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Firebrand : a tobacco lawyer's journey / by Knelman, Joshua,author.;
"Mad Men meets Bad Blood in this addictive, behind-the-scenes globe-trotting narrative of moral ambiguity, law, public policy, and big tobacco. "Given everything the lawyer knew up to that point about smoking, as far as he could tell, cigarettes shouldn't even have been available as a mass market product ..." It's the start of the new millennium and a young lawyer is recruited to work for an unnamed multinational company. It isn't until his second interview that the product the company produces is revealed to him: cigarettes. Possibly the most controversial consumer product in human history: seductive, addictive, and deadly--yet completely legal. Over the next decade, he travels the world as he works as legal counsel to successfully market cigarettes in dozens of countries. Firebrand ventures into the heart of the tobacco industry and the icy paradoxes of capitalism, each chapter a counterintuitive lesson on how cigarette companies, the target of anti-smoking campaigns by health authorities, pivoted and recovered after the seismic 1964 Surgeon General's Report and 200-billion-dollar debt of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement--and are now thriving, drenched in profits from their one billion smokers worldwide. As Mad Men did for the alcohol-fuelled, oversexed, corrupt world of New York advertising, Firebrand does for the even more despised world of big tobacco, in an addictive piece of storytelling that spans the globe. The lawyer's work takes him from manufacturing factories to hocking "sticks" at UK corner store counters; from tacky resorts in Spain and pirate city-states to luxury hotels and Grand Prix events across European and Asian cities. A contemporary tale of our ambiguous times, told through the eyes of an anti-hero created by our corporate age. Written with the character-based gusto and narrative flare akin to Michael Lewis, and the behind-the-scenes intrigue of Bad Blood and Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, Firebrand is a compelling paradox of corporate responsibility, public health, and an engrossing tale of a morally dubious yet completely legal enterprise."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Knelman, Joshua.; Cigarette industry.; Cigarette industry; Corporate lawyers; Social responsibility of business.; Tobacco industry.; Tobacco industry;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Fight : inside the wildest battle for the White House / by Allen, Jonathan(Jonathan J. M.),author.; Parnes, Amie,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.It was the election America dreaded, a rematch between the two oldest men to serve as president. But somewhere along the way, the 2024 battle for the White House became the most jaw-dropping, heart-pounding, head-turning contest in American history. The ride was so wild that it forced a sitting president to drop his re-election bid, a once and future president to survive felony convictions and a would-be assassin's bullet, and a vice president, unexpectedly thrust into the arena, to mount an unprecedented 107-day campaign to lead the free world. Fight is the backstage story of bloodsport politics in its rawest form -- the clawing, backstabbing, and rabble-rousing that drove Donald Trump into the White House and Democrats into the wilderness. At every turn, the combatants went for the jugular, whether they were facing down rivals in the other party or their own. Bestselling authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes give readers their first graphic view of the characters, their motivations, and their innermost thoughts as they battled to claim the ultimate prize and define a political era. Based on real-time interviews with more than 150 insiders -- from the Trump, Harris, and Biden inner circles, as well as party leaders and operatives -- Fight delivers the vivid and stunning tale of an election unlike any other. In the end, Trump overcame voters' concerns about his personal flaws by tapping into a deep vein of dissatisfaction with the direction of the country. At the same time, Democrats struggled to connect with an electorate that felt gaslit by Biden's insistence that he had delivered economic prosperity -- and his pledge to be a "bridge" president. He tore his party asunder, leaving destroyed personal relationships in his wake, as he clung to power. And when he gave it up, he kneecapped Harris by demanding unprecedented loyalty from her. Allen and Parnes provide readers with a skeleton key to the rooms where it all happened, revealing a story more shocking than previously reported.
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Trump, Donald, 1946-; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Harris, Kamala, 1964-; Political culture; Presidents;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Gifted & Talented [electronic resource] : by Blake, Olivie.aut; CloudLibrary;
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities, and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential. Where there’s a will, there’s a war. Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne. Or at least, so they like to think. Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You're welcome! If only her father's fortune wasn't her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud. Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he's losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around. Eilidh, once the world's most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth—by confirming she'd been his favorite all along. On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top? Also by Olivie Blake The Atlas Six The Atlas Paradox The Atlas Complex Alone with You in the Ether One for My Enemy Masters of Death Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic & Betrayal As Alexene Farol Follmuth Twelfth Knight At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.General adult.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Dark Fantasy; Contemporary;
© 2025., Tor Publishing Group,
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Lincoln's last trial : the murder case that propelled him to the presidency / by Abrams, Dan,author.; Fisher, David,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The true story of Abraham Lincoln's last murder trial, a case in which he had a deep personal involvement--and which played out in the nation's newspapers as he began his presidential campaign. At the end of the summer of 1859, twenty-two-year-old Peachy Quinn Harrison went on trial for murder in Springfield, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln, who had been involved in more than three thousand cases--including more than twenty-five murder trials--during his two-decades-long career, was hired to defend him. This was to be his last great case as a lawyer. What normally would have been a local case took on momentous meaning. Lincoln's debates with Senator Stephen Douglas the previous fall had gained him a national following, transforming the little-known, self-taught lawyer into a respected politician. He was being urged to make a dark-horse run for the presidency in 1860. Taking this case involved great risk. His reputation was untarnished, but should he lose this trial, should Harrison be convicted of murder, the spotlight now focused so brightly on him might be dimmed. He had won his most recent murder trial with a daring and dramatic maneuver that had become a local legend, but another had ended with his client dangling from the end of a rope. The case posed painful personal challenges for Lincoln. The murder victim had trained for the law in his office, and Lincoln had been his friend and his mentor. His accused killer, the young man Lincoln would defend, was the son of a close friend and loyal supporter. And to win this trial he would have to form an unholy allegiance with a longtime enemy, a revivalist preacher he had twice run against for political office--and who had bitterly slandered Lincoln as an "infidel ... too lacking in faith" to be elected. Lincoln's Last Trial captures the presidential hopeful's dramatic courtroom confrontations in vivid detail as he fights for his client--but also for his own blossoming political future. It is a moment in history that shines a light on our legal system, as in this case Lincoln fought a legal battle that remains incredibly relevant today. --Amazon.com.
Subjects: Biographies.; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865; Presidents; Trials (Murder);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Say more : lessons from work, the White House, and the world / by Psaki, Jen,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Former White House Press Secretary and current MSNBC host Jen Psaki shares the surprising lessons she's learned on her path to success and offers unique yet universal advice about how to be a more effective communicator in any situation. Not many White House Press Secretaries capture the nation's interest the way Jen Psaki did. Refreshingly candid and clear, Psaki quickly became known for her ability to break through the noise and successfully deliver her message. Psaki shares her journey to the Briefing Room and beyond, taking readers along the campaign trail, to the State Department, and inside the White House under two Presidents. With her signature wit, Psaki writes about reporting to bosses from the hot-tempered Rahm Emanuel to the coolly intellectual Barack Obama to the surprisingly tender-hearted John Kerry. She also talks about her time working closely with President Joe Biden from the start of his administration to set a new tone for the country, restoring a sense of calm and respect for the role of the media in our Democracy. Since leaving the White House, Psaki's star has continued to rise. She launched a highly rated show on MSNBC and was so successful that in just six months she was given an additional primetime Monday slot, ahead of Rachel Maddow. And Psaki's work doesn't end at the office. She is the mother of two young children and shares her stories about the journey of communicating as a parent. In Say More, Psaki explains her straightforward approach to communication, walking readers through difficult conversations as well as moments where humor saves the day -- whether it is with preschoolers, partners, or presidents. She addresses the best ways to give and receive feedback, how to connect with your audience, how to listen actively, and much more. Say More is the book Psaki wishes she had when she started her career, and is a trove of entertaining, essential lessons from one of the most prominent voices in American politics today"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Psaki, Jen.; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Obama, Barack; Communication in politics; Interpersonal communication; Journalists; Presidential press secretaries; Presidents;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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This country is no longer yours : a novel / by Jain Chatlani, Avik,author.;
"In Avik Jain Chatlani's This Country Is No Longer Yours, a chorus of disparate voices comes together to explore how idealists and opportunists betray ordinary people in war-torn Peru. One of our dead writers liked to say, "Peru is a beggar sleeping on a bench made of gold." It's a cute phrase, but it's not really true. There's hardly any gold left, and none of us get much sleep. Based on real events in 1970s-2000s Peru, This Country Is No Longer Yours tells the story of people living through the terrorist campaign of the Maoist Shining Path, while struggling to survive amid economic crisis and state collapse. A student of the revolution's leader is dispatched to Cambodia to learn from the Khmer Rouge, sending him spiralling into a world of unfathomable political violence that both inspires him and will be his undoing. Then, as the terror spreads across Peru, a ruthless security agent of the newly-elected neoconservative government works to squash the growing insurgency now threatening the halls of power, while applying his surveillance training to romantic pursuits--with chilling results. When the war is over, a journalist committed to exposing a brewing nationalist counter-revolution is too preoccupied to help a reader desperately pleading for help outing a sexual predator, who is seeking the presidency. And, in the country that remains, two former guerrillas meet again, one now a teacher stuck in the past, the other living on the margins and still fighting for her future. Depicting a place and time ravaged by terror but alive with new ambitions and enduring love, Jain Chatlani explores the intersection of political breakdown and human endurance, as well as the unbearable choices demanded of those living in a society at war with itself. With incisive and haunting prose, combined with deeply personal insight, Jain Chatlani offers a stinging indictment of the ideologies that brutalize the very people they claim to represent, and relays an urgent warning about the dangers of zealotry, political messianism and acts of violence justified in the name of a cause."--
Subjects: Political fiction.; Novels.; Sendero Luminoso (Guerrilla group); Journalists; Violence;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Devil's playbook : big tobacco, Juul, and the addiction of a new generation / by Etter, Lauren,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Big Tobacco meets Silicon Valley in this corporate exposé of what happened when two of the most notorious industries collided-and the vaping epidemic was born. Howard Willard lusted after Juul. As the CEO of tobacco giant Philip Morris's parent company, and a veteran of the industry's long fight to avoid being regulated out of existence, he grew obsessed with a prize he believed could save his company-the e-cigarette, a product with all the addictive upside of the original without the same apparent health risks and bad press. Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, Adam Bowen and James Monsees began work on a device meant to save lives and destroy Big Tobacco, only to end up baking the industry's DNA into their invention's science and marketing. Ultimately, Juul's e-cigarette was so effective, so market-dominating, that it put the company on a collision course with Philip Morris and sparked one of the most explosive public health crises in recent memory. In a deeply reported account, award-winning journalist Lauren Etter tells a riveting story of greed and deception in one of the biggest botched deals in business history. Etter shows how Philip Morris's struggle to innovate left Willard desperate to acquire Juul, even as his own team sounded alarms about the startup's reliance on underage customers. And she shows how Juul's executives negotiated a lavish deal that let them pocket the lion's share of Philip Morris's $12.8 billion investment while government regulators and furious parents mounted a campaign to hold the company's feet to the fire. The Devil's Playbook is the inside story of how Juul's embodiment of Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" ethos wrought havoc on American health, and how a beleaguered tobacco company was seduced by the promise of a new generationof addicted customers. With both companies' eyes on the financial prize, neither anticipated the sudden outbreak of vaping-linked deaths that would terrorize a nation, crater Juul's value, end Willard's career, and show the costs in human life of the rush to riches-while Juul's founders, investors, and employees walked away with a windfall"--
Subjects: Cigarette industry.; Substance abuse.; Tobacco industry.; Vaping.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Prequel : an American fight against Fascism / by Maddow, Rachel,author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-362) and index."Rachel Maddow traces the fight to preserve American democracy back to World War II, when a handful of committed public servants and brave private citizens thwarted far-right plotters trying to steer our nation toward an alliance with the Nazis. Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it. It was a sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens' confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule. That effort worked -- tongue and groove -- alongside an ultra-right paramilitary movement that stockpiled bombs and weapons and trained for mass murder and violent insurrection. At the same time, a handful of extraordinary activists and journalists were tracking the scheme, exposing it even as it was unfolding. In 1941 the U.S. Department of Justice finally made a frontal attack, identifying the key plotters, finding their backers, and prosecuting dozens in federal court. None of it went as planned. While the scheme has been remembered in history -- if at all -- as the work of fringe players, in reality it involved a large number of some of the country's most influential elected officials. Their interference in law enforcement efforts against the plot is a dark story of the rule of law bending and then breaking under the weight of political intimidation. That failure of the legal system had consequences. The tentacles of that unslain beast have reached forward into our history for decades. But the heroic efforts of the activists, journalists, prosecutors, and regular citizens who sought to expose the insurrectionists also make for a deeply resonant, deeply relevant tale in our own disquieting times"--
Subjects: Antisemitism; Disinformation; Fascism; National socialism; Nazis; Right-wing extremists; Trials (Sedition); World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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An accidental villain : a soldier's tale of war, deceit and exile / by MacIntyre, Linden,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The bestselling, prize-winning novelist and broadcast journalist draws back the curtain on the shadowy life of Sir Hugh Tudor, Winston Churchill's lifelong friend, who, as head of the notorious Black and Tans in Ireland post-WWI, met civil strife and terror with state-sanctioned murder, and changed the course of Irish history. After distinguishing himself on the battlefields of the First World War, Major-General Sir Hugh Tudor could have sought a respectable retirement in England, his duty done. But, in 1920, his old friend Winston Churchill, minster of war in Lloyd George's cabinet, called Tudor to serve in a very different kind of conflict -- one fought in the Irish streets and countryside against an enemy determined to resist British colonial authority to the death. And soon Tudor, newly responsible for policing Ireland, was directing a brutal campaign of terror against rebel "terrorists" in the Irish War of Independence, a conflict he didn't entirely understand but was determined to win at all costs. Which included utilizing police death squads and inflicting brutal reprisals against IRA members and supporters and Sinn Féin politicians. Tudor left few traces of his time in Ireland. No diary or letters that might explain his record as commander of the notorious Black and Tans. Nothing to justify his role in Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920, when his men infamously slaughtered Irish football fans. Was this retaliation for the IRA's earlier murder of British military officers? Also, why did a man knighted for his efforts in Ireland leave his family and homeland in 1925, moving across the sea to Newfoundland where he remained in quiet obscurity until he died forty years later? Linden MacIntyre -- a storyteller and journalist long fascinated with the toll of violence and war -- has spent four years tracking Tudor through archives, contemporaries' diaries and letters, and the body count of that Irish war, in search of answers. And in An Accidental Villain, he delivers up a consequential and fascinating account of how events can bring a man to the point where he acts against his own training, principles and inclination in the service of a cause -- and ends up on a long journey towards personal oblivion"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Tudor, Hugh, 1871-1965.; Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force.; Soldiers;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Sunny days : the children's television revolution that changed America / by Kamp, David,author.; Questlove,writer of foreword.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In 1970, in soundstage on Manhattan's Upper West Side, a group of men and women of various ages and races met to finish the first season of a children's TV program. They had identified a social problem: poor children were entering kindergarten without the learning skills of their middle-class counterparts. They hoped, too, that they had identified a solution: to use television to better prepare these disadvantaged kids for school. No one knew then, but this children's TV program would go on to start a cultural revolution. It was called Sesame Street. Sesame Street was part of a larger movement that saw media professionals and thought leaders leveraging their influence to help children learn. A year and a half earlier, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood premiered. Fast on its heels came Schoolhouse Rock!, a video series dreamed up by Madison Avenue admen to teach kids times tables, civics, and grammatical rules, and Free to Be ... You and Me, the TV star Marlo Thomas's audacious multi-pronged campaign (it was first a record album, and then a book and a television special) to instill the concept of gender equality in young minds. There was more: programs such as The Electric Company, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, ZOOM, and others followed, and captivated young viewers. In Sunny Days, bestselling author David Kamp takes readers behind the scenes to show how these programs made it on air. He draws on hundreds of hours of interviews from the creators and participants of these programs-among them Joan Ganz Cooney, Lloyd Morrisett, Newton Minow, Sonia Manzano, Loretta Long, Bob McGrath, Marlo Thomas, and Rita Moreno-as well as archival research. Kamp explains how these like-minded individuals found their way into television, not as fame- or money-hungry would-be auteurs and stars, but as people who wanted to use TV to help children. This is both a fun and fascinating story, and a masterful work of cultural history. Sunny Days captures a period in children's television where enlightened progressivism prevailed, and shows how this period changed the lives of millions. Nothing had ever happened like this before, Kamp forcefully and eloquently argues, and nothing has ever happened like it since"--
Subjects: Children's television programs; Television programs;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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