Ari Rabin-Havt

Media Matters for America

A stunning investigation of the history of organized misinformation in politics. In today’s post-truth political landscape, there is a carefully concealed but ever-growing industry of organized misinformation that exists to create and disseminate lies in the service of political agendas. Ari Rabin-Havt and Media Matters for America present a revelatory history of this industry—which they've dubbed Lies, Incorporated—and show how it has crippled legislative progress on issues including tobacco regulation, public health care, climate change, gun control, immigration, abortion, and same-sex marriage. Eye-opening and indispensable, Lies, Incorporated takes an unflinching look at the powerful network of politicians and special interest groups that have launched coordinated assaults on the truth to shape American politics.

The World of Post-Truth Politics

Lies, Incorporated

An unparalleled and intimate account of Bernie Sanders from one of his most trusted confidants.

Bernie Sanders inspires fervent love and, even among his enemies, a measure of grudging respect―yet, curiously, we know little about who the man really is, with Sanders deliberately keeping the focus on his policies.

Now, with The Fighting Soul, Ari Rabin-Havt takes us where no profiles or televised interviews have been able to go. As a close advisor and deputy campaign manager on Sanders’s most recent―and likely last―presidential campaign, the tireless Rabin-Havt spent more hours between 2017 and 2020 with the Vermont senator than anyone else. Traveling the country for rallies and to support striking workers, the two visited thirty-six states, drove tens of thousands of miles, and ate in countless chain restaurants. One result was a meteoric and galvanizing presidential campaign. Another is The Fighting Soul, an unforgettable chronicle of life on the road with Sanders and the first in-depth portrait of this fiercely independent, and famously private, left-wing firebrand.

Sanders’s second bid for the presidency began in Rabin-Havt’s apartment in Washington DC in January 2018. From there, Rabin-Havt offers a behind-the-scenes account of Sanders’s run, including his heart attack in Las Vegas, his notorious debate encounter with fellow-progressive Elizabeth Warren, and a momentous conversation between Sanders and Barack Obama that has never been reported before. At every step, Rabin-Havt shows us Bernie Sanders when the cameras turn off: his dry sense of humor; his views of his young supporters; the pivotal role his wife, Jane, plays in every decision he makes; and more. Delving into Sanders’s life and career, with moving glimpses of his childhood in Brooklyn and first forays into politics in Burlington, Rabin-Havt discloses that Sanders is shocked by his ascent: “Ari, my parents would tell me I was crazy if I told them I would become a senator, much less could become president of the United States.”

Though his campaign ended in abrupt and unexpected defeat, Sanders has pushed the Democratic Party to the left and helped remake American politics―as Rabin-Havt suggests, he has done more to shape our history than anyone else who has not reached the White House. Revelatory and heartfelt, The Fighting Soul depicts the rare politician motivated by principle, not power.

On the Road with Bernie Sanders

The Fighting Soul

An unparalleled and intimate account of Bernie Sanders from one of his most trusted confidants. Bernie Sanders inspires fervent love and, even among his enemies, a measure of grudging respect—yet, curiously, we know little about who the man really is, with Sanders deliberately keeping the focus on his policies. Now, with The Fighting Soul, Ari Rabin-Havt takes us where no profiles or televised interviews have been able to go. As a close advisor and deputy campaign manager on Sanders’s most recent—and likely last—presidential campaign, the tireless Rabin-Havt spent more hours between 2017 and 2020 with the Vermont senator than anyone else. Traveling the country for rallies and to support striking workers, the two visited thirty-six states, drove tens of thousands of miles, and ate in countless chain restaurants. One result was a meteoric and galvanizing presidential campaign. Another is The Fighting Soul, an unforgettable chronicle of life on the road with Sanders and the first in-depth portrait of this fiercely independent, and famously private, left-wing firebrand. Sanders’s second bid for the presidency began in Rabin-Havt’s apartment in Washington DC in January 2018. From there, Rabin-Havt offers a behind-the-scenes account of Sanders’s run, including his heart attack in Las Vegas, his notorious debate encounter with fellow-progressive Elizabeth Warren, and a momentous conversation between Sanders and Barack Obama that has never been reported before. At every step, Rabin-Havt shows us Bernie Sanders when the cameras turn off: his dry sense of humor; his views of his young supporters; the pivotal role his wife, Jane, plays in every decision he makes; and more. Delving into Sanders’s life and career, with moving glimpses of his childhood in Brooklyn and first forays into politics in Burlington, Rabin-Havt discloses that Sanders is shocked by his ascent: “Ari, my parents would tell me I was crazy if I told them I would become a senator, much less could become president of the United States.” Though his campaign ended in abrupt and unexpected defeat, Sanders has pushed the Democratic Party to the left and helped remake American politics—as Rabin-Havt suggests, he has done more to shape our history than anyone else who has not reached the White House. Revelatory and heartfelt, The Fighting Soul depicts the rare politician motivated by principle, not power.

The Fighting Soul: On the Road with Bernie Sanders

David Brock

The events that took place in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012, were an American tragedy that ended in the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. No one could have imagined at the start of that evening how quickly the Republican right would politicize the murder of four Americans. Or how the most basic facts would be twisted, confused, and even invented out of thin air to manufacture false charges – first to suggest that President Obama, then seeking re-election, was disengaged, feckless, or even sympathetic to terror, and then, when that faltered, to tarnish the reputation of Hillary Clinton as she mulled a 2016 presidential bid. What has been called the “Benghazi scandal” by Republican investigators, the Fox News Channel, and right-wing radio talkers like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity is better described as the Benghazi hoax. What should have been an investigation into the protection of U.S. diplomatic posts and our policy in Libya has been hijacked by unfounded and sometimes wild conspiracy theories, many of them centered on Hillary Clinton and her top aides in the State Department, that have not only wasted considerable time and money but distracted attention from real issues that affect American voters. The Benghazi Hoax tells in intimate detail the story of the deception created by those who fill airtime with savage punditry and pseudo-journalism and how the Republicans in charge of the investigative committees were empowered but ultimately failed to find a scandal – any kind of scandal – to tar a Democratic White House. “This book is a must read for anyone interested in how the attack on Benghazi has been hijacked by unfounded and wild conspiracy theories and has therefore remained at the forefront of political conversation for over a year” -Dr. Larry Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress “Mr. Brock and Mr. Rabin-Havt do a great service to Ambassador Stevens and his team, the 4th estate and the brave men and women serving our country in and out of uniform by his thorough analysis of the Benghazi tragedy and its treatment by conservative American media. By dissecting the conservative press reaction to the Benghazi attack through his vehicle of the fifteen conservative movement perpetuated hoaxes, the authors at once validate the results of the Accountability Review Board and defend the reputations of the men and women involved in the events that lead to the deaths of four great Americans.” - Major General Paul Eaton (US Army, ret) "Benghazi was not a hoax but a tragedy that has recurred too frequently under all presidents. Benghazi has been much more politicized, however, as this book describes in fascinating detail. Of course, only Ambassador Chris Stevens could tell us the real truth. Meanwhile his and his colleagues' untimely death is being exploited by partisans for political gain. If this is the way America handles foreign policy in the future, U.S. politics won't stop at the water's edge but will start boiling the oceans." - Rep Jim Cooper (TN-5)

The Benghazi Hoax

"A progressive research and information center examines how organizations and lobbies like gun control, tobacco and alcohol and oil have combined forces to attack and distort the truth, cripple legislation and create controversy where there is none, "--NoveList.

The World of Post-truth Politics

Here is comprehensive overview of the tumultuous career of former Fox News president Roger Ailes and a must-read for anyone looking to understand his legacy and impact on news media. Based on the meticulous research of the news watchdog organization Media Matters for America, David Brock and Ari Rabin-Havt show how Fox News, under its president Roger Ailes, changed from a right-leaning news network into a partisan advocate for the Republican Party. The Fox Effect follows the career of Ailes from his early work as a television producer and media consultant for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Consequently, when he was hired in 1996 as the president of Rupert Murdoch’s flagship conservative cable news network, Ailes had little journalism experience, but brought to the job the mindset of a political operative. As Brock and Rabin-Havt demonstrate through numerous examples, Ailes used his extraordinary power and influence to spread a partisan political agenda that is at odds with long-established, widely held standards of fairness and objectivity in news reporting. Featuring transcripts of leaked audio and memos from Fox News reporters and executives, The Fox Effect is a damning indictment of how the network’s news coverage and commentators have biased reporting, drummed up marginal stories, and even consciously manipulated established facts in their efforts to attack the Obama administration.

Ari Rabin-Havt

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