Current Affairs

1. The Supreme Court Explained

   Ellen Greenberg

   Finally, the workings of the Supreme Court revealed in this marvelously clear guide to our most important judicial institution.More

2. Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual

   Sam Smith

   How to rebuild our country so its politics aren't broken and its politicians aren't fixed.More

3. Boomerang: Health Care Reform and the Turn against Government

   Theda Skocpol

   How did the debate on health reform turn into the most concerted attack on government in recent American history?More

4. American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword

   Seymour Martin Lipset

   Is America unique? One of our major political analysts explores the deeply held but often inarticulated beliefs that shape the American creed.More

5. The Mismeasure of Man

   Stephen Jay Gould

   Revised & Expanded

   The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve.More

6. Lost Opportunity: What Has Made Economic Reform in Russia So Difficult?

   Marshall I. Goldman

   A lucid analysis of Russia's titanic struggle to change from a centrally planned economy to a market economy.More

7. How to Make the World a Better Place: 116 Ways You Can Make a Difference

   Linda Catling, Jeffrey Hollender

   Think of all the problems in the world, in the city or town where you live, on your own block: pollution, violence, children who can't read, housebound elderly people, litter in the street, the homeless. If only somebody would do something about these things. . . . Why not you? Why not now?More

8. Peddling Prosperity: Economic Sense and Nonsense in an Age of Diminished Expectations

   Paul Krugman

   Newsweek hailed Paul Krugman as "a superstar among economists" and went on to praise Peddling Prosperity as "the best primer around on recent U.S. economic history." Others joined the chorus.More

9. The Rise of China: How Economic Reform is Creating a New Superpower

   William H. Overholt

   Long considered an overpopulated, repressive, backward country, China has in the last decade entered the small circle of advanced industrial nations. Economic reform, more than any other factor, is responsible for this progress, maintains William H. Overholt in this provocative book.More

10. Nuclear Madness: What You Can Do

    Helen Caldicott

    "As a physician, I contend that nuclear technology threatens life on our planet with extinction. If present trends continue, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink will soon be contaminated with enough radioactive pollutants to pose a potential health hazard far greater than any plague humanity has ever experienced."--Helen CaldicottMore

11. Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising, and the Arab World

    Kanan Makiya

    "One of the most important books ever written on the state of the modern Middle East." —Geraldine Brooks, Wall Street JournalMore

12. Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes

    Laurence H. Tribe

    "An important work on a monumental subject." —Anna Quindlen, New York Times Book ReviewMore

13. Technological Risk

    H. W. Lewis

    What are the real dangers, if any, toxic chemicals, the greenhouse effect, microwave radiation, nuclear power, air travel, automobile travel, carcinogens of all kinds, and other threats to our peace of mind?More

14. The University: An Owner's Manual

    Henry Rosovsky

    "Superb. . . . Rosovsky has written an important book—probing, wise, shrewd, fair. . . . Deserves to be widely read." —James O. Freeman, Washington PostMore