San Antonio College Library

"When Louis XVI presented Benjamin Franklin with a snuff box encrusted with diamonds and inset with the King's portrait, the gift troubled Americans: it threatened to "corrupt" Franklin by clouding his judgment or altering his attitude toward the French in subtle psychological ways. This broad understanding of political corruption--rooted in ideals of civic virtue--was a driving force at the Constitutional Convention. For two centuries the framers'...

President Carter has written importantly about his spiritual life and faith. In this book, he offers a personal consideration of "moral values" as they relate to the important issues of the day. He puts forward a passionate defense of separation of church and state, and a strong warning of where the country is heading as the lines between politics and rigid religious fundamentalism are blurred. He reacts to some trends involving both the religious...

The American president has come to be the most powerful figure in the world--and in the nineteenth century, a great man held that office. Lincoln scholar Miller's new book closely examines that great man in that hugely important office, analyzing the commander in chief who coped with the profound moral dilemmas of America's bloodiest war. In this sequel to Lincoln's Virtues Miller completes his "ethical biography," showing the inexperienced back country...

As Jeff Madrick makes clear, the single-minded pursuit of huge personal wealth has been on the rise in the United States since the 1970s, led by a few individuals who argue that self-interest guides society more effectively than community concerns. In telling the stories of these politicians, economists, and financiers who declared a moral battle for freedom but instead gave rise to an age of greed, Madrick traces the lineage of some of our nation's...

How does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? This book answers this great economic question, revealing how today's government policies and spending benefit the wealthy. Johnston shows how, under the guise of deregulation, a whole new set of regulations quietly went into effect--thwarting competition, depressing wages, and rewarding misconduct. Revelations...

Traces the roots of the Iraqi war back to the days immediately following September 11, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered the creation of a special intelligence operation to quietly begin looking for evidence that would justify the war. Discusses why the U.S. went to war in Iraq, what went wrong in the planning for the postwar occupation, and what is at stake for both the U.S. and for Iraqis. Examines what some government officials say...

A critical indictment of the Bush administration's Iraq war spending reveals the significant differences between the war's estimated and actual costs, arguing that reconstruction attempts have failed at the expense of thousands of lives and billions of dollars.

"Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against "big government" led to the ascendancy of a broad-based conservative...

"Food waste, hunger, inhumane livestock conditions, disappearing fish stocks--these are exactly the kind of issues we expect food regulations to combat. Yet, today in the United States, laws exist at all levels of government that actually make these problems worse. Baylen Linnekin argues that, too often, government rules handcuff America's most sustainable farmers, producers, sellers, and consumers, while rewarding those whose practices are anything...