Outside Looking In

Outside Looking In

Author: Nicholas P. Lovrich

Publisher: Washington State University Press

Published: 2021-10-05

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 1636820832

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The recent advent of gridlock and hyper-partisanship in the United States Congress has raised questions about whether similar divides are occurring in state governments, and if so, why? To find out, researchers--working in 2018 and 2019 under a National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD) grant--conducted a survey of registered lobbyists and public agency legislative liaison officers in all fifty states. They received over 1,200 completed surveys. The researchers hope that understanding reasons behind politicians’ inability to demonstrate civility and reach bipartisan agreements will yield effective, purposeful interventions. In Outside Looking In, scholars from across the country interpret the survey results. Using a variety of lenses, they present unique perspectives, revealing both regional and national insights. Chapters address findings on a variety of topics, including effects of political culture heritage on perceptions of civil discourse phenomena and the impact of legislative professionalization; sentiments about civil discourse and perceptions of their own state legislature among lobbyists; a multivariate cross-state comparison of the relative impact of political culture, professionalism, and term limits; presumed and actual impact of term limits on civility; a comparison of lobbyists with and without prior legislative service; and effects of the rural/urban divide and state-level inequality across the states. Also discussed are the efforts by the National Conference of State Legislatures to advance the cause of civil discourse, and NICD interventions to support civil discourse in state legislatures. Offering rare insights on discourse in state legislatures, this work is a must-read for political science scholars studying state governments, state-level lobbying, and civility in government, as well as for state legislators and public interest groups committed to enhancing civility in government.


Living In, Living Out

Living In, Living Out

Author: Elizabeth Clark-Lewis

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

Published: 2014-08-19

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1588344428

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This oral history portrays the lives of African American women who migrated from the rural South to work as domestic servants in Washington, DC in the early decades of the twentieth century. In Living In, Living Out Elizabeth Clark-Lewis narrates the personal experiences of eighty-one women who worked for wealthy white families. These women describe how they encountered—but never accepted—the master-servant relationship, and recount their struggles to change their status from “live in” servants to daily paid workers who “lived out.” With candor and passion, the women interviewed tell of leaving their families and adjusting to city life “up North,” of being placed as live-in servants, and of the frustrations and indignities they endured as domestics. By networking on the job, at churches, and at penny savers clubs, they found ways to transform their unending servitude into an employer-employee relationship—gaining a new independence that could only be experienced by living outside of their employers' homes. Clark-Lewis points out that their perseverance and courage not only improved their own lot but also transformed work life for succeeding generations of African American women. A series of in-depth vignettes about the later years of these women bears poignant witness to their efforts to carve out lives of fulfillment and dignity.


The Book of Honor

The Book of Honor

Author: Ted Gup

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2001-05-01

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0385495412

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A national bestseller, this extraordinary work of investigative reporting uncovers the identities, and the remarkable stories, of the CIA secret agents who died anonymously in the service of their country. In the entrance of the CIA headquarters looms a huge marble wall into which seventy-one stars are carved-each representing an agent who has died in the line of duty. Official CIA records only name thirty-five of them, however. Undeterred by claims that revealing the identities of these "nameless stars" might compromise national security, Ted Gup sorted through thousands of documents and interviewed over 400 CIA officers in his attempt to bring their long-hidden stories to light. The result of this extraordinary work of investigation is a surprising glimpse at the real lives of secret agents, and an unprecedented history of the most compelling—and controversial—department of the US government.


Paddling Washington

Paddling Washington

Author: Rich Landers

Publisher: The Mountaineers Books

Published: 2008-04-07

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 1594852618

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

* 112 routes in rivers, streams, lakes, and bays in the Northwest * For paddlers of all skill levels * Maps, safety tips, equipment requirements, and a route comparison chart This uniquely comprehensive Washington paddling guidebook combines the best of three previous books--Paddle Routes of the Inland Northwest, Paddle Routes of Western Washington, and Washington Whitewater--into one volume. Detailed locator maps and instructions on safety are included, as well as appendices on equipment, map sources, and a useful route comparison chart for selecting the right trip level for any paddler. Paddling Washington covers water routes in western and eastern Washington, British Columbia, North Idaho, and Montana, and has enough trips to keep northwest paddlers busy for years to come.


Weird Washington

Weird Washington

Author: Jeff Davis

Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1402745451

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Each fun and intriguing volume offers more than 250 illustrated pages of places where tourists usually don't venture. These unique travel guides are chock-full of information about oddball curiosities, ghostly places, local legends, and peculiar roadside attractions.


Pushed Out

Pushed Out

Author: Ryanne Pilgeram

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 0295748702

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What happens to rural communities when their traditional economic base collapses? When new money comes in, who gets left behind? Pushed Out offers a rich portrait of Dover, Idaho, whose transformation from “thriving timber mill town” to “economically depressed small town” to “trendy second-home location” over the past four decades embodies the story and challenges of many other rural communities. Sociologist Ryanne Pilgeram explores the structural forces driving rural gentrification and examines how social and environmental inequality are written onto these landscapes. Based on in-depth interviews and archival data, she grounds this highly readable ethnography in a long view of the region that takes account of geological history, settler colonialism, and histories of power and exploitation within capitalism. Pilgeram’s analysis reveals the processes and mechanisms that make such communities vulnerable to gentrification and points the way to a radical justice that prioritizes the economic, social, and environmental sustainability necessary to restore these communities.


Spring in Washington

Spring in Washington

Author: Louis Joseph Halle

Publisher:

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9780801836886

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Written in the form of a journal by a State Department official during World War II, this book takes readers along on excursions through Washington, D.C., and its environs--the Tidal Basin, Rock Creek Park, and beyond--to experience the rebirth of the season.


This Town

This Town

Author: Mark Leibovich

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2014-04-29

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0399170685

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The #1 New York Times bestseller! Washington D.C. might be loathed from every corner of the nation, yet these are fun and busy days at this nexus of big politics, big money, big media, and big vanity. There are no Democrats and Republicans anymore in the nation's capital, just millionaires. Through the eyes of Leibovich we discover how the funeral for a beloved newsman becomes the social event of the year; how political reporters are fetishized for their ability to get their names into the predawn e-mail sent out by the city's most powerful and puzzled-over journalist; how a disgraced Hill aide can overcome ignominy and maybe emerge with a more potent "brand" than many elected members of Congress. And how an administration bent on "changing Washington" can be sucked into the ways of This Town with the same ease with which Tea Party insurgents can, once elected, settle into it like a warm bath. Outrageous, fascinating, and very necessary, This Town is a must-read whether you're inside the highway which encircles DC - or just trying to get there.