During 2008, the Democrats achieved in Florida a goal that had eluded them in all but three of the national elections since 1964: victory in the presidential race. Despite this success, the Republicans retained their dominance in the U.S. Congress and in the Florida State Legislature. The 2008 Elections in Florida utilizes multiple types of data to provide an explanation for the disparate outcomes of these elections. The book chronicles changes in voter registration and turnout ov...

This book places the 2010 elections in Florida in historical context and offers insight into and an explanation for the substantial gains made by the Republicans that year. This book provides narratives of gubernatorial, U.S. Senatorial, congressional, and state legislative campaigns along with empirical data on voter registration, voter turnout, and the electoral behavior of groups in the Florida electorate. It also speaks to the importance of national forces on state level elections and ...

Jeb Bush: Aggressive Conservatism in Florida describes the rise of John Ellis (Jeb) Bush, the second son of former President George H.W. Bush, to political power in Florida. It examines the conservative theory that guided his behavior when he was elected and the aggressive manner in which he used the Office of Governor to pursue his goals. The book offers insight into his motivations and competencies, provides an analysis of the extent to which his self proclaimed "revolution" ach...

This book places the 2012 election in Florida in historical context and provides an explanation for the outcome of the races involved. The book offers descriptions of the races for President, US Senate, US Congress and the Florida State Legislature as well as explanations for the outcomes of these races. The description and analysis uses empirical data on voter registration, voter turnout, and exit polls taken by major national news organizations. Voting behavior in the presidential race i...

Political parties, interest groups, and candidate campaigns all pursue similar goals in presidential elections: each entity attempts to mobilize voters. However, the regulatory environment often prevents these groups from coordinating their efforts. With participants playing by new rules mandated by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, the 2004 presidential election included previously unseen configurations and alliances between political actors. In some campaign situations, the resulting "...

'The Beheading' is the title piece of this spectacular collection of true stories and commentaries. It is an eye-witness account of a beheading in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia where the author witnessed savage and soul-destroying punishments. They are recounted in this book with great clarity and brutal honesty, but with the sensitivity and poignancy born of the insight of a man who has studied the culture and history of this land with meticulous care. But these stories are not for t...

Russia occupies a unique position in the Muslim world. Unlike any other non-Islamic state, it has ruled Muslim populations for over five hundred years. Though Russia today is plagued by its unrelenting war in Chechnya, Russia’s approach toward Islam once yielded stability. In stark contrast to the popular “clash of civilizations” theory that sees Islam inevitably in conflict with the West, Robert D. Crews reveals the remarkable ways in which Russia constructed an empire with broad Muslim s...

Rugged, remote, riven by tribal rivalries and religious violence, Afghanistan seems to many a country frozen in time and forsaken by the world. Afghan Modern presents a bold challenge to these misperceptions, revealing how Afghans, over the course of their history, have engaged and connected with a wider world and come to share in our modern globalized age.Always a mobile people, Afghan travelers, traders, pilgrims, scholars, and artists have ventured abroad for centuries,...

The Taliban remain one of the most elusive forces in modern history. A ragtag collection of clerics and madrasa students, this obscure movement emerged out of the rubble of the Cold War to shock the world with their draconian Islamic order. The Taliban refused to surrender their vision even when confronted by the United States after September 11, 2001. Reinventing themselves as part of a broad insurgency that destabilized Afghanistan, they pledged to drive out the Americans, NATO, and thei...

Known as the graveyard of empires, Afghanistan has now been singled out as Obama's "just war," the destination for an additional thirty thousand US troops in an effort to shore up an increasingly desperate occupation. Nick Turse brings together a range of leading commentators, politicians, and military strategists to analyze America's real motives and likely prospects. Through on-the-spot reporting, clear-headed analysis and historical comparisons with Afghanistan's previous occupiers-Brit...

In the West, media coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan is framed by military and political concerns, resulting in a simplistic picture of ageless barbarity, terrorist safe havens, and peoples in need of either punishment or salvation. Under the Drones looks beyond this limiting view to investigate real people on the ground, and to analyze the political, social, and economic forces that shape their lives. Understanding the complexity of life along the 1,600-mile border between Afg...

Spend the 12 nights of Christmas with some seriously sexy men! By authors, Caitlin Crews, Rebecca Winters, Tawny Webber, Brenda Harlen, Merline Lovelace, Karen Templeton, Sheri Whitefeather, Alison Roberts, Julie Kenner, Laura Marie Altom, Julie Kistler and Anna Depalo.You couldRun away with Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome to Paris.Fall for your first love all over again.Become the mistress of an Arabian royal.Fi...