Mudslingers


Book Description

Explores the 25 most negative campaigns in American history, including key mayoral races, especially nasty gubernatorial contests, divisive runs for the U.S. Senate, and presidential mudslinging.




Mudslingers


Book Description

The unique history of aerial firefighting as seen through the eyes of a pilot, former Navy SEAL, and current owner of one of the most successful aerial firefighting companies in the world. Blending historical context and first-person narrative, Mudslingers tells the dramatic and colorful story of aerial firefighting in America, as seen through the eyes of a decorated former Navy SEAL, US Naval Academy graduate, firefighting pilot, and businessman who founded Montana-based Bridger Aerospace, one of the most successful aerial firefighting teams in the world. Part narrative nonfiction, part memoir, Mudslingers is a riveting account of one person’s journey from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq to the front lines of a different but no less important battle on the home front—the war against the escalating threat of wildfire. From the early days of the B-17 to the modern fleets of the twenty-first century, Tim Sheehy will take you on a ride through the history of aerial firefighting—the most hazardous and demanding aviation mission in the world. Mudslingers is a rollicking read, an enlightening journey, and a call to action for anyone who believes wildfires are not only one of the greatest threats facing modern civilization but a threat that has long been underestimated, misunderstood, and poorly addressed, despite repeated examples of bravery and innovation by those who choose to do battle with the flames. Indeed, save for a few historic military engagements in the twentieth century, there is not a sustained aviation mission anywhere that comes close to encompassing the danger, precision, and unforgiving nature of aerial firefighting. In telling this story, Sheehy takes readers into the cockpit and into the lives of his fellow pilots—past and present—as they struggle with the seemingly never-ending threat of wildfires. One hundred percent of author proceeds from this book are donated to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation and the United Aerial Firefighters Association.




Conventional Wisdom and American Elections


Book Description

During every election cycle, political observers generate a seemingly limitless supply of theories, opinions, and predictions. Unfortunately, many of these assertions oversimplify complex subjects or overhype the latest political fads. Inevitably, some misinformation becomes part of the conventional wisdom about American elections. The objective of Conventional Wisdom and American Elections: Exploding Myths, Exploring Misconceptions is to bring clarity to several of these subjects. For example, it is now commonplace for commentators to emphasize the negative tactics and practices of the campaigns of presidential candidates. In 2016, some commentators suggested that the presidential campaign was the “nastiest” ever, with the campaigns of President Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and their supporters, going to “new extremes” of negativity. However, these claims are not new. Dating as far back as the presidential election of 1800, critics of Thomas Jefferson stated that his potential victory would bring about legal prostitution and the burning of the Bible. In 1824, opponents of Andrew Jackson charged that he was a murderer and that his wife was a bigamist. Perhaps most scurrilous of all, Jackson’s opponents even accused his dead mother of being a prostitute. In total, Conventional Wisdom and American Elections identifies eleven widely held myths and misconceptions about elections in the United States. The conclusions drawn throughout the book are based on the most current political science research. In some instances, the literature is clear in debunking popular myths about American elections. On other issues, research findings are more mixed. In either case, Conventional Wisdom and American Elections clarifies the issues so that readers can discern between those in which scholars have largely resolved and those in which honest debate remains.




First Taste of Freedom


Book Description

The bicycle has long been a part of American culture but few would describe it as an essential element of American identity in the same way that it is fundamental to European and Asian cultures. Instead, American culture has had a more turbulent relationship with the bicycle. First introduced in the United States in the 1830s, the bicycle reached its height of popularity in the 1890s as it evolved to become a popular form of locomotion for adults. Two decades later, ridership in the United States collapsed. As automobile consumption grew, bicycles were seen as backward and unbecoming—particularly for the white middle class. Turpin chronicles the story of how the bicycle’s image changed dramatically, shedding light on how American consumer patterns are shaped over time. Turpin identifies the creation and development of childhood consumerism as a key factor in the bicycle’s evolution. In an attempt to resurrect dwindling sales, sports marketers reimagined the bicycle as a child’s toy. By the 1950s, it had been firmly established as a symbol of boyhood adolescence, further accelerating the declining number of adult consumers. Tracing the ways in which cycling suffered such a loss in popularity among adults is fundamental to understanding why the United States would be considered a "car" culture from the 1950s to today. As a lens for viewing American history, the story of the bicycle deepens our understanding of our national culture and the forces that influence it.




Learning Through Serving


Book Description

This substantially expanded new edition of this widely-used and acclaimed text maintains the objectives and tenets of the first. It is designed to help students understand and reflect on their community service experiences both as individuals and as citizens of communities in need of their compassionate expertise. It is designed to assist faculty in facilitating student development of compassionate expertise through the context of service in applying disciplinary knowledge to community issues and challenges. In sum, the book is about how to make academic sense of civic service in preparing for roles as future citizen leaders. Each chapter has been developed to be read and reviewed, in sequence, over the term of a service-learning course. Students in a semester course might read just one chapter each week, while those in a quarter-term course might need to read one to two chapters per week. The chapters are intentionally short, averaging 8 to 14 pages, so they do not interfere with other course content reading. This edition presents four new chapters on Mentoring, Leadership, Becoming a Change Agent, and Short-Term Immersive and Global Service-Learning experiences. The authors have also revised the original chapters to more fully address issues of social justice, privilege/power, diversity, intercultural communication, and technology; have added more disciplinary examples; incorporated additional academic content for understanding service-learning issues (e.g., attribution theory); and cover issues related to students with disabilities, and international students. This text is a student-friendly, self-directed guide to service-learning that: Develops the skills needed to succeed Clearly links service-learning to the learning goals of the course Combines self-study and peer-study workbook formats with activities that can be incorporated in class, to give teachers maximum flexibility in structuring their service-learning courses Promotes independent and collaborative learning Equally suitable for courses of a few weeks’ or a few months’ duration Shows students how to assess progress and communicate end-results Written for students participating in service learning as a class, but also suitable for students working individually on a project. Instructor's Manual This Instructor Manual discusses the following six key areas for aligning your course with use of Learning through Serving, whether you teach a senior-level high school class, freshman studies course, or a college capstone class: 1. Course and syllabus design 2. Community-partner collaboration 3. Creating class community 4. Strategic teaching techniques 5. Developing intercultural competence 6. Impact assessment




Slinging Mud


Book Description

Two Centuries of Scandalous Rumors, Over-the-Top Insults, and Low-Down Slurs. We bemoan the loss of civility in public discourse these days, but mudslinging is an American tradition as old as the republic. Not everyone admired the Father of Our Country. President Washington's enemies called him a cheapskate, a hyena, a horse beater, a spoiled child, and a tyrannical monster, among other epithets. "You are utterly incapable to steer the political ship," wrote one outraged critic. And so it has gone ever since. From the King Mob label denigrating Andrew Jackson to the wingnut and latte liberal tags of the past few years, every era has its share of politically motivated insults. Slinging Mud gathers memorable words and expressions from two centuries' worth of going negative.




A Magnificent Catastrophe


Book Description

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title "They could write like angels and scheme like demons." So begins Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Larson's masterful account of the wild ride that was the 1800 presidential election—an election so convulsive and so momentous to the future of American democracy that Thomas Jefferson would later dub it "America's second revolution." This was America's first true presidential campaign, giving birth to our two-party system and indelibly etching the lines of partisanship that have so profoundly shaped American politics ever since. The contest featured two of our most beloved Founding Fathers, once warm friends, facing off as the heads of their two still-forming parties—the hot-tempered but sharp-minded John Adams, and the eloquent yet enigmatic Thomas Jefferson—flanked by the brilliant tacticians Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, who later settled their own differences in a duel. The country was descending into turmoil, reeling from the terrors of the French Revolution, and on the brink of war with France. Blistering accusations flew as our young nation was torn apart along party lines: Adams and his elitist Federalists would squelch liberty and impose a British-style monarchy; Jefferson and his radically democratizing Republicans would throw the country into chaos and debase the role of religion in American life. The stakes could not have been higher. As the competition heated up, other founders joined the fray—James Madison, John Jay, James Monroe, Gouverneur Morris, George Clinton, John Marshall, Horatio Gates, and even George Washington—some of them emerging from retirement to respond to the political crisis gripping the nation and threatening its future. Drawing on unprecedented, meticulous research of the day-to-day unfolding drama, from diaries and letters of the principal players as well as accounts in the fast-evolving partisan press, Larson vividly re-creates the mounting tension as one state after another voted and the press had the lead passing back and forth. The outcome remained shrouded in doubt long after the voting ended, and as Inauguration Day approached, Congress met in closed session to resolve the crisis. In its first great electoral challenge, our fragile experiment in constitutional democracy hung in the balance. A Magnificent Catastrophe is history writing at its evocative best: the riveting story of the last great contest of the founding period.




Funny Animals! Collection


Book Description

This book is a collection of animal stories.




Political Women


Book Description

This collection examines the ways in which women have used political rhetoric and political discourse to provide leadership, or assert their right to leadership, at the national level. While over the years women have broken through traditional roles, they are still underrepresented in political leadership. In this text, scholars consider the various factors that continue to restrict political leadership opportunities for women as well as some of the ways in which individual women have strategically sought to enact political power and leadership for themselves. The contributors analyze various case studies of leadership positions at the national level, looking at women who have run, been nominated to run, or appointed to national positions. The interdisciplinary approach lends itself to: rhetoric; political rhetoric; political discourse; leadership studies; women’s studies; gender issues; satire; pop culture.




Libertines


Book Description

Libertines seeks to understand why public figures sometimes take extraordinary risks, sullying their good names, humiliating their families, placing themselves in legal jeopardy, and potentially destroying their political careers as they seek to gratify their sexual desires. From Hamilton to Trump and the many in between, each case of sexual misconduct in this book shows the seamy side of political lives, with calculations about covering discretions or portraying them favorably occurring only after the fact.