Monday, January 9, 2012
Monday, December 26, 2011
193: It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton
It Takes a Village, Tenth Anniversary Edition
In this book published in 1996, then First Lady Hillary Clinton lays out her vision for helping the nation's children. Intertwined through the legislative advice are anecdotes from her own childhood and life as a mother as well as inspirational stories of children.
Why this is liberal/progressive: Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the most influential political liberals of the early 21st century. As First Lady she had the opportunity to pick a signature issue and be heard. Clinton chose children. In this book about how children have been a positive influence on her values, she provides a legislative roadmap to creating a more humane childhood for the kids in the US. While this book is intentionally uncontroversial and bland it does a nice job introducing the liberal argument for expanded healthcare and education for children.
Buy the Kindle version: It Takes a Village
194: All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward
All the President's Men
From the Book Description:
"Beginning with the story of a simple burglary at Democratic headquarters and then continuing with headline after headline, Bernstein and Woodward kept the tale of conspiracy and the trail of dirty tricks and dark secrets coming -- delivering the stunning revelations and pieces in the Watergate puzzle that brought about Nixon's scandalous downfall. Their explosive reports won a Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post and toppled the President. This is their book that changed America."
Why this is progressive/liberal: It's a classic. Everyone interested in US politics should be familiar with this story.
Buy the Kindle version: All the President's Men: 20th Anniversary Ed
195: With Liberty and Justice for Some by Glenn Greenwald
With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful
From the Book Description:
"From the nation's beginnings, the law was to be the great equalizer in American life, the guarantor of a common set of rules for all. But over the past four decades, the principle of equality before the law has been effectively abolished. Instead, a two-tiered system of justice ensures that the country's political and financial class is virtually immune from prosecution, licensed to act without restraint, while the politically powerless are imprisoned with greater ease and in greater numbers than in any other country in the world.
"Starting with Watergate, continuing on through the Iran-Contra scandal, and culminating with Obama's shielding of Bush-era officials from prosecution, Glenn Greenwald lays bare the mechanisms that have come to shield the elite from accountability. He shows how the media, both political parties, and the courts have abetted a process that has produced torture, war crimes, domestic spying, and financial fraud."
Why this is liberal/progressive: Greenwald is one of the most consistently thorough and cogent critics of the Obama administration from the progressive side of the political spectrum. Greenwald's commitment to civil liberties and intellectual freedom has proven to be non-partisan. He demonstrates, almost on a daily basis, that when it comes to rolling back our constitutional liberties, Obama is just as bad as, if not worse than, George W. Bush.
Buy the Kindle version: With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful
196: The Mendacity of Hope by Roger Hodge
The Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism
From the Book Description:
"Americans on the left find themselves in genuine confusion and dismay about the actions of President Obama’s administration, especially when it comes to the financial crisis. True reform seems stalled. In The Mendacity of Hope, Roger D. Hodge makes the provocative case that, actually, true reform never began. Behind the high of Obama's victory was in fact a business-as-usual corporatist machine, the bloc of coalitions and business interests at the heart of the Democratic party's new power base: investors counting on a return on their investment. And a return they have received. From his close ties to financial firms Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase to his appointments of prominent members of the Democratic Leadership Council to top cabinet positions, Obama proved almost immediately that he was no reformer.
"None of Obama's most important campaign promises—ending the Iraq war, ending torture, closing Guantánamo—have come to pass. He has escalated the conflict in Afghanistan, bailed out Wall Street, and institutionalized the abuses of the Bush regime. A different kind of president could play the forces of corporate interest differently in the service of genuine progressive reform; but the fantasy, the smoke machine, of American power is that a different kind of president is not possible without a different kind of America, Hodge argues. Failing to understand the game, we blame the player—true as far as it goes, which isn't very far at all. A brilliantly crafted call to arms, The Mendacity of Hope offers an essential analysis of the American political system and the powerful players who control our government."
Why this is progressive/liberal: Obama's policy towards progressives seems to be of the who-else-are-they-going-to-vote-for? variety. This book lays out part of the progressive argument against Obama, while Glenn Greenwald does the rest.
Buy the Kindle version: The Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism
197: The Good Fight by Peter Beinart
The Good Fight: Why Liberals---and Only Liberals---Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again (P.S.)
The New Republic editor Peter Beinart lays out the liberal case for war. He uses Cold War liberalism as his guide and advocates a battle on modern-day terrorism similar to the Cold War battles against Stalinist Communism.
Why this is liberal/progressive: Beinart's work makes it onto this list because of his role as editor at the ostensibly liberal The New Republic.
198: Griftopia by Matt Taibbi
Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History
From the Book Description:
"The financial crisis that exploded in 2008 isn't past but prologue. The grifter class—made up of the largest players in the financial industry and the politicians who do their bidding—has been growing in power, and the crisis was only one terrifying manifestation of how they’ve hijacked America’s political and economic life.
"Matt Taibbi has combined deep sources, trailblazing reportage, and provocative analysis to create the most lucid, emotionally galvanizing account yet written of this ongoing American crisis. He offers fresh reporting on the backroom deals of the bailout; tells the story of Goldman Sachs, the 'vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity'; and uncovers the hidden commodities bubble that transferred billions of dollars to Wall Street while creating food shortages around the world."
Why this is progressive/liberal: Matt Taibbi won the National Magazine Award in 2008 for his Rolling Stone columns and this book demonstrates the strength of his writing. Writing for RS, Taibbi has the freedom to be as profane and polemic as he wants to be as long as he keeps writing some of the smartest and best researched journalism in the US.
Buy the Kindle version: Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America
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