How did Americans come to elect Barack Obama—and then Donald Trump? Those choices capture what Paul Starr calls the American contradiction.The whole truth about America, Starr argues in this new history of the United States since the 1950s, has never been contained in one consistent set of values or interests. Our nation was born in the contradiction between freedom and slavery. Today it is beset by a contradiction between a changing people and a resisting nation, ...

“A monumental achievement” (New York Times) and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize in American History, this is a landmark history of the American health care system.Considered the definitive history of the American health care system, The Social Transformation of American Medicine examines how the roles of doctors, hospitals, health plans, and government programs have evolved over the last two and a half centuries. How did th...

How did Americans come to elect Barack Obama—and then Donald Trump? Those choices capture what Paul Starr calls the American contradiction.The whole truth about America, Starr argues in this new history of the United States since the 1950s, has never been contained in one consistent set of values or interests. The nation was born in the contradiction between freedom and slavery. Today it is beset by a contradiction between a changing people and a resisting nation, ...

In no other country has health care served as such a volatile flashpoint of ideological conflict. America has endured a century of rancorous debate on health insurance, and despite the passage of legislation in 2010, the battle is not yet over. This book is a history of how and why the United States became so stubbornly different in health care, presented by an expert with unsurpassed knowledge of the issues. Tracing health-care reform from its beginnings to its current uncertain prospects...

An investigation into the foundations of democratic societies and the ongoing struggle over the power of concentrated wealthMuch of our politics today, Paul Starr writes, is a struggle over entrenchment—efforts to bring about change in ways that opponents will find difficult to undo. That is why the stakes of contemporary politics are so high. In this wide-ranging book, Starr examines how changes at the foundations of society become hard to reverse—yet sometimes are...

A BOOK TWENTY FIVE YEARS IN THE MAKING.....A STORY TOLD ACROSS TWO DECADES......Described as "beautiful, evocative writing" and "an enchanting tale" Prior Regrets tells the story of Mark Prior and Lauren Tesairi, and their attempts to navigate the hectic streets of Jerusalem, the varied characters who call North London home, and shared memories, faded by time.Eighteen years after their last contact, a lonely goodbye in a crumbling hostel, Lauren's unexpected message resurre...

Considered the definitive history of the American healthcare system, The Social Transformation of American Medicine examines how the roles of doctors, hospitals, health plans, and government programs have evolved over the last two and a half centuries. How did the financially insecure medical profession of the nineteenth century become a most prosperous one in the twentieth century? Why was national health insurance blocked? And why are corporate institutions taking over our medic...

The sociologist Daniel Bell was an uncommonly acute observer of the structural forces transforming the United States and other advanced societies in the twentieth century. The titles of Bell’s major books—The End of Ideology (1960), The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973), and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976)—became hotly debated frameworks for understanding the era when they were published.In Defining the Age, Paul Starr and...

The sociologist Daniel Bell was an uncommonly acute observer of the structural forces transforming the United States and other advanced societies in the twentieth century. The titles of Bell’s major books—The End of Ideology (1960), The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973), and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976)—became hotly debated frameworks for understanding the era when they were published.In Defining the Age, Paul Starr and...

The Beatles were the greatest rock band of all time. And their influence spread far beyond music, influencing the culture and politics of the sixties in a profound way.In Long and Winding Road, editor Luis Miguel curates the very best writing about the Beatles, from the mysterious death of original Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe to the curious tale of the dentist who is trying to clone John Lennon from a tooth.This collection brings together writing from all four Beatles, includin...

There's an urban legend that says late at night, sometimes a young girl dressed in gothic lolita clothing will appear by garbage dumps to ask a question. Any who answer will, without fail, die a twisted death. And tonight, another young boy will find himself enveloped by this horror...