Step into the Arena of Reality: Demystifying Political Discourse Amid the dazzle and tumult of what has become an all-encompassing political spectacle lies a truth less traveled--the line where fact meets fiction. "Clarity in the Political Circus: Realizing Fact from Fiction" is not just a book; it's an expedition for those ready to dissect the mechanisms of political engagement and discern the reality masked by the show. Embark on a journey that always begins with the individual: you. As citizens and spectators of this grand theater, understanding the intricate dance between politics and governance is essential. Illustrated through sharp insights and resonant examples, Chapter One sets the stage for the ensuing battle of wits, wisdom, and will. Delve into the craft of political communication and see the strings that pull the puppets in play. Learn to decode the power of narratives, the prowess of persuasion, and how the digital town hall of social media shapes our political discourse. As you journey further, "Clarity in the Political Circus" is your guide through the dense forest of propaganda, gaslighting, and the myriad of tactics employed to throw us off the scent of veracity. Peek behind the curtain at projection and deflection strategies, understanding their role in the blame game of politics. The narratives spun from controversy and scandal offer more than meets the eye--Chapter Ten uncovers the art of drama as a mere distraction. Our emotions, when leveraged in political arenas, become powerful motivators. Discover how fear is used to push agendas and how hope is dangled like a carrot on a stick. Analyze grassroots motions against their manufactured counterparts, the so-called 'Astroturfing,' to recognize the genuine from the guise. Finally, step beyond the role of spectator and into that of a participant. The Conclusion charts a path for active engagement, armed with an appendix of critical thinking tools and fact-checking resources to solidify your journey to the center of political clarity. "Clarity in the Political Circus: Realizing Fact from Fiction" is your companion in the quest to pierce through the noise, understand the show, and engage with reality in the most informed and assured way possible.

'Show Time' covers everything from the campaign finance scandals, to why Clinton insisted his debates be 90 minutes long (that meant they went past Dole's usual 10:00 pm bedtime), to the contenders for the next election. 'Show Time' is a portrait of an out-of-control political circus and a president who is the biggest spinner of them all. -- back cover.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Dispatches from the 2016 election that provide an eerily prescient take on our democracy’s uncertain future, by the country’s most perceptive and fearless political journalist. In twenty-five pieces from Rolling Stone—plus two original essays—Matt Taibbi tells the story of Western civilization’s very own train wreck, from its tragicomic beginnings to its apocalyptic conclusion. Years before the clown car of candidates was fully loaded, Taibbi grasped the essential themes of the story: the power of spectacle over substance, or even truth; the absence of a shared reality; the nihilistic rebellion of the white working class; the death of the political establishment; and the emergence of a new, explicit form of white nationalism that would destroy what was left of the Kingian dream of a successful pluralistic society. Taibbi captures, with dead-on, real-time analysis, the failures of the right and the left, from the thwarted Bernie Sanders insurgency to the flawed and aimless Hillary Clinton campaign; the rise of the “dangerously bright” alt-right with its wall-loving identity politics and its rapturous view of the “Racial Holy War” to come; and the giant fail of a flailing, reactive political media that fed a ravenous news cycle not with reporting on political ideology, but with undigested propaganda served straight from the campaign bubble. At the center of it all stands Donald J. Trump, leading a historic revolt against his own party, “bloviating and farting his way” through the campaign, “saying outrageous things, acting like Hitler one minute and Andrew Dice Clay the next.” For Taibbi, the stunning rise of Trump marks the apotheosis of the new postfactual movement. Taibbi frames the reporting with original essays that explore the seismic shift in how we perceive our national institutions, the democratic process, and the future of the country. Insane Clown President is not just a postmortem on the collapse and failure of American democracy. It offers the riveting, surreal, unique, and essential experience of seeing the future in hindsight. “Scathing . . . What keeps the pages turning in this so freshly familiar story line is the vivid observation and original turns of phrase.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Deeply moving…A first-rate, highly readable intellectual history.” –The Wall Street Journal The drama that shaped today’s Iran, from the Revolution to the present day. In 1979, seemingly overnight—moving at a clip some thirty years faster than the rest of the world—Iran became the first revolutionary theocracy in modern times. Since then, the country has been largely a black box to the West, a sinister presence looming over the horizon. But inside Iran, a breathtaking drama has unfolded since then, as religious thinkers, political operatives, poets, journalists, and activists have imagined and reimagined what Iran should be. They have drawn as deeply on the traditions of the West as of the East and have acted upon their beliefs with urgency and passion, frequently staking their lives for them. With more than a decade of experience reporting on, researching, and writing about Iran, Laura Secor narrates this unprecedented history as a story of individuals caught up in the slipstream of their time, seizing and wielding ideas powerful enough to shift its course as they wrestle with their country’s apparatus of violent repression as well as its rich and often tragic history. Essential reading at this moment when the fates of our countries have never been more entwined, Children of Paradise will stand as a classic of political reporting; an indelible portrait of a nation and its people striving for change.

Washington, D.C. The one city that affects all our lives. The one city where the game has only one name: Power. Hedrick Smith, the Pulitzer Prize-winning ex-Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, takes us inside the beltway to show who wields the most power—and for what ends. The Power Game explains how some members of Congress have built personal fortunes on PAC money, how Michael Deaver was just the tip of the influence-peddling iceberg, how “dissidents” in the Pentagon work to keep the generals honest, how insiders and “leakers” use the Times and The Washington Post and their personal bulletin boards. Congressional staffers more powerful than their bosses, media advisors more powerful than the media, money that not only talks but intimidated and threatens. That’s Washington. That’s The Power Game. Praise for Power Game “The Power Game may be the most sweeping and in many ways the most impressive portrait of the culture of the federal government to appear in a single work in many decades. . . . Knowledgeable and informative.”—The New York Times Book Review “There are oodles of good yarns in this book about the nature of power and the eccentricities that accompany it. . . . Delightfully fresh . . . [Hedrick] Smith is a superb writer.”—The Washington Post “Not only the inside stuff, but the insightful stuff—an original view of the power playing.”—William Safire