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What's white, costs billions of dollars, and embodies the American dream? For years, a white-gowned bride, multi-tiered white cake, and shiny gold rings have been the central icons for a grand American tradition that remains vibrant despite changing times. Now Katherine Jellison gives us a comprehensive cultural history of American weddings since World War II, examining the development of our precise and expensive standards for celebrating weddings and the staying power of this phenomenon in the...

Who is Pete Buttigieg? The mayor of South Bend, Indiana emerged from relative obscurity to become a serious contender for president of the United States of America. Is he the right foil for Donald Trump? Mayor Pete Buttigieg has raised seven million dollars and captivated the nation in media and at town halls during his short time as candidate for president of the United States. He's a veteran of the war in Afghanistan as a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve, a Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar,...

Calls to Arms: Presidential Speeches, Messages, and Declarations of War is a collection of presidential messages and speeches that called America to war from John Adams and the Quasi-War with France to George W. Bush and the fight against international terrorism in Afghanistan. The documents included here demonstrate the growth of presidential power and show how Congress responded to each call to arms. The selections also reflect the adherence to constitutional requirements and in the case of un...

Harold Brown served as U.S. secretary of defence when the Soviet Union posed an existential threat with superior conventional force capability and a daunting nuclear weapons arsenal. No one could have been better suited to deter the Soviets during that most dangerous period in the Cold War. A physicist, Brown had previously led Livermore Laboratory and its development of the Polaris missile warhead. By age 33 he was director of Defence Research and Engineering, and he later served as secretary o...

The first inside account to be published about Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state, anchored by Ghattas's own perspective and her quest to understand America's place in the world

This volume incisively analyzes the foreign policy of George W. Bush. Examining the legacy of the forty-third President, author Ilan Peleg explains the complex factors underlying the Bush Doctrine: neoconservative ideology, real and perceived challenges to US world supremacy, Bush's personality, the White House's unique decision-making process, and the impact of September 11. Peleg argues that in its shift from deterrence and containment to prevention and preemption, from multilateral leadership...

From the former Secretary of Defense, a fascinating, behind-the-scenes memoir that reveals the inner workings of the Pentagon. A straight-talking account that explains not only what happens in the Pentagon but why--and why it matters--written by the man who used to run it. There is no single institution in America as big as the Department of Defense. It spends more money than any other. It employs millions of Americans. It owns and operates more real estate than any other entity. It manages the...

War Is Not a Game tells the story of this new soldiers' antiwar movement, showing why it was born, how it quickly grew, where it has struggled, what it accomplished, and how it continues to resonate in the national conversation about our military and our wars. Nan Levinson reveals the individuals behind the movement, painting an unforgettable portrait of these working-class veterans who refused to be seen as simply tragic victims or battlefront heroes and instead banded together to become leader...

Dennis Smith has been called "the Poet Laureate of Firefighters" by the New York Post, and when his book "Report from Engine Company 82" was published it was hailed for being by a working fireman on the front line of a South Bronx firehouse that was the world's busiest at that time. When disaster struck in downtown Manhattan on September 11th, 2001, Dennis Smith was among the first to arrive on the scene, and in spite of being 60 years old and long retired, he was an active participant in the do...

The military adventure that George W. Bush embarked on within months of his inauguration in 2001 was to eclipse everything else in his presidency. His name will forever be synonymous with the "war on terror." What started as a military response to al Qaeda's attacks in New York and Washington on 9/11, with the goal of neutralizing al Qaeda and its Taliban hosts in Afghanistan, quickly fused with the neo-conservative agenda to dominate and reshape the Middle East. Al Qaeda's terrorism was answere...

In a series of snapshots written after the attack on the World Trade Centre -from a day, to a week, up to a year and beyond - Eliot Weinberger offers thoughtful and provocative reflections on his city, the country and the state of the world. Originally published only outside the United States, these essays are now available together, and for the first time in English. Taken as a whole, they constitute a remarkable "archive of the moment", way-markers for a story that is still unfolding.

Featuring contributions from leading scholar-activists, People Power demonstrates how the lessons of history can inform the building of new social justice movements today. This volume is inspired by the pathbreaking life and work of writer, activist, and historian Lawrence "Larry" Goodwyn. As a radical Texas journalist and a political organizer, Goodwyn participated in historic changes ushered in by grassroots activism in the 1950s and '60s. Professor and cofounder of the Oral History Program a...