n this very riveting and well-researched essay, Julius Fondong ruminates on the continued relevance of the promises and principles that underpinned the creation of the post-colonial Cameroon nation-state, sixty years after unification in 1961. Renewing the Promise: A Treatise on the Refoundation of the Cameroon Nation chronicles Cameroon's experiment in statehood; an experiment, which according to the author, sprung out of a desire and a promise to forge a new nation through the fusion of two territories with contrasting historical experiences and colonial legacies. Writing from the vantage position of a policy analyst, a governance expert, and a conflict management practitioner, Fondong contends that a combination of policy inconsistencies, imperial arrogance, institution capture, leadership deficiencies and the brazen travesties of the nation's foundational principles and promises has led to violent internal dissent, decreased state capacity for public service delivery and a development gridlock. So, what can be done to re-align the nation to its founding promises and save it from possible disintegration? Fondong proposes an overarching, governance-based praxis for the re-engineering of the Cameroon nation from the bottom up. His proposed remedy is predicated on the principles of decentralized governance, the redistribution of power in a manner that addresses the right to self-determination of Anglophone Cameroonians, enhanced public service delivery and a strategic shift from a transactional to a transformational leadership paradigm. Renewing the Promise is a thought-provoking and captivating political essay, written with exhilarating passion and prototypical clarity. It can serve as a blueprint for a much-needed reform of Cameroon's governance architecture.

The President's Council of Advisors on Science & Technology has sought to identify the weak points that threaten the otherwise strong web that binds together the federal government & the tax-paying public with the research-intensive universities into a major scientific research & higher education partnership. They have also considered the relationship between universities & industry. In this report, they present their findings & recommendations for strengthening the overall enterprise.

A “persuasive . . . heartfelt and vividly written” call to counter systemic racism and build national solidarity in America (Publishers Weekly). The American Promise enshrined in our Constitution states that all men and women are inherently equal. And yet racism continues to corrode our society. If we cannot overcome it, Theodore Johnson argues, the promise that made America unique on Earth will have died. In When the Stars Begin to Fall, Johnson presents a compelling blueprint for the kind of national solidarity necessary to mitigate racism. Weaving together history, personal memories, and his family’s multi-generational experiences with racism, Johnson posits that solutions can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America. Understanding that racism is a structural crime of the state, he argues that overcoming it requires us to recognize that a color-conscious society—not a color-blind one—is the true fulfillment of the American Promise. Fueled by Johnson’s ultimate faith in the American project, grounded in his family’s longstanding optimism and his own military service, When the Stars Begin to Fall is an urgent call to undertake the process of overcoming what has long seemed intractable.

Renewing Birmingham is the first book-length study of how federal funding helped transform a twentieth-century southern city. Christopher MacGregor Scribner shows that such funding not only aided Birmingham's transition from an industrial to a service economy but also led to redrawn avenues of power, influence, and justice in the city. By the 1960s Alabama's largest city faced wrenching changes brought on by economic decline, suburbanization, and racial tension. Decades in the making, these problems pitted old-guard politicians, manufacturing elites, and working-class whites against an alternative vision, kindled by federal dollars, of Birmingham's future. Scribner uses the Birmingham experience to trace the evolution of federal grants from extensions of Depression-era fiscal policy to instruments of social change. As he discusses federal backing of projects ranging from low-income housing to the University of Alabama Medical College, Scribner also shows how control of the grant purse, which once belonged exclusively to politicians, came to be shared with bureaucrats and activists, local and federal participants, and blacks and whites. Most important in Birmingham's case, debates over spending drew in entrepreneurs in fields as diverse as biomedicine and education, real estate and construction. This complicated bargaining and coalition-building sparked a "quiet revolution" that had begun hollowing out the core of Birmingham's old order even as civil rights protests cemented the city's segregationist reputation. Scribner stresses that the social benefits of Birmingham's economic rebirth reflected not so much a change of heart for the city as an admission that segregation was simply bad for business. As a new Birmingham ascended--and became less distinguishable from other American cities--aspects of its racist, elitist past persisted. In learning the particulars of Birmingham we come closer to understanding how the South can be at odds with the rest of the country even as it participates in national trends.

At this defining moment in our history, Americans are hungry for change. After years of failed policies and failed politics from Washington, this is our chance to reclaim the American dream. Barack Obama has proven to be a new kind of leader–one who can bring people together, be honest about the challenges we face, and move this nation forward. Change We Can Believe In outlines his vision for America. In these pages you will find bold and specific ideas about how to fix our ailing economy and strengthen the middle class, make health care affordable for all, achieve energy independence, and keep America safe in a dangerous world. Change We Can Believe In asks you not just to believe in Barack Obama’s ability to bring change to Washington, it asks you to believe in yours.