Books published by Avalon Publishing Group

"Wandering Souls is an important, moving, utterly compelling, and wonderfully open-hearted book, one that will become a touchstone in America's literature about the aftershocks of our terrible misadventure in Vietnam."-Tim O' Brien, author of The Things They Carried

Everything we've heard from the "new" feminist wave is dead wrong: achieving success in life is not about leaning in, working harder, or "having it all"-it's about a woman's right to pursue happiness.

Forty years ago, a majority of Americans were highly engaged in issues of war and peace. Whether to go to war or keep out of conflicts was a vital question at the heart of the country's vibrant, if fractious, democracy. But American political consciousness has drifted. In the last decade, America has gone to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, while pursuing a new kind of warfare in Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Pakistan. National security issues have increasingly faded from the political agenda, due in part to the growth of government secrecy.In lucid and chilling detail, journalist and lawyer Scott Horton shows how secrecy has changed the way America functions. Executive decisions about war and peace are increasingly made by autonomous, self-directing, and unaccountable national security elites. Secrecy is justified as part of a bargain under which the state promises to keep the people safe from its enemies, but in fact allows excesses, mistakes, and crimes to go unchecked. Bureaucracies use secrets to conceal their mistakes and advance their power in government, invariable at the expense of the rights of the people. Never before have the American people had so little information concerning the wars waged in their name, nor has Congress exercised so little oversight over the war effort. American democracy is in deep trouble. Lords of Secrecy explores the most important national security debates of our time, including the legal and moral issues surrounding the turn to private security contractors, the sweeping surveillance methods of intelligence agencies, and the use of robotic weapons such as drones. Horton looks at the legal edifice upon which these decisions are based and discusses approaches to rolling back the flood of secrets that is engulfing America today.Whistleblowers, but also Congress, the public, and the media, play a vital role in this process.As the ancient Greeks recognized, too much secrecy changes the nature of the state itself, transforming a democracy into something else. Horton reminds us that dealing with the country's national security concerns is both a right and a responsibility of a free citizenry, something that has always sat at the heart of any democracy that earns the name.

In the wake of the Citizen's United decision, elections will be controlled by moneyed interests as never before. award-winning authors John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney show what this influx of cash with zero transparency means for democracy-and how we can fix the system before it's too late.

"[Kafka] would have appreciated this narrative on any number of levels...[Carle] emerges as an odd and admirable...character in The Interrogator. Witnessing this prickly, rigidly upright man trying to wrest meaning from his bleak dilemma becomes the most compelling aspect of The Interrogator."- Laura Miller, Salon

The powerful and tragic history of US domination of Puerto Rico that explores the Puerto Rican independence revolt of 1950, the FBI and CIA's involvement, and the life and mysterious death of its charismatic leader.

The coauthor of Soccernomics and professor of sports management at the University of Michigan delivers an approachable introduction to soccer finance-explaining how player salaries, club profits, and wealthy investors determine the fate of your favorite team.

Nomi Prins, a former Wall Street insider, shows how six powerful Wall Street bankers became the unelected leaders of the 20th century that operated as a shadow government that transformed American economy and life. Through a riveting revisionist history, Prins reveals the surreptitious and highly personal connection between six influential bankers, and the highest office in the land.

An explosive expose into the radical right-wing state of Israeli politics from one of our most controversial investigative reporters and the bestselling author of Republican Gomorrah.

The best-selling author argues that Obama's failure to deliver on his promises is due to a political system that stymies democracy when voters choose progressive change.

"Frances Moore Lappe brings us yet another gift in EcoMind. She cautions us to avoid the mental traps that block our thinking. She awakens us to our immense possibilities and potentials. She invites us to release our latent energies to be the change we want to see." " Vandana Shiva

In the vein of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author Chris Hedges and American Book Award winning cartoonist Joe Sacco bring us a searing on-the-ground report on the crisis gripping underclass America and crime-

An award-winning journalist shatters the myth of Ronald Reagan

Testimony from the largest number of on the record, named, combat veterans who reveal the disturbing, daily reality of war and occupation in Iraq

"Marwan Bishara's The Invisible Arab is the single most perceptive and accessible book I've read about the roots of revolt in the Middle East and the brave, chaotic, exciting and frightening new world they have begun to create." -Christopher Dickey, Newsweek/The Daily Beast

"[A] potent collection [that] ably communicates the hunger for social, cultural and racial justice that made Strummer's work so engaging." "Salon

A hundred years ago, any soapbox orator who called for women's suffrage, laws protecting the environment, an end to lynching, or a federal minimum wage was considered a utopian dreamer or a dangerous socialist. Now we take these ideas for granted, because the radical ideas of one generation are often the common sense of the next. We all stand on the shoulders of earlier generations of radicals and reformers who challenged the status quo of their day. Unfortunately, most Americans know little of this progressive history. It isn't taught in most high schools. You can't find it on the major television networks. In popular media, the most persistent interpreter of America's radical past is Glenn Beck, who teaches viewers a wildly inaccurate history of unions, civil rights, and the American Left. The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century , a colourful and witty history of the most influential progressive leaders of the twentieth century and beyond, is the perfect antidote.