Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Politics & Government

These are entirely Napoleon Bonaparte's own words, written and spoken, and collected in journal form. A particular focus here has been put on Napoleon's writings that pertain to military and state matters. The dates in terms of the revolutionary calendar have been modernized, and names and titles of individuals mentioned have been maintained with no attempt at uniformity. This production was begun on the 250th year of Napoleon's birth.

Eight years before he was elected the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt published these detailed recollections of hunting bison, bear, cougar, elk, moose, deer, and other game around the country. This production was undertaken on the 100th anniversary of Roosevelt's death.

In 1871, the Franco-Prussian War was raging. The workers of Paris, fed up with a government that had begun the hated war, and the exploitation, repression, and abuse of "their" government, took matters into their own hands. They instituted the Paris Commune - of, by, and for the workers. Observing these events through news reports of the time, one of the foremost thinkers of the 19th century, Karl Marx, made three speeches to the International Workmen's Association.

This is volume two—what Henry George called "the Solution to the Problem". This landmark treatise by the great economist Henry George was first published in 1879. George's work became the seminal analysis of the political economy which inspired most, if not all, the prominent thinkers of the Progressive Movement and many others of great influence: Upton Sinclair, John Dewey, George Bernard Shaw, Friedrich Hayek, H. G. Wells, Clarence Darrow, and Leo Tolstoy, to name but a few. His analyses and proposals are referred to as "Georgism".

This collection of articles on constitutional government was written by three of the most significant figures in the establishment of the United States as sovereign nation. Alexander Hamilton, one of the most influential of the Founding Fathers, was the author of 51 of the 85 articles. James Madison, who later served as the fourth president, contributed 29 articles. The remaining five articles were written by John Jay, who was active in a number of public positions, including chief justice, various cabinet posts under Washington and governor of New York.

Bertrand Russell was a firm believer in Communism, noting that the greatest fault of the capitalist system is not the concentration of money, but of power. The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism, written following a trip to Soviet Russia in 1920, reflects his observations of the Bolshevik approach to this ideal.

Jefferson Davis (1808 - 1889) was an American politician who became president of the Confederate States during the Civil War. He took his seat in Congress as the representative for Mississippi in 1847. As a Democrat, Davis was an enthusiastic supporter of the expansion of slavery. In 1861, he resigned from the Senate when the state of Mississippi seceded. During the Civil War, Davis acted as chief executive and commander in chief for the Confederacy. After the war, he was captured and charged with treason.

In 1925, the greatest muckraking journalist and advocate for the working man, Upton Sinclair, believed that the cause in which he believed needed to be clearly and concisely explained - in plain English - for the benefit of the American worker. He contended that the elected government was run by the financial supporters of the political parties; that big business, with the support of the courts and legislatures and media at all levels, was exploiting and mistreating workers, and focusing their efforts every day to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

After teaching as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Beijing for the year 1920, Bertrand Russell penned The Problem of China, in which he describes China's past and present, opening on the country's possible future. Written 100 years ago, the work is demonstrative of the philosopher's insight and analysis of both the West and the East. His cautionary advice and predictions of the potential future of China are uncanny in their accuracy.

The Travelling Ape is an award-winning book that explores what travelling the world taught him about life, humanity, and the geopolitical turmoil that so defines us. And how exploring the world changed him as a person, too. A journey infused with sharp insights and equally entertaining anecdotes of personal humiliation from when travel goes wrong.

Upton Sinclair, the greatest of the muckraking journalists, author of "The Jungle" and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, decided to run for Governor of California in 1934. It was the depths of the Great Depression in America and around the world. He changed his party registration to Democratic, ran for, and won the nomination. In this book, Sinclair lays out step by step what he proposes to do to lift the working men and women of California out of the poverty and unemployment which had gripped the state, the nation, and the world.

Veteran political journalist Anne Michaud knows the hidden agendas political couples employ to gain and cling to power. Working as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and awarded “Columnist of the Year” by the New York News Publishers Association, Anne has researched the spouses behind some of the most notorious politicians in the public eye. She discovered a surprising pattern as old as the dynastic maneuverings of England’s medieval queens.

Friedrich Engels carved out this pamphlet from his larger work Anti-Dühring, which was a response to Eugen Dühring's socialist theories. "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" tables the major elements of the larger Anti-Dühring work, and remains a concise reading of Marxist ideas.

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence announced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as 13 newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a new nation - the United States of America. Narrated by John W. Michaels, a must listen.

Despite attempts to suppress its publication and the advertising ban placed on it, The President’s Daughter enjoyed bestseller rankings after its eventual publication in 1927. Written so that Britton could raise enough funds to support her (and Harding’s) daughter and thus argue for the true legitimacy of children born out of wedlock, this tell-all about the affair between a starry-eyed girl and the man who would eventually become the twenty-ninth president of the United States is still a fascinating and relevant story in the context of the Me Too era.

This pacifist manifesto was published in 1917, as the First World War was dragging to a close. The resolution of this catastrophic conflict resulted in a reconstruction of Europe, the fallout from which led to an even more cataclysmic war. Russell delineates the problem as being due to the institutionalizing of national hostilities and the consequent apportioning of blame among the warring parties. In his exposition Russell considers the roles played by a number of institutions, social and political, reserving some his sharpest criticism for organized religion.

A remarkably fresh and engaging account of Britain’s long-reigning monarch, Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne at 18, in 1837, and died in 1901. Lytton Strachey captures her essential spirit in concise and elegant prose, with an eye and an ear keenly attuned to human nature, and its foibles. Written only 20 years after her death, this biography exemplifies the emergence of modern thought from the Victorian Era.

Philip Walsingham Sergeant's biography of Barbara from 1912 draws on contemporary writings to tell her story, giving a more vivid and faithful presentation of the spirit of the time. He traces her life from her early girlhood, through her time at Court, her exile, and ending with her involvement in a bigamy trial.

From the author of the landmark book of investigative “muckraking” journalism, The Jungle comes only the second book by Sinclair to be produced as an audiobook for commercial distribution: The Brass Check. Upton Sinclair turns his critical eye and his sharp pen on the corruption and lies of the media that ruled the day 100 years ago - the newspapers, the magazines, and the wire services. He lays bare their pervasive collusion with big industrial, financial, and political interests.

Anyone familiar with Russell's works will find a common theme running through the material: Despite being published over a century ago, his thoughts and philosophy remain remarkably a propos today. Russell argues AGAINST the possessive impulse that global capitalism stimulates in humans and which only benefits the possessor, and FOR the creative impulse, which benefits not only the creator but humankind as a whole. He also supports the establishment of an international parliament to address nation-to-nation conflicts—a palatable alternative to war.