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The essential reference for every home and every citizen of the United States of America

The Handbook for Americans is a guide for every American to the United States and its tradition of freedoms and responsibilities. There has never been a more pressing time to discover the power we hold as a people to set the agenda for our Nation's future.

The Handbook for Americans features the foundational documents of our democracy -- The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights and provides information every American citizen should know about how our government works and the balance of powers set forth by the Nation's founders. An overview of key moments in America’s history, including the long march toward equal rights, provides inspiration and a valuable historical perspective. The Handbook for Americans is a comprehensive resource of the traditions, customs, and facts every American should know about their country.

Now, more than ever, Americans are faced with economic, environmental and philosophical challenges that require a strong response. When we ask ourselves, "What does it mean to be an American? What do we stand for?" we are in fact casting about for the resources and traditions to enable us to meet today's challenges.

The Handbook for Americans is a sourcebook for citizens as we embark into the 21st Century. It is a guide, and a comfort, for the times ahead and the challenges it may bring. It can help us to understand where we are going, by mapping out where we've been.

A portion of your purchase goes to Americans in need through the Hatherleigh Foundation. ... Read more

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This detailed study offers numerous insights into the inner workings and foreign policy decision-making processes of the Eisenhower Administration. Tuunainen's work builds primarily upon extensive declassified archival materials and a massive body of literature. ... Read more

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A brief exposition of the Constitution of the United States : with an appendix, containing the Declaration of independence and the Articles of confederation. And a copius index (1833)


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Currently, there are many books which have been written documenting the issues of the Bush Presidency; A Letter to America draws the reader a clearer more concise picture of major policies of this White House. The author, a trauma surgeon, uses multiple forms of data to analyze and treat an injured patient. He uses those same skills to dissect the policies of Bush's White House. Written in a fluid, crisp style, the author draws on his experience as a surgeon and an American to examine the White House from many angles. He leads one to the conclusion that the only prescription for America is that President Bush needs a vacation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Important Issues Presented Clear and Concise
After reading this well-written letter to all Americans you finish the last page and close the book with a feeling that you have been nourished by the truth.Using his analytical skills learned as a surgeon, Dr. Thompson present 10 important issues in a clear, concise manner surrounding the 43rd President. The information presented in this book provide an excellent foundation for those seeking information on current political issues.

Political review at its FINEST
It has been said that this is the most important presidential election ever, and if that is indeed the case, then this book by Dr. Thompson is the most important book to read prior to the election.This book is extremely well written and flows nicely.You will be astounded by the information that you learn about the Bush Presidency, information that you can use to determine your vote.
Please read this book prior to the election...it will be money and time well spent. ... Read more

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Re-Constitution: A Citizen’s View of the American Contract
Author: C. Luedke; 2010

As a democracy and a representative republic, America exists at a perpetual crossroads; with a choice to be made again and again to embrace freedom or to embrace tyranny.At many points in our history this dynamism has led to crisis of choice and conscience that fundamentally direct the course of our evolution as a nation.Now is one such time of crisis.It is a time where all Americans are challenged to think, speak, and act on their core beliefs…
Who are we as a nation?Do we truly value independence, liberty, self-reliance, and responsibility?Or, do we actually embrace the notion of government as overseer of the collective as it sees fit – benevolent or otherwise?Re-Constitution seeks to ask these questions and others while challenging readers to ask what their own real values are when it comes to the fundamental principles and core laws of our land.Couched in a discussion of the Amendments of the US Constitution, and imagining a new Constitutional Convention that would address the core issues facing America’s identity today, this commentary suggests what the Constitution does, and could mean in restoring and shaping a more perfect union.
“Given our current state as a nation and a society, is it at all likely that we can expect to see any real fundamental changes any time soon along the lines of amending the US Constitution – either along the lines proposed here or otherwise?Probably not without a sea-change in the way that Americans at all levels seek to engage the political process.Certainly not without bringing the fundamental questions of governance and society to the forefront as they relate to the core issues facing us as Americans.By discussing these issues in the context of the Constitution itself, and exploring how they are and how they could work in our society, it becomes easier to grasp how our fundamental beliefs and character as a nation are shaped and expressed through the core document of law underpinning our society.Re-Constitution is not just a discussion about the possible form of the nation cobbled out of some imaginary new constitutional convention.It is an incitement to discourse.It is a call to search, explore, and share one another’s beliefs in the nature and character of our nation.In a nation such as ours, such topics cannot be the property of political elites, lawyers, and specialist classes of pundits.These are the foundations of our nation.They belong to all of us as Americans.”

- C. Luedke; Re-Constitution
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Us FBI Handbook: strategic information and Contacts ... Read more

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Accessible, managable length, cogent

Post-structuralism seems to have found a home in security studies, within the larger discipline of political science/international relations, most likely because of the focus on identity politics and the construction of the other as enemy being useful tools for security analysis . Bormann does an expert job of giving brief operative definitions of the terms she wishes to borrow, mostly from Foucault and Derrida (genealogy and deconstruction respectively). An individual uninitiated in the ideas of post-structuralism will find these explanations easily accessible, and it will become even easier to understand as one moves through the book, because the deconstruction that is performed is top notch and the genealogy that is discovered as a result is illuminating. If you are looking for a fresh perspective on deterrence, missile defense, etc. this is a great read. Usually writers attempting to use post-structural methodology succumb to the professionalization of discourse, but this is not the case in this book. That is why this book is also a great introduction to post-structuralist thought in general, and how it can be applied to topical issues to produce much better explanations than those currently available. And if not a "better explanation" per se, at least closer to what Nietzsche called justifiable knowledge. ... Read more

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A treasury of primary sources that explore the institution of Congress in the political life and history of the USA. It covers more than two centuries of events, including material on the conduct of senators and representatives, the origins of Congress, and congressional procedures. ... Read more

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Between them, Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien radically altered the structure and functions of the federal government, first by signing and implementing major trade liberalization projects, and then by cutting back the size of their governments' budgets and the scope of their policies.Uncle Sam and Us analyzes the Mulroney-Chrétien era's impact on Canadian governance through two related factors, globalization from without and neoconservatism from within.

Stephen Clarkson begins his study by conceptualizing the present Canadian state as a five-tiered, nested system stretching from the municipal and provincial levels, through the federal government, and on to the new continental and global spheres of governance: in effect, he argues, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization have added a 'supraconstitution' to Canada's existing institutions.His analysis concerns the changes that have occurred not just in the federal government, but in provincial and municipal governance as well. The impact of globalization and neoconservatism is examined extensively in the second part of Clarkson's study, which examines how the functions of the Canadian state have altered.Clarkson addresses the changes in a number of policy areas such as macro and monetary policy, regulatory, industrial, and trade policy, as well as social, labour, environmental, cultural, and foreign policy.

In linking external forces and internal factors in his analysis, Clarkson brings together separate aspects of the Canadian state into a comprehensive understanding of the current Canadian political climate.He combines a global knowledge of the international political economy with a micro concern for detailed analyses of policy issues, and concludes that the responsibility for Canada's predicament lies less with external forces, than with Canadians and the governments they elected.He ends with a hopeful look into the future, pointing towards a realization of the shortcomings of neoconservative globalization, and the expectation of a new governing paradigm.

Co-published with Woodrow Wilson Center Press

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A seminal and invaluable contribution to Canadian Economics
Uncle Sam And Us: Globalization, NeoConservatism, And The Canadian State by acclaimed scholar and international relations expert Stephen Clarkson is an exhaustive, scholarly, and meticulously scrupulous study of just how severely Canada's government and economy have been affected by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the World Trade Organization, and other international, hemispheric, and American/Canadian agreements trade and economic relationships.. Closely scrutinizing the Canadian economy's weaknesses, the inherent contradictions of neoconservatism, and contrasting different models of the state, Uncle Sam And Us is a thoughtful, 534-page appraisal of conditions, options, and possible paths for Canada's future. Enhanced with sixty-two pages of notes, six pages of acronyms, five pages of special acknowledgments, as well as comprehensive Author and Subject indexes, Uncle Sam And Us is a seminal and invaluable contribution to Canadian Economics, U.S./Canadian Trade, and International Studies reference collections and reading lists. ... Read more

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The purpose of this book is to offer a coherent and systematic study of the U.S. Congress. It presents a detailed description of the organisation and procedures of the Senate and the House of Representatives and pays particular regard to the ways in which the structure of Congress has varied over time since the forming of the Constitution.It looks at membership and elections, at the legislative process and the committee system, at floor activity and at the contentious issue of relations with the President, to provide all students of American politics with a thorough and up-to-date examination of one of their core areas of study. ... Read more

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This is an examination of the political and constitutional crisis caused by the Supreme Court's response to Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s. The crisis brought to a head the debate over how much the US government should interfere in the nation's economy. The work is based on research into the private papers of the Justices involved. The author offers his own re-interpretation of the struggle which contributed to the future shape of US economic policy. ... Read more

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The Rules Committee in the US House of Representatives is one of the most powerful institutions in Congress. It takes centre stage in determining procedures that will shape the bills enacted by the House. Its central role gives it broad influence over national policy on issues from Social Security and taxes to civil rights and the federal deficit. This study develops a principal-agent theory to analyze how changes in procedures and the role of the House Rules Committee have affected policy making in Congress over the past three decades. The book's main themes relate to a broader literature that explains the strengthening of party leadership organizations within Congress and their significance for understanding congressional politics. The volume is ideally suited for courses on the US Congress and American Politics more generally. ... Read more

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This study looks closely at the attempts to resolve the dilemmas now confronting American policy-makers and the need for the US to balance national interests against global responsibilities as the world's only superpower. The emphasis on trade and the vital need to improve American performance in international trade for domestic reasons is placed against new sets of problems for international security. The role of key institutions such as the United Nations, the present round of GATT negotiations and the dangers of protectionism developing from new groupings of economic blocs are also examined. ... Read more

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Focuses on a European and American perspective of the issues of international security, world trade, and the globalization/environmental policy interface.Includes contributions from public officials and scholars from both European and the U.S. DLC: Security, International. ... Read more

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Few documents known to history have received as much praise as the United States Constitution. Gladstone called it "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." The casual reader of the Constitution will be at a loss to account for such adulation. It will seem to him a businesslike document, outlining a scheme of government in terse and well-chosen phrases, but he is apt to look in vain for any earmarks of special inspiration. To understand the true greatness of the instrument something more is required than a mere reading of its provisions.

The Constitution was the work of a convention of delegates from the states, who met in Philadelphia in May, 1787, and labored together for nearly four months. They included a large part of the best character and intellect of the country. George Washington presided over their deliberations. The delegates had not been called together for the purpose of organizing a new government. Their instructions were limited to revising and proposing improvements in the Articles of the existing Confederation, whose inefficiency and weakness, now that the cohesive power of common danger in the war of the Revolution was gone, had become a byword. This task, however, was decided to be hopeless, and with great boldness the convention proceeded to disregard instructions and prepare a wholly new Constitution constructed on a plan radically different from that of the Articles of Confederation. The contents of the Constitution, as finally drafted and submitted for ratification, may be described in few words. It created a legislative department consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, an executive department headed by a President, and a judicial department headed by a Supreme Court, and prescribed in general terms the qualifications, powers, and functions of each. It provided for the admission of new states into the Union and that the United States should guarantee to every state a republican form of government. It declared that the Constitution and the laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof, and treaties, should be the supreme law of the land. It provided a method for its own amendment. Save for a few other brief clauses, that was all. There was no proclamation of Democracy; no trumpet blast about the rights of man such as had sounded in the Declaration of Independence. On the contrary, the instrument expressly recognized human slavery, though in discreet and euphemistic phrases.


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Any theoretical model that attempts to understand the evolution and the dynamic of Canadian-American relations in the realm of security must be capable of responding to these two questions. Models such as 'balance of power,' 'hegemony,' 'interdependence,' or 'integration' provide only partial answers. "The North American Democratic Peace" suggests that Canadian-American relations are a manifestation of the popular but controversial 'Democratic Peace' effect. That democratic societies do not fight one another is well documented, but the mechanisms that produce and maintain this situation remain vague.Stephane Roussel argues that Canadian-U.S. security relations provide a case study that allows us to better understand this process. He shows that the structure of Canada-U.S. relations can be explained by the fact that in their mutual relations both governments have applied the norms and rules they use at the domestic level, such as banishing the use of violence and establishing equal representation.This book describes how the democratic-liberal values and norms shared by both states shaped the evolution of Canadian-American practices and institutions in the realm of security from 1867 to the formal creation of NORAD in 1958. It also challenges the common perception of Canada as a satellite of the U.S. and explains why Canadians and Americans take the peace between them for granted. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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More Like Us is a celebration of American openness to immigration and aspiration and a skeptic's tour of the rigidity of Asian societies. Fallows is the author of the highly acclaimed National Defense. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

wonderful, level-headed assessement of US/Japan competition
At a time of incredible hysteria (1980's) about the Asian economic challenge, James Fallows came through with a sensible, level-headed assessement of what makes America unique. Open immigration, physicalmobility, economic mobility, lack of traditions, mass-media culture - allthe things that make America culturally unique among nations also makesAmerica an economic power house that can rebound and renew itself. Aprofoundly important book.

I hate to think this is out of print.
Fallows has a very important message for esp. those of us who came of age in 60'& 70'when America's faults made it so easy to feel lousy about this country's role in the world.(I was living in France when we bombedCambodia and felt everything was ending.)

His message about race &racism is profoundly important -- that one of the things that makes America"unusal is its assumption that race should not matter, that a societycan be built of individuals with no particular historic or racial bond tolink them together."And I love his vision of "people always inmotion, able to make something different of themselves, ready for secondchances until the day they die."(it was from this book I learnedthat William F. Buckley's grandfather was a south Texas sherif -- I loveit!)

I hope Fallows comes out with a new edition analyzing the economicdynamics of the 90's in the light of his premise that we need to be morelike us.

Great comparative study of Us (Americans)and Them (Japanese)
I read this book while living in Japan for the first time in early 1990. I love Japan and studied the language but I also love my own country and began to realize that after I began to make my initial adjustments to lifein metropolitan Tokyo.Yes, America is a life of immigrants and constantchange, as Mr. Fallows's own family history illustrates. And, yes, Japan isa land of far less mobility and still offers far less of an opportunity foran individual to "reinvent" him or herself. 1990 was also a timewhen American businesses were suffering at the expense of formidableJapanese competition. The world's richest stock market valuation belongedto Tokyo. It was the height of their great bubble. Mr. Fallows, an esteemedwriter and editor who has since been chief editor of U.S. News and WorldReport, made a name for himself, together with Mr. Clyde Prestowitz, as oneof the chief "revisionists, " alarming us Americans that Japanesecultural, historical and organizational characteristics would continue tobe formidable. And they are right: despite our freewheeling economy andporous nation (definitely our great attribute), we still have the samestubborn record-level trade deficits with Japan. Yet Japanese are voraciousconsumers too so something tells me that "They" continue to getit right too. Most importantly, Mr. Fallows's book puts a human face on ourrespective strengths -- and weaknesses -- as Americans and Japanese. Afterfour years of living in Japan over a seven-year period, I've figured outthat we as proud and "unique" nations and people are more alikethan unalike, a point Mr. Fallows repeatedly makes.

The Eagle soars, because it has the freedom to do it.
Want to know why America didn't fall apart like many said it would a decade ago?Its easy to see now that America is and will be the most successful country in the world for many years to come, but this book shows why that is true.Anyone who wants a better picture of economics in America should read this.Freedom breeds success!

good book
A very informative read. I give it a thumbs up ... Read more