Our Last Great Hope

Author : George Packer
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2021-06-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780374603670

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Last Best Hope by George Packer Pdf

One of The New York Times's 100 notable books of 2021 "[George Packer's] account of America’s decline into destructive tribalism is always illuminating and often dazzling." —William Galston, The Washington Post Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America’s descent into a failed state, and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and divides In the year 2020, Americans suffered one rude blow after another to their health, livelihoods, and collective self-esteem. A ruthless pandemic, an inept and malign government response, polarizing protests, and an election marred by conspiracy theories left many citizens in despair about their country and its democratic experiment. With pitiless precision, the year exposed the nation’s underlying conditions—discredited elites, weakened institutions, blatant inequalities—and how difficult they are to remedy. In Last Best Hope, George Packer traces the shocks back to their sources. He explores the four narratives that now dominate American life: Free America, which imagines a nation of separate individuals and serves the interests of corporations and the wealthy; Smart America, the world view of Silicon Valley and the professional elite; Real America, the white Christian nationalism of the heartland; and Just America, which sees citizens as members of identity groups that inflict or suffer oppression. In lively and biting prose, Packer shows that none of these narratives can sustain a democracy. To point a more hopeful way forward, he looks for a common American identity and finds it in the passion for equality—the “hidden code”—that Americans of diverse persuasions have held for centuries. Today, we are challenged again to fight for equality and renew what Alexis de Tocqueville called “the art” of self-government. In its strong voice and trenchant analysis, Last Best Hope is an essential contribution to the literature of national renewal.

Author : Alan Weisman
Publisher : Hachette UK
Page : 452 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2013-09-24
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780748118595

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Countdown by Alan Weisman Pdf

Every four days there are a million more people on the planet. More people and fewer resources. In this timely work, Alan Weisman examines how we can shrink our collective human footprint so that we don't stomp any more species - including our own - out of existence. The answer: reducing gradually and non-violently the number of humans on the planet whose activities, industries and lifestyles are damaging the Earth. Defining an optimum human population for the Earth is an explosive concept. Weisman, one of the most brilliant environmental writers, will travel the globe, from the settlements of Israel and the plains of Mexico to the bustling streets of Pakistan and the teeming cities of the UK. In his search for answers, he will speak to religious leaders, demographers, ecologists, economists, engineers and agriculturalists in what promises to be an international classic.

Author : Ellen G. White
Publisher : Alexandre Oliveira Nunes
Page : 443 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Bible
ISBN : 9780828026765

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The Great Hope by Ellen G. White Pdf

Author : Ronald Reagan
Publisher : Humanix Books
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2016-01-05
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781630060503

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The Last Best Hope by Ronald Reagan Pdf

From the time he arrived on the political scene in 1964 – throughout his presidency and beyond, Ronald Reagan – used his speeches to inspire and reinvigorate America. When he spoke, Reagan, said, he was “preaching a sermon.” The American people saw his vision of America and his dreams for the future and they overwhelmingly responded; he was re-elected in 984 by the largest number of electoral votes in the nation’s history. Here in this collection of twenty-eight speeches spanning the Reagan era, readers can find inspiration in Reagan’s “sermons.” From his first speech in the political arena in 1964 to his Last Letter to America, informing Americans of his Alzheimer’s disease, Ronald Regan’s words show a profound belief in God, freedom, individualism, limited government, and his great love for his country. In addition to an introduction by Reagan’s son, Michael Reagan, each speech features an informative introduction which puts the speech into historical context, making The Last Best Hope the perfect entrée into the influence of one of the major figures of the 20th century.

Author : Una McCormack
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2020-02-11
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781982139452

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Star Trek: Picard: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack Pdf

The USA TODAY bestseller—based on the new Star Trek TV series! “Fifteen years ago…you led us out of the darkness. You commanded the greatest rescue armada in history. Then...the unimaginable. What did that cost you? Your faith. Your faith in us. Your faith in yourself. Tell us, why did you leave Starfleet, Admiral?” Every end has a beginning…and this electrifying novel details the events leading into the new Star Trek TV series, introducing you to brand-new characters featured in the life of Jean-Luc Picard—widely considered to be one of the most popular and recognizable characters in all of science fiction.

Author : William John Bennett
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 592 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : United States
ISBN : 1595550577

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America by William John Bennett Pdf

Endeavors to present the history of the United States from a balanced perspective, describing both positive and negative events, and illuminating the powerful leaders who steered the country on the path of freedom.

Author : Barack Obama
Publisher : Crown
Page : 386 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2006-10-17
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780307382092

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The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama Pdf

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Barack Obama’s lucid vision of America’s place in the world and call for a new kind of politics that builds upon our shared understandings as Americans, based on his years in the Senate “In our lowdown, dispiriting era, Obama’s talent for proposing humane, sensible solutions with uplifting, elegant prose does fill one with hope.”—Michael Kazin, The Washington Post In July 2004, four years before his presidency, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners’ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Obama called “the audacity of hope.” The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama’s call for a different brand of politics—a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the “endless clash of armies” we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of “our improbable experiment in democracy.” He explores those forces—from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media—that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment. At the heart of this book is Barack Obama’s vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats—from terrorism to pandemic—that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracy—where it is vital and where it must never intrude. Underlying his stories is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, Obama says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Those Americans are out there, he writes—“waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”

Author : Dr. Ronnie Floyd
Publisher : Thomas Nelson
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2011-09-05
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780849949524

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Our Last Great Hope by Dr. Ronnie Floyd Pdf

Every day we encounter scores of people headed to an eternity without God. What will it take to wake us up to their desperate need for a Savior? While the earth's time clock ticks away, well-meaning Christians go to church, pay their tithes, and pray for foreign missionaries—going through the motions of Christian life as millions face an eternity without God. If heaven is indeed for real, and only those who have put their faith in Christ will be given entrance, shouldn't we be making the most of every opportunity to share the Gospel, the last great hope for all the world? Join pastor Ronnie Floyd as he challenges readers to face reality and begin a global movement to reach the lost. He says, "God is calling us to an awakening regarding his most urgent command found in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all nations. This Great Commission is the compelling charge given to us with divine authority by our Commander in Chief, Jesus Christ." Our Last Great Hope will move us beyond casual and theoretical talk about the Great Commission and lead us into a Great Awakening. “This book could revolutionize the way we think. . . . Read it and be inspired, changed, and equipped.” —Bruce Wilkinson, best-selling author of The Prayer of Jabez “Floyd challenges us to engage the next generation . . . a must-read.” —Greg Surratt, lead pastor of Seacoast Church and author of IR-REV-REND “This book inspires me to do extraordinary things through my most ordinary life. Our Last Great Hope should be your fi rst required read.” —Leonard Sweet, best-selling author of Jesus Manifesto “Our Last Great Hope pushes us beyond predictability and points us to a deep, intimate knowledge of why we are here.” —Ed Young Jr., pastor of Fellowship Church and author of Outrageous, Contagious Joy “I’ll be pulling this book off my shelf again and again.” —Pete Wilson, author of Plan B and Empty Promises “This book is an energizing wake-up call to today’s churches.” —Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research

Author : George Packer
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 449 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2013-05-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781466836952

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The Unwinding by George Packer Pdf

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK AN NPR BEST BOOK Selected by New York Times' critic Dwight Garner as a Favorite Book A Washington Post Best Political Book A New Republic Best Book A riveting examination of a nation in crisis, from one of the finest political journalists of our generation American democracy is beset by a sense of crisis. Seismic shifts during a single generation have created a country of winners and losers, allowing unprecedented freedom while rending the social contract, driving the political system to the verge of breakdown, and setting citizens adrift to find new paths forward. In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives. The Unwinding journeys through the lives of several Americans, including Dean Price, the son of tobacco farmers, who becomes an evangelist for a new economy in the rural South; Tammy Thomas, a factory worker in the Rust Belt trying to survive the collapse of her city; Jeff Connaughton, a Washington insider oscillating between political idealism and the lure of organized money; and Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire who questions the Internet's significance and arrives at a radical vision of the future. Packer interweaves these intimate stories with biographical sketches of the era's leading public figures, from Newt Gingrich to Jay-Z, and collages made from newspaper headlines, advertising slogans, and song lyrics that capture the flow of events and their undercurrents. The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation. Packer's novelistic and kaleidoscopic history of the new America is his most ambitious work to date.

Author : Rebecca Solnit
Publisher : Haymarket Books
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2016-05-14
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781608465798

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Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit Pdf

“[A] landmark book . . . Solnit illustrates how the uprisings that begin on the streets can upend the status quo and topple authoritarian regimes” (Vice). A book as powerful and influential as Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, her Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of activists at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them—and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable. Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide reading of environmental, cultural, and political history, Solnit argues that radicals have a long, neglected history of transformative victories, that the positive consequences of our acts are not always immediately seen, directly knowable, or even measurable, and that pessimism and despair rest on an unwarranted confidence about what is going to happen next. Now, with a moving new introduction explaining how the book came about and a new afterword that helps teach us how to hope and act in our unnerving world, she brings a new illumination to the darkness of our times in an unforgettable new edition of this classic book. “One of the best books of the 21st century.” —The Guardian “No writer has better understood the mix of fear and possibility, peril and exuberance that’s marked this new millennium.” —Bill McKibben, New York Times–bestselling author of Falter “An elegant reminder that activist victories are easily forgotten, and that they often come in extremely unexpected, roundabout ways.” —The New Yorker

Author : Niles Eldredge,Sidney Horenstein
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2014-10-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780520958302

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Concrete Jungle by Niles Eldredge,Sidney Horenstein Pdf

If they are to survive, cities need healthy chunks of the world’s ecosystems to persist; yet cities, like parasites, grow and prosper by local destruction of these very ecosystems. In this absorbing and wide-ranging book, Eldredge and Horenstein use New York City as a microcosm to explore both the positive and the negative sides of the relationship between cities, the environment, and the future of global biodiversity. They illuminate the mass of contradictions that cities present in embodying the best and the worst of human existence. The authors demonstrate that, though cities have voracious appetites for resources such as food and water, they also represent the last hope for conserving healthy remnants of the world’s ecosystems and species. With their concentration of human beings, cities bring together centers of learning, research, government, finance, and media—institutions that increasingly play active roles in solving environmental problems. Some of the topics covered in Concrete Jungle: --The geological history of the New York region, including remnant glacial features visible today --The early days of urbanization on Manhattan Island, focusing on the history of Central Park, Collect Pond, and Manhattan Square --The history of early railway lines and the development of New York’s iconic subway system --The problem of producing enough safe drinking water for an ever-expanding population --Prominent civic institutions, including universities, museums, and zoos

Author : Douglas W. Tallamy
Publisher : Timber Press
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2020-02-04
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781604699005

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Nature's Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamy Pdf

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Douglas W. Tallamy’s first book, Bringing Nature Home, awakened thousands of readers to an urgent situation: wildlife populations are in decline because the native plants they depend on are fast disappearing. His solution? Plant more natives. In this new book, Tallamy takes the next step and outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation. Nature’s Best Hope shows how homeowners everywhere can turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats. Because this approach relies on the initiatives of private individuals, it is immune from the whims of government policy. Even more important, it’s practical, effective, and easy—you will walk away with specific suggestions you can incorporate into your own yard. If you’re concerned about doing something good for the environment, Nature’s Best Hope is the blueprint you need. By acting now, you can help preserve our precious wildlife—and the planet—for future generations.

Author : Jessica Stanley
Publisher : Picador Australia
Page : 371 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2022-02-22
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781761260452

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A Great Hope by Jessica Stanley Pdf

John Clare was a titan in Australian politics. The head of a powerful union and a key player in the election of Kevin Rudd as prime minister in 2007, he had long been tipped as a future leader himself. Supporting him in his push for power were his elegant wife Grace, his troubled children Sophie and Toby, and Tessa, the mistress he thought would stay secret. But now John has fallen, brutally, to his death. A terrible accident - or was it? In the wake of losing John, his inner circle mourn and rage, remembering and trying to forget the many ways he'd loved and disappointed them. An adoring and unreliable father; a grateful and selfish husband; a besotted and absent lover; an authoritative and compassionate leader; a failed politician in an era when party politics failed a nation. As those around him reassess everything they knew of and felt for John, a new idea of what love and power really mean begins to emerge - as does the true cause of his death. Gripping, propulsive and ambitious, A Great Hope untangles the mystery of John's fall through the eyes of those who knew him best - or thought they did. Deftly displaying the clash of the political and the personal, this is a novel for our times, from a brilliant and forceful new Australian writer. LONGLISTED FOR THE MARK & EVETTE MORAN NIB LITERARY AWARD 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE MUD LITERARY PRIZE 2023 PRAISE FOR A GREAT HOPE 'Just pages into this book, I felt the electric jolt that accompanies the discovery of a serious new talent. A Great Hope is a genuine literary page-turner that satisfies until the last paragraph.' - Annabel Crabb 'A Great Hope is written in an addictive prose that keeps the reader firmly in its grip.' - Books+Publishing

Author : Jonathan Rauch
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2021-06-22
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780815738879

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The Constitution of Knowledge by Jonathan Rauch Pdf

Arming Americans to defend the truth from today's war on facts “In what could be the timeliest book of the year, Rauch aims to arm his readers to engage with reason in an age of illiberalism.” —Newsweek A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Disinformation. Trolling. Conspiracies. Social media pile-ons. Campus intolerance. On the surface, these recent additions to our daily vocabulary appear to have little in common. But together, they are driving an epistemic crisis: a multi-front challenge to America's ability to distinguish fact from fiction and elevate truth above falsehood. In 2016 Russian trolls and bots nearly drowned the truth in a flood of fake news and conspiracy theories, and Donald Trump and his troll armies continued to do the same. Social media companies struggled to keep up with a flood of falsehoods, and too often didn't even seem to try. Experts and some public officials began wondering if society was losing its grip on truth itself. Meanwhile, another new phenomenon appeared: “cancel culture.” At the push of a button, those armed with a cellphone could gang up by the thousands on anyone who ran afoul of their sanctimony. In this pathbreaking book, Jonathan Rauch reaches back to the parallel eighteenth-century developments of liberal democracy and science to explain what he calls the “Constitution of Knowledge”—our social system for turning disagreement into truth. By explicating the Constitution of Knowledge and probing the war on reality, Rauch arms defenders of truth with a clearer understanding of what they must protect, why they must do—and how they can do it. His book is a sweeping and readable description of how every American can help defend objective truth and free inquiry from threats as far away as Russia and as close as the cellphone.

Author : Elin Kelsey
Publisher : Greystone Books Ltd
Page : 146 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2020-10-27
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781771647786

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Hope Matters by Elin Kelsey Pdf

“This book comes at just the right moment. It is NOT too late if we get together and take action, NOW.” —Jane Goodall Fears about climate change are fueling an epidemic of despair across the world: adults worry about their children’s future; thirty-somethings question whether they should have kids or not; and many young people honestly believe they have no future at all. In the face of extreme eco-anxiety, scholar and award-winning author Elin Kelsey argues that our hopelessness—while an understandable reaction—is hampering our ability to address the very real problems we face. Kelsey offers a powerful solution: hope itself. Hope Matters boldly breaks through the narrative of doom and gloom to show why evidence-based hope, not fear, is our most powerful tool for change. Kelsey shares real-life examples of positive climate news that reveal the power of our mindsets to shape reality, the resilience of nature, and the transformative possibilities of individual and collective action. And she demonstrates how we can build on positive trends to work toward a sustainable and just future, before it’s too late. Praise for Hope Matters “Whether you consider yourself a passionate ally of nature, a busy bystander, or anything in between, this book will uplift your spirits, helping you find hope in the face of climate crisis.” —Veronica Joyce Lin, North American Association for Environmental Education “30 Under 30” “A tonic in hard times.” —Claudia Dreyguis, author of Scientific Conversations: Interviews on Science from the New York Times “Beautifully written and an effective antidote against apathy and inaction.” —Christof Mauch, Director, Rachel Carson Center for the Environment and Society Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.