Political & Social Issues
We represent journalists and thought leaders who speak to a range of important political and social issues. Recent titles include Richard Louv's provocative analysis of Nature Deficit Disorder (Last Child in the Woods), Senator Tom Daschle's recommendations for fixing the U.S. healthcare system (Critical), Hooman Majd's account of the paradoxes inherent in Iranian culture (The Ayatollah Begs to Differ), and Claire Berlinski's examination of Europe's current troubled state (Menace in Europe).
A Wide Range
To learn more about the books to your left, roll over their covers with your mouse.
A Wide Range
To learn more about the books to your left, roll over their covers with your mouse.
Senator Tom Daschle
Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis
Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's
Senate Majority Leader and the original nominee for Secretary of Health, Tom Daschle proposes a studied solution to the problem of healthcare in the US. Critical delineates the weaknesses of previous attempts at national health coverage, outlines the complex economic factors and medical issues affecting coverage and sets forth plans for change. The book has been praised by then-Senator Obama, Harry Reid, and Bob Dole, among many others.
Kurt Hoelting
The Circumference of Home
Da Capo
Part quest and part guidebook for change, Hoelting traded in his car and jet travel for a kayak, a bicycle, and his own two feet, traveling a radius of 100 kilometers from his home in Puget Sound.
Praised by Bill McKibben, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Norman Fischer, and an independent bookstore favorite, The Circumference of Home is sure to become a climate change classic.
Richard Louv
Last Child in the Woods
Algonquin/Workman
Journalist and advocate Richard Louv was awarded the 2008 Audubon Award for this groundbreaking national bestseller. Last Child in the Woods diagnoses “nature deficit disorder”—the growing chasm between children and nature as a generation learns to play indoors, increasingly “plugged in” to electronic games. Hailed as "an absolute must-read" by the Boston Globe and "too tantalizing to ignore" by Audubon magazine, Last Child in the Woods is the inspiring work that proves children need nature as much as nature needs children.
Nancy Sherman
The Untold War
W.W. Norton
A New York Times Book Review
“Editor’s Choice” that examines the moral and emotional lives of
soldiers. Trained as both a philosopher and psychoanalyst, Nancy
Sherman was the first ethicist at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Joe Bageant
Deer Hunting with Jesus
Crown/Random House
In 1999, progressive columnist Joe Bageant returned to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia after a thirty-year absence. Deer Hunting With Jesus: Dispatches From America’s Class War relates the lessons he learned coming home in this oft-unseen part of America, the same America that helped re-elect George W. Bush in 2004 and gave Obama a run for his money in 2008. Mother Jones says, “Enough fine Southern storytelling for ten volumes is distilled into this fantastically readable explanation of why working-class America has given up on liberalism.” Film and TV rights have been optioned by HBO.
John Hofmeister
Why We Hate the Oil Companies
Palgrave MacMillan
Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk from an Energy Insider: Always known for being a straight talker, the former U.S. president of Shell Oil tackles the energy controversy without regard for political correctness. Hofmeister reveals what’s behind the energy companies’ posturing, shows how politicians use misinformation to get and stay elected, and offers a new framework for addressing one of our nation’s biggest problems.