
When Pierre Omidyar launched a clunky website from a spare bedroom over Labor Day weekend of 1995, he wanted to see if he could use the Internet to create a perfect market. He never guessed his old-computer-parts and Beanie Baby exchange would revolutionize the world of commerce.Now, Adam Cohen, the only journalist ever to get full access to the company, tells the remarkable story of eBay's rise. He describes how eBay built the most passionate community ever to form in cyberspace and forged a business that triumphed over larger, better-funded rivals. And he explores the ever-widening array of enlistees in the eBay revolution, from a stay-at-home mom who had to rent a warehouse for her thriving business selling bubble-wrap on eBay to the young MBA who started eBay Motors (which within months of its launch was on track to sell $1 billion in cars a year), to collectors nervously bidding thousands of dollars on antique clothing-irons.Adam Cohen's fascinating look inside eBay is essential reading for anyone trying to figure out what's next. If you want to truly understand the Internet economy, "The Perfect Store" is indispensable.
by Adam Cohen
Rating: 3.8 ⭐
One of America's great miscarriages of justice, the Supreme Court's infamous 1927 Buck v. Bell ruling made government sterilization of "undesirable" citizens the law of the land. New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen tells the story in Imbeciles of one of the darkest moments in the American legal tradition: the Supreme Court's decision to champion eugenic sterilization for the greater good of the country. In 1927, when the nation was caught up in eugenic fervor, the justices allowed Virginia to sterilize Carrie Buck, a perfectly normal young woman, for being an "imbecile." It is a story with many villains, from the superintendent of the Dickensian Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded who chose Carrie for sterilization to the former Missouri agriculture professor and Nazi sympathizer who was the nation's leading advocate for eugenic sterilization. But the most troubling actors of all were the eight Supreme Court justices who were in the majority--including William Howard Taft, the former president; Louis Brandeis, the legendary progressive; and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., America's most esteemed justice, who wrote the decision urging the nation to embark on a program of mass eugenic sterilization
by Adam Cohen
Rating: 4.3 ⭐
From New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen, a revelatory examination of the conservative direction of the Supreme Court over the last fifty years since the Nixon administrationIn the early 1960s, the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren was at the height of its power, expanding civil rights for the poor and minorities and promoting equality in dramatic ways through rulings such as Brown v Board of Education and establishing the "Miranda warning" for persons in police custody. But when Warren announced his retirement in 1968, newly elected President Richard Nixon, who had been working tirelessly behind the scenes to put a stop to what he perceived as the Court's liberal agenda, had his new administration launch a total assault on the Warren Court's egalitarian victories, moving to dismantle its legacy and replace liberal justices with others more loyal to his views. During his six years in office, he appointed four justices to the Supreme Court, thereby setting its course for the next fifty years.In Supreme Inequality, Adam Cohen surveys the most significant Supreme Court rulings since Nixon and exposes how rarely the Court has veered away from a pro-corporate agenda. Contrary to what Americans might like to believe, the Court does not protect equally the rights of the poor and disadvantaged, and, in fact, hasn't for decades. Many of the greatest successes of the Warren Court, such as school desegregation, labor unions, voting rights, and class action suits, have been abandoned in favor of rulings that protect privileged Americans who tend to be white, wealthy, and powerful.As the nation comes to grips with two newly Trump-appointed justices, Cohen proves beyond doubt that the trajectory of today's Court is the result of decisions made fifty years ago, decisions that have contributed directly and grievously to our nation's soaring inequality. A triumph of American legal, political, and social history, Supreme Inequality holds to account the highest court in the land, and should shake to its core any optimistic faith we might have in it to provide checks and balances.
by Adam Cohen
Rating: 4.2 ⭐
"This is Chicago, this is America." With those words, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley famously defended his brutal crackdown on protesters at the 1968 Democratic convention. Profoundly divided racially, economically and socially, Chicago was indeed a microcosm of America, and for more than two decades Daley ruled it with an iron fist. The last of the big city bosses, Daley ran an unbeatable political machine that controlled over one million votes. From 1955 until his death in 1976, every decision of any importance -- from distributing patronage jobs to picking Congressional candidates -- went through his office. He was a major player in national politics as well: Kennedy and Johnson owed their presidencies to his control of the Illinois vote, and he made sure they never forgot it. In a city legendary for its corruption and backroom politics, Daley's power was unrivaled. Daley transformed Chicago -- then a dying city -- into a modern metropolis of skyscrapers, freeways and a thriving downtown. But he also made Chicago America's most segregated city. A man of profound prejudices and a deep authoritarian streak , he constructed the nation's largest and worst ghettos, sidestepped national civil rights laws, and successfully thwarted Martin Luther King's campaign to desegregate Northern cities.A quarter-century after his death, Daley's outsize presence continues to influence American urban life, and a reassessment of his career is long overdue. Now, veteran journalists Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor present the definitive biography of Richard J. Daley, drawn from newly uncovered material and dozens of interviews with his contemporaries. In today's era of poll-tested, polished politicians, Daley's rough-and-tumble story is remarkable. From the working-class Irish neighborhood of his childhood, to his steady rise through Chicago's corrupt political hierarchy, to his role as national power broker, American Pharaoh is a riveting account of the life and times of one of the most important figures in twentieth-century domestic politics. In the tradition of Robert Caro's classic The Power Broker, this is a compelling life story of a towering individual whose complex legacy is still with us today.
by Adam Cohen
Rating: 3.9 ⭐
A revealing account of the critical first days of FDR’s presidency, during the worst moments of the Great Depression, when he and his inner circle launched the New Deal and presided over the birth of modern America Nothing to Fear brings to life a fulcrum moment in American history—the tense, feverish first one hundred days of FDR’s presidency, when he and his inner circle swept away the old order and reinvented the role of the federal government. When FDR took his oath of office in March 1933, thousands of banks had gone under following the Crash of 1929, a quarter of American workers were unemployed, farmers were in open rebellion, and hungry people descended on garbage dumps and fought over scraps of food. Before the Hundred Days, the federal government was limited in scope and ambition; by the end, it had assumed an active responsibility for the welfare of all of its citizens. Adam Cohen offers an illuminating group portrait of the five members of FDR’s inner circle who played the greatest roles in this unprecedented transformation, revealing in turn what their personal dynamics suggest about FDR’s leadership style. These four men and one woman frequently pushed FDR to embrace more activist programs than he would have otherwise. FDR came to the White House with few firm commitments about how to fight the Great Depression—as a politician he was more pragmatic than ideological, and, perhaps surprising, given his New Deal legacy, by nature a fiscal conservative. To develop his policies, he relied heavily on his advisers, and preferred when they had conflicting views, so that he could choose the best option among them. For this reason, he kept in close confidence both Frances Perkins—a feminist before her time, and the strongest advocate for social welfare programs—and Lewis Douglas— an entrenched budget cutter who frequently clashed with the other members of FDR’s progressive inner circle. A more ideological president would have surrounded himself with advisors who shared a similar vision, but rather than commit to a single solution or philosophy, FDR favored a policy of “bold, persistent experimentation.” As a result, he presided over the most feverish period of government activity in American history, one that gave birth to modern America. As Adam Cohen reminds us, the political fault lines of this era—over welfare, government regulation, agriculture policy, and much more—remain with us today. Nothing to Fear is both a riveting narrative account of the personal dynamics that shaped the tumultuous early days of FDR’s presidency, and a character study of one of America’s defining leaders in a moment of crisis.
by Adam Cohen
Rating: 3.9 ⭐
Four men in a lifeboat. Two weeks without food. One impossible choice that would reshape the boundaries between survival and murder.On May 19, 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail from England on what should have been an uneventful voyage. When their vessel sank in the Atlantic, Captain Thomas Dudley and his crew found themselves adrift in a tiny lifeboat. As days turned to weeks, they faced an unthinkable starve to death or resort to cannibalism. Their decision to sacrifice the youngest – 17-year-old cabin boy Richard Parker – ignited a firestorm of controversy upon their rescue. Instead of being hailed as heroes and survivors, Dudley and his crew found themselves at the center of a landmark murder trial that would transform law and ethics forever. In Captain's Dinner, acclaimed legal historian and New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen masterfully reconstructs both the harrowing weeks at sea and the sensational trial that followed. Through this Victorian tragedy, Cohen reveals an enduring conflict between humanity's most primal instincts and its highest moral principles, forcing readers to ask how far would they go to stay alive? Perfect for readers of David Grann’s The Wager and Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea, this haunting true story has become the classic real-life illustration of one of philosophy's greatest moral dilemmas, captivating audiences from ethics classrooms to Hollywood and inspiring countless explorations in film, television, and popular culture of humanity's most challenging When does survival justify murder?
by Adam Cohen
Rating: 5.0 ⭐
¿Deseas una forma simple y sostenible de invertir en la bolsa a corto o largo plazo partiendo de cero?¿Y deseas un enfoque que ofrezca los resultados a un ritmo acelerado y que no implique ser un experto corredor de bolsa?Si es así, ¡Este libro es para ti!Es la manera más sostenible y fácil de adoptar que te ayudará a invertir en la bolsa usando las mejores estrategias en el Mercado.¡La mejor parte de invertir en la bolsa es que no requiere que seas un genio en finanzas!¿Estás listo para tomar el control de tu vida financiera y finalmente tener esa libertad financiera que siempre has soñado?¿Cuales son los beneficios?· Acceso a una amplia variedad de opciones del sector financiero· Posibilidad de convertirse en propietario de grandes empresas· Alta rentabilidad ¡Y muchos, muchos más beneficios! Adam cohen, reconocido experto corredor de bolsa por más de 30 años, cuenta con amplio conocimiento en el sector financiero bursátil. Millonario hecho a sí mismo a la edad de los 28 años. Domina las técnicas de como invertir desde una temprana edad en la bolsa de valores usando estrategias innumerables de como hacer las inversiones correctas.Adam ha escrito una guía única que responde las preguntas más comunes que las personas tienen sobre cómo invertir en la bolsa de valores desde cero, y ofrece estrategias del sector financiero que proporciona resultados reales.Dentro de “Invertir en bolsa para principiantes” descubrirá· Tácticas del mercado financiero para que tengas una ALTA Rentabilidad.· Los secretos para obtener libertad financiera. · las mejores estrategias para empezar y alcanzar tus objetivos.· invirtiendo como ir de compras. · El interés compuesto la octava maravilla del mundo· ¿Aún tienes preguntas? Sobre como invertir en la bolsa exitosamente en tiempos de crisis. · Una guia para empezar a invertir, usando las estrategias de la gente más poderosa del mundo financiero. Si alguna vez has intentado tratar de entender cómo funciona la bolsa de valores y has fallado, no te desesperes, esta guía te ayudará a empezar a invertir y a comenzar en poco tiempo!Una vez que apliques los consejos en este libro estarás listo para alcanzar tus metas financieras con total confianza y entusiasmo.Deje a un lado sus dudas y miedos explore estas nuevas oportunidades financieras utilizando las mejores estrategias usada por la gente financiera más importante del mundo!¿Entonces, qué esperas? ¡Desplázate hacia arriba y no dejes para mañana lo que puedes invertir hoy compra este libro ahora y comienza hoy!