Why are some nations rich and others poor? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of the right policies? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Based on fifteen years of original research, Acemoglu and Robinson marshall historical evidence from the...

A critique of special interests, tax practices, and invasive government agencies suggests ways to improve America through a less powerful government, more effective tax allocation, and an adjustment of attitudes on discrimination.

A bold plan to help the middle class, by the New York Times bestselling author of An American Son. For generations, the belief that if you work hard you can offer your children a better life has been known as the American Dream. That dream is on life support today, and not just because of the economic downturn and bad leadership from Washington. America has undergone an economic transformation that our schools, our workers, and too many of our families...

"A provocative and timely case for how the science of genetics can help create a more just and equal society. In recent years, scientists like Kathryn Paige Harden have shown that DNA makes us different, in our personalities and in our health-and in waysthat matter for educational and economic success in our current society. In The Genetic Lottery, Harden introduces readers to the latest genetic science, dismantling dangerous ideas about racial superiority...

New York Times reporter Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal reveals the dangerous, expensive, and dysfunctional American healthcare system, and tells us exactly what we can do to solve its myriad of problems. "At a moment of drastic political upheaval, a shocking investigation into the dangerous, expensive, and dysfunctional American healthcare system, as well as solutions to its myriad of problems. In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled...

"The United States of America is in danger of becoming a Third World nation. The evidence is all around us: Our industrial base is vanishing, taking with it the jobs that have formed the backbone of our economy; our education system is in shambles, making it harder for tomorrow's workforce to land good 21st century jobs; our infrastructure is crumbling; our economic system has been reduced to recurring episodes of Corporations Gone Wild; our political...

"Ryan Hampton is a young man who has made addiction and recovery reform his life's mission. Through the wildly successful non-profit organization Facing Addiction, Hampton has been rocketed to the center of America?s rising recovery movement?quickly emerging as the de facto leader of the national conversation on addiction. He understands firsthand how easy it is to develop a dependency on opioids, and how destructive it can quickly become. Now, he...

There's no real homecoming for many of our veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They may go through the motions of daily life in their hometowns, but the terrible sights and sounds of war are still fresh in their minds. This empathic, inside look into the lives of our combat veterans reveals the lingering impact that the longest wars in our nation's history continue to have on far too many of our finest young people. Basing her...

"In America, having a mental illness has become a crime. One in four fatal police shootings involves a person with mental illness. The country's tree largest providers of mental health care are not hospitals, but jails. As many as half the people in US jails and prisons has a psychiatric disorder. In [this book], journalist Alisa Roth goes deep inside the criminal justice system to reveal how America's tough-on-crime policies have transformed it...

A Finnish journalist and naturalized American citizen compares and contrasts life in the U.S. with life in the Nordic region to encourage Americans to draw on practices from the Nordic way of life to create a fairer, happier, more secure, and less stressful society. "At a 2012 conference on social mobility, where experts discussed whether people worldwide were attaining a better life than their parents', Ed Miliband, the leader of the British Labour...