Town Government

In When McKinsey Comes to Town, two prizewinning investigative journalists have written a portrait of the company sharply at odds with its public image. Bogdanich and Forsythe have penetrated the veil of secrecy surrounding McKinsey by conducting hundreds of interviews, obtaining tens of thousands of revelatory documents, and following rule #1 of investigative reporting: Follow the money. When McKinsey Comes to Town is a a devastating portrait of a firm whose work has often made the world more unequal, more corrupt, and more dangerous.

In Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, renowned speaker and author of Strong Towns Charles L. Marohn, Jr., delivers an accessible and engaging exploration of America's transportation system, laying bare the reasons why it no longer works as it once did, and how to modernize transportation to better serve local communities.

This is the story of a local government manager who got hired by a small mountain town in the Colorado Rocky Mountains in his first city manager job. The job got complicated from the first day and developed into more and more complexity.

Kerri Arsenault grew up in the rural working class town of Mexico, Maine. For over 100 years, the community orbited around a paper mill that employs most townspeople, including three generations of Arsenault’s own family. Years after she moved away, Arsenault realized the price she paid for her seemingly secure childhood. The mill, while providing livelihoods for nearly everyone, also contributed to the destruction of the environment and the decline of the town’s economic, physical, and emotional health in a slow-moving catastrophe.

In a world where technology has become humanity's greatest vulnerability, one town stands untouched amidst the chaos. When a mysterious pulse of energy sweeps across the globe, cities burn and millions perish as every electronic device becomes a weapon of mass destruction. In the blink of an eye, modern civilization crumbles, plunging the world into darkness and despair. But Hope, a small Nevada town, miraculously survives unscathed. As the rest of the country lies in ruins, this isolated community becomes a beacon for survivors and a target for those seeking to exploit the new world order....

The great thing about Washington is no matter how many elections you lose, how many times you're indicted, how many scandals you've been tainted by, well, the great thing is you can always eat lunch in that town again. What keeps the permanent government spinning on its carousel is the freedom of shamelessness, and that mother's milk of politics, cash. What Julia Phillips did for Hollywood, Timothy Crouse did for journalists, and Michael Lewis did for Wall Street, Mark Leibovich does for our nation's capital.

In graduate school, Rachel Martin was sent to a small town in the foothills of the Appalachians, where locals wanted to build a museum to commemorate the events of September 1956, when Clinton High School became the first school in the former Confederacy to attempt court mandated desegregation.

Our current economic path is coming to an end. The signposts are all around us: sluggish growth, rising inequality, stubbornly high pockets of unemployment, and jittery financial markets, to name a few. Soon we will reach a fork in the road: One path leads to renewed growth, prosperity, and financial stability, the other to recession and market disorder.

Decades of cuts to local government amidst rising concentrations of poverty have wreaked havoc on communities left behind by the modern economy. Forty years after the anti-tax revolution began protecting wealthy taxpayers and their cities, our high-poverty cities and counties have run out of services to cut, properties to sell, bills to defer, and risky loans to take. In The Fight to Save the Town, urban law expert and author Michelle Wilde Anderson offers unsparing, humanistic portraits of the hardships left behind in four such places.

In a world shattered by an apocalyptic attack survival is just the beginning. Paul Hickman, a man with a shadowy past, finds himself thrust into leadership of Hope, one of the last intact communities in a devastated America. As he navigates the treacherous waters of post-apocalyptic politics, Hickman must confront both external threats and internal power struggles that threaten to tear Hope apart. Meanwhile, his daughter Sam is missing, and he's dispatched an unlikely pair - a guilt-ridden ex-cop and a pregnant woman - on a perilous cross-country mission to find her. From the ashes of ...

Eamonn McCann’s account of what it is like to grow up a Catholic in a Northern Irish ghetto - first published in 1974 - quickly became a classic account of the feelings generated by British rule. The author was at the center of events in Derry which first brought Northern Ireland to world attention. He witnessed the gradual transformation of the civil rights movement from a mild campaign for “British Democracy” to an all-out military assault on the British state. This book describes the people involved in the war and gives an account of the springs of the "Catholic" opposition.

When survival means becoming what you fear most... In a desperate bid to save humanity's last refuge, Devon Myers has infiltrated the ruthless Sons of Solomon who now control the town of Hope. But when a twisted general named Mendoza arrives with an army at his back and genocide in his heart, the line between resistance and collaboration begins to blur. Last Hope is a gripping tale of impossible choices in a post-apocalyptic America. As Devon struggles to protect those he loves while maintaining his cover, Paul Hickman embarks on a desperate mission to rescue a man who might hold the key to...

Award-winning journalist Mike Hixenbaugh delivers the immersive and eye-opening story of Southlake, Texas, a district that seemed to offer everything parents would want for their children—small classes, dedicated teachers, financial resources, a track record of academic success, and school spirit in abundance.

McKinsey earns billions advising almost every major corporation as well as countless governments, including Britain's, the USA's and China's. It boasts of its ability to maximise efficiency while making the world a better place. Its millionaire partners and network of alumni go on to top jobs in the world's most powerful organisations. And yet, shielded by non-disclosure agreements, its work remains largely secret—until now. In this propulsive investigation, two prize-winning journalists reveal the reality.

By following the struggle for survival of one small-town hospital, and the patients who walk, or are carried, through its doors, The Hospital takes listeners into the world of the American medical industry in a way no audiobook has done before. Americans are dying sooner, and living in poorer health. Alexander argues that no plan will solve America’s health crisis until the deeper causes of that crisis are addressed.

Magic fuels privilege. Robots enforce oppression. One young doctor will ignite a revolution. Doctor Aldrich Durante has everything—prestige, wealth, and the comfort of Upper Cairnisle. But when he meets Fia, an illegal mage orphaned in the slums of Dirt Town, his eyes are opened to the harsh realities of his society. Their chance encounter leads to a risky rescue mission, and Aldrich is faced with a choice—stay in his sheltered world or join forces with Fia to fight against the corrupt Magisters who use magic as a weapon. With injustice fueling their fire, Aldrich and Fia become a ...

A gripping portrait of modern Tibet told through the lives of its people, from the best-selling author of Nothing to Envy.

The epic conclusion to the Last City series arrives as humanity faces its darkest hour. With the city of Hope under siege and an army of thousands gathering in the east, Devon Myers and a small band of survivors embark on an impossible mission to eliminate the monstrous General Mendoza before he can unleash his full fury. Meanwhile, Paul Hickman must rally the remaining defenders of Hope for one final, desperate stand. As Devon and his companions race across a ravaged America, they discover the true horror of what the Sons of Solomon have become. But with time running out and loved ones in ...

Escaping the Housing Trap is the must-have resource for everyone with a stake in the future of housing in America-and that means everyone. Listeners will find discussions of housing as an investment and how the country's neighborhoods are being transformed by the introduction of large amounts of investment; explorations of housing as shelter, including discussions of zoning policy and NIMBYism; and a comprehensive overview of the Strong Towns approach to solving the American housing crisis.

When civilization falls, the last freedom is the freedom to fight back. In a world brought to its knees by a mysterious catastrophe, the small town of Hope, Nevada stands as one of the last bastions of civilization. But when a sinister organization known as the Sons of Solomon threatens to impose their brutal vision of a new world order, the people of Hope must decide: submit to tyranny or fight for their freedom. Paul Hickman, Hope's unlikely leader, never wanted to be a hero. But with his daughter finally home and his town under siege, he finds himself at the center of a desperate ...