Often going against the grain of Washington’s so-called conventional wisdom, Robert Parry covered the most consequential issues facing the country during his five decades as a journalist – from the Vietnam War to Iran-Contra to the Iraq War to Russiagate, stories that shaped the course of contemporary American history. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1985 and the recipient of numerous awards – including the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984, I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence in 2015, and the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2017 – Parry earned a reputation as a tenacious reporter committed to telling the truth without fear or favor. This compilation of Parry’s writings traces his development from a student activist to a beat reporter to an investigative journalist and historian, shedding light on how he came to believe that the Washington press corps had lost its way and that building independent media is essential to save the republic. More than a simple collection of articles by an iconoclastic journalist, however, this volume is an illuminating history of the late 20th and early 21st centuries – a troubling recent past that Parry meticulously chronicles through in-depth research and compelling storytelling. What will come into focus as the reader turns these pages is an at times shocking level of corruption and wrongdoing at the highest levels of government, enabled by a steady deterioration of the U.S. media’s commitment to providing an honest accounting of the events shaping our world. The reader, perhaps, will come to the same conclusions that Robert Parry did: that the media has become a threat to democracy and one of the most important tasks that exists today is to build a new infrastructure for conveying information – one that is honest, independent, and incorruptible.

We've all seen the news of dead and dying whales, and the alarming amounts of plastic pollution washing up on beaches or floating on the tides. The oceans are in very great danger for many reasons, and it is not just plastic waste, which is bad enough. Overfishing, acidification, coral bleaching, nuclear waste, seabed mining, military testing, and climate change, are taking a very heavy toll on marine creatures of all types, from tiny plankton to the massive whales. The eponymous Dead Zones are aptly named. Many marine creatures are in danger of extinction. Life on this planet depends on healthy oceans. We depend on healthy oceans. This book takes a look at the threats to marine life, and what is being done to save the seas. It is a call to action to save Mother Ocean. The author explains how he became personally motivated to do what he could. As a singer and songwriter he wrote songs and came up with the idea for Ocean Aid concerts. Now he has written the book you are holding. He hopes to inspire you to think about what you can do. We all need to help save the seas.

The puzzling lack of evidence for the peculiar but widespread belief that birds have no sense of smell irked evolutionary biologist Danielle Whittaker. Exploring the science behind the myth led her on an unexpected quest investigating mysteries from how juncos win a fight to why cowbirds smell like cookies. In The Secret Perfume of Birds?part science, part intellectual history, and part memoir?Whittaker blends humor, clear writing, and a compelling narrative to describe how scent is important not just for birds but for all animals, including humans.

Whittaker engagingly describes how emerging research has uncovered birds' ability to produce complex chemical signals that influence their behavior, including where they build nests, when they pick a fight, and why they fly away. Mate choice, or sexual selection?a still enigmatic aspect of many animals' lives?appears to be particularly influenced by smell. Whittaker's pioneering studies suggest that birds' sexy (and scary) signals are produced by symbiotic bacteria that manufacture scents in the oil that birds stroke on their feathers when preening. From tangerine-scented auklets to her beloved juncos, redolent of moss, birds from across the world feature in Whittaker's stories, but she also examines the smelly chemicals of all kinds of creatures, from iguanas and bees to monkeys and humans.

Readers will enjoy a rare opportunity to witness the twisting roads scientific research can take, especially the challenging, hilarious, and occasionally dangerous realities of ornithology in the wild. The Secret Perfume of Birds will interest anyone looking to learn more about birds, about how animals and humans use our senses, and about why it can sometimes take a rebel scientist to change what we think we know for sure about the world?and ourselves.

In an effort to help us reconnect with the food that sustains our lives, David Moscow has spent four years going around the world, meeting with rock-star chefs, and sourcing ingredients within local food ecosystems—experiences taking place in over twenty countries that include milking a water buffalo to make mozzarella for pizza in Italy; harvesting oysters in Long Island Sound and honey from wild bees in Kenya; and making patis in the Philippines, beer in Malta, and sea salt in Iceland.

Moscow takes us on deep dives (sometimes literally) with fisherfolk, farmers, scientists, community activists, historians, hunters, and more, bringing back stories of the communities, workers, and environments involved—some thriving, some in jeopardy, all interconnected with food.

The result is this travel journal that marvels in the world around us while simultaneously examining the environmental issues, cultural concerns, and overlooked histories intertwined with the food we eat to survive and thrive. Through the people who harvest, hunt, fish, and forage each day, we come to understand today’s reality and tomorrow’s risks and possibilities.

Some thousands of years ago, the world was home to an immense variety of large mammals. From woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers to giant ground sloths and armadillos the size of automobiles, these spectacular creatures roamed freely. Then human beings arrived. Devouring their way down the food chain as they spread across the planet, they began a process of voracious extinction that has continued to the present. Currently the earth is losing about a hundred species every day.

This relentless extinction, Ashley Dawson contends, is the product of a global attack on the commons. This attack has its genesis in the need for capital to expand relentlessly into all spheres of life. Extinction cannot be understood in isolation from a critique of our economic system.