Dick Simpson draws upon his fifty-year career as a legislator, campaign strategist, and government advisor to examine the challenges confronting Americans in their struggle to build the United States as a multiracial, multiethnic democracy. Using Chicago as an example, Simpson examines how the political, racial, economic, and social inequalities dividing the nation play out in our neighborhoods and cities. His investigation of our current crisis and its causes delves into issues like money...

In Rogues, Rebels, and Rubber Stamps, Dick Simpson challenges and recasts current theories of Regime Politics as he chronicles the dramatic story of the civic wars in the Chicago City Council since the civil war. At the same time, the author provides a window into the broader struggle for democracy and justice.Simpson points out that through analyzing city council floor fights, battles at the ballot box, and street demonstrations, one can begin to see certain patterns of conflict emerge. T...

A national cochair of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama when few thought he could ever be elected, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky is here to tell you: Yes, you can! And the book she recommends for candidates, campaign staff, volunteers, and citizens is Winning Elections in the 21st Century, a handbook for anyone who wants to know how campaigns are run and won today.Written by two longtime political veterans, both former elected officials, Winning Elections i...

Political profiles of five mayors and their lasting impact on the cityChicago’s transformation into a global city began at City Hall. Dick Simpson and Betty O’Shaughnessy edit in-depth analyses of the five mayors that guided the city through this transition beginning with Harold Washington’s 1983 election: Washington, Eugene Sawyer, Richard M. Daley, Rahm Emmanuel, and Lori Lightfoot. Though the respected political science, sociologist, and journalist contributors ...

In April 1861, Dick and Tally Simpson, sons of South Carolina Congressman Richard F. Simpson, enlisted in Company A of the Third South Carolina Volunteers of the Confederate army. Their letters home--published here for the first time--read like a historical novel, complete with plot, romance, character, suspense, and tragedy. In their last year of college when the war broke out, Dick and Tally were hastily handed their diplomas so they could volunteer for military duty. Dick was twenty; Ta...

Various African nations have undergone conflict situations since they gained their independence. This book focuses on particular countries that have faced conflict (civil wars and genocide) and are now in the process of rebuilding their political, economic, social, and educational institutions. The countries that are addressed in the book include: Rwanda, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition, there is a chapter that addresses the role of ...

BBC adaptations of three works by Herman Melville, plus bonus biographical programmes about his life and workBorn in 1819, Herman Melville spent his early twenties at sea. He wrote four successful novels based on his experiences, but his subsequent fiction failed to sell, and he spent the rest of his life in literary obscurity. It was not until 100 years after his birth that his works were rediscovered, and Moby-Dick is now recognised as one of the great A...