The United States
Frum’s polemics will not win many hearts and minds in the Tea Party, but his goal is less to win over his critics than to sound the alarm to a GOP establishment that, in his view, too readily gave the Tea Party kids the keys to the family car. As the party begins a reappraisal, the clear and coherent arguments in this passionately argued book will help shape the debate.
In this brilliant new look at the destruction of slavery during the American Civil War, Oakes reveals how the U.S. abolitionist movement relied not only on high-minded moral suasion but also on the small-bore legalistic strategy of the Republican Party.
Reynolds’ core argument seems correct: social and technological changes are pushing higher education toward dramatic changes, including universities -- and individual professors -- offering classes over the Internet. Smart academics will begin to prepare now for this transformation.
Zingales is an entertaining and helpful guide to the story of how the U.S. government’s bailouts of Wall Street firms triggered populist resistance on both the left and the right of the U.S. political spectrum. This is an important and engaging look at some of the most consequential issues facing the United States today.
In this uneven but often very lively book, Flynn and Griffin demonstrate why it is important to write about U.S. history in a global context -- and why it is difficult to do so well. Some of Flynn and Griffin’s judgments seem forced, but their central contention is certainly sound: Washington’s embrace of constitutionalism and Napoleon’s turn to military despotism sprang not from any deep difference in their characters but from the political cultures that surrounded them and the differing sets of circumstances they faced.
