Politics & Current Affairs - Politics

Here's the big, not-so-secret secret. People in power--government and religious leaders, heads of big corporations, the rich and well connected--all have one major goal: to stay in power. And they'll do whatever it takes to make sure that happens. Sometimes this means suppressing the truth and covering up facts that might make the rest of us angry enough to challenge the powerful--or at least to have a good laugh at their expense.

ASLEEP AT THE GEIGER COUNTER vigorously exposes the destructive sweep of nuclear scams and frauds. It documents why nuclear programmes mean cancer everywhere, birth defects forever, the uncontrolled proliferation of nuclear weapons, increased chance of nuclear war, the undermining of our national defence, the loss of civil liberties and unending billions in subsidies which have been bleeding us dry, while actually delaying genuine energy independence.

Responsible energy policies can give us a golden age of environmental and economic benefits, a more peaceful world and conditions which will help rich and poor alike. We are getting the opposite of all that, sanctimoniously shrouded with a cloak of big lies. Some of those lies are so brazen, they violate the most basic laws of physics and engineering.

The book is written by an engineer who has been on the front line of varied research design and development for 42 years and, also, on the front line of ardent environmental activism. 

Paul Hawken has spent more than a decade researching organisations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice. From billion-dollar nonprofit organisations to single-person dot.causes, these groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader or location and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media.

BLESSED UNREST explores the diversity of the movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies and centuries of hidden history. A culmination of Hawken's many years of leadership in the environmental and social justice fields, it will inspire all who despair of the world's fate and its conclusions will surprise even those within the movement itself.

Veteran journalist Danny Schechter investigates a complex web of fraud and crime that he shows played a major--if largely unreported--role in bringing the economy down. His four-year investigation focuses on three interconnected cesspools of corruption: what the FBI calls an "epidemic of mortgage fraud," predatory and deceptive securitization by Wall Street, and insurance scams.

Many people need to realise how often they allow some ideology to do their thinking for them. Very gradually fundamentalist ideas and beliefs have invaded their minds and hearts. Now they rarely think for themselves anymore on key issues. So writes author Robert R. Leichtman in this breakthrough book describing the curse of fundamentalism and how it poisons society with its arrogance and elitism. Dr. Leichtman reveals how fundamentalism dominates every segment of society--and what thinking people need to do in order to defeat it with their own thinking and in society as a whole.

Do you think shamed journalists Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass were rare bad apples? Far from it, they were just the ones stupid enough to get caught. Alexandra Kitty demonstrates with example upon example how manufactured news is endemic in our media and shows the reader how to spot suspicious stories.

In the last few years, the journalism industry has cut costs by eliminating important safeguards: companies have reduced the number of fact-checkers, editors, and journalists. What this means is that editors and reporters cannot spend time verifying information. Moreover, journalists are not required to have professional experience or training to cover their beats. Fierce competition to get a scoop may lead to journalists making careless errors or not double-checking information.

To maintain audiences and readership, journalists, editors and producers will choose sensational stories that "shock." Combined with time and budget constraints, journalists may unwittingly or deliberately disseminate false or misleading information to the public. It is important to "get" a story, interview a subject or nab a scoop first--the accuracy of these elements is secondary. Competition from other media outlets also means the goal of a journalist is to get the scoop first--how it makes it on the air (flawed, inaccurate, questionably obtained) is unimportant.

Don't Believe It! teaches news consumers how to verify information. It shows readers how to evaluate sources, eyewitnesses and data. This is a comprehensive bible to information verification from a logical standpoint, showing how to be skeptical without being jaded, step by step, with case studies and a classification manual.

This shocking, lively exposure of the intellectual vacuity of today’s under thirty set reveals the disturbing and, ultimately, incontrovertible truth: cyberculture is turning us into a nation of know-nothings.

Can a nation continue to enjoy political and economic predominance if its citizens refuse to grow up?

For decades, concern has been brewing about the dumbed-down popular culture available to young people and the impact it has on their futures. At the dawn of the digital age, many believed they saw a hopeful answer: The Internet, e-mail, blogs, and interactive and hyper-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children. The terms “information superhighway” and “knowledge economy” entered the lexicon, and we assumed that teens would use their knowledge and understanding of technology to set themselves apart as the vanguards of this new digital era.

That was the promise. But the enlightenment didn’t happen. The technology that was supposed to make young adults more astute, diversify their tastes, and improve their verbal skills has had the opposite effect. According to recent reports, most young people in the United States do not read literature, visit museums, or vote. They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount basic American history, name their local political representatives, or locate Iraq or Israel on a map. The Dumbest Generation is a startling examination of the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its consequences for American culture and democracy.

Drawing upon exhaustive research, personal anecdotes, and historical and social analysis, Mark Bauerline presents an uncompromisingly realistic portrait of the young American mind at this critical juncture, and lays out a compelling vision of how we might address its deficiencies.

Veteran international correspondent Paul Starobin masterfully mixes fresh reportage with rigorous historical analysis to envision a world in which the United States is no longer the dominant superpower. Following an insightful study of America's global ascendency, Starobin provides the reasons for America's waning influence and explores five possible paths for the future, each of which is already in the making: A global chaos that could be dark or happy; a multipolar order of nation-states; a global Chinese imperium; an age of global city-states; or a universal civilization leading to world government. Starobin's tone is somber but in the end hopeful—the world after America need not be a disaster for America, and may even be liberating.

Rare, romantic, and forever: The diamond industry depends on these myths to reap billions of dollars of profit. This sensational investigation explodes such fallacies and reveals how multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns create the impression of rarity and romance. It reveals a very secret and unromantic world, one that is dominated and controlled by a handful of mighty corporations.

With Leonardo DiCaprio's movie The Blood Diamond making more people than ever aware of the seamy side of the diamond trade, Janine Roberts' explosive exposé, taking us through seven decades of intrigue and manipulation, is the right book at the right time.

The road to global security writes Jeremy Rifkin lies in lessening our dependence on Middle East oil and making sure that all people on Earth have access to the energy they need to sustain life. Weaning the world off oil and turning it toward hydrogen is a promissory note for a safer world. Rifkin's international bestseller THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY presents the clearest most comprehensive case for moving ourselves away from the destructive and waning years of the oil era toward a new kind of energy regime. Hydrogen-one of the most abundant substances in the universe-holds the key Rifkin argues to a cleaner safer and more sustainable world.