Self Government

Author of the groundbreaking number-one New York Times bestseller This Town, Mark Leibovich returns with a masterly collection of portraits of Washington's elite, and wannabe elites. Hailed by The Washington Post as a "master of the political profile," Leibovich has spent his career writing memorable, buzz-worthy, and often jaw-dropping features about politicians and other notables.

For three nerve-wracking years, Naveed Jamali spied on America for the Russians, trading thumb drives of sensitive technical data for envelopes of cash, selling out his own beloved country across noisy restaurant tables and in quiet parking lots. Or so the Russians believed. In fact this young American civilian was a covert double agent working with the FBI. The Cold War wasn't really over. It had just gone high tech.

From the humiliation of Liz Truss’s 49-day premiership to the shameful, self-serving drift of Rishi Sunak’s time in office, Downfall is the story of a political party on the verge of extinction. Picking up on the events that followed The Plot, Nadine Dorries draws on interviews with those in the room to expose what really went on behind the scenes. From group sex sessions organised via WhatsApp and held between late night votes in a certain office in Portcullis House to the King being stood up at the Privy Council, the accounts are raw, unvarnished and brutal.

In an era where artificial intelligence is no longer a distant possibility but a tangible, shaping force of our everyday lives, The Human Manifesto stands as a pivotal exploration into the future of Human identity, autonomy, and governance in the wake of advancing AI. This book, ambitious in scope and depth, invites listeners on a profound intellectual journey, questioning the essence of Human free will against the backdrop of technology's relentless march.

Reshma Saujani kandidierte 2010 für einen Platz im US-Kongress. Trotz großer Ängste wagte sie den Schritt und scheiterte. Ihre Kandidatur endete in einer grandiosen Niederlage – und mit einer kathartischen Erfahrung: Egal wie peinlich und unangenehm ihr Scheitern war, sie versank nicht im Erdboden, das Leben ging weiter. Ihr wurde klar, wie sehr sie diese Angst ihr Leben lang eingeschränkt hatte und wie typisch ihre Vermeidungstaktik für Frauen war.

Talia Leman's heroic efforts on behalf of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina ranked in the top five of the relief fundraisers, including major international organizations. After completing that incredible project, she continued with something even bigger: orchestrating and leveraging the philanthropic efforts of millions of children from twenty countries to bring aid to four continents, so far. And she did all of this before turning 16.

What if, instead of trying to predict the future, we could just pick the one we want - and then invent it? Well, we can. Think of the wealth of technological resources already available to us. The computing power in that smartphone in your pocket could have guided 120 million Apollo-era spacecraft to the Moon and back. A gigabyte of memory cost $300,000 in the 1980s - today, it costs a fraction of a penny. Now, try to imagine 2050, when your computing devices will be a million times more powerful or available at one-millionth of today's prices.

Connected across geography and culture via the internet, the world is both a vast, limitless landscape and an ever-shrinking echo chamber. Communication, most notably free speech, is becoming increasingly divisive; one person’s right to speak has come into conflict with those seeking to prevent harm. Our tolerance for differing opinions is also narrowing. A “wrong” remark or comment, no matter how seemingly innocent, can result in banishment, and contradictory ideas spark hysteria and backlash—what is referred to as “cancel culture.”

What does it mean to be a millennial in this chaotic world? Beyond Snapchat and Tinder, the consumerist culture we’ve inherited, and quarter-life crises, can a millennial aspire to more? Alison Lea Sher argues, yes, we can! Packing herself up in an RV, Sher embarks on a road trip, interviewing 150 of her millennial peers as they begin their adult lives. From kids heading straight to Wall Street after college, to those sleeping on it, Sher asks: “Who are you; what should you do; and how can you step into your destiny as a stakeholder in society?”

Tired of all the political rhetoric? Want a voting guide that truly does not care who you vote for, except that you think through your voting choices by examining your values and beliefs? This Vote Smart Quick Reference Guide is your answer. It provides a framework to think through an election grounded by your values and beliefs supported by goodness and an examination of foundationally historic documents in US history including the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Gettysburg Address.

¿Qué significa ser una mujer mentalmente fuerte? La aparición de los movimientos #MeToo y #TimesUp ha despertado a la sociedad y ha alentado a las mujeres a encontrar su voz y reclamar su poder. Pero para hacer esto, las mujeres deben aprender a mejorar su propia fuerza mental. Contender con una serie de problemas difíciles, desde la igualdad salarial hasta la agresión sexual, exige dureza psicológica.

The year is 2113. In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID - the most brutal controlling police force in history - rule supreme. No throwaway comment or whispered dissent goes unnoticed - or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a horrendous crime she struggles to remember. But Jenna’s violent prison time has taught her how to survive by any means necessary. When a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed, and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID and try to uncover the truth about what really happened.

What is a country? While certain basic tenets - such as the clear demarcation of a country's borders, and the acknowledgment of its sovereignty by other countries and by international governing bodies like the United Nations - seem applicable, journalist Joshua Keating's book explores exceptions to these rules. Through stories about these countries' efforts at self-determination, as well as their respective challenges, Keating reveals that there is no universal legal authority determining what we consider a country.

Is Social Security really going bust, and what does that mean to me? If I hire an immigrant, am I hurting a native-born worker? How much can presidents really affect economic outcomes? Why does the stock market go up when employment declines? What's a "living wage?" Why do I feel so squeezed? If you'd like to know the answers to these questions, premier economist Jared Bernstein is here to help.

As the battle rages, the First Amendment right of freedom of speech that protects people’s right to say unpopular things without government interference and the right to refuse to say things the government wants said is being called into question. The minority group argues that it is their right to “self-identify” as whatever they wish in order to accommodate their thoughts and feelings instead of accepting their bodily realities, thereby defying biological design in the process.

The majority of Americans are far closer in values than the ideological opinion-shapers lead us to believe. This book asks how we can restore the civic unity that our political elites have worked for years to dismantle.

Are you feeling frustrated because you’ve been passed over for that big-time promotion? Do you want to develop the essential skills needed to excel in government leadership positions? Do you want to make sure that you are investing your time and energy into leveraging your strengths to achieve that big promotion? Look no further. Unlike all those theoretical business leadership books that only teach you WHY it is important to be laser-focused on your goals, this eye-opening leadership development audiobook for government employees will help you understand HOW to achieve your goals.

Think about this: What if you had A tried and proven instruction manual on how to legally, ethically and effectively select and elect the right person for the job. . .every time!

Women of color today are contributing to an unprecedented wave of "firsts"-whether they are the first in a family to attend college, the first to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or the first in public office, women of color are reaching new heights of influence. Cecilia Muñoz was a first, too, and she knows what it means to make her way without exemplars to follow. The first Latinx to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council, Muñoz draws lessons from the challenges she faced as the senior Hispanic person in the Obama White House.

Combining the deft social analysis of Where Good Ideas Come From with the optimistic arguments of Everything Bad Is Good for You, New York Times best-selling author Steven Johnson's Future Perfect makes the case that a new model of political change is on the rise, transforming everything from local governments to classrooms, from protest movements to health care. Johnson paints a compelling portrait of this new political worldview.