The Babies Hospital, now known as Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, was founded in 1887 by Drs. Sarah and Julia McNutt in a brownstone on Fifty-Fifth Street and Lexington Avenue. The hospital is the first freestanding children's hospital in New York City and the fourth oldest in the United States. However, the hospital traces its roots to the establishment of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, then King's College, more than 250 years ago. In 1929, the ...

This essay collection presents a comprehensive history on the development and growth of US governmental power at home and around the world.The question of how the American state defines its power has become central to a range of historical topics, from the founding of the Republic and the role of the educational system to the functions of agencies and America's place in the world. Yet conventional histories of the state have not reckoned adequately with the roots o...

Dive into the epic ancient history of a wandering warrior tribe that survived brutal wars to shatter the Roman Empire. Perfect for an immersive commute, this dramatic narrative transforms faceless barbarians into desperate refugees, cunning diplomats, and fierce conquerors. Witness a tense clash of civilizations where survival demands reshaping the entire Western world.Instead of a sudden catastrophic collapse, follow the generations-long struggle of power, rebellion, and assimilat...

In this "jaw-dropping play-by-play of how the Treasury Department bungled the financial bailouts" (USA TODAY), a former federal prosecutor offers behind-the-scenes proof of the corrupt ways Washington officials serve the interests of Wall Street.At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Neil Barofsky gave up his job as a prosecutor in the esteemed US Attorney’s Office in New York City, where he had convicted drug kingpins, Wall Street executives, and ...

Do you ever wonder if there’s a connection between the corruption scandals in the news and the steady decline in the quality of life for millions of Americans?Do you ever wonder what corporations get for the millions of dollars they pour into the American political system?Do you ever think the government has been hijacked by forces hostile to average Americans?Do you ever want to fight back?Millions of Americans lack health care and millions more struggle to...

"Informative and entertaining . . . convincingly argue[s] that an interest in popular culture can counterbalance the growing tide of political apathy." — Publishers WeeklyWhile pundits may accuse popular culture of brainwashing, indoctrinating, distracting, or dumbing down the masses, the fact is that Americans have long turned to entertainment sources to make sense of politics, through television shows such as The Simpsons, The West Wing...

In “an unabashedly biased, deeply researched book” (SF Gate), Ed Asner—the actor who starred as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show—reclaims the Constitution from the right-wingers who think that they and only they know how to interpret it.Ed Asner, a self-proclaimed dauntless Democrat from the old days, figured that if the right-wing wackos are wrong about voter fraud, Obama’s death panels, and climate change, they are probably just as wrong a...

Less than a month after the September 11th attacks, a tiny, CIA-controlled Predator drone flew over Kandahar, searching out the home of the Taliban supreme commander Mullah Mohammed Omar. A lack of understanding of the drone's capabilities combined with a messy chain of command allowed Omar to escape, but the strike on a nearby convoy vehicle became the Predator's first lethal action. Since then, the use of armed drones has become the dominant American way of war. In Sudden Justice

Former Senator Gary Hart’s The Republic of Conscience is a meditation on the growing gap between the founding principles of the United States Constitution and our current political landscape.Going back as early as 400 BC, the idea of a true republic has been threatened by narrow, special interests taking precedence over the commonwealth. The United States Constitution was drafted to protect against such corruption, but as Gary Hart details in The Repub...

Imagine a nation with the highest proportion of women legislators in the world. Imagine a country where a democratically elected president is committed to gender equality and poverty reduction, where urban and rural schools are being wired to the Internet, and where the government is committed to becoming a middle-income country by 2020. Imagine that this country is located in the heart of sub-Saharan Africa and that this progress comes in the wake of one of the 20th century's worst genoci...

Emotions matter in politics - enthusiastic supporters return politicians to office, angry citizens march in the streets, a fearful public demands protection from the government. Anxious Politics explores the emotional life of politics, with particular emphasis on how political anxieties affect public life. When the world is scary, when politics is passionate, when the citizenry is anxious, does this politics resemble politics under more serene conditions? If politicians use threatening app...

Although How to Cope with a Hitler was the beginning motivation to write this book, the inclusions grew like Topsy. The themes threading their way through the pages are consistent even though interrupted by various personal experiences and musings. The themes are relateda kinder and gentler everybody, active nonviolent solutions to problems, improved leadership, and improved followers. Some proposals in my musings may seem far-out, but if you can stay with me to the end, you may be satisfi...