Last Man Down A Firefighters Story of Survival and Escape from the World Trade Center or The Deluxe Election Edition Bushisms

Last Man Down: A Firefighter's Story of Survival and Escape from the World Trade Center

Author: Richard Picciotto

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

New afterword by the author

A Firefighter's story of survival and escape from the World Trade Center.

Nola Theiss - KLIATT

Chief Picciotto tells his story with the same hard-hitting fervor he displayed when he performed his job as FDNY Chief of Battalion 11. On September 11, 2001, Picciotto and his men entered the North Tower of the World Trade Center and, like hundreds of other firefighters and rescue workers, worked at evacuating people caught in the building, displaying the same courage as they did every day in their jobs. As someone who had helped with the original 1993 WTC bombing, Picciotto was especially knowledgeable about the situation but was as uncomprehending of the full extent of the disaster as the rest of the world, although he was at the very center of it. His minute-by-minute account of rescue efforts and especially of the time he and 12 others, including one "Brooklyn grandmother," spent trapped in a staircase after the collapse of the building, is told with calm professionalism and utter honesty. Picciotto is never "politically correct"—he is as clear about the shortcomings of his department and the decisions that have cobbled the firefighters with old equipment and morale-eroding cost-cutting efforts as he is about the courage of his fellow workers. His voice is true, the writing gripping and the firefighters' commitment to their mission unflagging. He and his collaborator write a firsthand account that is unforgettable and unique among all the stories of September 11, 2001. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Berkley, 243p.,

New interesting textbook:

The Deluxe Election-Edition Bushisms: The First Term, in His Own Special Words

Author: Jacob Weisberg

and/or stickers showing their discounted price. More about bargain books

Brothers or The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell

Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years

Author: David Talbot

For decades, books about John or Robert Kennedy have woven either a shimmering tale of Camelot gallantry or a tawdry story of runaway ambition and reckless personal behavior. But the real story of the Kennedys in the 1960s has long been submerged -- until now. In Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot sheds a dramatic new light on the tumultuous inner life of the Kennedy presidency and its stunning aftermath. Talbot, the founder of Salon.com, has written a gripping political history that is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.
Brothers begins on the shattering afternoon of November 22, 1963, as a grief-stricken Robert Kennedy urgently demands answers about the assassination of his brother. Bobby's suspicions immediately focus on the nest of CIA spies, gangsters, and Cuban exiles that had long been plotting a violent regime change in Cuba. The Kennedys had struggled to control this swamp of anti-Castro intrigue based in southern Florida, but with little success.
Brothers then shifts back in time, revealing the shadowy conflicts that tore apart the Kennedy administration, pitting the young president and his even younger brother against their own national security apparatus. The Kennedy brothers and a small circle of their most trusted advisors -- men like Theodore Sorensen, Robert McNamara, and Kenneth O'Donnell, who were so close the Kennedys regarded them as family -- repeatedly thwarted Washington's warrior caste. These hard-line generals and spymasters were hell-bent on a showdown with the Communist foe -- in Berlin, Laos, Vietnam, and especially Cuba. But the Kennedys continually frustrated theirmilitaristic ambitions, pushing instead for a peaceful resolution to the Cold War. The tensions within the Kennedy administration were heading for an explosive climax, when a burst of gunfire in a sunny Dallas plaza terminated John F. Kennedy's presidency.
Based on interviews with more than one hundred fifty people -- including many of the Kennedys' aging "band of brothers," whose testimony here might be their final word on this epic political story -- as well as newly released government documents, Brothers reveals the compelling, untold story of the Kennedy years, including JFK's heroic efforts to keep the country out of a cataclysmic war and Bobby Kennedy's secret quest to solve his beloved brother's murder. Bobby's subterranean search was a dangerous one and led, in part, to his own quest for power in 1968, in a passion-filled campaign that ended with his own murder. As Talbot reveals here, RFK might have been the victim of the same plotters he suspected of killing his brother. This is historical storytelling at its riveting best -- meticulously researched and movingly told.
Brothers is a sprawling narrative about the clash of powerful men and the darker side of the Cold War -- a tale of tragic grandeur that is certain to change our understanding of the relentlessly fascinating Kennedy saga.

The New York Times - Alan Brinkley

Talbot, the founder and former editor of Salon, the online magazine, is the latest of many intelligent critics who have set out to demolish the tottering credibility of the Warren Commission and draw attention to evidence of a broad and terrible conspiracy that lay behind the assassination of John Kennedy — and perhaps the murder of Robert Kennedy as well. Brothers is a fearless, passionate, often angry book that both summarizes much of the vast conspiracy literature and attempts to add new evidence that Talbot himself amassed through dogged interviews with many people connected — directly or indirectly — with the Kennedy years.

The Washington Post - Matthew Dalleck

Talbot, the founder and former editor-in-chief of Salon, has written a fast-paced narrative of Kennedy's search for his brother's killers. Talbot is careful to sidestep the question of who was actually responsible for the assassination. He dismisses the lone gunman theory as a crock and wonders about the CIA, Cuba and Mafia involvement. He bases his conclusions on more than 150 interviews he did with aides to the Kennedys, relatives of ex-CIA agents and anti-Castro exiles. His sources believe for the most part that Oswald didn't work alone, and their suppositions form the heart of Talbot's Manichean chronicle of two brothers who battled forces of darkness for the soul of modern America.

Publishers Weekly

Those looking for new insight into John F. Kennedy's presidency will want to read this meticulously researched chronicle. Talbot, the journalist founder of online newsmagazine Salon, sticks to the facts, starting with a timeline of then-attorney general Bobby Kennedy's actions on Nov. 22, 1963, the day his brother was killed. Immediately suspicious of the CIA, the Mafia and the Cuban exiles they're involved with, Bobby made it his mission to expose this "shadowy nexus"; much of the book concerns the Kennedy brothers' relationships with members of those factions as they dig for the truth behind the assassination. Talbot profiles friends and enemies, taking readers into JFK's strained work with Pentagon officials who famously pressured him to take a chance on the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion. Later chapters deal with the aftermath of JFK's and then RFK's assassinations, and the final chapter contains Talbot's incisive conclusions on those momentous years. Talbot's only weakness is in covering too much-with more than 150 original interviews, he is forced to move too quickly from event to event, making his numerous characters hard to keep straight. Still, it's an admirable feat of reporting, and one that will spark conversation among conspiracy theorists, historians and others who lived through the Kennedy era. (May)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Table of Contents:

Author's Note     xiii
November 22, 1963     1
1961     35
1962     85
1963     175
Dallas     235
The Awful Grace of God     257
New Orleans     309
The Passion of Robert Kennedy     337
Truth and Reconciliation     377
Notes     411
Bibliography     449
Index     457

Interesting textbook:

The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell

Author: Oren Harari

WORDS, WISDOM, AND INSIGHTS FROM ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST COMMANDING FIGURES

Inspiration from the man who went from humble beginnings in Harlem to the office of Secretary of State Colin Powell is the classic American success story. Born in hardscrabble Harlem to immigrant parents, Powell rose through the ranks of the U.S. military to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-and a soft-spoken, steel-willed Desert Storm hero. Always seemingly one step ahead of both allies and competitors, he quickly became one of America's most trusted and beloved public icons, acknowledged for his courage, his compassion, and his ability to forge victory under the most trying circumstances.

The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell recounts Powell's core beliefs on leadership, negotiation, self-knowledge, and more. Based on an article written by Oren Harari after Harari met Powell and heard him speak- - -an article so compelling that it became the subject of a front-page feature in the Wall Street Journal this leadership primer reveals the secrets and insights that made Colin Powell the success he is today. Short, snappy, and packed with Powell's depth and spirit, it will help readers inspire anyone - * including themselves to extraordinary performance.

Publishers Weekly

Even before the events of last fall, Powell was well regarded by the military and civilians around the world. Now, as secretary of state during the war against terrorism, Powell's intelligence and skills as manager, negotiator and leader are even more visible. Harari, a management professor and consultant, met Powell several years ago, but wrote this book without his cooperation. The author has used Powell's own words, from his autobiography and presentations, to create a primer of Powell's leadership secrets. The book reads much like an introductory textbook, explaining key phrases, quotes, anecdotes and principles. Powell's style is somewhat unusual for a military leader. He believes in listening, not just to superiors, but to the people who serve under him; he pushes people to ask hard questions and to approach problems in creative ways; he is solution-oriented and wants answers to problems to be original, not simply tried-and-true methods. While a book by Powell himself on his leadership style would obviously have great appeal, Harari has done an admirable job of distilling the essence of Powell's leadership style. The chapter summaries ("Powell's Principles") are especially clear (e.g., "Hire on talent and values, rather than resumes"; "Don't clock hours for hours' sake"). This is a solid if basic book about leadership that should interest a wide range of readers, especially less experienced managers. Agent, Lynn Johnston. (Mar. 25) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Guiding Principles for The 21st Century Leader
Citing the spirit of leadership of Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr., Dennis Romig, author of Side by Side Leadership, offers leaders and followers ways they can work together and create outstanding performance gains. His ideas are rooted in seven leadership principles, which include the following:

• Interaction Fields - leaders create new resources by pulling in and creatively combining resources from outside interaction fields;
• Focused Creativity - new ideas allow people to increase quality and productivity without working harder or longer;
• Proven Knowledge - knowledge and experience can help select the best of the proposed ideas for improving performance;
• Transferred Authority - when workers have the authority to make the improvements they see in their work area without waiting for upper-management approval, the benefits are realized faster.

Two-way communication, shared visionary goals, participation from all team members in decision-making and delegated authority round out the seven Side by Side Leadership principles.

Why Soundview Likes This Book
Side by Side Leadership provides excellent food for thought for those who are looking for inspirational leadership wisdom. While describing the benefits and difficulties faced by managers, supervisors and leaders at all levels of any kind of organization, the author takes the concept of leadership off its pedestal and shares the most important attributes and qualities that bring leaders success, respect and loyalty. Copyright (c) 2002 Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Free to Choose or The Secret History of the American Empire

Free to Choose: A Personal Statement: A Personal Statement

Author: Milton Friedman

The international bestseller on the extent to which personal freedom has been eroded by government regulations and agencies while personal prosperity has been undermined by government spending and economic controls. New Foreword by the Authors; Index.

Interesting book:

The Secret History of the American Empire

Author: John Perkins

Former Economic Hit Man John Perkins goes behind the scenes of the current geopolitical crisis and offers bold solutions to our most pressing problems. Drawing on his own experiences as well as interviews with other EHMs, jackals, CIA operatives, reporters, businessmen, and activists, Perkins reveals the conspiracy of corruption that has fueled instability and anti-Americanism around the globe, with consequences reflected in our daily headlines. Having raised the alarm, Perkins passionately addresses how Americans can work to create a more peaceful and stable world for future generations.

Franklin and Lucy or Terror at Beslan

Franklin and Lucy: President Roosevelt, Mrs. Rutherfurd, and the Other Remarkable Women in His Life

Author: Joseph E Persico

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was arguably the greatest figure of the twentieth century. While FDR’s official circle was predominantly male, it was his relationships with women–particularly with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd–that most vividly bring to light the human being beneath this towering statesman. It is no coincidence that Rutherfurd was with Roosevelt the day he died in Warm Springs, Georgia, along with two other close women companions. In Franklin and Lucy, acclaimed author and historian Joseph E. Persico explores FDR’s romance with Lucy Rutherfurd, which was far deeper and lasted much longer than was previously acknowledged. Persico’s provocative conclusions about their relationship are informed by a revealing range of sources, including never-before-published letters and documents from Lucy Rutherfurd’s estate that attest to the intensity and scope of the affair.

FDR’s connection with Lucy also creates an opportunity for Persico to take a more penetrating look at the other women in FDR’s life. We come to see more clearly how FDR’s infidelity as a husband contributed to Eleanor’s eventual transformation from a repressed Victorian to perhaps the greatest American woman of her century; how the shaping hand of FDR’s strong-willed mother helped to imbue him with the resolve to overcome personal and public adversity throughout his life; and how other women around FDR, including his “surrogate spouse,” Missy LeHand, and his close confidante, the obscure Margaret “Daisy” Suckley, completed the world that he inhabited.

Franklin and Lucy is an extraordinary look at theprivate life of a leader who continues to fascinate scholars and the general public alike. In focusing on Lucy Rutherfurd and the myriad women who mattered to Roosevelt, Persico paints a more intimate portrait than we have heretofore had of this enigmatic giant of American history.

The Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley

Persico—a former speechwriter for W. Averell Harriman and Nelson Rockefeller who turned to writing popular histories three decades ago—is judicious in his treatment of these sensitive matters. He gives each of FDR's five leading ladies her due, but he also is attentive to the others—among them Dorothy Schiff, Grace Tully, Daisy Suckley and Alice Roosevelt Longworth—who came into his orbit at various times and for various reasons. He is commendably nonjudgmental about the relationship between the two people of his title. Like Jean Edward Smith, Roosevelt's most recent and best biographer, he understands that Lucy Mercer helped FDR awaken his capacity for love and compassion, and thus helped him become the man to whom the nation will be eternally in debt.

Publishers Weekly

Historian Persico offers a detailed look at the very colorful and expansive personal life of one of the most memorable and beloved presidents in American history. Len Cariou's reading is firm and authoritative, commanding an air of respect from the listener and in turn relating Persico's findings with absolute believability. Cariou's tone is unwavering, his voice well-defined and perfectly pronounced. The result is a story so thoroughly engaging that listening becomes compulsive. The result is endlessly informative, offering juicy tidbits about otherwise unknown occurrences in FDR's existence. Persico has clearly done his homework and unearthed some fascinating information, and Cariou succeeds in bringing the tales to life without editorializing. A Random House hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 21). (May)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Persico (Roosevelt's Secret War) engagingly and eloquently narrates the tangled relationships between Franklin and the various women to whom he became close, including his mother; his wife; Lucy Mercer (the young Eleanor Roosevelt's social secretary during WWI and later Mrs. Winthrop Rutherford); his longtime secretary, Missy LeHand; and his distant cousin Margaret (Daisy) Suckley. These relationships have been examined before; the major revelation of the volume-backed up by documents recently discovered by Mercer's descendants-is that her relationship with FDR continued throughout his life, even after it was supposedly ended by Franklin at the demand of his mother, who threatened to cut off both his income and his inheritance were he to leave his wife and family. (Previously, it was believed that FDR's relationship with Mercer only rekindled once Franklin's mother died, at the very end of his own life.) Another intriguing aspect of the book is Persico's informed speculation on how Franklin's frequently nonchalant womanizing affected Eleanor, who appears, quite possibly, to have pursued several relationships of her own, both hetero- and homosexual. In sum, Persico offers what will prove an important, lasting addition to the literature of the Roosevelts. (Apr. 29)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

William D. Pederson - Library Journal

A more sensational title for this latest book from Persico (Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage) might have been "All the President's Women," for it discusses not only the relationship between FDR and Lucy Mercer (later Rutherfurd) but, as its subtitle indicates, "the other remarkable women in his life." Instead of sensationalizing these characters' lives, however, Persico seeks to understand them. The first and foremost woman in FDR's life was his doting mother, Sara. The second, of course, was his wife, Eleanor. Unfortunately, she faced the classic problems of both a headstrong mother-in-law and an unfaithful husband. Almost as in a novel, in 1918 Eleanor accidentally discovered her husband's affair with Lucy Mercer, Eleanor's social secretary, then offered him a divorce he could not grant her owing to the era, his financial dependence on his mother, and his political ambition. As the author of ten books, Persico is well equipped to tell this story, and his primary achievement here is in putting these women in the context of their own lives and the life of FDR. This sensitive narrative will leave readers with an even greater appreciation of FDR, Eleanor, and those they knew. Highly recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ1/08.]

Interesting book: CCNA or Texas Holdem on the Net

Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America's Schools

Author: John Giduck

This book tells the untold story about the victims, the soldiers who were there and the history of the events leading up to this tragic incident. But more than just the story, this book highlights the lessons America's schools must learn from this tragedy to protect themselves from terrorism.

A Man Without a Country or The Anti Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates

A Man Without a Country

Author: Kurt Vonnegut

A Man Without a Country is Kurt Vonnegut's hilariously funny and razor-sharp look at life ("If I die--God forbid--I would like to go to heaven to ask somebody in charge up there, 'Hey, what was the good news and what was the bad news?"), art ("To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it."), politics ("I asked former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton what he thought of our great victory over Iraq and he said, 'Mohammed Ali versus Mr. Rogers.'"), and the condition of the soul of America today ("What has happened to us?").

Based on short essays and speeches composed over the last five years and plentifully illustrated with artwork by the author throughout, A Man Without a Country gives us Vonnegut both speaking out with indignation and writing tenderly to his fellow Americans, sometimes joking, at other times hopeless, always searching.

Kurt Vonnegut is among the very few grandmasters of contemporary American letters, without whom the very term "American literature" would mean less than it does. His novels include Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five, among so many others. Projects with Seven Stories Press in recent years include God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian and, with Lee Stringer, Like Shaking Hands with God, a book about writing. His most recent novel is Timequake (1997).

The New York Times - A. O. Scott

A Man Without a Country is a fine place to start, especially since it can lead us back to Mother Night and Slaughterhouse-Five and The Sirens of Titan and the stories collected in Bagombo Snuff Box. In other words, it's like sitting down on the couch for a long chat with an old friend.

Publishers Weekly

In his first book since 1999, it's just like old times as Vonnegut (now 82) makes with the deeply black humor in this collection of articles written over the last five years, many from the alternative magazine In These Times. But the pessimistic wisecracks may be wearing thin; the conversational tone of the pieces is like Garrison Keillor with a savage undercurrent. Still, the schtick works fine most of the time, underscored by hand-lettered aphorisms between chapters. Some essays suffer from authorial self-indulgence, however, like taking a dull story about mailing a manuscript and stretching it to interminable lengths. Vonnegut reserves special bile for the "psychopathic personalities" (i.e., "smart, personable people who have no consciences") in the Bush administration, which he accuses of invading Iraq so America can score more of the oil to which we have become addicted. People, he says, are just "chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power." Of course, that's exactly the sort of misanthropy hardcore Vonnegut fans will lap up--the online versions of these pieces are already described as the most popular Web pages in the history of In These Times. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Very brief essays, displaying the indignant humanism, pacifism and generosity of spirit that made Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five a touchstone of the Vietnam War era. Whether called essays, stories or "an autobiographical collage," this illustrated collection reflects the author's alarm and disgust at what he regards as the subversion of the democratic process by, and the manipulative deceptions of, the current presidential administration. He also denounces the corrupt profiteering of its cronies. As a polemicist, Vonnegut is unsubtle but often funny, as when he blames the unhappiness of the modern individual on the decline of the extended family, observing, "A few Americans, but very few, still have extended families. The Navahoes. The Kennedys." Occasionally, he is shrewd, as when he remarks that while "the most vocal Christians" want to post the Ten Commandments everywhere, no one is clamoring to put up The Beatitudes (Blessed are the meek . . . the peacemakers . . .) in courthouses. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of chaff that must be sifted away. In "Here is a lesson in creative writing," there is a slapdash reading of Hamlet, in which Vonnegut asserts of Polonius, "Shakespeare regards him as a fool and disposable." Vonnegut is at his best when he simply tells us about his enthusiasms: for socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs; for the 19th-century Viennese obstetrician Ignaz Semmelweis, whose work saved the lives of countless mothers and infants; and for Abraham Lincoln. Vonnegut cites a speech Lincoln made while still a member of the House, denouncing the opportunism of then-president Polk in embarking on the Mexican war. "Trusting to escape scrutiny by fixing thepublic gaze upon the exceeding brightness of military glory-that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood-that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy-he plunged into war."An invitation to survey our current circumstances as a nation.

Interesting book:

The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates

Author: Ralph Ketcham

The dissenting opinions of Patrick Henry and others who saw the Constitution as a threat to our hard-won rights and liberties.
Edited and introduced by Ralph Ketcham.

Author Biography: