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Recommended
Reading
There are some fabulous
books on the market that are highly
recommended reads. Please peruse the
following list. If you would like to
recommend a book - click here!
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The
Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on
Reclaiming the American Dream

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by
Barack Obama
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"Obama
engages themes raised in his
keynote speech at the 2004
Democratic National Convention,
shares personal views on faith
and values and offers a vision of
the future that involves
repairing a "political
process that is broken" and
restoring a government that has
fallen out of touch with the
people. " from
Amazon.com
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The
Assault on Reason
by Al
Gore
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"Gore argues
that the marketplace of reasoned
debate our country was founded on
is being endangered by a variety
of allied forces: the use of fear
and the misuse of faith, the
distractions of our entertainment
culture, and the concentrations
of power in the national media
and the executive branch.
" Amazon.com review.
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Fiasco:
The American Military Adventure
in Iraq

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by
Thomas E. Ricks
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"The
definitive military chronicle of
the Iraq war and a searing
judgment on the strategic
blindness with which America has
conducted it, drawing on the
accounts of senior military
officers giving voice to their
anger for the first time
" from the Publisher:
Penguin Group (USA)
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Cobra
II : The Inside Story of the
Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
by
Michael
R. Gordon
and
Bernard
E. Trainor
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"There were
indications from the first days
of the invasion, of the
insurgency and guerrilla tactics
to come, but they were ignored at
the highest levels in Washington
and at the Central
Command."
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No
Place to Hide: Behind the Scenes
of Our Emerging Surveillance
Society

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by
Robert O'Harrow
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"In a
post-9/11 world where homeland
security often trumps personal
liberty, this work is an
eye-opener for those who take
their privacy for granted.
" Steven Stolder -
Amazon.com.
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Our
Endangered Values : America's
Moral Crisis
by
Jimmy Carter
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"This is a
book of reason and tolerance but
also of indignation. The former
President draws on his religious
faith to comment wisely on a wide
range of "hot button"
issues. Although Carter's tone is
patient and explanatory, his
views are bound to be newsworthy
and should rekindle some old
fires...an eloquent personal
testament that deserves a wide
readership, regardless of
political affiliation. Highly
recommended" - Library
Journal
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Crossing
the Rubicon: The Decline of the
American Empire at the End of the
Age of Oil

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by
Michael C. Ruppert
a MUST
read
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"The attacks
of September 11, 2001, were
accomplished through an amazing
orchestration of logistics and
personnel. Crossing the
Rubicon discovers and
identifies key suspects-finding
some of them in the highest
echelons of American
government-by showing how they
acted in concert to guarantee
that the attacks produced the
desired result.
"Crossing
the Rubicon is unique not
only for its case-breaking
examination of 9/11, but for the
breadth and depth of its world
picture-an interdisciplinary
analysis of petroleum,
geopolitics, narcotraffic,
intelligence and
militarism-without which 9/11
cannot be understood."
Editorial Review - Amazon.com
Publisher:
New Society
Publishers
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The
Assassins Gate : America in Iraq
by
George Packer
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"The book
recounts how the United States
set about changing the history of
the Middle East and became
ensnared in a guerrilla war in
Iraq. It tells the story of the
people and ideas that created the
Bush administration's war policy
and led America to the Assassin's
Gate--the main point of entry
into the American zone in
Baghdad." - Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and
Giroux
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State
of War: The Secret History of the
C.I.A. and the Bush
Administration

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by
James Risen
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"Risen's
description of what he says was
called "the
Program"--the ongoing
eavesdropping operation, done
with almost no judicial or
congressional oversight, on the
phone calls and emails of
hundreds of Americans (and
potentially millions more)--is
only a chapter in his larger tale
of the recent missteps and
oversteps of U.S. intelligence.
" Editorial Review -
Amazon.com. Publisher: Free
Press
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Don't
Think of an Elephant! Know Your
Values and Frame the Debate
by
George Lakoff
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"If only the
Democrats had read George Lakoff
a few years ago, we might not be
in the position we find ourselves
in today: out of power in the
White House, out of power in
Congress, and out of power in the
Courts." Howard
Dean Read
About It!
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The
Republican War On Science

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by
Chris Mooney
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"On a broad
array of issues-stem cell
research, climate change, missile
defense, abstinence education,
product safety, environmental
regulation, and many others-the
Bush administration's positions
fly in the face of overwhelming
scientific consensus. Federal
science agencies, once fiercely
independent under both Republican
and Democratic presidents, are
increasingly staffed by political
appointees and fringe theorists
who know industry lobbyists and
evangelical activists far better
than they know the science.
" Publisher: Basic
Books
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The
Republican Noise Machine:
Right-Wing Media and How it
Corrupts Democracy
by
David Brock
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"Brock
documents how in the last several
decades the GOP built a powerful
media machine--newspapers and
magazines, think tanks, talk
radio networks, op-ed columnists,
the FOX News Channel, Christian
Right broadcasting, book
publishers, and high-traffic
internet sites--to sell
conservatism to the public and
discredit its opponents. This
unabashedly biased
multibillion-dollar
communications empire disregards
journalistic ethics and universal
standards of fairness and
accuracy, manufacturing news that
is often bought and paid for by a
tight network of corporate-backed
foundations and old family
fortunes. By dissecting the
appeal, techniques, and reach of
the booming right-wing media
market, Brock demonstrates that
it is largely based on bigotry,
ignorance, and emotional
manipulation closely tied to
America's longstanding cultural
divisions and the buying power of
anti-intellectual
traditionalists. " The
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
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Confessions
of an Economic Hit Man

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by John
Perkins
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"Perkins, a
former chief economist at Boston
strategic-consulting firm Chas.
T. Main, says he was an
"economic hit man" for
10 years, helping U.S.
intelligence agencies and
multinationals cajole and
blackmail foreign leaders into
serving U.S. foreign policy and
awarding lucrative contracts to
American business. Perkins writes
that his economic projections
cooked the books Enron-style to
convince foreign governments to
accept billions of dollars of
loans from the World Bank and
other institutions to build dams,
airports, electric grids, and
other infrastructure he knew they
couldn't afford. The loans were
given on condition that
construction and engineering
contracts went to U.S.
companies." Alex Roslin
(amazon.com)
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The
Truth (with Jokes)
by Al
Franken
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Franken and his
research team return to what they
do best: detailing allegations
and accusations being spread by
right-wing pundits and then
debunking them point-by-point.
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Reason:
Why Liberals Will Win the Battle
for America

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by
Robert B. Reich
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"Reason by
former Clinton administration
Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
It's a call to arms for liberals
and progressives against what
Reich terms the
"Radcons", radical
conservatives who combine the
aggressive
"neoconservative"
foreign policy of Richard Perle
and Robert Kagan with an
insistence on interfering with
private morality, all the while
eliminating social safety
nets." John Moe, Editorial
Review with
amazon.com
Read
About It!
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Freakonomics:
A Rogue Economist Explores the
Hidden Side of Everything
by
Steven D. Levitt
and
Stephen J. Dubner
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"Levitt
argues that many apparent
mysteries of everyday life don't
need to be so mysterious: they
could be illuminated and made
even more fascinating by asking
the right questions and drawing
connections. For example, Levitt
traces the drop in violent crime
rates to a drop in violent
criminals and, digging further,
to the Roe v. Wade decision that
preempted the existence of some
people who would be born to
poverty and hardship." John
Moe, Editorial Review with
amazon.com
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God's
Politics: Why the Right Gets It
Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It

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by Jim
Wallis
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Wallis says the
Democrats should be talking about
the immorality of war, the need
for a socially just socity,
decent medical care for all,
equality of educational
opportunity, etc. We have
permitted the Republicans to
interpret morality as only sexual
morality, not the true message of
Jesus.
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All Fall
Down: The Politics of Terror and
Mass Persuasion
by
William Thomas
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"All Fall
Down by William Thomas draws upon
thousands of pages of press
reports, background books,
Congressional hearings and the
author's experience in the Middle
East, to chronicle the
behind-the-scenes events
concerning September 11, 2001 -
and the real motives behind Pres.
Bush's Afghanistan adventure.
Once again, the real
"GOD" being fought over
is Gold, Oil and Drugs."
excerpt from www.willthomas.net
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A
People's History of the United
States: 1492-Present

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by
Howard Zinn
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Incredible
information that I didn't learn
in school - the REAL history of
the U.S. starting with the
genocide of the Arawak Indians by
Christopher Columbus all the way
through to the contemporary
corporate ownership of America.
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Mapping
Tomorrow's Planet: Ecological
Reverence in the Global Village
"Using
"mapping" as a metaphor
for interpreting the signs of the
times, this book uses science,
history, philosophy, and theology
to seek a religious
interpretation of life, without
dogma or arrogance. "
J. Edward Barrett
resides in Transylvania County
and his book may be purchased at
Highland Books.
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| "The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness." |
| - Barack Obama's Inaugural Address |
| January 2009 |
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