Most Popular Books by Peter Baker

BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times • The Washington Post • Fortune • Bloomberg From two of America''s most revered political journalists comes the definitive biography of legendary White House chief of staff and secretary of state James A. Baker III: the man who ran Washington when Washington ran the world. For a quarter century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold War, no Republican won the presidency or ran the White House without the advice of James Addison Baker III. A scion of Texas aristocracy who became George H. W. Bush’s tennis partner, Baker had never worked in Washington until a devastating family tragedy struck when he was thirty-nine. Within a few years, he was leading Gerald Ford’s campaign and would go on to manage a total of five presidential races and win a sixth for George W. Bush in a Florida recount. He ran Ronald Reagan’s White House and became the most consequential secretary of state since Henry Kissinger. Ruthlessly partisan during campaign season, Baker became an indispensable dealmaker after the election. He negotiated with Democrats at home and Soviets abroad, rewrote the tax code, assembled the coalition that won the Gulf War, brokered the reunification of Germany, and helped bring a decades-long nuclear superpower standoff to an end. Brilliantly crafted by Peter Baker of The New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker, The Man Who Ran Washington is a page-turning study in the acquisition, exercise, and preservation of power in late twentieth-century America and the story of Washington when Washington ran the world. Their masterly biography is necessary reading and destined to become a classic.

NEW EDITION WITH EXPANDED TEXT, WITH A FOREWORD BY JON MEACHAM: The original edition of Obama: The Call of History (2017) was the first full-fledged pictorial history of President Barack Obama''s two terms in office to be published as he stepped down. Now comes an updated version that expands the narrative account and adds new perspective from author Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times. In this new edition, Baker reports on new details about the final months of the Obama presidency as Russia sought to intervene in American democracy, and assesses the impact of Donald Trump''s presidency on Barack Obama''s legacy. Baker chronicles a period of great hope, tumult, accomplishments, and, yes, failure. This is the story of a young president who took on the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression, forged a controversial health care program, watched anxiously in the Situation Room after approving the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden and endured mid-term election defeats. In a presidency buffeted by one crisis after another, he struggled with the Syrian civil war, a Russian invasion of its neighbor, the rise of the Islamic State, and, at home, often violent racial strife and recalcitrant Congress. "His first line in the history books was written the day he won office as the first African-American president, but he was determined to offer more than simply a new complexion in the Oval Office," writes Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times, about the 44th president of the United States. Inspiring in a crowded stadium yet difficult behind the scenes, Obama was a master politician who loathed politics. To many, he was an enigma, often seen through the lens of the observer--a liberal zealot to the right, an overeager compromiser to the left. "I am a Rorschach test," he once noted. But he was the dominant figure of his age. After eight eventful years, he would never be the same--and neither would be his country. Featuring expanded text , this fully updated chronicle of Obama: The Call of History is an in-depth account of Barack Obama''s years in office, as well as an examination of his legacy as it stands today.

In Days of Fire, Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times, takes us on a gripping and intimate journey through the eight years of the Bush and Cheney administration in a tour-de-force narrative of a dramatic and controversial presidency. Theirs was the most captivating American political partnership since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger: a bold and untested president and his seasoned, relentless vice president. Confronted by one crisis after another, they struggled to protect the country, remake the world, and define their own relationship along the way. In Days of Fire, Peter Baker chronicles the history of the most consequential presidency in modern times through the prism of its two most compelling characters, capturing the elusive and shifting alliance of George Walker Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney as no historian has done before. He brings to life with in-the-room immediacy all the drama of an era marked by devastating terror attacks, the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, and financial collapse. The real story of Bush and Cheney is a far more fascinating tale than the familiar suspicion that Cheney was the power behind the throne. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with key players, and thousands of pages of never-released notes, memos, and other internal documents, Baker paints a riveting portrait of a partnership that evolved dramatically over time, from the early days when Bush leaned on Cheney, making him the most influential vice president in history, to their final hours, when the two had grown so far apart they were clashing in the West Wing. Together and separately, they were tested as no other president and vice president have been, first on a bright September morning, an unforgettable “day of fire” just months into the presidency, and on countless days of fire over the course of eight tumultuous years. Days of Fire is a monumental and definitive work that will rank with the best of presidential histories. As absorbing as a thriller, it is eye-opening and essential reading.

The Washington Post reporter who first broke the Monica Lewinsky story offers his own perspective on the ensuing scandal, impeachment, and media coverage. 125,000 first printing.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • "The most comprehensive and detailed account of the Trump presidency yet published."—The Washington Post • A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker and Financial Times • "The book everyone is talking about."—Politico The inside story of the four years when Donald Trump went to war with Washington, from the chaotic beginning to the violent finale, told by revered journalists Peter Baker of The New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker—an ambitious and lasting history of the full Trump presidency that also contains dozens of exclusive scoops and stories from behind the scenes in the White House, from the absurd to the deadly serious. "A sumptuous feast of astonishing tales...The more one reads, the more one wishes to read."—NPR.com • "A beautifully written, utterly dispiriting history of the man who attacked democracy." —The Guardian The bestselling authors of The Man Who Ran Washington argue that Trump was not just lurching from one controversy to another; he was learning to be more like the foreign autocrats he admired. The Divider brings us into the Oval Office for countless scenes both tense and comical, revealing how close we got to nuclear war with North Korea, which cabinet members had a resignation pact, whether Trump asked Japan’s prime minister to nominate him for a Nobel Prize and much more. The book also explores the moral choices confronting those around Trump—how they justified working for a man they considered unfit for office, and where they drew their lines. The Divider is based on unprecedented access to key players, from President Trump himself to cabinet officers, military generals, close advisers, Trump family members, congressional leaders, foreign officials and others, some of whom have never told their story until now.

In the tradition of Hedrick Smith''s The Russians, Robert G. Kaiser''s Russia: The People and the Power, and David Remnick''s Lenin''s Tomb comes an eloquent and eye-opening chronicle of Vladimir Putin''s Russia, from this generation''s leading Moscow correspondents. With the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia launched itself on a fitful transition to Western-style democracy. But a decade later, Boris Yeltsin''s handpicked successor, Vladimir Putin, a childhood hooligan turned KGB officer who rose from nowhere determined to restore the order of the Soviet past, resolved to bring an end to the revolution. Kremlin Rising goes behind the scenes of contemporary Russia to reveal the culmination of Project Putin, the secret plot to reconsolidate power in the Kremlin. During their four years as Moscow bureau chiefs for The Washington Post, Peter Baker and Susan Glasser witnessed firsthand the methodical campaign to reverse the post-Soviet revolution and transform Russia back into an authoritarian state. Their gripping narrative moves from the unlikely rise of Putin through the key moments of his tenure that re-centralized power into his hands, from his decision to take over Russia''s only independent television network to the Moscow theater siege of 2002 to the "managed democracy" elections of 2003 and 2004 to the horrific slaughter of Beslan''s schoolchildren in 2004, recounting a four-year period that has changed the direction of modern Russia. But the authors also go beyond the politics to draw a moving and vivid portrait of the Russian people they encountered -- both those who have prospered and those barely surviving -- and show how the political flux has shaped individual lives. Opening a window to a country on the brink, where behind the gleaming new shopping malls all things Soviet are chic again and even high school students wonder if Lenin was right after all, Kremlin Rising features the personal stories of Russians at all levels of society, including frightened army deserters, an imprisoned oil billionaire, Chechen villagers, a trendy Moscow restaurant king, a reluctant underwear salesman, and anguished AIDS patients in Siberia. With shrewd reporting and unprecedented access to Putin''s insiders, Kremlin Rising offers both unsettling new revelations about Russia''s leader and a compelling inside look at life in the land that he is building. As the first major book on Russia in years, it is an extraordinary contribution to our understanding of the country and promises to shape the debate about Russia, its uncertain future, and its relationship with the United States.

This practical, down-to-earth guide to the minefield of being a man in the 1990s includes advice on sex, relationships, emotions, work, violence, health and fatherhood.

This book attempts to develop a generative criticism of poetic practice. The order of presentation follows a certain model for how the poem comes into being. Poetic practice as it is actualized in the work of the creative imagination stems from: memory as the place where the poem arises among the conflicts of the imagination; absence or the loss which weighs on the utterance and gives it urgency; desire as the force structuring the poem according to the subject''s need; knowing or how the subject''s experience of the world and other people finds expression; and style or how the poem exemplifies a compassionate understanding. Poets whose work is examined include Hardy, Mallarme, Williams, Ungaretti, Apollinaire, Saint-John Perse, John Ashbery, and Frank O''Hara."

Four experts on the American presidency examine the first three times impeachment has been invoked—against Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton—and explain what it means today. Impeachment is a double-edged sword. Though it was designed to check tyrants, Thomas Jefferson also called impeachment “the most formidable weapon for the purpose of a dominant faction that was ever contrived.” On the one hand, it nullifies the will of voters, the basic foundation of all representative democracies. On the other, its absence from the Constitution would leave the country vulnerable to despotic leadership. It is rarely used, and with good reason. Only three times has a president’s conduct led to such political disarray as to warrant his potential removal from office, transforming a political crisis into a constitutional one. None has yet succeeded. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 for failing to kowtow to congressional leaders—and, in a large sense, for failing to be Abraham Lincoln—yet survived his Senate trial. Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974 after the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against him for lying, obstructing justice, and employing his executive power for personal and political gain. Bill Clinton had an affair with a White House intern, but in 1999 he faced trial in the Senate less for that prurient act than for lying under oath about it. In the first book to consider these three presidents alone—and the one thing they have in common—Jeffrey A. Engel, Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali, and Peter Baker explain that the basis and process of impeachment is more political than legal. The Constitution states that the president “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” leaving room for historical precedent and the temperament of the time to weigh heavily on each case. This book reveals the complicated motives behind each impeachment—never entirely limited to the question of a president’s guilt—and the risks to all sides. Each case depended on factors beyond the president’s behavior: his relationship with Congress, the polarization of the moment, and the power and resilience of the office itself. This is a realist view of impeachment that looks to history for clues about its potential use in the future.

Attempts to bridge the gap between contemporary neuropsychology and peoples common sense understanding of themselves.

Onward: Contemporary Poetry and Poetics is an anthology of statements on poetics by twenty contemporary North American poets, along with selections from their poetry. The poets collected here represent the forefront of engaged, experimental poetic practice and their statements vary from the extended essay form to collage assemblages of various prose and poetically charged forms. These explorations of poetics lead to intersections of thought and practice, both among themselves, and with other recently published poetry anthologies.

A philosophical exploration of the moral issues raised by the use of private military contractors and mercenaries in war.

Part adventure story, part reflection on the state of our species, this profoundly uplifting, real-life odyssey ends with a call-to-arms for the human race to be more honest about itself.

Citizen Killings: Liberalism, State Policy and Moral Risk offers a ground breaking systematic approach to formulating ethical public policy on all forms of ''citizen killings'', which include killing in self-defence, abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, euthanasia and killings carried out by private military contractors and so-called ''foreign fighters''. Where most approaches to these issues begin with the assumptions of some or other general approach to ethics, Deane-Peter Baker argues that life-or-death policy decisions of this kind should be driven first and foremost by a recognition of the key limitations that a commitment to political liberalism places on the state, particularly the requirement to respect citizens'' right to life and the principle of liberal neutrality. Where these principles come into tension Baker shows that they can in some cases be defused by way of a reasonableness test, and in other cases addressed through the application of what he calls the ''risk of harm principle''. The book also explores the question of what measures citizens and other states might legitimately take in response to states that fail to implement morally appropriate policies regarding citizen killings.

The relationship between the presidency and the press has transformed—seemingly overnight—from one where reports and columns were filed, edited, and deliberated for hours before publication into a brave new world where texts, tweets, and sound bites race from composition to release within a matter of seconds. This change, which has ultimately made political journalism both more open and more difficult, brings about many questions, but perhaps the two most important are these: Are the hard questions still being asked? Are they still being answered? In Columns to Characters, Stephanie A. Martin and top scholars and journalists offer a fresh perspective on how the evolution of technology affects the way presidents interact with the public. From Bill Clinton’s saxophone playing on the Arsenio Hall Show to Barack Obama’s skillful use of YouTube, Twitter, and Reddit as the first “social media president,” political communication appears to reflect the increasing fragmentation of the American public. The accessible essays here explore these implications in a variety of real-world circumstances: the “narcotizing” numbness of information overload and voter apathy; the concerns over privacy, security, and civil liberties; new methods of running political campaigns and mobilizing support for programs; and a future “post-rhetorical presidency” in which the press is all but irrelevant. Each section of the book concludes with a “reality check,” a short reflection by a working journalist (or, in one case, a former White House insider) on the presidential beat.

The Handbook of Logistics and Distribution Management provides an introduction to fundamental elements of modern logistics and distribution. It explores all stages of the supply chain from raw materials through to the final distribution of the finished product. This handbook covers vital areas, including: concepts of logistics and distribution; planning for logistics; procurement and inventory decisions; warehousing and storage; freight transport; and operational management. The 5th edition of The Handbook of Logistics and Distribution Management has been radically updated to reflect the latest advances in logistics and covers new topics studied on academic and professional courses. There are brand new chapters on humanitarian logistics, multichannel fulfilment and reverse logistics, as well as detailed discussion of the latest trends and issues that confront logistics. The Handbook of Logistics and Distribution Management is a practical handbook and an essential reference for logistics and supply chain practitioners as well as students undertaking professional examinations and degrees in the field of logistics and supply chain.

In Morality and Ethics of War, which includes a foreword by Major General Susan Coyle, ethicist Deane-Peter Baker goes beyond existing treatments of military ethics to address a fundamental problem: the yawning gap between the diverse moral frameworks defining personal identity on the one hand, and the professional military ethic on the other. Baker argues that overcoming this chasm is essential to minimising the ethical risks that can lead to operational and strategic failure for military forces engaged in today''s complex conflict environment. He contends that spanning the gap is vital in preventing moral injury from befalling the nation''s uniformed servants. Drawing on a revised account of what he calls ''the Just War Continuum'', Baker develops a bridging framework that combines conceptual clarity and rigour with insights from cutting edge psychological research and creates a practical means for military leaders to negotiate the moral chasm in military affairs.

This comprehensive book details how to set up your own voiceover business in your own home studio. With sections on voice training, creating powerful showreels, setting up your website and getting your first jobs in, the highly experienced voice artist Peter Baker will take your hand from complete beginner to pro as you work through the chapters. It really is possible to earn a yearly 6-figure income from recording a variety of scripts in your home studio, and you don''t even need an exclusive LA agent to represent you! Learn the insider secrets and efficiency shortcuts of a veteran voice talent who will share sometimes unusual but powerful techniques to attract interesting, often fun and lucrative voice jobs, including acting for video games, tourism guides, fiction and factual audiobooks, TV and radio commercials and much more!

The field of military ethics has generally been attentive to emerging trends in modern warfare. Cyber, robotics and AI, for example, have inspired an abundant and flourishing literature. One trend, however, has been largely overlooked: the emergence of special operations as a prominent instrument of statecraft. Drawing extensively on historical cases and first-hand experience, the authors of this book call attention to qualities inherent in special operations – and special operators – that challenge the moral framework which has long informed conventional military operations. Moral theorists will find this analysis provocative, while practitioners – those who conduct or oversee special operations and have an interest in the moral wellbeing of special operators – can put the authors'' insights to practical use. Those who simply view with fascination the opaque world of special operations will find this book illuminating.

In recent philosophical discourse, there has been a proliferation of work in the field of philosophy of religion, and in particular at the intersection between epistemology and philosophy of religion. Much of that interest has centred on the emergence of what has come to be known as ''Reformed Epistemology''. The central claim of Reformed epistemologists is that belief in God is properly basic. The purpose of the arguments offered by Reformed epistemologists is to oppose what Plantinga calls the ''de jure'' objection to theistic belief - the idea that it is somehow irrational, a dereliction of epistemic duty, or in some other sense epistemically unacceptable, to believe in God. This objection is distinct from what Plantinga labels the ''de facto'' objection - the objection that, whatever the rational status of belief in God, it is, in fact, a false belief. The primary goal of Reformed epistemology, then, is to defend Christian belief against the de jure objection, thereby showing that everything really depends on the truth of Christian belief. This book demonstrates the feasibility of combining the Reformed epistemologist''s position with an argument for theism that the author draws from Charles Taylor''s work. In it, he shows the value that would be added to the Reformed epistemologist''s position by such a combination.

This is a comprehensive guide to running your own successful contest prep. Based on my own personal experience as well as the thousands of clients I have worked with over the last ten plus years, I lay out all the research and strategies used to help turn athletes in to champions. There is no other comprehensive guide like this out on the market and this will be a game changer for you in your training and dieting approach to getting on stage and winning.

This is a comprehensive guide to running your own successful contest prep. Based on my own personal experience as well as the thousands of clients I have worked with over the last ten plus years, I lay out all the research and strategies used to help turn athletes in to champions. There is no other comprehensive guide like this out on the market and this will be a game changer for you in your training and dieting approach to getting on stage and winning.

Diets are failing in an epic way. Chances are you''ve tried one of the popular diets out there. The Atkins Diet, The South Beach Diet, The Zone Diet, The Blood Type Diet, The Eat Clean Diet, The Alkaline Diet, The Ornish Diet, The Insert Name Here Diet.You probably lost some weight... for awhile. Did you keep it off? Chances are you didn''t. In fact, chances are you regained it all back and possibly then some. You aren''t alone. Six out of seven people who are overweight are able to successfully lose weight during their lifetime. But 85-95% of them will fail at keeping it off in the long term. If this sounds bad, consider that ⅓-⅔ of those people will add back on more weight than they lost in the first place! If this cycle is repeated it can turn into ''yo-yo dieting'', quite possibly one of the worst things you can do for your mental and physical health.Ask anyone and they will tell you that you need to lose weight and keep it off and prevent yo-yo dieting, but no one gives you an idea of HOW to accomplish that. What makes our book different? We discuss WHY diets fail on a physiological, psychological, and sociological level so you can better understand why what you did previously did not work. Then we also detail the MOST IMPORTANT behaviors, methods, and traits for losing weight and KEEPING IT OFF.This book is for everyone who wants to lose weight and keep it off, especially for those frustrated and hopeless chronic dieters tired of trying all the popular diets only to repeatedly fail. There is still hope to be found in these pages. Please give us the chance to guide you.

Autobiography of an old-timer of the Northwest Territories, which first appeared in serialized form in ''News of the North''.

Have you ever realised that your voice could make you money? Working as a voiceover artist can give you a good, solid income, doing a fun and rewarding job, mostly working from your own recording studio at home! You may find yourself a natural at documentary or corporate narrations, TV and radio commercial scripts or longer projects such as audiobooks or eLearning. Are you good at putting on "funny" voices? Then channel your talents into recording character voices for video games or animations! The world of media production is ever expanding, and there are opportunities for English-speaking voice artists of all ages and types of voices. This book also includes a link to a completely free video-based course on voice training and setting up in voiceover work. Written by broadcast industry veteran Peter Baker, this book aimed at both the complete beginner and also at the voice artist who has set up a studio but who wants to boost their income to the next level. Packed with countless tips and basic and advanced techniques on performing, editing, and marketing your services to new clients, Voiceover Masterclass is your handbook for future success!