In 2010 a 32-year-old, socially awkward, unemployed African-American Army Veteran, who had been kicked out of the service and was living with his father in the South Carolina countryside while facing federal pornography charges, spent a significant portion of his life's savings on the filing fee to run for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary to challenge incumbent tea party kingmaker Jim DeMint. Alvin Greene didn't campaign, didn't have a website and no one knew who he was. Until he won.
In 2010 a 32-year-old, socially awkward, unemployed African-American Army Veteran, who had been kicked out of the service and was living with his father in the South Carolina countryside while facing federal pornography charges, spent a significant portion of his life's savings on the filing fee to run for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary to challenge incumbent tea party kingmaker Jim DeMint. Alvin Greene didn't campaign, didn't have a website and no one knew who he was. Until he won.
“The perfect YA thriller for right now—think John Grisham meets John Green.” —Margaret Stohl, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Creatures “Gripping and twisty, but also filled with heart. A fun must-read.” —Melissa de la Cruz, New York Times bestselling author of Alex and Eliza “An enthralling plot of power, greed, and murder.” —Kirkus Reviews “A YA version of the TV show Scandal, and it is just as addictive.” —Publishers Weekly From debut author Peter Stone comes a heart-stopping, pulse-pounding political thriller that’s perfect for fans of Ally Carter and House of Cards. When recent high school graduate Cameron Carter lands an internship with Congressman Billy Beck in Washington, DC, he thinks it is his ticket out of small town captivity. What he lacks in connections and Beltway polish he makes up in smarts, and he soon finds a friend and mentor in fellow staffer Ariel Lancaster. That is, until she winds up dead. As rumors and accusations about her death fly around Capitol Hill, Cameron’s low profile makes him the perfect candidate for an FBI investigation that he wants no part of. Before he knows it—and with his family’s future at stake—he discovers DC’s darkest secrets as he races to expose a deadly conspiracy. If it doesn’t get him killed first.
During the atomic, earthshaking first 120 days of Harry Truman's unlikely presidency, an unprepared, small-town man had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and a secret weapon of unimaginable power--marking the most dramatic rise to greatness in American history.
This New York Times bestselling “deep dive into the terms of eight former presidents is chock-full of political hijinks—and déjà vu” (Vanity Fair) and provides a fascinating look at the men who came to the office without being elected to it, showing how each affected the nation and world. The strength and prestige of the American presidency has waxed and waned since George Washington. Eight men have succeeded to the presidency when the incumbent died in office. In one way or another they vastly changed our history. Only Theodore Roosevelt would have been elected in his own right. Only TR, Truman, Coolidge, and LBJ were re-elected. John Tyler succeeded William Henry Harrison who died 30 days into his term. He was kicked out of his party and became the first president threatened with impeachment. Millard Fillmore succeeded esteemed General Zachary Taylor. He immediately sacked the entire cabinet and delayed an inevitable Civil War by standing with Henry Clay’s compromise of 1850. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded our greatest president, sided with remnants of the Confederacy in Reconstruction. Chester Arthur, the embodiment of the spoils system, was so reviled as James Garfield’s successor that he had to defend himself against plotting Garfield’s assassination; but he reformed the civil service. Theodore Roosevelt broke up the trusts. Calvin Coolidge silently cooled down the Harding scandals and preserved the White House for the Republican Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Harry Truman surprised everybody when he succeeded the great FDR and proved an able and accomplished president. Lyndon B. Johnson was named to deliver Texas electorally. He led the nation forward on Civil Rights but failed on Vietnam. Accidental Presidents shows that “history unfolds in death as well as in life” (The Wall Street Journal) and adds immeasurably to our understanding of the power and limits of the American presidency in critical times.
I opened my eyes. I wasn't dreaming. I was awake. And right beside me, Jennifer was panting and moaning and bouncing up and down on the bed. I stared harder into the darkness, chilled with fright, and against the dim gray light that filtered in through the closely-drawn drapes, I saw an outline on top of Jennifer that made me cram my hand into my mouth to stop myself from screaming. It was a huge, bulky outline, as dark as sin. But its eyes glowed slanted and orange, like the eyes of a wolf, and on its head were two curved horns. It stank of stale incense and animal sweat, and it was grunting with grotesque delight. When businessman Hunter Peal decided to run for President of the USA, they said he didn't have a chance in Hell ... but they were wrong. Initially he seemed pleasant and moderate ... but then everything started to change. As his popularity grew, so did his ability to influence people, sending them weeping to their knees, and seeing sights which no cameras could capture. And what of his opponents and the strange 'accidents' which befel them? Indeed, Hunter Peal was not the man he once was ... one of the denizens of Hell has made a pact with him, and on his inauguration, all Hell will be let loose. Literally. Telos Publishing is proud to present a superb new edition of this long out-of-print 1981 novel. A horrific tale of lust and greed and power from one of the genre's greatest writers, Graham Masterton. 'If you like horror novels, the kind that make you catch your breath at certain parts, can change your perception of the temperature in the room and leave you with impressions that can't be unseen for days - if ever - then this is your book. It really is an absolute masterpiece and in my opinion one of the weirdest, most twisted horror tales ever told, where the message, "Be careful who you vote for" really makes a hell of a lot of sense.' Cat DeSpira, Retrobitch
For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes A Candidate For Murder from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon. A suspense novel set in the world of politics. With her father running for governor of Texas, Cary is determined to find out why she appears to be in danger. “A thriller…[with] believable characters and an ever-mounting level of suspense [that will] hold the reader’s attention to the finish.” –Publishers Weekly “Nixon is back doing the kind of book she does best…an inviting read.” –Booklist /2000
The untold story, based on groundbreaking original research, of the actions and inactions that created the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories After Israeli troops defeated the armies of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in June 1967, the Jewish state seemed to have reached the pinnacle of success. But far from being a happy ending, the Six-Day War proved to be the opening act of a complex political drama, in which the central issue became: Should Jews build settlements in the territories taken in that war? The Accidental Empire is Gershom Gorenberg's masterful and gripping account of the strange birth of the settler movement, which was the child of both Labor Party socialism and religious extremism. It is a dramatic story featuring the giants of Israeli history—Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Levi Eshkol, Yigal Allon—as well as more contemporary figures like Ariel Sharon, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres. Gorenberg also shows how the Johnson, Nixon, and Ford administrations turned a blind eye to what was happening in the territories, and reveals their strategic reasons for doing so. Drawing on newly opened archives and extensive interviews, Gorenberg reconstructs what the top officials knew and when they knew it, while weaving in the dramatic first-person accounts of the settlers themselves. Fast-moving and penetrating, The Accidental Empire casts the entire enterprise in a new and controversial light, calling into question much of what we think we know about this issue that continues to haunt the Middle East.
A Vintage Shorts Selection • Almost three decades ago, iconic and incomparable American essayist Joan Didion’s now-classic report from the Dukakis campaign trail exposed, in no uncertain terms, the complete sham that is the modern American presidential run. Writing with bite and some humor too, Didion betrays “the process”—the way in which power is exchanged and the status quo is maintained. All insiders—politicians, journalists, spin doctors—participate in a political narrative that is “designed as it is to maintain the illusion of consensus by obscuring rather than addressing actual issues.” The optics of presidential campaigns have grown ever more farcical and remote from the needs and issues most relevant to Americans’ lives, and Didion’s elegant, shrewd, and prescient commentary has never been more urgent than it is right now. An ebook short.
In Longshot, Andrew Yang’s campaign manager takes you on a tour through the ups, the downs, and the math of Yang’s 2020 campaign for president, and shares the playbook his team used to navigate the attention economy. Andrew Yang did not win the 2020 Democratic primary, let alone the presidency of the United States. But chances are you know who Andrew Yang is, and you may well be part of the 75 percent of Americans who now support Universal Basic Income—both facts that would have seemed beyond unlikely at the start of Yang’s campaign. That campaign was helmed by Zach Graumann: entrepreneur, marketing expert, and, at the time, political nonentity. In fact, when Graumann joined Yang 2020, no one on the team was an expert in campaigning, but they all shared a fervent desire to change the future. Yet, despite that inexperience, by the time Yang dropped out of the race in early 2020, he’d not only outlasted six senators, four governors, and three members of Congress, he’d become one of the most recognizable, popular political figures in the country. Now, for the first time, Graumann tells the story of how Yang went from nobody to national presence, breathing life into the behind-the-scenes antics of the unusual campaign that started a movement. In the process, he demystifies the world of political campaigns and provides takeaways that will help not only the next generation of campaign managers, but anyone who wants to break into a new industry—or stand out in their current one. A book for everyone from members of the Yang Gang who want the inside story to businesspeople looking for self-improvement to anyone who has ever had a dream that felt bigger than they were, Longshot reminds you that sometimes, longshots aren’t quite as long as you think.
