Private Politics

Private foundations have been the dynamo of social change since their invention at the beginning of the last century. Yet just over 10 percent of the public knows they even exist; and for those who are aware of them, as well as even those who seek grants from them, their internal workings remain a complete mystery

Elizabeth II is within a few years of becoming the longest-reigning British monarch. A personally quiet, modest and dutiful person, she is far better-informed about the lives of her subjects than they often realize. She has known every Prime Minister since Winston Churchill and every American President since Eisenhower. Yet what of the woman behind the crown?

The Supreme Court's decision in the Kelo case created a firestorm of interest in protecting property rights. Through real-life stories and solid legal analysis, this book shows why property rights are the cornerstone of liberty and how they are protected in the U.S. Constitution. It critically examines how courts and legislatures have diminished property rights and then lays out an agenda for protecting these rights in the future.

Cue the accordions: Battle Lake, Minnesota, is kicking off October Fest with polka, sausage, and cold suds. The big inaugural event? A debate between two congressional hopefuls. One, stultifyingly sincere. The other, a foot-in-mouth tippler. Reporter Mira James is roped into covering their fighting words…and then a murder, when a relentless pit bull of a blogger is found dead at a motor lodge filled to capacity with fellow pundits, campaign entourages, and tourists—all of whom have just become suspects.

Sandringham, the much-loved Norfolk retreat of Queen Elizabeth II, has been the private home of four generations of monarchs since 1862, when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought the country estate for their eldest son Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. Written with warmth and wit, Helen Cathcart charts a hundred years of royal domestic history at Sandringham, from earliest days through to celebrated visitor attraction. A blend of narrative history and family chronicle, Sandringham commemorates the centenary of one of the best-known private country houses in the world.

An eye-opening book about how societies are designed to support the status of those in power at the destructive expense of those without it. From 1958, China declared war on sparrows, contributing to the deaths of more than 10 million people. In the 19th century, the Shuar people of Ecuador were driven by economic need to wage bloody wars to procure shrunken heads for the Western curio market, which nearly destroyed their society. There have been 55 prime ministers of Great Britain, of whom 48 have been privately educated, creating a society built for and by the privileged.

Nell`anno 2000 il vecchio questore emerito Vittorio D’Aiazzo, affiancatosi al commissario Sordi suo ex dipendente, investiga in funzione di consulente della Questura torinese su una serie di omicidi che si presentano sì come l`opera nichilista d`un sadico assassino seriale o quali sacrifici al diavolo d`una delle sette sulfuree della Torino macabro-stregata, ma potrebbero avere, anche o soltanto, cause legate a quel terrorismo che aveva imperversato in Italia fino a una ventina d`anni prima e si trascina ancora a fine millennio.

When former detective Trevor “Finn” Finnegan became a PI, he adopted a new mandate: catch the LAPD’s worst in the act. While on surveillance in Venice Beach, Finn tails two potentially dirty cops: Detective Martin Riley and Finn’s ex-partner, Detective Sally Munoz. Things take a deadly turn when an unknown assailant executes Riley and wounds Munoz. In an instant, Finn goes from private eye to eyewitness. Munoz needs Finn to help find Riley’s killer, but doing so could blow his cover.

An eye-opening account of the failures of our financial system, the sources of its staying power, and the path to meaningful economic reform.

Always a good sport, Jim McGill, the first private eye to live in the White House, agrees to accompany his wife, the president, to London to be her escort at a dinner given by the queen. Problem is he'll have a week in England with nothing to do. Then a client comes to McGill, the daughter of a former Chicago cop McGill knew but didn't like when he was a captain on the CPD. McGill's former colleague went to Paris to scatter the ashes of his late wife. While tending to that solemn obligation, the former cop managed to get into a brawl with and kill France's national sports hero.

The year is 1995, and an energetic senator wants to disarm, perhaps even eliminate, the CIA. To accumulate the evidence necessary to persuade the Senate, he needs the cooperation of Blackford Oakes, now retired. He wants from Oakes an account of his covert activity 10 years earlier, when Oakes served as chief of covert activities for the CIA. But, what will the frustrated senator do to compel cooperation from Blackford Oakes?

In this audiobook, Stand in Solidarity, the author explores the root cause of economic inequality and develops a practical framework for private sector leaders to identify policies and practices that drive racial disparities and a guide for business leaders to intentionally dismantle racism by strategically investing resources, leadership, and innovation capital through deliberate strategies that close racial disparities in the labor market.

It is February, 1929. Cyrus Skeen is hired by an Austrian aristocrat whom Skeen calls a "One-Worlder Gadabout", Count Paul Axel Heinrich Joachim von Wormuth-Esterházy, of Vienna, to find out who is trying to kill him. He gives Skeen a list he has compiled of 20 attempts to murder him, including flowerpots are dropped from above, a bottle of poisoned schnapps is given to him in a "welcome basket", and nearly being run over by a speeding automobile.

Rave Maps, the world’s greatest value engineer, has never seen anything like this. She assembles her team to convince the public of imminent catastrophe while stumbling upon a powerful corporate nemesis siphoning life-saving information and resources. A trio of deadly women -- Rave Maps, Mait Orleans, and Kate Tong -- race from Palma to Los Angeles, Koror, Belize City, Boulder, Steamboat Springs, London, Barcelona, Brisbane, and Lady Elliot Island seeking a way to heighten awareness of the crisis on the world stage.

In the aftermath of World War II, Private Curtis Dagley is thrust into a mission he never expected—returning stolen cultural treasures to Poland, a nation scarred by war and trapped under Soviet control. Among these treasures is the Veit Stoss Altar, a priceless symbol of Polish identity. But when a single act of chaos implicates Curt in a shooting he didn’t commit, he makes a fateful decision: to take the blame to protect his comrades and prevent a political disaster.

Can Jack untangle the murderous web of lies and solve the case before he gets trapped in the killer’s deadly scheme? Murder in the San Juans is a gripping tale of betrayal in the formidable San Juan Mountains around Telluride, Colorado, and the fourth book in the suspenseful Mountain Resort Mystery Series.

At the request of an old college chum, former CIA operative and private investigator Mari Ellwyn investigates the blackmailing of a CEO amid a high-profile IPO deal and a motivated witness determined to expose him for corruption and fraud. Mari’s new partner, Derek Abernathy, tries to help uncover the truth behind the accidental death of two farm workers in the Central Valley, only to discover that they weren’t accidental, and they’re connected to a seamy underworld of illegal drug manufacturing and toxic chemical dumping....

It is 1904. A series of unusual events, including the murder of a French agent, a large concentration of the Kaiser's intelligence operatives, and vague reports about a deep-cover Russian agent who is spying on the czar, give Gerard de Montclaire yet another opportunity to prove his mettle as the finest detective of the Edwardian Era.

A drone-based terrorist attack in Israel kills dozens on a sun-splashed beach in Caesarea as America awakens to the shattering news that Vice President Stephanie Davenport has died of an apparent heart attack. That same morning, a chance encounter on the Washington Metro results in international private investigator Robert Brixton thwarting an attempted terrorist bombing. Brixton has no reason to suspect that the three incidents have anything in common - until he’s contacted by Kendra Rendine, the Secret Service agent who headed up the vice president’s security detail.

Brunette bombshell Araceli hires Scott Brody, PI, to find her missing brother Damian, whose life is endangered in the neon-lit playground of Vegas. To save Damian, Brody must contend with mafia leg breakers, feds, a murderous deep state cabal, CIA spooks, and a sicario hit team. Everybody, it seems, wants a piece of Damian, and they'll kill anyone who gets in their way.