In 2000 the American electoral system was tested by a political ordeal unlike any in living memory. Not since 1876-77 has the outcome of a national election remained so unsettled for so long. The past elections recount conundrum shook the nations faith in the mechanisms that support the democratic process. Led by former Presidents Ford and Carter, the National Commission on Federal Election Reform undertook a study of the American electoral system. The resulting report describes where and what went wrong during the 2000 election, and makes clear and specific recommendations for reform, directed at state government, Congress, news organizations, and others. This volume also includes the full text of the Task Force Reports from the Commission.

This volume continues the ambitious project, undertaken by the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, to transcribe and annotate secretly recorded White House tapes. The tapes presented here begin on the day after the Cuban Missile Crisis-and run to 7 February 1963.

Published for the tenth anniversary of 9/11, this new edition of the authorized report is limited to the Commission s riveting account which was a finalist for the National Book Award of the attack and its background, examining both the attackers and the U.S. government, the emergency response, and the immediate aftermath. It includes new material from Philip Zelikow, the Commission s executive director, on the Commission s work, the fate of its recommendations, and the way this struggle has evolved right up to the present day."

Inside the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Concise Edition

The closest most of us will ever come to being inside the Oval Office at a moment of crisis.

For sheer drama, this work of history may never be duplicated. The events of the Cuban Missile Crisis unfold in the actual words of President John F. Kennedy and his top advisers. Now available in a new, concise edition, this book retains its gripping sense of history in the making. 20 photographs.

"[A] splendid achievement, as powerful and exciting a book as one is likely to read this year...."—Barry Gewen, New York Times Book Review

"Gripping history."—Richard J. Tofel, Wall Street Journal

"[M]esmerizing. I was utterly fascinated....the best, fullest account of crisis yet and will remain so for decades to come."—Stephen E. Ambrose

"[A]s close as most people will ever get to being a fly on the wall during the discussions of leaders."—Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, James G. Blight

Aspen Policy Books is a series of brief books devoted to developing new thinking on U.S. national security, cooperative measures to reduce conflict, and international polices of the United States from national defense strategy to issues of international political economy. The books are collections of "memos to the president" on one of these selected global policy issues.

Confidence in American government has been declining for three decades. Three-quarters of Americans said they trusted the Federal government to do the right thing in 1964. Today, only a quarter do. Why the decline? Is this mistrust a healthy reflection of America's long-lasting skepticism of a strong state? Is mistrust a problem for the future of governance?

Bringing together essays by leading Harvard scholars, this book explores the roots of mistrust. It first examines government's current scope, its actual performance, and citizens' perceptions of its performance. It then assesses many possible explanations that have been offered for the decline of trust, including the end of the Cold War, elevated expectations following World War II, a weakened economy, the effects of globalization, resentment over political scandals, and incompetence of bureaucrats. The book clarifies thinking about the sources of public disaffection.

Mistrust, the contributors find, is largely unrelated to national economic conditions, to challenges of a global economy, to the Cold War, or to bumbling bureaucrats and venal politicians. Rather, they show that the most likely culprits are all around us--an interacting blend of cultural and political conflicts stirred by an increasingly corrosive news media.

America and Russia is organized around four topics related to U.S.-Russian relations: "America and Russia's Domestic Political Future," "America and Russia's Economic Future," "International Strategic Issues," and America, Russia, and the New States." Each topic begins with a list of questions for discussion, is followed by a series of policy memos by guest experts, and concludes with a summary of the discussion on that topic.

Arranged as a collection of memos from experts in academia and government to a president facing a policy challenge, each book in the series offers succinct explanations of the background and context behind a handful of key issues in a particular region of the world.

American Military Strategy is organized around four topics: "Security Strategy and Military Missions," "Alliances, Coalitions, and Polyglot Peacekeepers," "The Promise and Perils of the Revolution in Military Affairs," and "The WMD Problem: Offense and Defense." Each topic begins with a list of questions for discussion, is followed by a series of policy memos by guest experts, and concludes with a summary of the discussion on that topic.

The most remarkable window that Americans have ever had into how their country is governed.

These volumes provide a unique glimpse into the real workings of the Kennedy White House, presenting perhaps the most reliable record of the Kennedy presidency ever published. In the summer of 1962, President John F. Kennedy installed a secret taping system in the White House. His aim was to record meetings and conversations he considered important, probably intending to use them when he wrote the memoir of his years in office, a book he never had the chance to write. The tapes are now being authoritatively transcribed, and those for the period from the installation of the tape system through October 28, 1962 (the end of the Cuban missile crisis), are presented here in their entirety.

Among the many highlights in these volumes, a fall in the stock market leads President Kennedy to consider a short-term tax break; a leak of highly classified intelligence information to the New York Times spurs Kennedy to confer with his advisers about how, for the first time, the White House might use the Central Intelligence Agency for domestic surveillance of American reporters; Kennedy tapes the tense hours as the White House dispatches the army to rescue James Meredith following Meredith's effort to enroll at the University of Mississippi; and, of course, the fascinating, secret discussions during the Cuban missile crisis.

The result is stunning, fly-on-the-wall history. Aided by the multimedia companion enclosed with this set on CD-ROM, anyone can now travel back in time and be there at the top of the most powerful government in the world in a time of crisis.

"It is hard to imagine a more instructive or exciting history than the presidential recordings of JFK's 'Great Crises.' The tense debate, the confusion, the insights, the jokes, the courage—it's all there, as it really happened. This is the true 'West Wing.'" —Evan Thomas

"The Great Crises is a treasure trove of new insights and information on three of the most promising and dangerous months in American history. These volumes will intrigue the general reader and keep historians working hard for a long time as we assess and reassess John Kennedy's presidency." —Michael Beschloss

"These volumes of presidential recordings both fascinate and illuminate. They show how John F. Kennedy reached his vital decisions, and they cast important new light on the conflicts of our times. This is history in the raw, and it is compelling." —Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

"There is nothing comparable to this multi-volume collection of presidential materials. This work is and will be an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the twentieth-century American presidency." —Robert Dallek