coca-Cola מאת Mark Thomas Coca-Cola and its logo are everywhere. In our homes, our workplaces, and even our schools. It is a company that sponsors the Olympics, backs US presidents and even re-brands Santa Claus. A truly universal product, it has even been served in space. From Istanbul to Mexico City, Mark travels the globe...

21.

How to Rule the World: The Coming Battle Over the Global Economy מאת Mark Engler A journalist and social activist exposes the injustices of the Bush-era politics of globalization and offers a guide to overcoming the challenges of the post-Bush moment. A debate is taking place over what values should define the international order. For global elites, it is a debate about how...

22.

A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks (Nation Books) מאת Clifford D. Conner We all know the history of science that we learned from grade school textbooks: How Galileo used his telescope to show that the earth was not the center of the universe; how Newton divined gravity from the falling apple; how Einstein unlocked the mysteries of time and space with a simple equation. T...

23.

I See Black People: The Rise and Fall of African American-Owned Television and Radio מאת Kristal Brent Zook Why are so few radio and television stations currently owned by African Americans?  The airwaves are public resources; they belong to the people. And yet minorities, who form 33 percent of the population, control only 3 percent of the broadcast media. African Americans own less than 1 percent...

24.

A World I Loved: The Story of an Arab Woman מאת Wadad Makdisi Cortas "This is my story, the story of an Arab woman. It is the story of a lost world. It begins in 1917, in Lebanon, when I was seven years old.” So opens this haunting memoir by Wadad Makdisi Cortas, who eloquently describes her personal experience of the events that have fractured the Middle...

25.

The Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side: Fighting the Lawless World of Guantanamo Bay מאת Clive Stafford Smith At a July 17, 2003 press conference held jointly with Prime Minister Tony Blair, President George W. Bush described the prisoners held in Guantanamo: "The only thing I know for certain is that these are bad people." They are, supposedly, the worst of the worst of the world's terrorists. Human r...

26.

The Gods that Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has Cost Us Our Future מאת Larry Eliott Over the past three decades, governments have ceded economic control to a new elite of free-market operatives and their colleagues in national and international institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. They promised economic stability but have delivered chaos...

27.

Nothing But an Unfinished Song: The Life and Times of Bobby Sands מאת Denis O'Hearn At seventeen, Bobby Sands was interested in girls, soccer, and music. Ten years later he led his fellow prisoners on a protest against repressive conditions in Northern Ireland's H-Block prisons that grabbed the world's attention. After sixty-six days of refusing to eat, Sands died on May 5, 19...

28.

Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party מאת Max Blumenthal Over the last year, award-winning journalist and videographer Max Blumenthal has been behind some of the most sensational (and funniest) exposes of Republican machinations. Whether it was his revelation that Sarah Palin was "anointed" by a Kenyan priest famous for casting out witches, or his confron...

29.

Cryptic Crosswords from The Nation מאת Frank Lewis Though known for its fierce polemics and contrarian political voices, one of the most abiding and popular features of The Nation magazine — and something Republicans would consider subscribing to the magazine for — are Frank Lewis’ weekly crossword puzzles which have appeared in the magazine s...

30.

Halliburton's Army: How a Well-Connected Texas Oil Company Revolutionized the Way America Makes War מאת Pratap Chatterjee Halliburton’s Army is the first book to show, in shocking detail, how Halliburton really does business, in Iraq, and around the world. From its vital role as the logistical backbone of the U.S. occupation in Iraq—without Halliburton there could be no war or occupation—to its role ...

31.

Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities מאת Rebecca Solnit When the first edition of Hope in the Dark was published in mid-2004 it gained an instant cult audience. Many readers were so inspired by Solnit's book that they bought multiple copies to give to friends. This new, significantly expanded edition covers, among other things, the political terri...

32.

Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival מאת Jen Marlowe In February, 2003, the Sudanese Liberation Army in Darfur (the western region of Sudan) after years of oppression took up arms against the Sudanese government. The government and allied militias answered the rebellion with mass murder, rape and the wholesale destruction of villages and liveliho...

33.

Letters from Young Activists: Today's Rebels Speak Out (Nation Books) מאת Chesa Boudin Who will lead America in the years to come? Letters from Young Activists introduces America's bold, exciting, new generation of activists. These diverse authors challenge the common misconception that today's young people are apathetic, shallow, and materialistic. Aged ten to thirty-one, thes...

34.

The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi מאת Aram Roston This is the story of Ahmad Chalabi—fraudster, statesman, banker, math whiz, gourmand, and esthete. Emmy award winner Aram Roston’s extraordinary investigative biography exposes massive white-collar mischief, sophisticated international espionage operations, and political intrigue spanning t...

35.

Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients מאת Ray Moynihan Thirty years ago, Henry Gadsden, the head of Merck, one of the world's largest drug companies, told Fortune magazine that he wanted Merck to be more like chewing gum maker Wrigley's. It had long been his dream to make drugs for healthy people so that Merck could "sell to everyone." Gadsden's dr...

36.

Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army [Revised and Updated] מאת Jeremy Scahill On September 16, 2007, machine gun fire erupted in Baghdad's Nisour Square leaving seventeen Iraqi civilians dead, among them women and children. The shooting spree, labeled "Baghdad's Bloody Sunday," was neither the work of Iraqi insurgents nor U.S. soldiers. The shooters were private forc...

37.

Appetite for Profit: How the food industry undermines our health and how to fight back מאת Michele Simon The United States is currently embroiled in a national debate over the growing public health crisis caused by poor diet. People are starting to ask who is to blame and how can we fix the problem, especially among children. Major food companies are responding with a massive public relations camp...

38.

The Silence and the Scorpion: The Coup Against Chavez and the Making of Modern Venezuela מאת Brian A. Nelson On April 11, 2002, nearly a million Venezuelans marched on the presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chavez. Led by Pedro Carmona and Carlos Ortega, the opposition represented a cross-section of society furious with Chavez’s economic policies, specifically his mishan...

39.

The Man Who Sold the World: Ronald Reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America מאת William Kleinknecht Since Ronald Reagan left office—and particularly after his death—his shadow has loomed large over American politics: Republicans and many Democrats have waxed nostalgic, extolling the Republican tradition he embodied, the optimism he espoused, and his abilities as a communicator. Thi...

40.

Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy מאת Michael Soussan The year is 1997, Michael Soussan, a fresh-faced young graduate takes up a new job at the U.N.’s Oil-for-Food Program, the largest humanitarian operation in the organization’s history. His mission is to help Iraqi civilians survive the devastating impact of economic sanctions that were impo...

41.

RFK: A Memoir מאת Jack Newfield As one of the most complex, charismatic and controversial figures of our times, Robert Kennedy occupies a remarkable and paradoxical place in the American imagination. On the right he has been idolized by Rudy Giuliani and memorialized by Attorney General John Ashcroft, who renamed the Justice Depar...

42.

The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President מאת Vincent Bugliosi During the course of American history, wrongful events have occurred and certain Americans have stood up and spoken out against these wrongs: Tom Paine, Edward R. Murrow, Daniel Ellsberg. Vincent Bugliosi takes his place in this special pantheon of patriots with his powerful, brilliant, and cou...

43.

The Samaritan's Dilemma: Should Government Help Your Neighbor? מאת Deborah Stone A leading political scientist's response to a generation of political orthodoxy, arguing for compassion as a political movement. For at least a generation, experts have warned us not to reach out to others. Too much help makes people passive and dependent, we are told, and self interest is the ...

44.

Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle מאת Chris Hedges Pulitzer prize–winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion.Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: One, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world, that can cope with complexity and ca...