The Accidental American

Download or read book The Accidental American written by James Naughtie and published by MacMillan. This book was released on 2014-01-02 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tony Blair's affair with America is one of the most compelling stories of our time. He is the Prime Minister whose bonding with George W. Bush imperilled his political future in Britain, while becoming a hero to many Americans after 9/11. In this powerful and compelling narrative, James Naughtie asks why America has so taken him to their hearts, and what this means for our politics, our leaders and the kind of country we are. In seven years, Tony Blair has turned the 'special relationship' into something of a love affair. With unparalleled knowledge and using the testimony of a wide circle of intimate contacts, Naughtie traces the roots of Blair's American obsession - through intimacy of the Clinton years to controversy of the Bush administration's War on Terror - showing how he has revelled in the adulation and respect showered up on him. However this veneration has come at a price. As Blair is attacked by recalcitrant members of his own party and distrusted by an increasingly suspicious electorate, America is remains in his thrall. But should John Kelly prevail over George Bush, how will Blair react? The Accidental American is an important and timely book, written with wit, verve and an acute eye for the contradictions and intrigues behind the Prime Minister's American adventures. This is essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the enigma of Tony Blair.

Download or read book The Accidental American written by Rinku Sen and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2008-09 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Accidental American" vividly illustrates the challenges and contradictions of U.S. immigration policy, and argues that, just as there is a free flow of capital in the world economy, there should be a free flow of labor.

Download or read book An Accidental American written by Alex Carr and published by Random House. This book was released on 2007-04-17 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forced out of a self-imposed exile, one woman faces a lifetime’s worth of secrets and betrayal–all in the name of staying alive. Nicole Blake had planned to leave her criminal life in the past. She had done her time in a dank prison in Marseille and relinquished the world of forgery and counterfeiting for an unassuming career as a freelance consultant. Now her world is a small farm in the French Pyrenees, with daily fresh eggs and the companionship of her devoted dog. But when U.S. intelligence operative John Valsamis shows up at her door, Nicole is reminded that she’ll always be an ex-con. Valsamis is after Nicole’s former lover, Rahim Ali, and soon Nicole finds herself back in Lisbon, tracking down Rahim in all their old haunts. Except now Rahim isn’t just a document forger–he’s a suspected terrorist. Unwittingly drawn into an international web of fundamentalism, crime, and corruption, Nicole discovers that its threads stretch from the cobbled streets of Lisbon to the once-beautiful city of her birth, Beirut, and to the top levels of the government that sent Valsamis to find her. And as with any good web, the harder Nicole fights to free herself, the tighter it closes around her.

Download or read book Accidental Office Lady written by Laura Kriska and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young American businesswoman discovers life inside a Japanese corporation. Armed with a new degree in Japanese studies, plenty of youthful idealism, and a can-do attitude, a young woman accepts a job as the first American trainee at Honda's headquarters in Tokyo. Her image of Japanese corporate life is dramatically challenged on her first day at work when she is issued a blue polyester uniform--a uniform worn only by women! With good humor and accessible prose, Laura Kriska relates her journey through the company, from serving tea to executives and cleaning the boss's desk to a stint in public relations and developing training classes for Japanese associates going to America. The reader is rooting for Kriska as she recounts her struggle to adapt to--and ultimately thrive in--the culture of a traditional Japanese company. Shortly before her departure, she comes full circle by introducing a successful campaign to make women's uniforms optional. Now with a new foreword by the author, The Accidental Office Lady is a vivid and valuable firsthand account not only of corporate Japan and the gender inequality that persists within it, but of an outsider's successful attempt to work within cultural boundaries to affect organizational change.

Download or read book The Accidental Asian written by Eric Liu and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1999-09-07 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beyond black and white, native and alien, lies a vast and fertile field of human experience. It is here that Eric Liu, former speechwriter for President Clinton and noted political commentator, invites us to explore. In these compellingly candid essays, Liu reflects on his life as a second-generation Chinese American and reveals the shifting frames of ethnic identity. Finding himself unable to read a Chinese memorial book about his father's life, he looks critically at the cost of his own assimilation. But he casts an equally questioning eye on the effort to sustain vast racial categories like “Asian American.” And as he surveys the rising anxiety about China's influence, Liu illuminates the space that Asians have always occupied in the American imagination. Reminiscent of the work of James Baldwin and its unwavering honesty, The Accidental Asian introduces a powerful and elegant voice into the discussion of what it means to be an American.

Download or read book The Accidental Tourist written by Anne Tyler and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning author—an irresistible novel exploring the slippery alchemy of attracting opposites, and the struggle to rebuild one’s life after unspeakable tragedy Travel writer Macon Leary hates travel, adventure, surprises, and anything outside of his routine. Immobilized by grief, Macon is becoming increasingly prickly and alone, anchored by his solitude and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts. Then he meets Muriel, an eccentric dog trainer too optimistic to let Macon disappear into himself. Despite Macon’s best efforts to remain insulated, Muriel up-ends his solitary, systemized life, catapulting him into the center of a messy, beautiful love story he never imagined. A fresh and timeless tale of unexpected bliss, The Accidental Tourist showcases Tyler’s talents for making characters—and their relationships—feel both real and magical. “Incandescent, heartbreaking, exhilarating…One cannot reasonably expect fiction to be much better than this.” —The Washington Post

Download or read book The Accidental Slaveowner written by Mark Auslander and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does one contested account of an enslaved woman tell us about our difficult racial past? Part history, part anthropology, and part detective story, The Accidental Slaveowner traces, from the 1850s to the present day, how different groups of people have struggled with one powerful story about slavery. For over a century and a half, residents of Oxford, Georgia (“the birthplace of Emory University”), have told and retold stories of the enslaved woman known as “Kitty” and her owner, Methodist bishop James Osgood Andrew, first president of Emory’s board of trustees. Bishop Andrew’s ownership of Miss Kitty and other enslaved persons triggered the 1844 great national schism of the Methodist Episcopal Church, presaging the Civil War. For many local whites, Bishop Andrew was only “accidentally” a slaveholder, and when offered her freedom, Kitty willingly remained in slavery out of loyalty to her master. Local African Americans, in contrast, tend to insist that Miss Kitty was the Bishop’s coerced lover and that she was denied her basic freedoms throughout her life. Mark Auslander approaches these opposing narratives as “myths,” not as falsehoods but as deeply meaningful and resonant accounts that illuminate profound enigmas in American history and culture. After considering the multiple, powerful ways that the Andrew-Kitty myths have shaped perceptions of race in Oxford, at Emory, and among southern Methodists, Auslander sets out to uncover the “real” story of Kitty and her family. His years-long feat of collaborative detective work results in a series of discoveries and helps open up important arenas for reconciliation, restorative justice, and social healing.