Written way before its time in 1982, “The Puzzle Palace” penetrates the NSA’s vast network of power and unmasks the people who control it, often with shocking disregard for the law. The NSA has long eluded public scrutiny, but “The Puzzle Palace” penetrates its vast network of power and unmasks the people who control it, often with shocking disregard for the law. With detailed information on the NSA’s secret role in the Korean Airlines disaster, Iran-Contra, the first Gulf War, and other major world events of the 80s and 90s, this is a brilliant account of the use and abuse of technological espionage.

“Dirty Wars” by Jeremy Scahill

In Dirty Wars, Jeremy Scahill, author of the NYT’s best-seller Blackwater, takes us inside United States’s new covert wars. The foot soldiers in these battles operate globally and inside the United States with orders from the White House to do whatever is necessary to hunt down, capture or kill individuals designated by the president as enemies. Funded through “black budgets,” Special Operations Forces conduct missions in denied areas, engage in targeted killings, snatch and grab individuals and direct drone, AC-130 and cruise missile strikes. While the Bush administration deployed these ghost militias, President Barack Obama has expanded their operations and given them new scope and “legitimacy”. You can see Ron’s talk with Jeremy Scahill on this site right now under the Video/Interviews tab!

“Planet Ponzi” by Mitch Feierstein

As the global economy struggles to avoid meltdown, so the greatest Ponzi scheme in history approaches its final death rattle. Politicians have stood by and watched the financial industry create a massive overhang of debt, a mountain of low quality assets – and ultimately, an economic disaster which has dwarfed all others.