Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 15753 items
Plutocrats: The rise of the new global super-rich and the fall of everyone else
By Chrystia Freeland. 2012
There has always been some gap between rich and poor in this country, but in the last few decades what…
it means to be rich has changed dramatically. Alarmingly, the greatest income gap is not between the 1 percent and the 99 percent, but within the wealthiest 1 percent of our nation-as the merely wealthy are left behind by the rapidly expanding fortunes of the new global super-rich. Forget the 1 percent; Plutocrats proves that it is the wealthiest 0.1 percent who are outpacing the rest of us at break-neck speed.What's changed is more than numbers. Today, most colossal fortunes are new, not inherited-amassed by perceptive businessmen who see themselves as deserving victors in a cut-throat international competition. As a transglobal class of successful professionals, today's self-made oligarchs often feel they have more in common with one another than with their countrymen back home. Bringing together the economics and psychology of these new super-rich, Plutocrats puts us inside a league very much of its own, with its own rules.The closest mirror to our own time is the late nineteenth century Gilded Age-the era of powerful 'robber barons' like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Then as now, emerging markets and innovative technologies collided to produce unprecedented wealth for more people than ever in human history. Yet those at the very top benefited far more than others-and from this pinnacle they exercised immense and unchecked power in their countries. Today's closest analogue to these robber barons can be found in the turbulent economies of India, Brazil, and China, all home to ferocious market competition and political turmoil. But wealth, corruption, and populism are no longer constrained by national borders, so this new Gilded Age is already transforming the economics of the West as well. Plutocrats demonstrates how social upheavals generated by the first Gilded Age may pale in comparison to what is in store for us, as the wealth of the entire globalized world is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.Cracking open the tight-knit world of the new global super-rich is Chrystia Freeland, an acclaimed business journalist who has spent nearly two decades reporting on the new transglobal elite. She parses an internal Citigroup memo that urges clients to design portfolios around the international "Plutonomy" and not the national "rest"; follows Russian, Mexican, and Indian oligarchs during the privatization boom as they manipulate the levers of power to commandeer their local economies; breaks down the gender divide between the vast female-managed 'middle class' and the world's one thousand billionaires; shows how, by controlling both the economic and political institutions of their nation, the richest members of China's National People's Congress have amassed more wealth than every branch of American government combined-the president, his cabinet, the justices of the Supreme Court, and both houses of Congress.Though the results can be shocking, Freeland dissects the lives of the world's wealthiest individuals with empathy, intelligence, and deep insight. Intelligently written, powerfully researched, and propelled by fascinating original interviews with the plutocrats themselves, Plutocrats is a tour-de-force of social and economic history, and the definitive examination of inequality in our time
From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Principles , who has spent half a…
century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history's most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we've experienced in our lifetimes—but similar to those that have happened many times before. A few years ago, Ray Dalio noticed a confluence of political and economic conditions he hadn't encountered before. They included huge debts and zero or near-zero interest rates that led to massive printing of money in the world's three major reserve currencies; big political and social conflicts within countries, especially the US, due to the largest wealth, political, and values disparities in more than 100 years; and the rising of a world power (China) to challenge the existing world power (US) and the existing world order. The last time that this confluence occurred was between 1930 and 1945. This realization sent Dalio on a search for the repeating patterns and cause/effect relationships underlying all major changes in wealth and power over the last 500 years. In this remarkable and timely addition to his Principles series, Dalio brings readers along for his study of the major empires—including the Dutch, the British, and the American—putting into perspective the "Big Cycle" that has driven the successes and failures of all the world's major countries throughout history. He reveals the timeless and universal forces behind these shifts and uses them to look into the future, offering practical principles for positioning oneself for what's ahead
The informant: the FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the murder of Viola Liuzzo
By Gary May. 2005
Examines the role of FBI informant Gary Thomas Rowe Jr., who infiltrated the Alabama Klan and identified suspects in the…
1965 murder of civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo, a white woman from Detroit, while he participated in other race crimes. Criticizes the effectiveness of the FBI's reliance upon informants. 2005
The quest: energy, security and the remaking of the modern world
By Daniel Yergin. 2011
The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (DB 32424) examines…
the worldwide energy crisis. Investigates increasing energy demands, environmental concerns, and the development of alternative and renewable resources. Bestseller. 2011
Cultural history of women in American law enforcement focuses on events that helped or hindered their progress toward equality. Uses…
archival documents and interviews to illuminate the expansion of women's roles from the 1840s, when matrons guarded prisoners, to the twenty-first century. Highlights incidents of workplace discrimination. Some violence. 2010
God is not one: the eight rival religions that run the world--and why their differences matter
By Stephen R. Prothero. 2010
Author of Religious Literacy (DB 64243) posits that religion is more than a private matter and affects the world socially,…
economically, politically, and militarily--as a force for both good and evil. Discusses the major religions, their traditions, and the importance of the differences among them. 2010
The triple agent: the al-Qaeda mole who infiltrated the CIA
By Joby Warrick. 2011
Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalist details the December 30, 2009, gathering in Khost, Afghanistan, of CIA and U.S. military officials…
and Pakistani and Afghani operatives to meet Jordanian pediatrician and spy Humam Khalil al-Balawi. Relates Balawi's subsequent suicide bombing, which killed himself and seven CIA personnel. 2011
Back to work: why we need smart government for a strong economy
By Bill Clinton. 2011
In the wake of the 2010 elections, former U.S. president Clinton explains his views of what has happened to America…
in the past thirty years and why our political system has not met the challenges facing our nation. Provides forty-six specific proposals to restore economic growth. Bestseller. 2011
The wealth cure: putting money in its place
By Hill Harper. 2011
Actor and author of Letters to a Young Brother (DB 62749) and Letters to a Young Sister (DB 70387) describes…
his cancer diagnosis, which led him to examine the meaning of happiness. Uses anecdotes to illustrate advice on building a financial foundation while resisting materialism. 2011
Confidence men: Wall Street, Washington, and the education of a president
By Ron Suskind. 2011
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist explores President Obama's handling of the country's economic crisis. Covers Obama's 2008 election, his choice of advisers,…
the fight over a health-care plan, and the financial reforms his administration instituted. Portrays the Obama White House as often dysfunctional and in disarray. Some strong language. Bestseller. 2011
Through veterans' eyes: the Iraq and Afghanistan experience
By Larry Minear. 2010
Commentary from post-9/11 veterans collected from the Library of Congress Veterans History Project and supplemented by author interviews. Covers reasons…
for enlisting; dealing with combat, local populations, and contractors; and living with post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injury. Strong language and some violence. 2010
Reckles$ endangerment: how outsized ambition, greed, and corruption led to economic armageddon
By Gretchen Morgenson, Joshua Rosner. 2011
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times business journalist Morgenson and financial analyst Rosner investigate the 2008 financial meltdown. They assert that…
government regulators and public agencies were complicit in creating the circumstances for the economic crisis and name individuals they consider to be the key players. Bestseller. 2011
Mother of invention: How good ideas get ignored in an economy built for men
By Katrine Marçal. 2021
An illuminating and maddening examination of how gender bias has skewed innovation, technology, history and work.It all starts with a…
rolling suitcase. The wheel was invented some 5,000 years ago, and the modern suitcase in the mid-nineteenth century, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that someone successfully married the two. What was the hold up? For writer and journalist Katrine Marçal, the answer is both shocking and simple: because "real men" carried their bags, no matter how heavy. There were rolling suitcases before the '70s, but they were marketed as a niche product for (the presumably few) women travelling alone, and the wheeled suitcase wasn't "invented" until it was no longer threatening to masculinity. Mother of Invention draws on this example and many others, from electric cars to tech billionaires, to show how gender bias stifles the economy and holds us back. Our traditional notions about men and women have delayed innovations, sometimes by hundreds of years, and have distorted our understanding of our history. While we talk about the Iron Age and the Bronze Age, we might as well talk about the Ceramic Age or the Flax Age, since these technologies were just as important. But inventions associated with women are not considered to be technology in the same way. Katrine Marçal’s Mother of Invention is a fascinating examination of business, technology, and innovation through a feminist lens. Marçal takes us on a tour of the global economy, arguing that gendered assumptions dictate which businesses get funding, how we value work, and how we trace human progress. And it carries a powerful message: If we upend our biases, we can unleash our full potential, tackling climate change and wielding technology to become more human, rather than less.
Busted: a tale of corruption and betrayal in the city of brotherly love
By Wendy Ruderman, Barbara Laker. 2014
Two Philadelphia Daily News reporters chronicle their probe into corruption in the Philadelphia Police Department narcotics squad, for which they…
won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. Some strong language. 2014
Turning the tables: restaurants and the rise of the American middle class, 1880-1920
By Andrew P. Haley. 2011
Cultural historian examines connections between the development of American restaurants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the…
evolution of the middle class. Discusses menus, service to women, and the gradual acceptance of various ethnic foods. 2011
Jungleland: a mysterious lost city, a WWII spy, and a true story of deadly adventure
By Christopher S. Stewart. 2013
Journalist recounts his 2008 search for the lost city of Ciudad Blanca in Central America. Discusses studying the 1940 expedition…
journals of American spy Theodore Morde, who claimed to have found the city. Compares Morde's journey with his own. Young adult appeal. 2013
The savage city: race, murder, and a generation on the edge
By T. J. English. 2011
Explores tensions between the African American community and the NYPD during the 1960s. Examines the murders of two white upper-East-Side…
women and the coerced confession of nineteen-year-old drifter George Whitmore Jr., corruption on the police force, and the roles played by leading activists. Violence and strong language. 2011
Bomb: the race to build and steal the world's most dangerous weapon
By Steve Sheinkin. 2012
Award-winning author recounts the history of the atom bomb and the race among the United States, Nazi Germany, and the…
Soviet Union to build--or steal--the deadly weapon during World War II. For junior and senior high and older readers. 2012
In the name of the children: an FBI agent's relentless pursuit of the nation's worst predators
By Marilee Strong, Jeffrey L. Rinek. 2018
Former FBI agent recounts his career working on cases of kidnapped and murdered children. Discusses investigative techniques, the ways the…
FBI interacts with other agencies, and sensational crimes such as the 1999 Yosemite National Park murders. Relates the psychological effects on him, including suicide attempts, and his family. Violence. 2018
The Black Lives Matter movement
By Peggy J. Parks. 2018
Explores the Black Lives Matter movement that was launched in 2013 to address civil rights issues against African American citizens.…
Covers the divide between black citizens and the police, the formation of the movement, its detractors, and law enforcement accountability. For junior and senior high and older readers. 2018