Showing results by publisher "Audible Studios" in Politics & Activism

Thurgood Marshall was the most important American lawyer of the 20th century. He transformed the nation's legal landscape by challenging the racial segregation that had relegated millions to second-class citizenship. He won 29 of 33 cases before the United States Supreme Court, was a federal appeals court judge, served as the US solicitor general, and, for 24 years, sat on the Supreme Court. Marshall is best known for achievements after he relocated to New York in 1936 to work for the NAACP.

In 1983 Chicago elected Harold Washington as the city's first black mayor. This is the story of Washington's improbable victory over Jane Byrne, heir to the late Richard J. Daley's political empire, and over Daley's eldest son. It's the story of a coalition outside the party's mainstream coming to power and ruling in the country's most political of cities. In Fire on the Prairie, Gary Rivlin reveals the personalities and philosophies of those who were at the center of events, from black separatists such as Lu Palmer to community organizers such as Jesse Jackson....

The rousing story of Lafayette - “adopted son” of George Washington - and his vital role in the American Revolution. In this long-overdue history of Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette, acclaimed French author Gonzague Saint Bris recounts Lafayette’s invaluable contributions to the American War of Independence and, later, the French Revolution of 1789.

Curtis Roosevelt was three when he and his sister, Eleanor, arrived at the White House soon after their grandfathers inauguration. The countrys First Grandchildren, a pint-sized double act, they were known to the media as Sistie and Buzzie.In this rich memoir, Roosevelt brings us into the goldfish bowl, as his family called itthat glare of public scrutiny to which all presidential households must submit.

David Schippers, the former Chief Investigative Counsel of the House Judiciary Committee and a loyal Democrat, went against his party, the press, and public opinion to build a powerful case against the most corrupt President in American history and bring him to justice. But in this startling book, Schippers shows how the entire impeachment process was what Chicago politicians call a "First Ward election" - a rigged ball game, a sellout. And he tells you who took the dives. This is a stunning indictment of President Clinton's corruption - and of the congressional leaders who let him get away with it.

With chapters on every woman who’s ever made it to the White House, Secret Lives of the First Ladies tackles all of the tough questions that other history books are afraid to ask: How many of these women owned slaves? Which ones were cheating on their husbands? And why was Eleanor Roosevelt serving hot dogs to the King and Queen of England? American history was never this much fun in school

In this sequel to Fugitive Days, Ayers charts his life after the Weather Underground, when he becomes the GOP’s flaunted “domestic terrorist,” a “public enemy.” Labeled a "domestic terrorist" by the McCain campaign in 2008 and used by the radical right in an attempt to castigate Obama for "pallin' around with terrorists," Bill Ayers is in fact a dedicated teacher, father, and social justice advocate with a sharp memory and even sharper wit.

On January 29, 1774, Benjamin Franklin was called to appear before the Privy Council--a select group of the king's advisors--in an octagonal-shaped room in Whitehall Palace known as the Cockpit. Spurred by jeers and applause from the audience in the Cockpit, Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn unleashed a withering tirade against Franklin. Though Franklin entered the room as a dutiful servant of the British crown, he left as a budding American revolutionary.

In the summer of 1776, fifty-six men risked their lives and livelihood to defy King George III and sign the Declaration of Independence - yet how many of them do we actually remember? Signing Their Lives Away introduces listeners to the eclectic group of statesmen, soldiers, slaveholders, and scoundrels who signed this historic document - and the many strange fates that awaited them. Some prospered and rose to the highest levels of United States government, while others had their homes and farms seized by British soldiers.

First ladies are supposed to be dignified background figures, quietly supportive of their husbands' agendas. Above all, they're not supposed to act out or cause even a whiff of scandal. Of course, reality often overrides conventional wisdom, and this book shows how far from the prim ideal many of the Presidents' wives have strayed. Part irreverent portrait gallery, part exuberant exposé, Feisty First Ladies and Other Unforgettable White House Women introduces a remarkable array of wild women.

At the age of 19, scared and illiterate, James Pennington, escaped from slavery in 1827 and soon became one of the leading voices against slavery prior to the Civil War. Just 10 years after his escape, Pennington was ordained as a priest after studying at Yale and was soon traveling all over the world as an anti-slavery advocate. He was so well respected by European audiences that the University of Heidelberg awarded him an honorary doctorate, making him the first person of African descent to receive such a degree.

No one could have predicted even two years ago that an African American would take the oath of office as president of the United States in January of 2009. For many, the occasion marks the climax to the civil rights movement and the fulfillment of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream that Americans could be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin. This collection, with about 400 letters from Americans of all walks of life, is being created to stand as a symbol of this exciting moment in history.

How Lincoln Learned to Read tells the American story from a fresh and unique perspective: how do we learn what we need to know? Beginning with Benjamin Franklin and ending with Elvis Presley, author Daniel Wolff creates a series of intimate, interlocking profiles of notable Americans that track the nations developing notion of what it means to get a good education.

Derided by the Right as dangerous and by the Left as spineless, Barack Obama puzzles observers. In Reading Obama, James T. Kloppenberg reveals the sources of Obama's ideas and explains why his principled aversion to absolutes does not fit contemporary partisan categories. Obama's commitments to deliberation and experimentation derive from sustained engagement with American democratic thought.

Signing Their Rights Away chronicles a moment in American history when our elected officials knew how to compromise - and put aside personal gain for the greater good of the nation. These men were just as quirky and flawed as the elected officials we have today: Hugh Williamson believed in aliens, Robert Morris went to prison, Jonathan Dayton stole $18,000 from Congress, and Thomas Mifflin was ruined by alcohol. Yet somehow these imperfect men managed to craft the world’s most perfect Constitution.

The long-awaited biography of the frontier Founding Father whose heroic actions and neglected writings inspired an entire generation, from Paine to Madison. On May 10, 1775, in the storm-tossed hours after midnight, Ethan Allen, the Revolutionary firebrand, was poised for attack. With only two boatloads of his scraggly band of Vermont volunteers having made it across the wind-whipped waters of Lake Champlain, he was waiting for the rest of his Green Mountain boys to arrive....

Il 10 dicembre del 1936 Edoardo VIII rinuncia al trono d'Inghilterra per amore dell'americana Wallis Simpson. Il nuovo sovrano è suo fratello "Bertie", Giorgio VI, padre di Elisabetta e Margaret. In quei giorni la piccola Margaret, che ha solo sei anni, chiede alla sorella maggiore: "Questo significa che poi diventerai regina anche tu?". "Suppongo di sì", risponde Elisabetta, improvvisamente molto seria. E Margaret commenta, candida: "Povera te".

Quella di Vera Pegna è la storia di una vita comune e, in quanto tale, straordinaria. La storia di una donna normale, una qualsiasi cittadina del mondo; la storia di una donna speciale, vissuta attraverso il più lungo dei secoli brevi. La storia di Vera Pegna è la nostra storia. L'infanzia ad Alessandria d'Egitto, gli insegnamenti del nonno, la disciplina del collegio, il debutto in società. Poi gli anni in Svizzera, l'università, l'interpretariato, l'incontro con il buddismo.

Cosa significa vivere fuori dal nostro paese per portare aiuto alle persone più deboli del mondo, testimoniando nel concreto il proprio ideale di giustizia sociale? Ecco le storie di vita quotidiana, di emozioni, di gioie, di successi, vissute dagli operatori umanitari italiani di Medici senza frontiere, raccontate attraverso le loro lettere e i loro racconti. Diversi sono gli scenari ma comuni molti dei riferimenti: l'ingiustizia, la mancanza di strutture sanitarie minimali o di acqua, la morte per denutrizione.

Chi è stato in realtà Enrico Berlinguer, il segretario più amato (ma anche contestato e travisato) del Pci? A trent'anni dalla sua morte drammatica e in un mondo radicalmente cambiato, Chiara Valentini ne ricostruisce la storia politica e umana. Dall'infanzia ferita da un dramma familiare a un'adolescenza ribelle, all'incontro con i comunisti e con Togliatti, si snodano la vita e la carriera di questo politico diverso.