From the Publisher: Thomas L. Friedman's No. 1 bestseller The World Is Flat has helped millions of readers to see the world, and globalization, in a new way. With his latest book, Friedman brings a fresh and provocative outlook to another pressing issue: the interlinked crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy-both of which could poison our world if we do not act quickly and collectively. His argument speaks to the 2008 presidential election-and to all of us who are concerned about the state of America and its role in the global future. "Green is the new red, white, and blue," Friedman declares, and proposes that an ambitious national strategy-which he calls geo-greenism-is not only what we need to save the planet from overheating, it is what we need to make America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure in the coming E C E-the Energy-Climate Era. Green-oriented practices and technologies, established at scale everywhere from Washington to Wal-Mart, are both the only way to mitigate climate change and the best way for America to "get its groove back"-to "reknit America at home, reconnect America abroad, retool America for the new century, and restore America to its natural place in the global order." As in The World Is Flat and his previous bestseller The Lexus and the Olive Tree, he explains the future we are facing through an illuminating account of recent events. He explains how 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the flattening of the world by the Internet, which has brought three billion new consumers onto the world stage, have combined to bring the climate and energy issues to main street. But they have not really gone down main street yet. Indeed, it is Friedman's view that we are not really having the green revolution that the press keeps touting, or, if we are, "it is the only revolution in history," he says, "where no one got hurt." No, to the contrary, argues Friedman, we're actually having a "green party." We have not even begun to be serious yet about the speed and scale of change that is required. With all that in mind, Friedman lays out his argument that if we are going to avoid the worst disruptions looming before us as we enter the Energy-Climate Era, we are going to need several disruptive breakthroughs in the clean-technology sphere-disruptive in the transformational sense. He explores what enabled the disruptive breakthroughs that created the IT (Information Technology) revolution that flattened the world in information terms and then shows how a similar set of disruptive breakthroughs could spark the ET-Energy Technology-revolution. Time and again, though, Friedman shows why it is both necessary and desirous for America to lead this revolution-with the first green president, a green New Deal, and spurred by the Greenest Generation-and why meeting the green challenge of the twenty-first century could transform America every bit as meeting the Red challenge, that of Communism, did in the twentieth century. Hot, Flat, and Crowded is classic Thomas L Friedman-fearless, incisive, forward-looking, and rich in surprising common sense about the world we live in today.

The End of Iraq, definitive, tough-minded, clear-eyed, describes America's failed strategy toward that country and what must be done now. The United States invaded Iraq with grand ambitions to bring it democracy and thereby transform the Middle East. Instead, Iraq has disintegrated into three constituent components: a pro-western Kurdistan in the north, an Iran-dominated Shiite entity in the south, and a chaotic Sunni Arab region in the center. The country is plagued by insurgency and is in the opening phases of a potentially catastrophic civil war. George W. Bush broke up Iraq when he ordered its invasion in 2003. The United States not only removed Saddam Hussein, it also smashed and later dissolved the institutions by which Iraq's Sunni Arab minority ruled the country: its army, its security services, and the Baath Party. With these institutions gone and irreplaceable, the basis of an Iraqi state has disappeared. The End of Iraq describes the administration's strategic miscalculations behind the war as well as the blunders of the American occupation. There was the failure to understand the intensity of the ethnic and religious divisions in Iraq. This was followed by incoherent and inconsistent strategies for governing, the failure to spend money for reconstruction, the misguided effort to create a national army and police, and then the turning over of the country's management to Republican political loyalists rather than qualified professionals. As a matter of morality, Galbraith writes, the Kurds of Iraq are no less entitled to independence than are Lithuanians, Croatians, orPalestinians. And if the country's majority Shiites want to run their own affairs, or even have their own state, on what democratic principle should they be denied? If the price of a unified Iraq is another dictatorship, Galbraith writes in The End of Iraq, it is too high a price to pay. The United States must focus now, not on preserving or forging a unified Iraq, but on avoiding a spreading and increasingly dangerous and deadly civil war. It must accept the reality of Iraq's breakup and work with Iraq's Shiites, Kurds, and Sunni Arabs to strengthen the already semi-independent regions. If they are properly constituted, these regions can provide security, though not all will be democratic. There is no easy exit from Iraq for America. We have to relinquish our present strategy -- trying to build national institutions when there is in fact no nation. That effort is doomed, Galbraith argues, and it will only leave the United States with an open-ended commitment in circumstances of uncontrollable turmoil. Peter Galbraith has been in Iraq many times over the last twenty-one years during historic turning points for the country: the Iran-Iraq War, the Kurdish genocide, the 1991 uprising, the immediate aftermath of the 2003 war, and the writing of Iraq's constitutions. In The End of Iraq, he offers many firsthand observations of the men who are now Iraq's leaders. He draws on his nearly two decades of involvement in Iraq policy working for the U.S. government to appraise what has occurred and what will happen. The End of Iraq is the definitive account of this war and itsramifications.

A star White House journalist provides a gripping look inside the meeting rooms, the in-boxes, and the super-sharp minds of the pedigreed propeller heads who attempted to guide President Obama out of a global economic crisis.

Each day, Donald Boudreaux, professor of economics at George Mason University, writes a letter to the editor of a major American publication. Often, he writes in response to an absurdity offered up by a columnist or politician, or an eye-catching factoid misleadingly taken out of context. This collection, comprised of one hundred of Boudreaux's best letters, provides intelligent, witty rejoinders to questions like these:

- Are taxes "really just prices"? (New York Times)
- Does the Tea Party suffer from a "fatuous infatuation" with the Constitution? (Washington Post)
- Is it "obvious" that "if there are fewer guns, there are fewer shootings and fewer funerals" (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
- Has "slowing population growth" proven to be "critical to long-term economic growth"? (Wall Street Journal)

Without swearing allegiance to any party or ideology, Boudreaux takes aim at pundits and politicos on the left, right, and everywhere between. He tackles issues ranging from "lookism" in the office and the futility of border walls to naive faith in alternative energy and the all-too-common tendency to trust a fallible and ever-expanding government.

Half-truths and Hypocrites won't change the deeply held convictions of readers. But it will entertain them, enlighten them, and sharpen their eye for shaky facts, faulty reasoning, and intellectual dishonesty--all of which are threats to a free, prosperous country.

Kritische beschouwingen over de Amerikaanse politiek onder het presidentschap van George W. Bush en uiteenlopende facetten van de Amerikaanse samenleving.

Beschouwingen en columns over het veranderende politieke klimaat, mede na de moord op Theo van Gogh op 2 november 2004.

Deg eheime geschiedenis van de CIA en de regering Bush

Nooit eerder in de Europese geschiedenis bereikten zovelen een zo hoge levensstandaard en levensverwachting, een zo hoog opleidingsniveau, zo veel vrijheid en toegang tot zo veel informatie en communicatiemogelijkheden als nu. Toch woedt er een debat over de 'crisis van de democratie' en heerst er onbehagen over het politieke immobilisme. Acht eeuwen lang is in Europa gevochten voor (mede)zeggenschap in het bestuur van dorpen, steden en vorstendommen. De democratische rechtsstaat is hier pas in de loop van de twintigste eeuw ten volle gerealiseerd, maar zeker nog niet overal ingeburgerd. Politieke participatie is sinds 1200 onder impuls van emancipatiebewegingen in golven verruimd en telkens opnieuw onderdrukt. Steeds trachten gevestigde elites, ook de nieuwe, zich met alle middelen vast te klampen aan hun posities. Opname van emancipatiebewegingen in raden en parlementen houdt het gevaar in van inkapseling in de heersende routines en verstarring. Daardoor treedt vervreemding op ten opzichte van de sociale basis. 'Bottom-up'-vertegenwoordiging ontaardt makkelijk in 'top-down'-machtsvertoon. Dit boek bekijkt de geschiedenis van Europese staten vanuit de opeenvolgende emancipatiebewegingen en onderzoekt waarom ze telkens weer vastliepen. Dat helpt om de huidige malaise te begrijpen.

Indigenous societies today face difficult choices: can they develop, modernize, and advance without endangering their sacred traditions and communal identity? Specifically, can their communities benefit from national education while resisting the tendency of state-imposed programs to undermine their cultural sovereignty, language, and traditions? According to Lois Meyer and Benjamín Maldonado, these are among the core questions being faced by indigenous societies whose comunalidad—or communal way of life—is at odds with the dictates of big business and the social programs of the state.

To explore these issues in depth, Meyer and Maldonado conducted a series of dialogues with Noam Chomsky, and invited numerous organizers and intellectuals from indigenous communities of resistance to comment. In three in-depth conversations, Chomsky offers poignant lessons from his vast knowledge of world history, linguistics, economics, anti-authoritarian philosophy and personal experience, and traces numerous parallels with other peoples who have resisted state power while attempting to modernize, develop, survive, and sustain their unique community identity and tradition. Following the interviews are commentaries from more than a dozen activists and intellectuals from the Americas, who speak from their on-the-ground experiences and work with indigenous communities in Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru.

We are bombarded with images of poverty, terrorism, war and collapsing states. Do we ever question what the root cause of these problems might be? Noreena Hertz, one of the world's leading experts on economic globalization, tackles Third World Debt as a situation that must be resolved if we are ever to see global stability.

For every $1 the West gives to developing countries in aid, developing countries pay the West $9 in debt service.

At the beginning of the new millennium we are witnessing a global debt crisis of unprecedented size. Sub-Saharan Africa owes $200 billion, Brazil $223.8 billion, Argentina $155 billion. Why does this matter? In this shocking, ground-breaking book, Noreena Hertz shows that these numbers matter because they account for millions of people dying of AIDS; for the rainforests being cut down; for poverty, illiteracy, terrorism and war. These numbers matter because they will affect all of our lives if the balance is not redressed.

'IOU' is a story of avarice but also of vulnerability; of power asymmetries and misuse of influence; of corrupt dictators and careless lenders; of Cold War interests and Wall Street pressure; of third world governments who get given it, and third world people who have no access to it. Noreena Hertz, one of the world's leading experts on economic globalisation, argues that this is not an issue of left or right: it is an issue of right versus wrong, of peace versus war. It must be addressed now.

Rechtsfilosoof en ethicus Cliteur gaat in zijn essays uit van dagelijkse voorvallen die ons confronteren met de culturele verschillen in opvatting in een pluriforme samenleving.

We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the US President. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases. How did truth become an endangered species? This decline began decades ago, and in The Death of Truth, former New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani takes a penetrating look at the cultural forces that contributed to this gathering storm. In social media and literature, television, academia, and political campaigns, Kakutani identifies the trends - originating on both the right and the left - that have combined to elevate subjectivity over factuality, science, and common values. And she returns us to the words of the great critics of authoritarianism, writers like George Orwell and Hannah Arendt, whose work is newly and eerily relevant. With remarkable erudition and insight, Kakutani offers a provocative diagnosis of our current condition and presents a path forward for our truth-challenged times.

Justice is simultaneously a practical and an ideal concept: when we think of justice, we refer to its day-to-day administration, involving police, lawyers, judges, and politicians--but we also refer to a larger ideal, a set of basic values that guide our attempts to live together and balance competing interests, obligations, and freedoms. If we lose sight of the practical, the ideal will fail--but if we forget the ideal, the practical becomes pointless.

On Rules is the culmination of decades of thinking about and working within the law as both an ideal and a realm of practical action. Gherardo Colombo brings to his rich philosophical analysis of the culture of justice thirty years of experience in the Italian judiciary, which saw him head up numerous important and sensitive commissions and inquiries. His exploration of the concept and application of rules of justice is powerful and clear: if we don't root our experience in a fundamental respect for rules, we cannot have a functioning, just society.

The modern state is hugely important in our everyday lives. It takes nearly half our income in taxes. It registers our births, marriages and deaths. It educates our children and pays our pensions. It has a unique power to compel, in some cases exercising the ultimate sanction of preserving life or ordering death. Yet most of us would struggle to say exactly what the state is.
The Modern Stateoffers a clear, comprehensive and provoking introduction to one of the most important phenomena of contemporary life. Topics covered include:
* the nation state and its historical context
* state and economy
* state and societies
* state and citizens
* international relations
* the future of the state

De Nederlandse politiek in een notendop" helpt de lezer de parlementaire democratie beter te begrijpen. De auteurs beschrijven het ontstaan van het systeem, de ontwikkeling van de politieke partijen en de dagelijkse gang van zaken in politiek Den Haag. Daarbij wisselen historische en actuele hoofdstukken elkaar af. Op deze manier is politiek niet saai, maar juist heel boeiend.

In dit boek gaat arabist Jan Jaap de Ruiter (1959), verbonden aan de Universiteit van Tilburg, in op het PVV-gedachtegoed zoals verwoord door PVV-Kamerlid Martin Bosma in zijn 'De schijn-élite van de valse munters' dat in 2010 verscheen. Helder analyserend legt De Ruiter uit dat het PVV-denken sterk zwart-wit is en zich op een vijftal thema's richt: het christendom, de islam, de joden en Israël, de linkse partijen en immigratie en multiculturaliteit. Daarnaast besteedt De Ruiter aandacht aan de wording van de PVV als politieke beweging en de manier waarop Martin Bosma omgaat met cijfers en feiten. Deze publicatie sluit af met een verhaal waarin De Ruiter zijn zorg uit over wat er gebeurt als uitsluiting in een samenleving regel wordt.

Deze uitgave van Pro Domo is een poging tot rehabilitatie van een van de belangrijkste bestuurders die Amsterdam gekend heeft: Monne de Miranda (1875-1942). Opgeklommen uit de armoede van het joodse getto bepaalde De Miranda samen met de legendarische wethouder Wibaut in de jaren '20 en '30 het gezicht van het snel groeiende Amsterdam. Tot zijn val in 1939, toen de SDAP-politicus in de pers valselijk werd beschuldigd van corruptie. Een val die achteraf gezien een vroeg voorbeeld is van een publieke karaktermoord, met alle elementen die daarbij horen: de vijanden, het onbewaakte ogenblik, het gebrek aan dekking uit eigen gelederen. Tevergeefs probeerde De Miranda zich te verweren tegen de brochure Pro Domo, maar nooit bereikte hij meer het grote publiek. Doordat de oorlog uitbrak bleven de gedrukte vellen in de kelders van De Arbeiderspers liggen. In deze uitgave van Pro Domo krijgt Monne De Miranda eindelijk de kans zijn eigen, volledige verhaal te doen.

Kritische visie van de GroenLinks-politica op hedendaags consumentengedrag en overconsumptie.

Schets van de overeenkomsten en verschillen in de politieke culturen van Nederland en België.

Peter Bakers indrukwekkende verslag van het presidentschap van Barack Obama is het eerste complete overzicht van een gedenkwaardige acht jaar. Baker bekijkt Obama's wapenfeiten en tegenslagen, en laat de werkelijke erfenis zien van de man die, zoals hij zelf zegt, er anders uitziet dan de presidenten op de dollarbiljetten.

Met levendige foto's van o.a. The New York Times-fotografen van gebeurtenissen, groot en klein, in de schijnwerpers en achter de schermen, die bepalend waren voor Barack Obama's presidentschap. Obama: de president van hoop en vernieuwing is een portret ten voeten uit van Amerika's eerste Afro-Amerikaanse president – in een tumultueuze tijd.

Peter Baker (1967) is een Amerikaanse politiek analist en verslaggever, die als Witte Huis-correspondent voor The New York Times het presidentschap van Obama op de voet volgde: de president en zijn beleid, de man en zijn gezin. Eerder was hij twintig jaar verslaggever voor The Washington Post, in welke tijd hij de presidenten Clinton en George W. Bush volgde. Baker is een veel gevraagde gast op de Amerikaanse televisie en radio.