Great American Outpost

Great American Outpost PDF Author: Maya Rao
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610396472
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

Get Book Here

Book Description
A surreal, lyrical work of narrative nonfiction that portrays how the largest domestic oil discovery in half a century transformed a forgotten corner of the American West into a crucible of breakneck capitalism. As North Dakota became the nation's second-largest oil producer, Maya Rao set out in steel-toe boots to join a wave of drifters, dreamers, entrepreneurs, and criminals. With an eye for the dark, absurd, and humorous, Rao fearlessly immersed herself in their world to chronicle this modern-day gold rush, from its heady beginnings to OPEC's price war against the US oil industry. She rode shotgun with a surfer-turned-truck driver braving toxic fumes and dangerous roads, dined with businessmen disgraced during the financial crisis, and reported on everyone in between -- including an ex-con YouTube celebrity, a trophy wife mired in scandal, and a hard-drinking British Ponzi schemer--in a social scene so rife with intrigue that one investor called the oilfield Peyton Place on steroids. As the boom receded, a culture of greed and recklessness left troubling consequences for investors and longtime residents. Empty trailers and idle oil equipment littered the fields like abandoned farmsteads, leaving the pioneers who built this unlikely civilization to reckon with their legacy. Part Barbara Ehrenreich, part Upton Sinclair, Great American Outpost is a sobering exploration of twenty-first-century America that reads like a frontier novel.

Great American Outpost

Great American Outpost PDF Author: Maya Rao
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610396472
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

Get Book Here

Book Description
A surreal, lyrical work of narrative nonfiction that portrays how the largest domestic oil discovery in half a century transformed a forgotten corner of the American West into a crucible of breakneck capitalism. As North Dakota became the nation's second-largest oil producer, Maya Rao set out in steel-toe boots to join a wave of drifters, dreamers, entrepreneurs, and criminals. With an eye for the dark, absurd, and humorous, Rao fearlessly immersed herself in their world to chronicle this modern-day gold rush, from its heady beginnings to OPEC's price war against the US oil industry. She rode shotgun with a surfer-turned-truck driver braving toxic fumes and dangerous roads, dined with businessmen disgraced during the financial crisis, and reported on everyone in between -- including an ex-con YouTube celebrity, a trophy wife mired in scandal, and a hard-drinking British Ponzi schemer--in a social scene so rife with intrigue that one investor called the oilfield Peyton Place on steroids. As the boom receded, a culture of greed and recklessness left troubling consequences for investors and longtime residents. Empty trailers and idle oil equipment littered the fields like abandoned farmsteads, leaving the pioneers who built this unlikely civilization to reckon with their legacy. Part Barbara Ehrenreich, part Upton Sinclair, Great American Outpost is a sobering exploration of twenty-first-century America that reads like a frontier novel.

The American Congress

The American Congress PDF Author: Julian E. Zelizer
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780547345505
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 800

Get Book Here

Book Description
Congress is the heart and soul of our democracy, the place where interests are brokered, laws are established, and innovation is turned into concrete action. It is also where some of democracy's greatest virtues clash with its worst vices: idealism and compromise meet corruption and bitter partisanship. The American Congress unveils the rich and varied history of this singular institution. Julian E. Zelizer has gathered together forty essays by renowned historians to capture the full drama, landmark legislation, and most memorable personalities of Congress. Organized around four major periods of congressional history, from the signing of the Constitution to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, this volume brings a fresh perspective to familiar watershed events: the Civil War, Watergate, the Vietnam War. It also gives a behind-the-scenes look at lesser-known legislation debated on the House and Senate floors, such as westward expansion and war powers control. Here are the stories behind the 1868 vote to impeach President Andrew Johnson; the rise of Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and a leading advocate for pacifism; and the controversy surrounding James Eastland of Mississippi, who carried civil rights bills in his pockets so they could not come up for a vote. Sidebars further spotlight notables including Huey Long, Sam Rayburn, and Tip O'Neill, bringing the sweeping history of our lawmaking bodies into sharp focus. If you've ever wondered how Congress worked in the past or what our elected officials do today, this book gives the engaging, often surprising, answers.

Congressional Lions

Congressional Lions PDF Author: J. Michael Martinez
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 149855945X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book Here

Book Description
In some periods of American history, members of the legislative branch have been as influential, and sometimes more influential, than a particular president in crafting public policy and reacting to world events. Congressional Lions examines twelve influential members of Congress throughout American history to understand their role in shaping the life of the nation. The book does not focus exclusively on the biographical details of these lawmakers, although biography invariably plays a role in recalling their triumphs and tragedies. Instead, the book highlights members’ legislative accomplishments as well as the circumstances surrounding their congressional service.

The Making of American Congressional Mavericks: a Contrasting of the Cultural Attitudes of Mavericks and Conformists in the United States House of Representatives, 1836-1860

The Making of American Congressional Mavericks: a Contrasting of the Cultural Attitudes of Mavericks and Conformists in the United States House of Representatives, 1836-1860 PDF Author: Johanna Nicol Shields
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Legislators
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Mavericks and Other Traditions in American Music

Mavericks and Other Traditions in American Music PDF Author: Michael Broyles
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300127898
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 397

Get Book Here

Book Description
From colonial times to the present, American composers have lived on the fringes of society and defined themselves in large part as outsiders. In this stimulating book Michael Broyles considers the tradition of maverick composers and explores what these mavericks reveal about American attitudes toward the arts and about American society itself. Broyles starts by examining the careers of three notably unconventional composers: William Billings in the eighteenth century, Anthony Philip Heinrich in the nineteenth, and Charles Ives in the twentieth. All three had unusual lives, wrote music that many considered incomprehensible, and are now recognized as key figures in the development of American music. Broyles goes on to investigate the proliferation of eccentric individualism in all types of American music—classical, popular, and jazz—and how it has come to dominate the image of diverse creative artists from John Cage to Frank Zappa. The history of the maverick tradition, Broyles shows, has much to tell us about the role of music in American culture and the tension between individualism and community in the American consciousness.

Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series

Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series PDF Author: Library of Congress. Copyright Office
Publisher: Copyright Office, Library of Congress
ISBN:
Category : Copyright
Languages : en
Pages : 1760

Get Book Here

Book Description


The United States Congress

The United States Congress PDF Author: Robert Goehlert
Publisher: New York : Free Press ; London : Collier Macmillan
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives

The Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives PDF Author: Donald R. Kennon
Publisher: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book Here

Book Description


Maury Maverick

Maury Maverick PDF Author: Richard B. Henderson
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292788800
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 435

Get Book Here

Book Description
Maury Maverick was possibly the first liberal United States Congressman from Texas to achieve national and even international stature. A dedicated Democrat, he was ready to attack Franklin D. Roosevelt whenever he felt that Roosevelt was flagging in his enthusiasm for reform. He was honest to the point of rudeness, and he belonged to the "damn the torpedoes" class that pulled ahead regardless of political consequences. He was at home with the literate—he was a prodigious writer and speaker—but always ready to puncture their pretensions. And he could cuss with sailors, pecan shellers, and any breed of saloon keeper. Put all that together with a short, stocky, bulldog frame, a fierce face and a voice to match, and you have one of the nation's more colorful political figures.

Dissertation Abstracts International

Dissertation Abstracts International PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations, Academic
Languages : en
Pages : 752

Get Book Here

Book Description