The author describes his experiences working as a Peace Corps instructor in Togo, and depicts the daily life of African villagers (view table of contents)

Covering the civil war on an island nation off the coast of Asia, ambitious journalist Daniel Levin abandons his visting American fiancee to interview the leader of the guerilla movement and becomes an unwitting player in the political events

When Joe is mistaken for African, rather than African American, he realizes that letting the illusion stand opens up a whole new world

An acclaimed writer uses his own politically active family to dissect American liberalism, carefully tracing the various forces that have divided and unified liberals throughout American history. Reprint. 15,000 first printing. (view table of contents)

Nine distinguished authors--including Paul Berman, Kana Makiya, and William Finnegan--take a close-up, sometimes hard, look at American life, politics, and America's role in the world, covering such topics as globalization, economic inequality, secularism, and the war against terrorism. Original.

Named one of the Best Books of 2005 by The New York Times, The Washington Post Book World, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The New York Times Book Review, USA Today, Time, and New York magazine.  The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq recounts how the United States set about changing the history of the Middle East and became ensnared in a guerrilla war in Iraq. It brings to life the people and ideas that created the Bush administration’s war policy and led America to the Assassins’ Gate—the main point of entry into the American zone in Baghdad.  The Assassins’ Gate also describes the place of the war in American life: the ideological battles in Washington that led to chaos in Iraq, the ordeal of a fallen soldier ’s family, and the political culture of a country too bitterly polarized to realize such a vast and morally complex undertaking. George Packer’s best-selling first-person narrative combines the scope of an epic history with the depth and intimacy of a novel, creating a masterful account of America’s most controversial foreign venture since Vietnam.

Product Description: Based on the journalist-playwrights original article in The New Yorker, Betrayed is the story of three young Iraqi translators who risk everything for America's promise of freedom while their country collapses around them. A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Jeremy Beck, Kevin Daniels, Andrea Gabriel, John Getz, Sevan Greene, Sam Kanater and Waleed F...read more

George Orwell was first and foremost an essayist. From his earliest published article in 1928 to his untimely death in 1950, he produced an extraordinary array of short nonfiction that reflected—and illuminated—the fraught times in which he lived and wrote. "As soon as he began to write something," comments George Packer in his foreword to this new two-volume collection, "it was as natural for Orwell to propose, generalize, qualify, argue, judge—in short, to think—as it was for Yeats to versify or Dickens to invent."Facing Unpleasant Facts charts Orwell's development as a master of the narrative-essay form and unites classics such as "Shooting an Elephant" with lesser-known journalism and passages from his wartime diary. Whether detailing the horrors of Orwell's boyhood in an English boarding school or bringing to life the sights, sounds, and smells of the Spanish Civil War, these narrative essays weave together the personal and the political in an unmistakable style that is at once plainspoken and brilliantly complex.

Product Description: As we approach the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we have a chance to see more clearly how they were a turning point in America’s relationship with the world. America became more assertive abroad; its authority and legitimacy as the only superpower became more widely opposed; and the limitations of the U...read more