Overthrow

An award-winning author tells the stories of the audacious American politicians, military commanders, and business executives who took it upon themselves to depose monarchs, presidents, and prime ministers of other countries with disastrous long-term consequences.

A novel about the fate of candor, goodwill, and the utopian spirit in a world where technology and surveillance are weaponizing human relationships One autumn night, as a grad student named Matthew is walking home from the subway, a handsome skateboarder catches his eye. Leif, a poet as well as a skater, invites Matthew to take part in an experiment with tarot cards. It's easier to know what's in other people's minds than most people realize, Leif and his friends claim. Do they believe in telepathy? Can they actually do it? Instead of writing his dissertation, Matthew soon finds himself falling for Leif and entangled with his friends, who are as idealistic as the Occupy encampment they like to visit. When the group runs afoul of a government contractor, an avalanche of news coverage, internet outrage, and legal repercussions overwhelms them. Elspeth and Raleigh, two of Leif's oldest friends, will see their relationship tested by the strain of criminal charges. Chris and Julia, who drifted into the group more recently, will have their loyalties questioned. Diana, a hardheaded sociologist, will need to find a way to stand with her friends without compromising her skepticism. And Matthew, entranced by the man at the center of it all, will have to decide what he owes Leif and how much he's willing to give. All six will be forced to reckon with the catch-22s of transparency and the insidious natures of power and privilege. Overthrow is about the aftermath of idealism--about what happens after new technologies have begun to change the boundaries that we imagine around ourselves. Caleb Crain has captured with astonishing sensitivity, acuity, and grace the unease and ambiguity that threaten our contemporary lives, and has written a beautiful novel about the redemptive possibilities of love and friendship.

An historical and hypothetical survey of revolution, civil war, and sedition. Tracing the causes of government overthrow from the beginning of humanity to 2019, this book has enough meat for the political scientist and political junkie alike yet easy to read for the curious. Its contents will prompt further investigation or at least a good cynical knee-jerk.

New commentaries on Aleister Crowley’s Book of the Law reveal how it is connected to both Right- and Left-Hand Paths • Examines each line of the Book of the Law in the light of modern psychology, Egyptology, Gurdjieff’s teachings, and contemporary Left-Hand Path thought • Explores Crowley’s identification with the First Beast of Revelations as well as his adoption of the Loki archetype for becoming a vessel of love for all humanity • Recasts the Cairo Working as a text of personal sovereignty and a relevant tool for personal transformation • Includes commentary on the Book of the Law by Dr. Michael A. Aquino, who served as High Priest of the Temple of Set from 1975 to 1996 Received by Aleister Crowley in April 1904 in Cairo, Egypt, the Book of the Law is the most provocative record of magical working in several hundred years, affecting not only organizations directly associated with Crowley such as the Ordo Templi Orientis but also modern Wicca, Chaos Magic, and the Temple of Set. Boldly defying Crowley’s warning not to comment on the Book of the Law, Ipsissimus Don Webb provides in-depth interpretation from both Black and White Magical perspectives, including commentary from Dr. Michael A. Aquino, who served as High Priest of the Temple of Set from 1975 to 1996. Webb examines each line of the Book in the light of modern psychology, Egyptology, existentialism, and competing occult systems such as the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff and contemporary Left-Hand Path thought. Discarding the common image of Crowley formulated in a spiritually unsophisticated time when the devotee of the Left-Hand Path was dismissed as a selfish evil doer, Webb unveils a new side of Crowley based on his adoption of the Loki archetype and his aim to become a vessel of love for all humanity. In so doing, he shows how the Book of the Law is connected to both Right- and Left-Hand Paths and reveals how Crowley’s magical path of mastery over the self and Cosmos overthrew the gods of old religion, which had kept humanity asleep to dream the nightmare of history. Providing in-depth analysis of Crowley’s sources and his self-identification with the First Beast of Revelation from a profound esoteric perspective, Webb takes his views out of the Golden Dawn matrix within which he received the Book of the Law and radically recasts the Cairo Working as a text of personal sovereignty and a relevant tool for personal transformation.

The. Aliens. Are. Here. The heart-pounding conclusion to The Overthrow trilogy that began with Bloom and Hatch. The alien invasion of Earth is imminent. But maybe not all the aliens are united. A rebel faction has reached out to Anaya, saying there's a way to stop the larger invastion--a way for humans and hybrids and cryptogens to work together. Can they be trusted? Or is this a trap? It's not even clear if Anaya, Petra, and Seth are united--some of the hybrids think they'd be better off if the aliens won... With everything on the line, these three teens will have to decide who they are at their core--alien or human, enemy or friend.

"The perfect book right now for young readers searching for hope, strength, inspiration — and just a little horticultural havoc."—New York Times The first book in a can't-put-it-down, can't-read-it-fast-enough action-thriller trilogy that's part Hatchet, part Alien! The invasion begins--but not as you'd expect. It begins with rain. Rain that carries seeds. Seeds that sprout--overnight, everywhere. These new plants take over crop fields, twine up houses, and burrow below streets. They bloom--and release toxic pollens. They bloom--and form Venus flytrap-like pods that swallow animals and people. They bloom--everywhere, unstoppable. Or are they? Three kids on a remote island seem immune to the toxic plants. Anaya, Petra, Seth. They each have strange allergies--and yet not to these plants. What's their secret? Can they somehow be the key to beating back this invasion? They'd better figure it out fast, because it's starting to rain again....

Why has the United States repeatedly engaged in the overthrow of foreign leaders and regimes? Although most regime change interventions have neither furthered US national security nor improved the fate of targeted states, the US has turned to this foreign policy instrument in at least sixteen cases from 1906 to 2011. In The Origins of Overthrow, Payam Ghalehdar explains US-imposed regime change by focusing on its emotional underpinnings. Based on a thorough analysis of the emotional state of five US presidents, he shows how "emotional frustration"-an emotional syndrome that combines hegemonic expectations, perceptions of hatred in target state obstructions, and negative affect-has repeatedly influenced US regime change decisions. When US presidents have been gripped by this emotion, Ghalehdar argues, they have turned to the use of force and targeted perceived sources of obstruction in order to ameliorate their emotional state and discharge frustration. Examining five US regime change episodes in two world regions (Cuba 1906, Nicaragua 1909-12, and the Dominican Republic 1963-65 in the Western hemisphere, and Iran 1979-80, and Iraq 2001-03 in the Middle East), he empirically illustrates the emotional sources of US intervention decisions. A novel explanation for a puzzling phenomenon in US foreign policy, The Origins of Overthrow sheds light on how emotions play a previously overlooked role in US regime change decisions.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a people to rise up in protest ... When a handful of bull-market bullies and corporate profiteers amass vast fortunes while 35 million citizens languish in poverty ... When average Americans decide they're sick of the burden of credit card-fueled lifestyles, tired of sending their children to violent, decaying schools, and sick and tired of sending corrupt, ineffectual career politicians back to Washington year after year to pander to their richest soft-money contributors . . . When a majority of registered voters no longer have enough faith in our fat-cat "leaders" and their obsolete parties even to sbow up at the polls to replace them ... When these truths become self-evident ... Then the time has come to overthrow the government. Arianna Huffington has earned a reputation as one of America's best-known and most independent political commentators, but this book will surprise even the most ardent followers of Beltway politics. In its pages she breaks away from the party-line platitudes of cynical Republicans and hypocritical Democrats alike and shines a harsh light on the real crises of contemporary America. Our democratic system has broken down, she contends. The two political parties have become indistinguishable. Their policies are feeble, their motives self-serving, their campaign tactics ruthless and insulting. And, as they kneel at the altar of profit, our nation's foundations are crumbling. Decay is everywhere: The physical decay of our cities and schools is matched by the moral decay of a drug industry that is allowed by politicians to push Prozac on children, a media industry that looks only for the next scandal, and a political industry that hypnotizes its candidates with polls, paralyzes them with smear tactics, and seduces them with carefully camouflaged cash. How to Overthrow the Government, then, is Huffington's call to arms: a challenge to the average American to seize the government back from the special interests that now hold it hostage and restore control to the people themselves. From campaign finance reform to new voters' rights to grassroots Internet activism and civil disobedience campaigns, she calls for fresh and radical solutions to this national crisis--and offers a directory of local and national activist groups to contact that can help make it happen. For if we are to preserve and protect our more perfect union, We the People must stand up and fight for our country--before it's too late.

ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST BOOKS The Wall Street Journal • Slate • Kansas City Star • Flavorwire • Policy Mic • Buzzfeed “Necessary Errors is a very good novel, an enviably good one, and to read it is to relive all the anxieties and illusions and grand projects of one’s own youth.”—James Wood, The New Yorker The exquisite debut novel by the author of Overthrow that brilliantly captures the lives and romances of young expatriates in newly democratic Prague It’s October 1990. Jacob Putnam is young and full of ideas. He’s arrived a year too late to witness Czechoslovakia’s revolution, but he still hopes to find its spirit, somehow. He discovers a country at a crossroads between communism and capitalism, and a picturesque city overflowing with a vibrant, searching sense of possibility. As the men and women Jacob meets begin to fall in love with one another, no one turns out to be quite the same as the idea Jacob has of them—including Jacob himself. Necessary Errors is the long-awaited first novel from literary critic and journalist Caleb Crain. Shimmering and expansive, Crain’s prose richly captures the turbulent feelings and discoveries of youth as it stretches toward adulthood—the chance encounters that grow into lasting, unforgettable experiences and the surprises of our first ventures into a foreign world—and the treasure of living in Prague during an era of historic change.

The second title in Kenneth Oppel’s explosive science-fiction trilogy, described by the Wall Street Journal as “so exciting that the pages might well have been printed with adrenaline” First the rain brought seeds. Seeds that grew into alien plants that burrowed and strangled and fed. Seth, Anaya and Petra are strangely immune to the plants’ toxins and have found a way to combat them. But just as they achieve their first success, the rain begins again. This rain brings eggs. Which hatch into insects. Not small insects. Bird-sized mosquitos that carry disease. Borer worms that can eat through the foundation of a house. Boat-sized water striders that carry away their prey. Our heroes aren’t able to help this time--they’ve been locked away in a government lab with other kids who are also immune. What is their secret? Could they be . . . part alien themselves? Whose side are they on? Kenneth Oppel expertly escalates the threats and ratchets up the tension in this can’t-read-it-fast-enough adventure with an alien twist. Readers will be gasping for the next book as soon as they turn the last page . . .