2013 Featured Arrivals   Tags: audiobooks, dvds, ebooks, films, good books, new books, recommended reading  

Let's face it," the founder of a super PAC recently told Mother Jones magazine, "Politics in this country is coin-operated." True enough, as evidenced by the billions projected to be spent in the 2012 elections - untold amounts of it unleashed by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. But even with all that money being cashed in, the check-writers remain largely hidden, including those who helped Scott Walker out-fundraise his Democratic challenger to win 2012's recall election in Wisconsin. In this edition of Moyers and Company, Bill Moyers talks with Mother Jones editors Clara Jeffery and Monika Bauerlein, who throw light on what they call "dark money," the cash that allows the rich to influence our political freedoms. Moyers also talks with historian Thomas Frank (What's the Matter with Kansas? and Pity the Billionaire), about the power of concentrated money to subvert democracy.

At TEDGlobal 2010, author Matt Ridley shows how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas. It's not important how clever individuals are, he says; what really matters is how smart the collective brain is.

JR, a French street artist, uses his camera to show the world its true face by pasting photos of the human face across massive canvases. At TED2011, he makes his audacious TED Prize wish: to use art to turn the world inside out with the Inside Out Project.

The daughter of General Aung San, a key figure in the liberation of Burma from colonial rule, Aung San Suu Kyi had recently earned a Ph. D. in economics from the University of London when she returned home to Burma (the name favored by pro-democracy supporters over "Myanmar") to care for her ailing mother. It was a time of political unrest, and in response to the violent quashing of 1988's student demonstrations, Suu Kyi picked up the family mantle of social activism and formed the National League for Democracy - an act that resulted in a series of house arrests spanning two decades, and the creation of a human rights icon. In this program, the family, friends, and colleagues of the Nobel Peace Prize recipient share memories of Suu Kyi as a daughter, wife, friend, mother, and political leader while discussing the impact her detention had on their lives. Filmmaker Anne Gyrithe Bonne had no access to Suu Kyi while this documentary was being shot, but makes use of interview clips of "the Lady" herself commenting on her role in Burma's struggles.

Poet-writer-activist Eve Ensler lived in her head. In this powerful talk from TEDWomen, she talks about her lifelong disconnection from her body - and how two shocking events helped her to connect with the reality, the physicality, of being human.

When it comes to the music of Beethoven or any great composer, being able to notice subtle passages and lovingly rendered details greatly enhances our listening enjoyment. You might say that the more we perceive ... the more we receive! In this Emmy-nominated and Telly Award-winning educational program, audiences have a chance to discover why Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 remains one of the most cherished works of music more than 200 years after its premiere performance. Host and conductor George Marriner Maull and the Discovery Orchestra "unpack" the symphony's first movement before a live audience-and for the video viewer as well! Following the exploration of the first movement, the orchestra performs the rest of the symphony, preceded by short, enlightening introductions from Maestro Maull before movements 2 and 3. There's no better tool with which to visually follow and stay enraptured with Beethoven's masterpiece!

Days before this talk, journalist Naomi Klein was on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico, looking at the catastrophic results of BP's risky pursuit of oil. Our societies have become addicted to extreme risk in finding new energy, new financial instruments, and more ... and too often, we're left with a mess to clean up afterward. Klein's question: what's the backup plan?