When author and homesteader Nicole Faires decided to retrofit an old school bus and tour America’s small farms with her husband and two small children, she expected to learn a lot, be inspired, and have some fun. But what she fou

What did dictators eat? Sometimes simply obscene amounts of the best their nations could offer, but more often their humble origins, or embarrassing medical conditions, or simple lack of interest in food meant their tastes were unpretentious--ranging from human flesh, to raw garlic salad, to Quality Street. Here we learn of their foibles, their eccentricities and their frequent terror of poisoning--something no number of food tasters was ever able to assuage. For a selection of 25 former national figureheads across the world, each section comprises an outline of the dictator's history, a short essay on their particular eating habits, table manners, digestive systems etc. and one or two of their favorite recipes.

One of Socrates' Athenian disciples in his youth, Xenophon (c. 498-354 bc) fought as a mercenary commander in Cyrus the Younger's campaign to seize the Persian throne, and later wrote a wide range of works on history, politics and philosophy. These six treatises offer his informed insights into the nature of leadership. In the dialogue between the poet Simonides and Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, Xenophon provides a consummate consideration of the burdens of being an absolute dictator and the superior happiness of the private man. Elsewhere, his biography of King Agesilaus II of Sparta depicts the author's patron as a model of piety, justice, courage and wisdom, while other texts consider the essential qualities of the cavalry commander, analyse the skills of the horseman and the hunter, and advance a bold economic plan for democratic Athens.

Along with its much vaunted progress in scientific and economic realms, the twentieth century has witnessed the rise of the most brutal and oppressive regimes in the history of humankind. Even with the collapse of Marxism, current instances of "ethnic cleansing" remind us that tyranny persists in our own age and shows no sign of abating. Daniel Chirot offers an important and timely study of modern tyrants, both revealing the forces that allow them to come to power and helping us to predict where they may arise in the future.

In this selected collection of his syndicated newspaper columns, Walter Williams offers his sometimes controversial views on education, health, the environment, government, law and society, race, and a range of other topics. Although many of these essays focus on the growth of government and our loss of liberty, many others demonstrate how the tools of freemarket economics can be used to improve our lives in ways ordinary people can understand.

Written in a lively, engaging style, The Food and Drink Police is a thoroughgoing examination and critique of the efforts of government agencies and private organizations (including the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Food and Drug Administration) to regulate the dietary habits and choices of private citizens. Irreverent, yet always informed, the authors analyze the ideological motivations, spurious science, and assaults on freedom that underlie the activities of these groups. General readers, nutritionists and scientists in general, doctors, and government policymakers will find this indispensable reading. Chapters such as "Eat, Drink, and Keel Over: Lasagna, Egg Rolls, and Popcorn Can Kill" discuss the "evils" of multicultural cuisine and coffee, and the "good news" about junk food. In "care for a Drink?" and "None for the Road" the authors provide an in-depth look at Prohibition 1990s-style; "Glow-in-the-Dark Eggs or Anal Leakage: Pick Your Poison" provocatively fuels the current debate on fake fats and irradiated beef. In The Pleasure Police, David Shaw quotes the psychologist and advocate of "defensive" eating, Dr. Stephen Gullo, as advising his thin-obsessed patients to "drink tomato juice before ordering" in restaurants; tomato juice, after al, is "a natural appetite suppressant." To which Shaw adds, "I assume he also advises his clients to masturbate before making love." James T. Bennett and Thomas J. DiLorenzo expose this sort of convoluted advice in The Food and Drink Police, a timely and important contribution to the cultural debate on government and private choice.