Dancing in the No-fly Zone

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Woodrow Wilson

"The government of the United States is a living system. As such, it is subject to subtle change and modification over time, but still maintains a constancy via its central nervous system - a congressional form of rule. Woodrow Wilson saw congressional government as "Committee" government. It is adminstered by semi independent executive agents who obey the dictates of a legislature, though the agents themselves are not of ultimate authority or accountability. Written by Wilson when he was a twenty-eight-year-old graduate student, this is an astounding examination of the American legislative branches, especially in light of the fact that Wilson had not yet even visited Congress at the time of its composition.". "Wilson divides Congressional Government into six parts. In part one, his introductory statement, Wilson analyzes the need for a federal Constitution and asks whether or not it is still a document that should be unquestioningly venerated. In part two, Wilson describes the make-up and functions of the House of Representatives in painstaking detail. Part three is concerned with taxation and financial administration by the government and its resulting economic repercussions. Part four is an explanation of the Senate's role in the legislative process. The electoral system and responsibilities of the president are the central concerns of part five. And Wilson concludes, in part six, with a both philosophical and practical summarization of the congressional form of the United States government, in which he also compares it to European modes of state governance.". "In a new introduction specially prepared for this edition, William F. Connelly, Jr. compares Wilson, as a professional politician, to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. He notes that Wilson's ideas, which have had a lasting influence, helped form Gingrich's outlook on the role of the Constitution and the executive branch in the legislative process. He also investigates Wilson's criticism of Madison's separation of powers. Congressional Governments is a document of continuing relevance, and will be essential for those interested in politics and American history."--BOOK JACKET.

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Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite

What is happening to Florida's "protected" wetlands? Florida possesses more wetlands than any other state except Alaska, yet since 1990 more than 84,000 acres have been lost to development despite presidential pledges to protect them. How and why the state's wetlands are continuing to disappear is the subject of Paving Paradise. Journalists Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite spent nearly four years investigating the political expedience, corruption, and negligence on the part of federal and state agencies that led to a failure to enforce regulations on developers. They traveled throughout the state, interviewed hundreds of people, dug through thousands of documents, and analyzed satellite imagery to identify former wetlands that were now houses, stores, and parking lots. Exposing the unseen environmental consequences of rampant sprawl, Pittman and Waite explain how wetland protection creates the illusion of environmental protection while doing little to stem the tide of destruction. - Publisher.

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Richard J. Krickus

Showdown explores the revival of the Lithuanian independence movement, beginning in 1988 when the popular front movement, Sajudis, was founded and including its February 1990 victory in the first free elections in the Soviet Union. A month later, Lithuania declared its independence. But as American author and political scientist Richard J. Krickus explains, by 1990 Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev had begun scaling back reforms and courting the neo-Stalinists. Lithuanian independence threatened to upset the Soviet Union's uneasy status quo. The Soviets' deadly response and the movement's ultimate success - with its far-reaching consequences - stunned the world. . Krickus was in Lithuania as an elections monitor during the momentous days leading to independence. His eyewitness account explains how this nation of fewer than four million set in motion the forces that broke apart the vast Soviet Union. Based on Dr. Krickus's personal knowledge of the dangerous events and the courageous Lithuanians involved, this dramatic account also shows how Americans aided this unforeseen catalyst to the collapse of the Soviet empire. Though the Lithuanians were victorious in their struggle against the Soviet Union, the country's independence and its democracy are tenuous. As Krickus warns, unless the West takes concrete steps to safeguard democracy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the freedom which was so hard won could be lost again.

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David A. Stockman

The bitter truth was that Ronald Reagan faced an excruciating test of presidential decision-making. After an exhausting and prolonged political struggle, he had emerged in July triumphant, having enacted a generous tax cut for all Americans. Only three months later, he had to admit that the triumph had been an illusion, when we couldn't win support for the spending cuts needed to balance the equation. Even worse, it had not been his fault. He had been misled by a crew of overzealous -- and ultimately incompetent -- advisers. The original budget plan I had devised for him had been fatally flawed. It is even harder to eat crow when you haven't cooked it yourself. The President could run, but he couldn't hide. Who would help him? Not the Democrats, who were sullen and revengeful; not the Republicans, who were hunkered down in their separate camps, frantic and confused. Reagan had one real option: to retreat and give back part of the huge tax cut we couldn't afford. But he wouldn't. Ronald Reagan chose not to be a leader but a politician, and in so doing showed why passion and imperfection, not reason and doctrine, rule the world. His obstinacy was destined to keep America's economy hostage to the errors of his advisers for a long, long time. - Jacket.