The Almanac of American Politics

Stephen L. Carter

Integrity

Why do we care more about winning than about playing by the rules? Integrity - all of us are in favor of it, but nobody seems to know how to make sure that we get it. From presidential candidates to crusading journalists to the lords of collegiate sports, everybody promises to deliver integrity, yet all too often, the promises go unfulfilled. Stephen Carter examines why the virtue of integrity holds such sway over the American political imagination. By weaving together insights from philosophy, theology, history and law, along with examples drawn from current events and a dose of personal experience, Carter offers a vision of integrity that has implications for everything from marriage and politics to professional football. He discusses the difficulties involved in trying to legislate integrity as well as the possibilities for teaching it. As the Cleveland Plain Dealer said, "In a measured and sensible voice, Carter attempts to document some of the paradoxes and pathologies that result from pervasive ethical realism... If the modern drift into relativism has left us in a cultural and political morass, Carter suggests that the assumption of personal integrity is the way out." ...

Craig Kielburger

Free the Children: A Young Man Fights Against Child Labor and Proves That Children Can Change the World

"Craig has become a Pied Piper, inspiring students in hundreds of schools across the United States and Canada to join his crusade." -- New York Times Here is the dramatic and moving story of one child's transformation from a normal, middle-class kid from the suburbs to an activist, fighting against child labor on the world stage of international human rights. Making headlines around the globe, Graig Keilburger and his organization, Free the Children, which he founded at the age of twelve, have brought unprecedented attention to the worldwide abuse of children's rights. Free the Children is a passionate and astounding story and a moving testament to the power that children and young adults have to change the world, as witnessed through the achievements of one remarkable young man.

Michael Moore

Stupid White Men: And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!

In the winter of 2002, Stupid White Men took America -- and the world -- by storm. Tired and skeptical of George W. Bush's high approval ating, frightened by the implications of the Enron scandal -- and generally just looking for a voice of honest dissent in the thick atmosphere of jingoism that followed 9/11 -- book buyers from coast to coast swiftly embraced Michael Moore's in-your-face anti-Bush-era manifesto, making it one of the bestselling nonfiction books of the year. With an unerring eye for greed, hypocrisy, and corruption, Michael Moore takes on the whole ugly mess of America at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Whether he's demanding U.N. action to overthrow the Bush Family Junta or calling on African Americans to place whites only signs over the entrances of unfriendly businesses, Stupid White Men is a pitch-perfect skewering of our culture of Malfeasance and Mediocrity.