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Author: Brian C Kenner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 472
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Book Description
The National Park Service is one of the most popular federal agencies with the American public. But the agency charged with preserving and protecting the nation's most significant natural and historic places is viewed much more critically by its own employees. There are many reasons for this: evolution of the agency, political interference, poor leadership, failure to incorporate science into management of park resources, and a culture of cronyism and favoritism.After 29 years working for the National Park Service as a park natural resource specialist, and 15 years overseeing programs to preserve endangered black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs, a large bison herd, fossil resources, and native prairie at Badlands National Park, the author found himself targeted by elements within the agency. He spent two years in exile on administrative leave, prevented from working, but still drawing his salary while he fought back against the agency he had served for so many years. He learned hard lessons about speaking out when the Park Service fails its employees and the resources it's supposed to preserve. He faced retaliation and a ruined career without objective investigation or due process, and almost completely in secret. Cases like his are surprisingly common in an agency so concerned about its public image, with secrecy protecting its actions from scrutiny. This book describes this case and shows how it reflects greater problems in the agency. It places the actions against one individual within the context of the many Park Service employees treated similarly in recent years. The author provides context for how the National Park Service has changed in the 21st century and examines how those changes are reflective of the political division in the country today. He also offers solutions to make the agency a better steward of the nation's treasures and a more welcoming place to work.
Author: Brian C Kenner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 472
Get Book Here
Book Description
The National Park Service is one of the most popular federal agencies with the American public. But the agency charged with preserving and protecting the nation's most significant natural and historic places is viewed much more critically by its own employees. There are many reasons for this: evolution of the agency, political interference, poor leadership, failure to incorporate science into management of park resources, and a culture of cronyism and favoritism.After 29 years working for the National Park Service as a park natural resource specialist, and 15 years overseeing programs to preserve endangered black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs, a large bison herd, fossil resources, and native prairie at Badlands National Park, the author found himself targeted by elements within the agency. He spent two years in exile on administrative leave, prevented from working, but still drawing his salary while he fought back against the agency he had served for so many years. He learned hard lessons about speaking out when the Park Service fails its employees and the resources it's supposed to preserve. He faced retaliation and a ruined career without objective investigation or due process, and almost completely in secret. Cases like his are surprisingly common in an agency so concerned about its public image, with secrecy protecting its actions from scrutiny. This book describes this case and shows how it reflects greater problems in the agency. It places the actions against one individual within the context of the many Park Service employees treated similarly in recent years. The author provides context for how the National Park Service has changed in the 21st century and examines how those changes are reflective of the political division in the country today. He also offers solutions to make the agency a better steward of the nation's treasures and a more welcoming place to work.
Author: Michigan Land Use Institute
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : School buildings
Languages : en
Pages : 24
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Book Description
Author: Steven Farley
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780375800924
Category : Children's stories
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Another adventure in the series about the young stallion Raven and the young girl who is her friend.
Author: Jonathan Schorr
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 376
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Book Description
A decade ago there were only two charter schools in the United States. Today there are more than 2,400, serving more than half a million students. Charter schools are public schools that are free from many of the regulations that have long governed public education. Supporters include many of the country's most prominent educators and politicians, among them President George W. Bush, who hope charter schools will reshape education, especially where it proves most challenging--in the inner city. The fact that most charter schools promise smaller classes and more parental involvement makes them immensely appealing to the nation's most disadvantaged families. Charter school detractors, on the other hand, fear that these alternative schools will irredeemably ruin public education, drawing away the talented students and the most involved parents. Clearly the stakes are high. But few Americans understand what a charter school really is--or what is involved in trying to create, attend, and teach in one. Written by a renowned journalist and education writer, and a former inner-city school teacher himself, "Hard Lessons is the first book to capture the human drama of the entire experience. For three years, Jonathan Schorr was allowed complete access to the students, teachers, and parents of the E.C. Reems Academy in Oakland, California, making him uniquely qualified to tell their fascinating story. But would the new school succeed in effectively teaching children from urban neighborhoods where success is rare? Would it become a whole new bureaucracy or sabotage itself from within? The answers are found in the moving stories of some deeply involved yet very different individuals. Amongthem, there is Nazim Casey, Jr.--rescued from his crack-addicted parents, he's the last-chance child who will put inner-city charters to their ultimate test; William Stewart--a father whose fury at his daughter's failed public school propels him into activism; Eugene Ruffin--the entrepreneur who helped introduce the personal computer to America, then collaborated with Wal-Mart heir John Walton to "invest" in education; and Valentin Del Rio--a young teacher whose idealism turns to exhaustion and the search for a punctual paycheck. Through successes and setbacks, "Hard Lessons reveals just how difficult it is, even with the best of intentions, to offer a quality education to every child in America. The story of E.C. Reems Academy offers invaluable lessons for anyone interested in America's most pressing domestic concern. At once harrowing and hopeful, and in the finest tradition of modern nonfiction, "Hard Lessons is one of the most important books to come along in decades.
Author: Sandy Tolan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1408853051
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 532
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Book Description
Children of the Stone is the unlikely story of Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, a boy from a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah who confronts the occupying army, gets an education, masters an instrument, dreams of something much bigger than himself, and then inspires scores of others to work with him to make that dream a reality. That dream is of a music school in the midst of a refugee camp in Ramallah, a school that will transform the lives of thousands of children through music. Daniel Barenboim, the Israeli musician and music director of La Scala in Milan and the Berlin Opera, is among those who help Ramzi realize his dream. He has played with Ramzi frequently, at chamber music concerts in Al-Kamandjati, the school Ramzi worked so hard to build, and in the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra that Barenboim founded with the late Palestinian intellectual, Edward Said. Children of the Stone is a story about music, freedom and conflict; determination and vision. It's a vivid portrait of life amid checkpoints and military occupation, a growing movement of nonviolent resistance, the past and future of musical collaboration across the Israeli-Palestinian divide, and the potential of music to help children see new possibilities for their lives. Above all, Children of the Stone chronicles the journey of Ramzi Aburedwan, and how he worked against the odds to create something lasting and beautiful in a war-torn land.
Author: Edward P. Morgan
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9781566390149
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386
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Book Description
The 1960s have yet to be adequately explained. After a decade of "Sixties -bashing" and mass media romanticizing, after a host of "second wave" books reexamining portions of the 1960s, there is a need to integrate the experience of those years into a larger framework of understanding. The Sixties Experience is a coherent and uniquely comprehensive assessment of the meaning of that time for the contemporary world. "Sixties movements," observes Edward P. Morgan, "were grounded in a democratic vision that is as compelling today as it was then: a belief that all people should be included as full members of society, that individuals become empowered through meaningful social participation, and that politics ought to be grounded on respect and compassion for the individual person." He argues that the most fundamental lesson taught by movement experience was that, outside of significant liberal achievements (such as civil rights legislation), this democratic vision would not, and could not, be realized within the American system. This realization thus led to a radical reassessment of basic American institutions. The Sixties Experience traces the evolution of this democratic vision and explores it through the concrete experiences of the civil rights and black power movements, the new student Left and the campus revolt, Vietnam and the antiwar movement, and the counterculture. Using first-person material, narrative accounts, and evocative excerpts from popular culture, he brings alive the vibrant energy and intense feelings generated by movement experiences He also traces the connection of the women's and ecology movements to the Sixties experience, outlining their contribution, and that of a "revitalized Left," to the enduring legacies of the 1960s. In its vivid narratives and comprehensive, accessible explanations, The Sixties Experience addresses two main audiences: the generation that came of age during the 1960s and continues to reformulate the meaning of its experience, and young people curious about the tumult, the commitment, and the importance of the Sixties. More broadly, in its critical perspective, the book responds to those who scapegoat and dismiss that decade; in his critical assessment of the movements themselves, Morgan counters those who romanticize the 1960s. Author note: Edward P. Morgan is Professor of Government at Lehigh University.
Author: Ryan Blair
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101980559
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 258
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Book Description
Can you remember that one time you got recognized or someone thanked you for your contribution to their life? You were a rock star, even for just one second. This book isn't about a charmed path to success or some untouchable fairy tale that nobody can relate to-this is about going from rock bottom to rock star, something that everybody can relate to. In his first book, Blair shared the brutally honest story of how he went from an at-risk youth, sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a shack, to a self-made multimillionaire by his early twenties. As his story became a national sensation, fans started asking him how they too could become entrepreneurs, take their careers to the next level, and achieve financial freedom. Rock Bottom to Rock Star answers those questions. Blair has battled extreme obstacles: life as a former gang member, balancing a demanding career with single parenthood, building and selling multiple companies, and making and losing tens of millions of dollars (sometimes all in one day). He wants to help others avoid the mistakes he made in the school of hard knocks, so he has compiled his unique advice for going from rock bottom to rock star in whatever field you chose to pursue. Much of his advice is counterintuitive, and definitely not what you would learn in business school. Here's one example: "Don't believe your own hype. The moment you start celebrating, you've left the stage. It wasn't celebration that made you a rock star. It was hard work." If you're serious about making the most of your life and you're ready to become the "rock star next door" instead of just looking up to them, this may be the most rewarding book you'll ever read.
Author: Peter Hayes
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810162792
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386
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Book Description
Nearly half a century after the Nazi massacre of the Jews in Europe, the Holocaust is now moving from the domain of experience to that of history. It is becoming the subject of recorded rather than living memory. Is real comprehension of the development and horror of the Nazi onslaught accessible to us? If so, through what intellectual processes or categories of understanding, and in the face of what temptations or diversions? How can we preserve, expand, and apply our knowledge of why and how barbarity came to prevail? What meaning can present and future generations derive from the catastrophe? These are the vital questions addressed by the essays in this volume.
Author: Malla Nunn
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525515577
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274
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Book Description
Edgar Award nominee stuns in this heartrending tale set in a Swaziland boarding school where two girls of different castes bond over a shared copy of Jane Eyre. Adele Joubert loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester at school is going to be great with her best friend Delia at her side. Then Delia dumps her for a new girl with more money, and Adele is forced to share a room with Lottie, the school pariah, who doesn't pray and defies teachers' orders. But as they share a copy of Jane Eyre, Lottie's gruff exterior and honesty grow on Adele, and Lottie learns to be a little sweeter. Together, they take on bullies and protect each other from the vindictive and prejudiced teachers. Then a boy goes missing on campus and Adele and Lottie must rely on each other to solve the mystery and maybe learn the true meaning of friendship.
Author: Ben Horowitz
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062273213
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog. While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he’s gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies. A lifelong rap fanatic, he amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs, telling it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in. Filled with his trademark humor and straight talk, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz's personal and often humbling experiences.
