Alexander Hamilton called the judiciary the "least dangerous" branch of government. He was right then but wrong today. Since Hamilton's time the Supreme Court has become a cardinal example of Lord Acton's famous dictum: "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." It is not a corruption of bribes, or even of bad intentions, but of taking upon itself the right to alter the Constitution whenever past principles offend present preferences of five or more Justices....

First published on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense was an immediate sensation. In clear simple language it explained to the people of the Thirteen Colonies why they needed to fight for independence from Great Britain.Common Sense has been called "the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era."

We’ve been living in 1984 since 1941. That was the year the Justice Department first authorized the wiretapping of Americans. “We shudder to think of what its agents will do with this new authorization,” The Nation warned in an editorial that year. Ever since then, our writers have investigated, exposed and denounced gross violations of our most basic civil liberties. Now these articles have been collected in Surveillance Nation, a fascinating and timeless alternative histo...

In a delightfully refreshing and revealing tone, Dr. Piper exposes the potential fallacy in today's liberal academia and political spheres. He masterfully addresses educational, social, political, and religious issues that have shaped American culture. His commentary rhetorically confronts the reader to consider issues such as freedom, justice, common sense, human dignity, and moral objectivity. Piper is specifically passionate in arguing that postmodern political correctness is really not...

After a childhood of shocking poverty, Harry Reid completed law school, working as a policeman to pay his way. He faced death threats as the head of the Nevada Gaming Commission trying to clean up Las Vegas. Eventually he rose to become Senate Majority Leader in Washington-without ever forgetting the mining town he came from, or the battles he fought along the way. This is that rare book by a politician that is more than a glorified press release. It is an extraordinary American story-told...

A brief discussion of Liberia's history, political development, civil wars, post-civil war recovery, and varied relationships with African nations during the administrations of presidents William V. S. Tubman, William J. Tolbert Jr., Samuel K. Doe, Charles G. Taylor, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Do American presidents consider public opinion when making foreign policy decisions? In a democracy, it is generally assumed that citizen preferences inform public policy. For a variety of reasons, however, foreign policy has always posed a difficult challenge for democratic governance. In Paying Attention to Foreign Affairs, Thomas Knecht offers new insights into the relationship between public opinion and U.S. foreign policy. He does so by shifting our focus away from the opinio...

When the Democrats retook control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2007 after twelve years in the wilderness, Nancy Pelosi became the first woman speaker in American history. In Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics, Ron Peters, one of America's leading scholars of Congress, and Cindy Simon Rosenthal, one of America's leading scholars on women and political leadership, provide a comprehensive account of how Pelosi became speaker and what this tells us a...

From the beginning of the Republic, members of Congress have been in the media spotlight. In recent years, the expansion of media venues has provided both challenges and opportunities to Representatives and Senators, the public, and even the media itself. Legacy media such as newspapers and broadcast television each carry with them their own needs and accepted usages affecting the kind and volume of news about Congress delivered to the public. These sources still serve important roles for ...

For decades after the Second World War, Senator James O. Eastland (1904–1986) was one of the more intransigent leaders of the Deep South's resistance to what he called “the Second Reconstruction.” And yet he developed, late in his life, a very real friendship with state NAACP chair Aaron Henry. Big Jim Eastland provides the life story of this savvy, unpredictable powerhouse.From 1947 to 1978, Eastland wore that image of resistance proudly, even while recognizing from the b...

The Council of Ministers is one of the most powerful institutions of the European Union (EU) and plays a major role in the European policy-making process. Drawing on formal theory and combining quantitative and qualitative methods in an innovative fashion, this book provides novel insights into the role of national bureaucrats in legislative decision-making of the Council of the EU.The book examines and describes the Council of Ministers’ committee system and its internal decision-...

During his terms in the U.S. Senate, Bill Bradley won a national reputation for thoughtfulness, decency, and a willingness to take controversial positions on issues ranging from tax reform to the rights of Native Americans. All these qualities inform this best-selling memoir, in which Bradley assesses his political career and the experiences that shaped his convictions, and looks beyond them to consider the state of the American union on the eve of the 21st century. Time Present, T...