True Blues

"This book examines the transformation of the Democratic Party from the 1930s to the Obama administration"--

As former D.C cop Mace Perry investigates a mysterious high-profile homicide in a last-ditch attempt to get her badge back, she finds herself on a collision course with the dark side of national security in this New York Times bestseller. Mason "Mace" Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime -- and then spent two years in prison. Now she's back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major case on her own. But even with her police chief sister on her side, she'll have to work in the shadows: A vindictive U.S. attorney will stop at nothing to send Mace back to jail. Enter Roy Kingman . . . A young D.C. lawyer, Roy meets Mace after the murder of one of the firm's female partners. Soon Roy and Mace are investigating together -- and uncovering surprising secrets from both the private and public sectors of the nation's capital.

Who governs political parties? Recent insurgent campaigns, such as those of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, have thrust this critical question to the center of political debate for casual observers and scholars alike. Yet the dynamics of modern party politics remain poorly understood. Assertions of either elite control or interest group dominance both fail to explain the Trump victory and the surprise of the Sanders insurgency and their subsequent reverberations through the American political landscape. In True Blues, Adam Hilton tackles the question of who governs parties by examining the transformation of the Democratic Party since the late 1960s. Reconceiving parties as "contentious institutions," Hilton argues that Democratic Party change was driven by recurrent conflicts between groups and officeholders to define and control party identity, program, and policy. The outcome of this prolonged struggle was a wholly new kind of party—an advocacy party—which institutionalized greater party dependence on outside groups for legitimacy and organizational support, while also, in turn, fostering greater group dependency on the presidency for the satisfaction of its symbolic and substantive demands. Consequently, while the long conflict between party reformers and counter-reformers successfully opened the Democratic Party to new voices and identities, it also facilitated the growth of presidential power, rising inequality, and deepening partisan polarization. Tracing the rise of the advocacy party from the fall of the New Deal order through the presidency of Barack Obama, True Blues explains how and why the Democratic Party has come to its current crossroads and suggests a bold new perspective for comprehending the dynamics driving American party politics more broadly.

All his life Reggie had wanted people to look up to him. At last they had a legitimate reason. Now when he walks down the street, past the supermarket he robbed more than once and the ice cream stand where he worked until he was caught stealing, people stop to shake his hand and slap him on the back and wish him well. Those passing in cars recognize him and honk their horns or wave to him out their windows. He is a symbol even amidst all that squalor. He made it, he's a success.

In 1759, William Preston purchased sixteen enslaved Africans brought to America aboard the True Blue, an English slave ship. Over the next century, the Preston family enslaved more than two hundred individuals and used their labor to establish and operate Smithfield Plantation in Blacksburg, Virginia. Daniel Thorp uncovers the stories of the men and women who were enslaved at Smithfield, one of the first plantations west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, between its establishment in 1774 and the abolition of slavery there in 1865 and offers powerful biographies of their descendants after emancipation. In the True Blue's Wake is the first book to chronicle the lives of the enslaved families whose labor was crucial to the success of the Prestons, a family that played a central role in the European settlement of southwestern Virginia and produced dozens of state legislators, three governors, ten members of Congress, two cabinet members, and a vice president of the United States. Drawing on records from Smithfield, the Preston family, and the surrounding community, as well as from the Freedmen's Bureau, federal censuses, military records, newspapers, and oral histories, Thorp tracks the identities and experiences of the enslaved. He then traces the diverse paths and accomplishments of those families as they moved throughout the United States after 1865. A model of public history, In the True Blue's Wake is an illuminating examination of an enslaved community in a region often ignored by historians of slavery in the United States yet representative of a broad swath of pivotal American history.

“Librarians often say that every book is not for every child, but The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp is” (The New York Times). Meet Bingo and J’miah, raccoon brothers on a mission to save Sugar Man Swamp in this rollicking tale and National Book Award Finalist from Newbery Honoree Kathi Appelt. Raccoon brothers Bingo and J’miah are the newest recruits of the Official Sugar Man Swamp Scouts. The opportunity to serve the Sugar Man—the massive creature who delights in delicious sugar cane and magnanimously rules over the swamp—is an honor, and also a big responsibility, since the rest of the swamp critters rely heavily on the intel of these hardworking Scouts. Twelve-year-old Chap Brayburn is not a member of any such organization. But he loves the swamp something fierce, and he’ll do anything to help protect it. And help is surely needed, because world-class alligator wrestler Jaeger Stitch wants to turn Sugar Man swamp into an Alligator World Wrestling Arena and Theme Park, and the troubles don’t end there. There is also a gang of wild feral hogs on the march, headed straight toward them all. The Scouts are ready. All they have to do is wake up the Sugar Man. Problem is, no one’s been able to wake that fellow up in a decade or four… Newbery Honoree and Kathi Appelt’s story of care and conservation has received five starred reviews, was selected as a National Book Award finalist, and is funny as all get out and ripe for reading aloud.

The Conservative Party is one of the most successful political parties in the western world. Its success has been built on its large grass roots membership. And yet that membership appears to be increasingly disaffected and in decline. This book is the first in depth study of this crucial section of the Conservative Party. Drawing on new and revealing survey data, it paints a fascinating picture of the social make-up and political views of a grass roots membership who dislike Jacques Delors more than the European Community, and The Sun newspaper most of all. the book challenges the stereotypical view of the Conservative activist as an eccentric and politically irrelevant Thatcher-loving extremist. Instead, the authors argue that the grass roots membership are the unsung heroes of political life; helping to keep the party system working and democracy intact at a time when it is under considerable strain. The authors claim that to some extent the party is the author of its own problems, and point out the likely dire consequences for its future success if the current decline continues. They conclude by outlining the ways in which the leadership might revitalize its most important political asset.

The Nationals tells the story of the NSW National Party from its foundation in 1919 as The Progressive Party to the contemporary era under Andrew Stoner's leadership. Paul Davey, a former Federal Director and NSW General Secretary, writes with an insider's knowledge of the politics, policies and personalities that have shaped the modern party. His research is comprehensive including unfettered access to party archives. Emerging in the wake of World War I, The Progressive Party splits after only two years when seven of its 15 members refuse to join a coalition government. These dissidents become known as the True Blues and are the founding parliamentary members of the Country and subsequent National Party. The party grows into one of the largest political organisations in the country, boasting nearly 50,000 financial members in New South Wales in the 1980s. It fights off merger proposals and survives, despite constant predictions of impending doom, as the only party which exclusively represents rural and regional New South Wales. The State party is also highly influential in the national context; every Federal Leader since John McEwen's retirement in 1971 has come from New South Wales. The Nationals is as much about people as policies. Davey studied a myriad of documents and interviewed a wide cross-section of party figures including all surviving State and Federal leaders. The studies and candid comments shed new light on people, policies and incidents ranging from Mick Bruxner's and David Drummond's building of inland roads, railways and country education facilities to Charles Cutler's fight for State Aid for Independent schools; from the repulse of the Joh for Canberra campaign and Pauline Hanson's One Nation to the challenge of Independents; from sometimes poisonous relations with the United Australia and Liberal parties to the State's longest serving Coalition Government; from relations with the media, especially the country press, to the role of women and young people in the organisation; from the threats posed by changing demographics and electoral redistributions to the push by Doug Anthony to change the name from Country Party to National Country Party and later National Party. The Nationals tells the story of a unique organisation - a political party that is not factionalised and that, despite occasional defections (not new in any party) remains remarkably stable. It has had only nine State and 11 Federal parliamentary leaders in its entire history to date. Moreover, while at times recording an apparently small share of the vote, it consistently returns a forceful block of members to the New South Wales and Commonwealth parliaments and wields, some would say disproportionately so, a significant influence on Australia's political direction. A NSW Sesquicentenary of Responsible Government publication.

(Guitar Educational). A comprehensive source designed to help guitarists develop both lead and rhythm playing. Covers: Texas, Delta, R&B, early rock and roll, gospel, blues/rock and more. Includes 21 complete solos; chord progressions and riffs; turnarounds; moveable scales and more. The audio features leads and full band backing.