Academics, community activists, and politicians have rediscovered regionalism, insisting that regions are critical functional units in a world-wide economy and, just as important, critical functional units in individual American lives. More and more of us travel across city, county, even state borders every morning on our way to work. Our television, radio, and print media rely on a regional marketplace. Our businesses, large and small, depend on suppliers, workers, and customers who rarely reside in a single jurisdiction. The parks, riverfronts, stadiums, and museums we visit draw from, and provide an identity to, an area much larger than a single city. The fumes, gases, chemicals, and run-off that pollute our air and water have no regard for municipal boundaries.

This book lays out a variety of opinions on regionalism, its history and its future. While the essays do not comprise a debate, pro and con, about regionalism, they do provide a wide array of perspectives, based on the authors' diverse backgrounds and experience. Some contributors have made close academic studies of how regional action occurs, in various states like Minnesota, California, and Oregon; others give an historical account of a particular region like that surrounding New York City; and yet others point out aspects of regionalism--race, especially-- that should not be ignored.

Why did past efforts at regional collaboration fall apart? What did regionalist efforts of decades ago leave undone, and what new goals should regionalists set? Without an understanding of these questions, policymakers and advocates may find themselves "reinventing the region." This book provides an important understanding of how regionalism has played out in the past, how policies shape places, and the possibilities and limits of regional action.

Bruce J. Katz, director of the Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, was formerly chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Comprised of John Gibbons's non-technical writings from the last three decades, THIS GIFTED AGE shows readers both the limiting and the liberating influences of government on technological research and development. In many of the articles, essays, and interviews collected here, Gibbons addresses the broad issue of the government's role in supporting, advocating, and directing technological advancement. Other selections focus on specific areas where science and government join forces in the service of society. Together, these writings provide a behind-the-scenes look at national science and technology initiatives since 1972, and chart the changing public and political attitudes that shaped those initiatives.

Al Gore, Academy Award winning filmmaker, author of New York Times bestseller An Inconvenient Truth, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and former Vice President of the US, leads the charge against climate change, the world's greatest threat, in an incendiary new foreword to this timeless classic that launched his environmental career. If you want to know Gore, you need this book

With over half a million copies of Earth in the Balance sold, this timely re-issue benefits from a major new Foreword. It is a powerful and passionate analysis of the most crucial and far reaching issues confronting humanity. 'When I wrote this book, terms like global warming and greenhouse gases seemed exotic, unfamiliar, and unimportant to the lives of ordinary Americans. That has changed dramatically - except for those who still want to pretend that no one cares. There is a powerful awareness of the danger, and a widespread determination that we must not and will not leave our grandchildren a ravaged planet ringed with a thickening layer of carbon dioxide concentrations. So we have to strengthen, not weaken, environmental protection across the board, from global warming to stabilizing world population. This was my conclusion when this book was first published: We can believe in that future and work to achieve it and preserve it, or we can whirl blindly on, behaving as if one day there will be no children to inherit our legacy. The choice is ours; the Environment Decade is within our reach; the earth is in the balance.' AL GORE, December 1999 From the Foreword

Former Vice President Al Gore's "New York Times" #1 bestselling book is a daring call to action, exposing the shocking reality of how humankind has aided in the destruction of our planet and the future we face if we do not take action to stop global warming. Now, Viking has adapted this book for the most important audience of all: today's youth, who have no choice but to confront this climate crisis head-on.

Dramatic full-color photos, illustrations, and graphs combine with Gore's effective and clear writing to explain global warming in very real terms: what it is, what causes it, and what will happen if we continue to ignore it. "An Inconvenient Truth" will change the way young people understand global warming and hopefully inspire them to help change the course of history.

Now with a New Preface and Conclusion: 'Post-Truth: On Donald Trump and the 2016 Election' The United States of America is in the midst of a deepening crisis for their democracy. After the strangest election cycle in modern American history it is important that the grave threats to the American way of life that were glaringly revealed in this campaign are addressed. In The Assault on Reason, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore examines how faith in the power of reason - the idea that citizens can govern themselves through rational debate - is in peril. Democracy depends on a well-informed citizenry and a two-way conversation about ideas, but the public sphere has been degraded by fake news and the politics of fear, partisanship and blind faith. Now updated to investigate the rise of Trump and post-truth politics, The Assault on Reason is a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking, crucial if the vitality of democracy is to be rebuilt and good decisions made once more.

In 'The Future', former US Vice President Al Gore, explores the political, social and economic forces that are shaping what America and the world will become in ensuing decades. From demographics to democracy, Gore explores what he calls the 'Drivers of Global Change', framing the international conversation about the future in fresh and provocative ways. With this new work, Gore hopes to help start a conversation about the large-scale drivers of change that are defining and shaping our future - from the rapid development and integration of radically new technologies to the planet-changing impact of the climate crisis, to poverty, globalization, and the democratisation of knowledge accompanying the emergence of a ubiquitous internet linking ever more intelligent devices.

Kentucky State Treasurer Jonathan Miller shows the ten nonpartisan values--ranging from Opportunity to Security--that all Americans share, and uses Old Testament stories to highlight them. As an elected official in a "red" and largely Christian state, he has come to understand that although faith is often the source of divisiveness, the language of faith can bring Americans together. Inspiring stories from the Hebrew Bible illustrate Miller's plan to form a compassionate community. He shows that these lessons have the power to strengthen our country for future generations.

The National Performance Review is about change---historic change---in the way the government works. As the title makes clear, the National Performance Review is about moving from red tape to results to create a government that works better and costs less. This third report of the National Performance Review describes the impact of reinvention on the American people and their government and presents more than 300 new recommendations. The National Performance Review focused primarily on how government should work, not on what it should do. On September 7, 1995, Vice President Al Gore and the National Performance Review released their third report, two years after the first report, From Red Tape to Results: Creating a Government That Works Better and Costs Less. This edition reproduces the third report in its entirety.

Renowned for his "brilliant legislative mind" and political oratory--as well as for bicycling to Congress in a rumpled white linen suit and bow tie--U.S. Congressman Bob Eckhardt was a force to reckon with in Texas and national politics from the 1940s until 1980. A liberal Democrat who successfully championed progressive causes, from workers' rights to consumer protection to environmental preservation and energy conservation, Eckhardt won the respect of opponents as well as allies. Columnist Jack Anderson praised him as one of the most effective members of Congress, where Eckhardt was a national leader and mentor to younger congressmen such as Al Gore.

In this biography of Robert Christian Eckhardt (1913-2001), Gary A. Keith tells the story of Eckhardt's colorful life and career within the context of the changing political landscape of Texas and the rise of the New Right and the two-party state. He begins with Eckhardt's German-American family heritage and then traces his progression from labor lawyer, political organizer, and cofounder of the progressive Texas Observer magazine to Texas state legislator and U.S. congressman. Keith describes many of Eckhardt's legislative battles and victories, including the passage of the Open Beaches Act and the creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve, the struggle to limit presidential war-making ability through the War Powers Act, and the hard fight to shape President Carter's energy policy, as well as Eckhardt's work in Texas to tax the oil and gas industry.

The only thorough recounting of the life of a memorable, important, and flamboyant man, Eckhardt also recalls the last great era of progressive politics in the twentieth century and the key players who strove to make Texas and the United States a more just, inclusive society.