A vivid and fast-paced history, Gary May's Bending toward Justice offers a dramatic account of the birth and precarious life of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It is an extraordinary story of the intimidation and murder of courageous activists who struggled to ensure that all Americans would be able to exercise their right to vote. May outlines the divisions within the Civil Rights Movement, describes the relationship between President Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr., and captures the congressional politics of the 1960s. Bending toward Justice is especially timely, given that the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 invalidated a key section of the Voting Rights Act. As May shows, the fight for voting rights is by no means over.

The first "accidental president," whose secret maneuverings brought Texas into the Union and set secession in motion

When William Henry Harrison died in April 1841, just one month after his inauguration, Vice President John Tyler assumed the presidency. It was a controversial move by this Southern gentleman, who had been placed on the fractious Whig ticket with the hero of Tippecanoe in order to sweep Andrew Jackson's Democrats, and their imperial tendencies, out of the White House.

Soon Tyler was beset by the Whigs' competing factions. He vetoed the charter for a new Bank of the United States, which he deemed unconstitutional, and was expelled from his own party. In foreign policy, as well, Tyler marched to his own drummer. He engaged secret agents to help resolve a border dispute with Britain and negotiated the annexation of Texas without the Senate's approval. The resulting sectional divisions roiled the country.

Gary May, a historian known for his dramatic accounts of secret government, sheds new light on Tyler's controversial presidency, which saw him set aside his dedication to the Constitution to gain his two great ambitions: Texas and a place in history.

Have you ever wondered what is really going on behind the scenes as you are boarding an aircraft? Why the air-hostess greets you in a cheerful manner or has a look of sour-milk etched on her face? This book tells it all: a fascinating insight into what my life within an airline was really like, a no-holes barred account of what happened behind those curtains. Working as a Purser for seven years with Virgin Atlantic Airlines, I experienced some remarkable scenes and situations, from air rage to pilots' double lives, from wild ranch parties to millennium fever, which I have now captured on paper. It is an addictive read that will have you laughing all the way to the end. Your imagination will be captivated by the description of the exotic locations and the wonderful characters I encountered during my travels.

When the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 granted African Americans the right to vote, it seemed as if a new era of political equality was at hand. Before long, however, white segregationists across the South counterattacked, driving their black countrymen from the polls through a combination of sheer terror and insidious devices such as complex literacy tests and expensive poll taxes. Most African Americans would remain voiceless for nearly a century more, citizens in name only until the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act secured their access to the ballot.
In "Bending Toward Justice," celebrated historian Gary May describes how black voters overcame centuries of bigotry to secure and preserve one of their most important rights as American citizens. The struggle that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act was long and torturous, and only succeeded because of the courageous work of local freedom fighters and national civil rights leaders--as well as, ironically, the opposition of Southern segregationists and law enforcement officials, who won public sympathy for the voting rights movement by brutally attacking peaceful demonstrators. But while the Voting Rights Act represented an unqualified victory over such forces of hate, May explains that its achievements remain in jeopardy. Many argue that the 2008 election of President Barack Obama rendered the act obsolete, yet recent years have seen renewed efforts to curb voting rights and deny minorities the act's hard-won protections. Legal challenges to key sections of the act may soon lead the Supreme Court to declare those protections unconstitutional.
A vivid, fast-paced history of this landmark piece of civil rights legislation, "Bending Toward Justice" offers a dramatic, timely account of the struggle that finally won African Americans the ballot--although, as May shows, the fight for voting rights is by no means over.

“An unknown and hitherto untold story of one of the true pioneers of the international oil industry.� William McGarvey was crowned the “Petroleum King of Austria,� dubbed “Europe’s Rockefeller,� advised the British government in the great debate over converting its naval fleet to oil fuel in preparation for World War I. His story is one that links Canada, the US, Austro-Hungary, Russia, and Romania. Today, we are witnessing a global campaign to bring to an end King Oil’s 150-year reign by shrinking the world’s reliance on fossil fuels. Yet the story of the early years of how the petroleum world evolved remains wrapped in obscurity. Crude Genius fills in an important gap in that history. The story of William McGarvey covers just five decades. Yet in that period, McGarvey became a leader in the procurement of oil, and raised it from a primitive act to a sophisticated international business. He transformed the primitive practice of oil extraction into a science and a powerful technology. He drilled and refined oil, he manufactured equipment, and built pipelines.

Business life is about persuasion. Effective managers advance their careers by identifying problems, developing solutions, and persuading decision makers to provide the support and resources necessary to make things happen. This book focuses on a specific presentation context: a problem-solution persuasive presentation to decision makers delivered in a conference room environment. Such presentations occur at every level in an organization. Therefore, team leaders, supervisors, managers, and executives can all benefit from learning how to design and deliver powerful presentations that move decision makers to take action. The author blends his extensive business experience with current research on persuasion to provide a practical, applied approach to using the problem-solution pattern. An integrated case study provides examples for each step in the process. The end result is a useful, actionable guide that will help professionals from every field make a difference in their organization.

In The Informant, historian Gary May reveals the untold story of the murder of civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo, shot to death by members of the violent Birmingham Ku Klux Klan at the end of Martin Luther King's historic Voting Rights March in 1965. The case drew national attention and was solved almost instantly, because one of the Klansman present during the shooting was Gary Thomas Rowe, an undercover FBI informant. At the time, Rowe's information and subsequent testimony were heralded as a triumph of law enforcement. But as Gary May reveals in this provocative and powerful book, Rowe's history of collaboration with both the Klan and the FBI was far more complex. Based on previously unexamined FBI and Justice Department Records, The Informant demonstrates that in their ongoing efforts to protect Rowe's cover, the FBI knowingly became an accessory to some of the most grotesque crimes of the Civil Rights era--including a vicious attack on the Freedom Riders and perhaps even the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. A tale of a renegade informant and an intelligence system ill-prepared to deal with threats from within, The Informant offers a dramatic and cautionary tale about what can happen when secret police power goes unchecked.

This book explains how small-business owners and managers can use strategic planning to gain a competitive edge, earn higher profits, and increase personal satisfaction. Here is the mantra for the small business person that is the theme of this book: Be focused, be different, and be better. May provides simple models and practical illustrations to guide the small-business planning team through the basics of the strategic-planning process. With strategic planning, you can control your destiny and guide your business toward profitable achievement of your vision.