The World's Best Book Summaries
What happened during the Osage murder trial? Were the killers and conspirators ever brought to justice? Investigator Tom White faced several hurdles during the Osage murder trial. Multiple people were prosecuted, and he dealt with witness tampering and political dealings of the main conspirator, William Hale. In the end, White was able to secure convictions for Hale and others during the Osage murder trial.
What is witness tampering, and how was witness tampering used in the cases against William Hale and Ernest Burkhart in the Osage murder trials? Witness tampering is when someone tries to prevent or influence a witness’s testimony. Often, the goal is to keep the witness from telling the truth, therefore influencing the outcome of the case. William Hale was a businessman with many political and business connections. He was able to employ tactics such as witness tampering, which made getting a conviction a long and difficult process.
What is a good media bias example? How do nonverbal cues reveal news bias on television? We’ll cover one news bias example in which newscasters’ nonverbal signals revealed how they really felt about the candidates during the 1984 presidential campaign. We’ll also look at how these unconscious facial expressions swayed viewer votes.
What happened to Household Finance Corporation? Why did it have to pay a $484 million fine, and how did the scandal serve as a harbinger of the coming greed and deception of the subprime loan market? Household Finance Corporation was a leading corporation providing mortgage loans. It was merged with HSBC in 2004 after a loan fraud scandal. Learn how the Household Finance Corporation scandal affected customers and what the attitudes of the corporation’s leader and those tasked with protecting consumers say about the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.
“Big Food” is an influential industry–their positions as key economic players in the U.S. gives them influence in the government. But how closely tied are food and politics? And how does it affect American citizens? We’ll look at extended examples of ways the food industry influences policy, and we’ll cover how this affects you.
Food costs consume a huge percentage of our budget. Because we’re dependent on food, we’re also fairly dependent on those who market and sell it. Food industries take advantage of this. By making claims about the proven nutritional value of their products, food and drug companies and advocacy groups blur the line between science and marketing. How does food industry corruption affect you? Organizations like the National Dairy Council, the American Meat Institute, and Florida Citrus Processors Association each have annual budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars. With this money comes power over research, medical education, and government
You love milk, yogurt, and cheese, and you know they’re generally healthy for you. But how do you know that? Did you learn it at school? From your parents? From Got Milk? ads? The dairy industry has influenced your nutrition knowledge whether you know it or not. Part of the problem with the dairy industry, and many other food industries, is that they’re far more involved in our lives and our decisions than we’re aware. We’ll cover why this a problem for the consumer and how the dairy industry particularly has promoted health messages that are inaccurate.
We’re taught to believe that science is pure and objective. But science is a human endeavor, and the scientists conducting it necessarily bring with them their own biases. But how rampant is bias in science? And how detrimental is it? We’ll cover the research and experiences of T. Colin Campbell, one of the authors of The China Study. With over 40 years as a member of the research community, Campbell is in a good position to answer the questions, How much bias is there is science? And should the public be worried about it?
What is Project C? Why was it so important to the American Civil Rights Movement and America’s history? And what can we learn from it? Project C (“C” for confrontation) was a series of Birmingham sit-ins, marches, and boycotts organized by civil rights leader Wyatt Walker. Learn how Project C made the fight for equality in America so visible and urgent that the government could no longer ignore it.