"A trenchant analysis of how the wealthiest 9.9 percent of Americans--those just below the tip of the wealth pyramid--have exacerbated the growing inequality in our country and distorted our social values"--

James Huston has undertaken a unique and Herculean labor in examining American beliefs about wealth distribution over one and a half centuries. His findings have led him to a startling conclusion: Americans' earliest economic attitudes were formed during the Revolutionary period and remained virtually unchanged until the close of the nineteenth century. Why those attitudes existed and persisted, how they informed public debate, and what caused their...

In April 1989, a gang of teenagers attacked a jogger in New York's Central Park; the press dubbed the crime "wilding." Charles Derber maintains that the chilling antisocial mentality behind this offense is far more widespread than people would like to believe. With a fascinating twist of perspective, Derber reveals startling links between criminal wilding on the street, emotional wilding in families, economic wilding on Wall Street, political wilding...

"A thought-provoking investigation of an urgent issue facing American communities today, Edward C. Lorenz's book examines the intersection of corporate irresponsibility and civic engagement. At the heart of this case study is a group of firms responsible for seven of the most contaminated Superfund sites in the United States, the largest food contamination accident in U.S. history, stunning stock and financial manipulations, and a massive shift of...