United States Government

An inclusive and landmark history, emphasizing how essential Asian American experiences are to any understanding of US history Original and expansive, Asian American Histories of the United States is a nearly 200-year history of Asian migration, labor, and community formation in the US...

Taking his typically in-depth, historically informed view, Thom Hartmann asks: What if the Supreme Court didn't have the power to strike down laws? According to the Constitution, it doesn't. From the founding of the republic until 1803, the Supreme Court was the final court of appeals, as it was always meant to be. So where did the concept of judicial review start? As so much of modern American history, it began with the battle between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and with Marbury v. Madison.

In a collection of original essays, the venerated television journalist, Dan Rather, celebrates our shared values and what matters most in our great country, and shows us what patriotism looks like. Writing about the institutions that sustain us, such as public libraries, public schools, and national parks; the values that have transformed us, such as the struggle for civil rights; and the drive toward science and innovation that has made the US great, Rather brings his experience on the frontlines of the world's biggest stories, and offers listeners a way forward.

In just 1,337 words, the Declaration of Independence changed the world, but curiously it is now rarely read from start to finish, much less understood. Unsettled by this, Danielle Allen read the text quietly with students and discovered its animating power. "Bringing the analytical skills of a philosopher, the voice of a gifted memoirist, and the spirit of a soulful humanist to the task, Allen manages to find new meaning in Thomas Jefferson' s understanding of equality," says Joseph J. Ellis about Our Declaration.

The United States has two separate banking systems today - one serving the well-to-do and another exploiting everyone else. How the Other Half Banks contributes to the growing conversation on American inequality by highlighting one of its prime causes: unequal credit. Mehrsa Baradaran examines how a significant portion of the population, deserted by banks, is forced to wander through a Wild West of payday lenders and check-cashing services to cover emergency expenses and pay for necessities - all thanks to deregulation that began in the 1970s.

In May 1830, the United States formally launched a policy to expel Native Americans from the East to territories west of the Mississippi River. Justified as a humanitarian enterprise, the undertaking was to be systematic and rational, overseen by Washington's small but growing bureaucracy. But as the policy unfolded over the next decade, thousands of Native Americans died under the federal government's auspices, and thousands of others lost their possessions and homelands in an orgy of fraud, intimidation, and violence.

So you want to be a Supreme Court justice? Find out the requirements, the roles and responsibilities, and how you can put yourself on the path to sitting on the highest court in the nation.

So you want to be a U.S. representative? Find out the requirements, the roles and responsibilities, and how you can put yourself on the path to becoming a member of Congress.

So you want to be a U.S. senator? Find out the requirements, the roles and responsibilities, and how you can put yourself on the path to becoming a member of Congress.

Rashid examines Central Asia, and the corridors of power in Washington and Europe, to see how the promised nation building in the region has progressed. His conclusions are devastating.

United States Congress Versus Apartheid examines the role of the African Affairs Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in shaping United States foreign policy towards South Africa. This subcommittee emerged as one of the major battlegrounds where United States foreign policy towards South Africa was shaped during the Reagan-Bush era, 1981-1992 (the time-frame examined). This book demonstrates that Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush were more oriented toward strategic calculations in their formulation of United States foreign policy towards the African continent.

The major social problems of the United States - deteriorating education, lawlessness and crime, homelessness, the collapse of family values, the crisis in medical care - have been produced by well-intended actions of government. That is easy to document. The difficult task is understanding why government is the problem. The power of special interests arising from the concentrated benefits of most government actions and their dispersed costs is only part of the answer.

What does “War” really mean? With the way things are escalating globally, there's no longer an excuse for being misinformed. But, there are so many sources that are spreading misinformation rather than educating their listeners. This book is here to fix that! This is the perfect story for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of how all countries would be affected in the event of another global conflict.

America's path to revolution was paved by the great discussions of the Continental Congress, which gathered to address grievances against Great Britain. Adamant that the Colonies remain under British rule, King George III fueled the flames of American independence.

What are the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Why are these documents important to American history? How do they affect the lives of U.S. citizens today? After the colonies won their independence from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, a new government was created that could help guarantee that the colonists would enjoy the freedoms they had fought so hard to win. Using an inquiry-based approach, listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and how these historic documents provide U.S. citizens with the freedoms they enjoy today.

What does a college have to do with presidential elections? If it's the electoral college, a lot! Listeners will learn all about the electoral college and how it plays a part in our elections.

Vote for me! It's election time, and campaign ads are everywhere. But what does fundraising, door knocking, and campaigning have to do with getting elected? Listeners learn all about political campaigns and how they play a part in our elections.

In the bestselling tradition of The Presidents Club and Presidential Courage, White House history as told through the stories of the best friends and closest confidants of American presidents. Here are the riveting histories of myriad presidential friendships, among them: Abraham Lincoln and...

Historian Samuel Moyn asks a troubling but urgent question: What if efforts to make war more ethical - to ban torture and limit civilian casualties - have only shored up the military enterprise and made it sturdier? Moyn looks back at a century and a half of passionate arguments about the ethics of using force - from the 19th-century struggle to make war less lethal to the eventual shift from opposing the crime of war to opposing war crimes, with fateful consequences.

Forged during the tumultuous but triumphant postwar years when America came of age as a world power, The Irony of American History is more relevant now than ever before. Cited by politicians as diverse as Hillary Clinton and John McCain, Niebuhr's masterpiece on the incongruity between personal ideals and political reality is both an indictment of American moral complacency and a warning against the arrogance of virtue.