Bücher von Michael Johnston

Michael Johnston's unruly and hysterical novel follows a cast of characters from the '90s rock band, Texas Flip: their story told through various concerts during the band's two-plus-decade career, each leap in time connected by a fine thread of rushed quarter notes, broken strings, and free drink tickets. Amongst them is Zach Long, guitarist and overseer of their dogged pursuit of musical excellence. Luke Strange, lead singer and bass player whose sex addiction has ruined more than one performance. A manager, Todd Shift, clutching at the group's frayed coattails for as long as their ride will last.Collected, these musicians deliver the playbook of what life in a band used to be like--navigating a world without GPS, social media, or legal marijuana, with a thirst for only the next gig or riff, with amusement and passion and simplicity. Regarded as an early classic, Why Does Everyone Steal My Lighter? is right away comical and entertaining, wholly funny and justly memorable.

Michael Johnston argues that corruption will persist, and even be the rule rather than the exception, until those with a stake in ending it can act in ways that cannot be ignored. This is the key principle of 'deep democratization', enabling citizens to defend their interests by political means. The author analyses four syndromes of corruption in light of this principle: official moguls in Egypt and Tunisia, oligarchs and clans in the Philippines, elite cartels in Argentina, and influence markets in France, Australia and the US. Johnston argues that different kinds of corruption require distinctive responses, each bearing specific risks. Focusing on recent events, including the global economic crisis and the Arab Spring, he shows that we can assess vulnerabilities to corruption and the effects of reforms, and use this information to identify new practices. His book offers a fundamental reappraisal of ways to check abuses of wealth and power.

Corruption is a threat to democracy and economic development in many societies. It arises in the ways people pursue, use and exchange wealth and power, and in the strength or weakness of the state, political and social institutions that sustain and restrain those processes. Differences in these factors, Michael Johnston argues, give rise to four major syndromes of corruption: Influence Markets, Elite Cartels, Oligarchs and Clans, and Official Moguls. In this 2005 book, Johnston uses statistical measures to identify societies in each group, and case studies to show that the expected syndromes do arise. Countries studied include the United States, Japan and Germany (Influence Markets); Italy, Korea and Botswana (Elite Cartels); Russia, the Philippines and Mexico (Oligarchs and Clans); and China, Kenya, and Indonesia (Offical Moguls). A concluding chapter explores reform, emphasising the ways familiar measures should be applied - or withheld, lest they do harm - with an emphasis upon the value of 'deep democratisation'.

Fight, Kid! is a novella told through the eyes of Benny Schultz; an old trainer living in a new world that left him behind. Expressed in humorous language and contemporary tone, it is a story of goals missed inside—and out—of the ring.Keith Way, Benny’s young and impressionable fighter, is moving up weight classes to fight heavyweight Buster Davis. During training sessions, diner-cooked meals, and bouts of tough love, we learn early on that Keith is an optimist; and that Benny is not.The reader, brought on a journey of low-level, low-reward boxing in northern New Jersey, and shown how both try to avoid the daily struggles with the devices of our new social world, Fight, Kid! travels to the heart of what it is to be a fighter, and what it means to be human. 

Johnston introduces us to the key terms and concepts of biblical criticism that show us how to read Scripture on three key levels: the literal, historical, and prophetic.