Made in U.S.A.: The Secret Histories of the Things That Made America
by Phil Patton

"With a digger's curiosity and a poet's pen he has done for the lowest artifacts of life--from easy chairs to the computer mouse--what Hemingway did for the sentence, what Picasso did for the color blue, what John Waters did for polyester."--The Baltimore Sun

The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group
by Dan Briody

"Dwight D. Eisenhower, upon leaving the office of president in 1961, warned future generations against the dangers of a "military-industrial complex," and the "grave implications" of the "conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry." The wisdom of these comments has clearly been lost in the forty years since Ike left office. And the first step towards turning things around is understanding how we got here. No single company can illustrate that progression better than the Carlyle Group, a business founded on a tax scheme in 1987 that has grown up to be what its own marketing literature once called "a vast interlocking global network." The company does business at the confluence of the war on terrorism and corporate responsibility. It is a world that few of us can even imagine, full of clandestine meetings, quid pro quo deals, bitter ironies, and petty jealousies. And the cast of characters includes some of the most famous and powerful men in the world. This is today's America. This is the Carlyle Group" --Excerpt from The Iron Triangle

The Chinese
by Jasper Becker

"In The Chinese, Jasper Becker, China's premier western correspondent, strips the country of its myths and captures the Chinese as they really live. For nearly two decades Becker has lived in China, and reported from areas where most visitors do not reach. Here he is at his most candid, reporting from all over the country: from tiny, crowded homes in the swollen cities of the southeast rim to a vast, secret network of thousands of defense bunkers in the northwest. He exposes Chinese society in all of its layers: from remote, illiterate peasants; to the rising classes of businessmen; to local despots; the twenty grades of Party apparatchicks; to the dominant, comparatively small caste of Party leaders who are often ignorant of the people they rule. Becker lets the Chinese speak for themselves, in voices that are rich and moving. He teaches a great deal about magnitude--and the false face--of China's vaunted economic poverty. In all, Becker reveals a China very different than our long-held assuptions depict. The Chinese is the hidden story of people of the world's largest nation--a nation so poorly understood and so vital to the future.--Amazon.com Book Description