NONFICTION
Released: April 10, 2013
"Generally engaging and often illuminating, but the study might better have gone deeper rather than wide."
The veteran journalist offers a survey of political caricature, international in scope, but a little sketchy in its short biographical summaries.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013
"A dense sociological report on the facts and falsehoods of the political leanings of professors."
Gross (Sociology/Univ. of British Columbia;
Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher, 2008, etc.) examines the facts behind the conservative movement's oft-heard criticism of higher education: that American universities are, as presidential candidate Rick Santorum famously said, little more than "indoctrination mills" for the political left.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013
"For students of Indian affairs or global economics, particularly in the East."
Bhagwati (Economics/Columbia Univ.) and Panagariya (Indian Economics/Columbia Univ.) collaborate again (co-editors:
India's Reforms: How They Produced Inclusive Growth, 2012, etc.) in this rebuttal of critics of India's present economic performance.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013
"Missing the voice and presence of a man who could be an outrageously entertaining speaker, these transcripts fail to match the depth of his writing, as well."
These transcripts of four interviews with the late man of letters offer some provocative volleys but cover the same ground too often and don't show Vidal fully amplifying his ideas.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013
"Resolutely, proudly left wing/radical/anarchic with an exuberant optimism that usually keeps the tendentious text aloft."
A professor and social activist for Occupy Wall Street rehearses the history of OWS and of democracy and argues for a more "horizontal" approach to political decision-making.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 9, 2013
"A well-reported, smoothly written book for anyone who wants to understand contemporary American military might and the widespread hatred for the U.S. that has been the result."
Pulitzer Prize–winning
New York Times national security correspondent Mazzetti demonstrates in horrifying, persuasive detail how the new-style warfare approved by both George W. Bush and Barack Obama has led to controversial assassinations by the U.S. government and blowback yielding new terrorists determined to harm American citizens.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 8, 2013
"The prose is sometimes sluggish and the recommendations perhaps quixotic, but the portrait of the university features stark lines and alarming colors."
How a large Midwestern state university (unnamed in this longitudinal study) does little to help young women move upward or outward from their working- and middle-class backgrounds.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 8, 2013
"A knowledgeable survey for students and a glimpse into what the Islamist future might offer."
A solid overview of the Arab revolutions, country by country, from the first nationalist stirrings of the 1950s that put the dictators in place to the snowballing events in recent years.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 3, 2013
"A clear explanation of a complicated, and severely flawed, idea."
NONFICTION
Released: April 2, 2013
"A skillful presentation that lifts the veil too often hiding areas that should be brought to light."
NONFICTION
Released: April 2, 2013
"Inspired, breath-of-fresh-air reading, especially for those who have ever questioned what the public school system can do for American children."
A veteran educator's uplifting account of how he introduced schoolchildren to global problems through a visionary game that charged them with saving the world.
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NONFICTION
Released: April 2, 2013
"A worthy tool for liberal educators, but it is not likely to change the minds of conservatives who feel that prisoners are getting what they deserve."
A graphic primer on the inequities of the American penal system, presumably aimed at students who have yet to form an opinion on the subject.
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