Civil Government

The inspiring story of how we overcame a history of infectious disease, poisonous environments, and early death and unlocked an explosion in human potential—and a vision for the work ahead to optimize human flourishing in the twenty-first century “Michelle Williams understands what too many...

A nation is exiled from itself to prison; a nation is re-awakened through the storytelling of its origins; understand Indonesia through Pramoedya’s booksIn 1981, a new company, Hasta Mitra, founded by three men just released from over a decade in prison, published a novel written in a prison...

One of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction One of The Washington Post's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year A New York Times Editors' Choice Pick “Powerful… [and] fascinating.” —The Washington Post The remarkable story of...

Cincuenta años tuvieron que pasar para conocer por qué ocurrió la masacre del 2 de octubre. Hoy podemos saber con certeza histórica por qué, cómo y quiénes orquestaron la oscura noche de Tlatelolco.

America's political landscape is experiencing dangerous polarization and fragmentation, with the extremes pulling the country apart. Voices on the left and right clash over different worldviews, narratives, definitions of America, and what it means to be an American citizen. The levels of incivility and hostility lead some to invoke the language of a cold civil war or even a looming civil war, one that could split the country in two. Is there any way to step back from this dangerous precipice?

First published in 1961, John Hope Franklin’s revelatory study of the Reconstruction Era is a landmark work of history, exploring the role of former slaves and dispelling longstanding popular myths about corruption and Radical rule. Looking past dubious scholarship that had previously dominated the narrative, Franklin combines astute insight and careful research to provide an accurate, comprehensive portrait of the era.

The spectacular story of the Great Centennial Exhibition of 1876—held in the shadow of a highly contested presidential election that triggered the collapse of Reconstruction and laid the foundations of the Republican Party we know today “Those who were there felt that the wheel of history...

From one of the most trusted commentators on the issues facing black Americans today, The Vanishing Black Family exposes the real force holding back black Americans—and it’s closer to home than you think. Since 2020, there’s been a sustained effort to narrow the divide between black and...

Ever since the guns fell silent in July 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg has emerged as the defining conflict in our nation's history. American memory has established Gettysburg as the most important, most heroic, most savage battle this nation has ever fought. It has become our Waterloo, our battle of Marathon, our siege of Troy. In this riveting historical reappraisal, esteemed Civil War historian, Thomas A. Desjardin, sets out to examine the truth behind the myth by probing how this battle became legend in American hearts and minds.

The Republican House Divided is the first comprehensive study of the relationships between the Republican Party and Civil War memory in the twentieth century. Tim Galsworthy reveals how rival Republicans deployed Civil War memory to support, oppose, and ultimately shape the GOP's transformation, during the civil rights era, into a racially conservative party.

Few have ever valued literacy as much as the enslaved Black people of the American South. For them, it was more than a means to a better life; it was a gateway to freedom and, in some instances, a tool for inspiring revolt. And few governments tried harder to suppress literacy than did those in the South. Everyone understood that knowledge was power: power to keep a person enslaved in mind and body, power to resist oppression. In the decades before the Civil War, Southern governments drove Black literacy underground, but it was too precious to be entirely stamped out.

Author Kenneth R. Timmerman exposes Jesse Jackson's life and works, uncovering a sordid tale of greed, ambition, and corruption from a self-proclaimed minister who has no qualms about poisoning American race relations for personal gain. Few figures have been given such a free ride by the media as Jesse Jackson, but Timmerman has interviewed Jackson, his associates, and his victims to write a courageous and important book that at last provides a full, honest accounting of the life and lies of Jackson - from the streets of Chicago to his support of Yasser Arafat in the Middle East.

A magisterial new history of the role of the Supreme Court as an ally in implementing and preserving a racial caste system in America Their Accomplices Wore Robes takes readers from the Civil War era to the present and describes how the Supreme Court—even more than the presidency or...

"An important, strenuously argued contribution to the case against our nation's scandalous narcotics policies and laws. Particularly valuable are the the encyclopaedic historical and anthropological perspectives which the author brings to bear on our cultural crisis." (Peter Dale Scott, English Department, University of California, Berkeley, author of Cocaine Politics, Deep Politics, Crime & Cover-Up, Coming to Jakarta)

Censorship's Grave looks at modern methods of circumventing censorship and counteracting effects of information warfare. It argues that autocrats are losing the battle of censorship in an information age they no longer control. Unfortunately, the new information age contains a spectrum of arguments - from truth to blatant lies. The book was written by an author who has traveled extensively in countries with restricted media and used circumvention tools in all of them. It conveys a warning to not trade one disinfo system for another one.

In The Tougaloo Nine, M. J. O'Brien delves into Tougaloo College's culture of resistance, Mississippi's determination to preserve segregation, and the early stirrings of the student movement in Jackson. Through numerous interviews and years of detailed research, O'Brien tells the stories of these courageous African American students.

Shaking up New York and national politics by becoming the first African American congresswoman and, later, the first Black major-party presidential candidate, Shirley Chisholm left an indelible mark as an "unbought and unbossed" firebrand and a leader in politics for meaningful change. Chisholm spent her formative years moving between Barbados and Brooklyn, and the development of her political orientation did not follow the standard narratives of the civil rights or feminist establishments.

En los últimos 15 años, México ha librado algunas de sus batallas más importantes... en la Suprema Cortede Justicia de la Nación. Ahí se han debatido—y definido—los límites a la libertad de expresión, los derechos de los indígenas a juicios justos, las fronteras de la privacidad, la inclusión, el valor de los tratados internacionales e incluso el "derecho a la irreverencia". Y gracias a jueces como José Ramón Cossío, las perspectivas más progresistas han ido ganando terreno. En esta obra, el exministro explica algunos de los votos más importantes de su carrera.

Behind the deeply contentious 2020 election stands a real story of a broken election process. Election fraud that alters election outcomes and dilutes legitimate votes occurs all too often, as is the bungling of election bureaucrats. Our election process is full of vulnerabilities that can be - and are - taken advantage of, raising questions about, and damaging public confidence in, the legitimacy of the outcome of elections.

To understand the most contentious issues around religious liberty, this volume provides influential philosophical ideas from the US’ founding to the present day and key US Supreme Court judgements to ask how the two twin pillars of religious freedom - free exercise and the limit on religious establishment - unfold in daily life.