Common Sense: A Political History

Common sense has always been a cornerstone of American politics.

In 1776, Tom Paine’s vital pamphlet with that title sparked the American Revolution. And today, common sense—the wisdom of ordinary people, knowledge so self-evident that it is beyond debate—remains a powerful political ideal, utilized alike by George W. Bush’s aw-shucks articulations and Barack Obama’s down-to-earth reasonableness.

But far from self-evident is where our faith in common sense comes from and how its populist logic has shaped modern democracy.

Common Sense: A Political History is the first book to explore this essential political phenomenon.

The story begins in the aftermath of England’s Glorious Revolution, when common sense first became a political ideal worth struggling over.

Sophia Rosenfeld’s accessible and insightful account then wends its way across two continents and multiple centuries, revealing the remarkable individuals who appropriated the old, seemingly universal idea of common sense and the new strategic uses they made of it.

Paine may have boasted that common sense is always on the side of the people and opposed to the rule of kings, but Rosenfeld demonstrates that common sense has been used to foster demagoguery and exclusivity as well as popular sovereignty.

She provides a new account of the transatlantic Enlightenment and the Age of Revolutions, and offers a fresh reading on what the eighteenth century bequeathed to the political ferment of our own time. Far from commonsensical, the history of common sense turns out to be rife with paradox and surprise.

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Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot

A riveting historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to mega-bestselling author Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln.

More than a million readers have thrilled to Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln, the page-turning work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history.

Now the anchor of The O’Reilly Factor; recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy–and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.

In January 1961, as the Cold War escalates, John F. Kennedy struggles to contain the growth of Communism while he learns the hardships, solitude, and temptations of what it means to be president of the United States.

Along the way he acquires a number of formidable enemies, among them Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Alan Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In addition, powerful elements of organized crime have begun to talk about targeting the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

In the midst of a 1963 campaign trip to Texas, Kennedy is gunned down by an erratic young drifter named Lee Harvey Oswald. The former Marine Corps sharpshooter escapes the scene, only to be caught and shot dead while in police custody.

The events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century are almost as shocking as the assassination itself. Killing Kennedy chronicles both the heroism and deceit of Camelot, bringing history to life in ways that will profoundly move the reader. This may well be the most talked about book of the year.

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Obama: The Greatest President in the History of Everything

It’s hard to remember the dark days before 2008. It was a time of hatred, racism, violence, obese children, war, untaxed rich people, and incandescent light bulbs — perhaps the worst days we had ever seen. And at the heart of it all was a thuggish, thoughtless man, George W. Bush, who lashed out angrily at whatever he didn’t understand — and he understood so very little. Then there was that laugh of his — that horrible snicker that mocked everything intelligent and nuanced. Also, he looked like a chimp.

It seemed like the end for the United States of America. We would crumble in the hands of vicious, superstitious dimwits determined to hunt “ter’ists” or other figments of Bush’s rotten mind.

There was nothing left to do but head to Whole Foods to prepare our organic, sustainable, fair-trade last meal as the country ended around us. Despair had overtaken us, and we wondered aloud whether we could ever feel hope again.

And then a man emerged who firmly answered, “Yes we can!”

With the simple act of casting a ballot for Barack Obama, we could make the world an immeasurably better place — a world of peace, of love, of understanding, of unicorns, of rainbows, of expanded entitlements. This was his promise. And now, having had him as president for more than two years, we can say without reservation that he has delivered all his promises and more and is the best president this country — or any country — has ever had or could even imagine to have.

Oh, but Barack Obama was no mere man. He was a paragon of intelligence and civilized society. A savior to the world’s depressed. A lightbringer. A genius thinking thoughts the common man could never hope to comprehend. And his words — his beautiful words read from crystal panes — reached down to our souls and told us all would be well.

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The Obamas

When Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, he also won a long-running debate with his wife Michelle.

Contrary to her fears, politics now seemed like a worthwhile, even noble pursuit. Together they planned a White House life that would be as normal and sane as possible.

Then they moved in.

In the Obamas, Jodi Kantor takes us deep inside the White House as they try to grapple with their new roles, change the country, raise children, maintain friendships, and figure out what it means to be the first black President and First Lady.

Filled with riveting detail and insight into their partnership, emotions and personalities, and written with a keen eye for the ironies of public life, THE OBAMAS is an intimate portrait that will surprise even readers who thought they knew the President and First Lady.

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Gangster Government: Barack Obama and the New Washington Thugocracy

In Gangster Government you’ll learn, among other shocking revelations:

How the Obama administration has used “czars” and “recess appointments” to install powerful bureaucrats, some with extreme views and shady pasts, without congressional oversight

How the Obama administration ignored the Constitution and reversed 100 years of bankruptcy law to reward its friends (the United Autoworkers) in the GM and Chrysler bailout

Why even the pretense of “cutting costs” in Obamacare came second to rewarding the Democrat-supporting trial lawyers’ lobby

Why, ignoring federal law, the Obama administration is trying to shield the TSA workers who search passengers at airports from private sector competition

How the trillion dollar “stimulus” was directed overwhelmingly at protecting government workers supported by the taxpayers

Why “green jobs” are all about shaking down the taxpayer for favored businesses “not about truly sustainable” energy or jobs

How the Obama administration bullies private businesses and even state governments that don’t cooperate with gangster government

Gangster Government is a devastating and revealing look at the momentous first two years of the Obama administration and its subversion of our Constitution and laws. It casts a hard look at a president whose training on Chicago’s political playground shines through every bent law and every broken promise.

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