The Undertow Scenes From A Slow Civil War

Author : Jeff Sharlet
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 408 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2023-03-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781324006503

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The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War by Jeff Sharlet Pdf

An Instant New York Times Bestseller. A National Book Critics Circle Finalist for Nonfiction One of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2023 One of The New Republic's Best Books of 2023 “A riveting, vividly detailed collage of political and moral derangement in America.” —Joseph O’Neill, New York Times Book Review One of America’s finest reporters and essayists explores the powerful currents beneath the roiled waters of a nation coming apart. An unmatched guide to the religious dimensions of American politics, Jeff Sharlet journeys into corners of our national psyche where others fear to tread. The Undertow is both inquiry and meditation, an attempt to understand how, over the last decade, reaction has morphed into delusion, social division into distrust, distrust into paranoia, and hatred into fantasies—sometimes realities—of violence. Across the country, men “of God” glorify materialism, a gluttony of the soul, while citing Scripture and preparing for civil war—a firestorm they long for as an absolution and exaltation. Lies, greed, and glorification of war boom through microphones at hipster megachurches that once upon a time might have preached peace and understanding. Political rallies are as aflame with need and giddy expectation as religious revivals. At a conference for incels, lonely single men come together to rage against women. On the Far Right, everything is heightened—love into adulation, fear into vengeance, anger into white-hot rage. Here, in the undertow, our forty-fifth president, a vessel of conspiratorial fears and fantasies, continues to rise to sainthood, and the insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt, killed on January 6 at the Capitol, is beatified as a martyr of white womanhood. Framing this dangerous vision, Sharlet remembers and celebrates the courage of those who sing a different song of community, and of an America long dreamt of and yet to be fully born, dedicated to justice and freedom for all. Exploring a geography of grief and uncertainty in the midst of plague and rising fascism, The Undertow is a necessary reckoning with our precarious present that brings to light a decade of American failures as well as a vision for American possibility.

Author : Jeff Sharlet
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2020-02-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781324003212

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This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers by Jeff Sharlet Pdf

“A luminous, moving and visual record of fleeting moments of connection.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice A visionary work of radical empathy. Known for immersion journalism that is more immersed than most people are willing to go, and for a prose style that is somehow both fierce and soulful, Jeff Sharlet dives deep into the darkness around us and awaiting us. This work began when his father had a heart attack; two years later, Jeff, still in his forties, had a heart attack of his own. In the grip of writerly self-doubt, Jeff turned to images, taking snapshots and posting them on Instagram, writing short, true stories that bloomed into documentary. During those two years, he spent a lot of time on the road: meeting strangers working night shifts as he drove through the mountains to see his father; exploring the life and death of Charley Keunang, a once-aspiring actor shot by the police on LA’s Skid Row; documenting gay pride amidst the violent homophobia of Putin’s Russia; passing time with homeless teen addicts in Dublin; and accompanying a lonely woman, whose only friend was a houseplant, on shopping trips. Early readers have called this book “incantatory,” the voice “prophetic,” in “James Agee’s tradition of looking at the reality of American lives.” Defined by insomnia and late-night driving and the companionship of other darkness-dwellers—night bakers and last-call drinkers, frightened people and frightening people, the homeless, the lost (or merely disoriented), and other people on the margins—This Brilliant Darkness erases the boundaries between author, subject, and reader to ask: how do people live with suffering?

Author : Stephen J. Ducat
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 569 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2024-06-25
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781510780910

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Hatreds We Love by Stephen J. Ducat Pdf

An in-depth psychological, anthropological, neuroscientific, and historical look at MAGA Republicans and the American Far Right. Fueled by conspiracy thinking and a growing indifference to facts, some Americans, especially on the Right, are increasingly seeing their fellow citizens as threats that must be eliminated. We are witnessing an epidemic of domestic terrorism with a rapidly accumulating body count. This may be the most serious challenge to the integrity of the United States since the Confederate insurrectionists launched their assault on Fort Sumpter in 1861. While an in-depth psychological reading of political events, Hatreds We Love: The Psychology of Political Tribalism in Post-Truth America is grounded in the scholarship and insights of social psychologists, anthropologists, historians, psychoanalysts, neuroscientists, and the many intrepid journalists increasingly threatened by authoritarians who have good reasons to fear truthful reporting. And, of course, author Stephen J. Ducat draws on his own experiences, visions, and values. A major topic addressed in the book is the malignant mindset animating MAGA neo-fascism's zealous partisans. Donald Trump’s fortunes may fade in the coming months and years, but Trumpism will likely remain ascendant. Of course, xenophobic bigotry, violent aversion to democracy, political cults of personality, and indifference to facts are global phenomena and not limited to the United States. But America plays a prominent role, even abroad. In December 2022, it was revealed that a right-wing coup attempt in Germany was, to some extent, modeled on America’s own post-election insurrection, which was planned and executed by the paramilitary wing of the MAGA movement. That German episode was not the first time that the actions of American anti-democratic and white supremacist groups became the template for similar efforts worldwide. In the 1930s, German fascists looked to America as a blueprint for implementing race-based tribalism. Hitler so admired Jim Crow laws in the United States, especially concerning citizenship and anti-miscegenation laws, that he sent a team of legal scholars to study their statutory framework for addressing the problem of "racial pollution." While the Nazis initially found a lot to love and incorporate into the Nuremberg Laws, they ironically rejected much of the American model as too harsh. Many pundits have decried the “extremism” of Trumpian lynch-mob politics. On the contrary, Hatreds We Love argues that it is contiguous with the long history of American conservatism going back at least to the antebellum South. From this perspective, the worldview and actions of the GOP's MAGA faction are the logical outcomes of the consistently expressed right-wing ethos of domination, xenophobia, and the "freedom" to harm. Although there is much handwringing about the toxic synergy of authoritarian political forces, white identity politics, and the embrace of post-factuality, there is insufficient understanding of the links between them. Chief among those links is tribal psychology. Nearly every political pundit decries political tribalism. Yet, public discussion rarely addresses more than its most disturbing symptoms. Hatreds We Love speaks to the causes and underlying dynamics of what is now one of the greatest threats to the viability of what remains of American democracy and global democratic governance more broadly.

Author : John R. Baker
Publisher : Broadview Press
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2024-04-18
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781770489622

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Strengthening American Democracy by John R. Baker Pdf

Many experts have observed a world-wide trend toward “democratic deconsolidation,” reflected in America through declining trust in government at all levels and the rise of authoritarian thinking. The trend is rooted in extreme partisan polarization, which serves as fertile soil for the rise of anti-democratic movements and tendencies. This book aims to combat that disturbing trajectory, offering readers the tools to engage in and aspire toward a more responsive and accountable democracy. Its 46 brief and accessible articles outline a number of institutional, structural, process-oriented, and policy-related challenges to American democracy. In most cases, specific proposals for reform are discussed, encouraging the reader to think about how to make tangible progress toward a “more perfect Union.”

Author : David B. Moore,Alikki Vernon
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 341 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2023-12-01
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 9781003800309

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Setting Relations Right in Restorative Practice by David B. Moore,Alikki Vernon Pdf

Setting Relations Right in Restorative Practice is a practical guide to using restorative processes, both in justice systems, to provide a healing response to harm, and in broader community contexts, to help people co-exist peacefully. Restorative processes can help to establish, maintain, deepen, and repair relationships, and to neutralise the conflict associated with negative relationships. The result is less conflict within people, between people, and between groups, and increasing individual and community wellbeing. These complex goals can be distilled to the single principle of setting relations right. The authors distil lessons from their decades of work at the frontline of restorative innovation. They outline an accurate, accessible theory that informs a restorative mindset, and describe in detail the corresponding skill set. Succinct, engaging case studies include refinements to existing programs in justice systems. Other case studies include the innovations of restorative responses to institutional abuse and to family violence and sexual harm, initiatives to increase psychological safety in schools and workplaces, and programs that support restorative ways-of-working across whole cities or regions. By applying elements from successful programs, practitioners can realise the broader reforming potential of restorative practice. This book is essential reading for restorative practitioners, administrators, and policymakers, for students and researchers – indeed, for anyone interested in the power and potential of restorative practice and other forms of deliberative decision-making.

Author : Sachdeva, Danielle E.,Hull, Samantha L.,Kimmel, Sue C.,Whitaker, Westry A.
Publisher : IGI Global
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2023-12-21
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781668496565

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Supporting Students’ Intellectual Freedom in Schools: The Right to Read by Sachdeva, Danielle E.,Hull, Samantha L.,Kimmel, Sue C.,Whitaker, Westry A. Pdf

In today's developing view of education, a disquieting trend looms—the erosion of students' right to choose what they read. This erosion, fueled by an alarming surge in censorship attempts, casts a shadow over the very essence of intellectual exploration. Recent years have witnessed an unprecedented number of challenges aimed at restricting access to books, targeting themes that embrace human diversity, inclusivity, and the tapestry of life itself. As educators, administrators, and scholars grapple with this critical juncture, Supporting Students’ Intellectual Freedom in Schools: The Right to Read serves as a comprehensive resource they can turn to for support and knowledge. This book is a call to action, resonating with teachers, school librarians, administrators, and scholars who refuse to let censorship erode the foundations of education. As censorship attempts proliferate, its chapters offer fortification, providing educators at all levels with the tools to safeguard students' intellectual freedom. From the hallowed halls of academia to the vibrant classrooms of K-12, the insights within these pages shape curricula, conversations, and a collective commitment to nurturing minds that thrive on diversity and inquiry. In a world clamoring for unwavering advocates of intellectual freedom, Supporting Students’ Intellectual Freedom in Schools is not just a solution—it is a declaration of resolute solidarity in the pursuit of knowledge and the unassailable right to read.

Author : Soraya Chemaly
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2024-05-21
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781982170769

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The Resilience Myth by Soraya Chemaly Pdf

The author of the “must read” (NPR) Rage Becomes Her presents a powerful manifesto for communal resilience based on in-depth investigations into history, social science, and psychology. We are often urged to rely only on ourselves for strength, mental fortitude, and positivity. But with her distinctive “skill, wit, and sharp insight” (Laura Bates, author of Girl Up), Soraya Chemaly challenges us to adapt our thinking about how we survive in a world of sustained, overlapping crises. It is interdependence and nurturing relationships that truly sustain us, she argues. Based on comprehensive research and eye-opening examples from real-life, The Resilience Myth offers alternative visions of relational hardiness by emphasizing care for others and our environments above all.

Author : Richard L. Abel
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2024-03-26
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781040003800

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How Autocrats Seek Power by Richard L. Abel Pdf

Chronicling and analyzing resistance to the threat that autocracy poses to American liberal democracy, this book provides the definitive account of the rise of Trump’s populist support in 2016, and his failed efforts to nullify the result of the 2020 election. This book is about the threat of autocracy, which antedated Donald Trump and will persist after he leaves the stage. Autocracy negates both liberalism—which includes the protection of fundamental rights, the rule of law, separation of powers, and respect for specialist expertise—and democracy—which requires that the state be responsible to an electorate composed of all eligible voters—by concentrating unconstrained power in a single individual. Anticipating defeat in the 2016 election, Trump attacked suggestions that he had sought, or even benefited from, Russian assistance despite the evidence, and he made repeated claims of election fraud. In 2020, fearful that his mishandling of the pandemic had alienated voters, he intensified the allegations of fraud, demanding recounts, pressuring state legislatures and state election officials, advancing bizarre conspiracy theories, and finally, calling for a massive demonstration, urging protesters to march to the Capitol to pressure Congress, promising to accompany them. But as this book documents, Trump’s efforts to nullify the result of the 2020 election failed. As the courts rejected his numerous challenges, state election officials loyally performed their statutory duties, the Justice Department found no evidence of fraud, and politicians from all sides certified Biden’s victory, this book traces the many, and varied, forms of the defense of liberal democracy located within both the state and civil society, including law (judges, government lawyers, and private practitioners), the media, NGOs, science (and other forms of expertise), and civil servants (in federal, state, and local government). Evaluating their efficacy, the book maintains, is vital if—as history has repeatedly taught us—the price of liberal democracy, like that of liberty itself, is eternal vigilance. This definitive account and analysis of Trumpism and the resistance to it will appeal to scholars, students, and others with interests in politics, populism, and the rule of law and, more specifically, to those concerned with resisting the threat that autocracy poses to liberal democracy.

Author : F. Scott Spencer
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2024-06-04
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9798385207886

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Vote Jesus Christ by F. Scott Spencer Pdf

At the tense intersection of biblical interpretation and contemporary politics, this book stands out as an imagined political campaign guide based on a creative deep dive into Luke’s vibrant evangelical account of Jesus’s messianic mission. It seeks to challenge any group that blithely claims Jesus’s endorsement of their partisan agendas today, but especially those trumpeting authoritarian rule. Close attention to Luke’s narrative discloses a distinctive figure who strikingly ill fits standard strongman profiles and straitjacket labels. Warning: If Luke’s Jesus doesn’t change your vote, he might well change your mind, challenge your life, and shake up your politics along the way.

Author : Gregg Barak
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2024-04-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781040006078

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Indicting the 45th President by Gregg Barak Pdf

Indicting the 45th President is a sequel to Criminology on Trump in real time, continuing the criminological investigation into the former US president. Developing and expanding on the themes of family dynamics, deviance, deception, dishonesty, and the weaponization of the law, this book offers the next chapter on the world’s most successful outlaw. In this new book, Gregg Barak considers the campaigns and policies, the corruption, the state- organized abuses of power and obstructions of justice, the pardons, the failed insurrection, the prosecutions, the indictment of Trump and the politics of punishment as these revolve around the Trumpian character and social structures that encourage such crimes of the powerful. Barak also thoroughly addresses the threat to American Democracy, critiques the current state of the U.S. constitutional system, and proposes reforms to enhance justice for all in the United States. Another accessible and compelling read, this is essential reading for all those engaged with state and white- collar crime in the context of power and privilege, and those seeking a criminological understanding of Trump’s evasion of law and justice.

Author : Erik Paul
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 142 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2024-06-29
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9789819727247

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Australia in AUKUS by Erik Paul Pdf

Author : Scott Cowdell
Publisher : Church Publishing, Inc.
Page : 110 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2024-09-03
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781640657373

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Why Church? by Scott Cowdell Pdf

An argument for the centrality of the Eucharistic church in an increasingly tribal world. As Western culture has secularized, the church has increasingly become marginalized and is seen as providing support and optional resources, rather than indispensable to the Christian life. In this volume, theologian Scott Cowdell argues for a recovery of the church as the proper context for Christian faith, life, and mission. In Why Church? Cowdell considers how we have arrived at this moment, examining how perceptions of the church have changed in response to increasing individualism and institutional failings. Suggesting that the Eucharistic Church embodies Christ’s desire to draw humankind to him, Cowdell shows how the Christian life depends on Christian community. Written with adult formation in mind and from a perspective of generous orthodoxy, Why Church? makes a provocative case for the centrality of the church to Christian life. Discussion questions at the conclusion of each chapter offer provocative conversation starters for any adult education group.

Author : John Morreall,Tamara Sonn
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2024-08-19
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781394183920

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The Religion Toolkit by John Morreall,Tamara Sonn Pdf

THE RELIGION TOOLKIT A comprehensive survey of the study of religion worldwide, from ancient indigenous traditions to today’s religious nationalism. “This is an excellent book that is a good, comprehensive overview of the history of religions and the ways of studying religion within Religious Studies... it really brings religions to life for the reader.” —Gavin Flood, Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion, Oxford University “The authors provide a clear, first-rate introduction to the study of religions, origins, leading scholars and their theories and beliefs.... This is by far the best introductory volume I am aware of both in terms of substance, clarity, and insights.” — John L. Esposito, Distinguished University Professor, Georgetown University, and Past President of the American Academy of Religion The Religion Toolkit: Understanding Religion in the World Today is a clear and comprehensive introduction to the academic study of religions, providing readers an introduction to the history and theories of Religious Studies, a survey of global religious traditions, and an overview of religion in the public sphere today. Discusses theory and methodology in religion, including the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, philosophy, biblical studies, and theology Describes the early development of religion, with overviews of traditions around the world, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baha’i, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Shinto Covers traditions not commonly addressed in introductory textbooks, such as Santeria, Vodou, Tengrism, and indigenous traditions of the Americas Examines recent developments and contemporary issues such as secularization, bioethics, and the rise of religious nationalism Includes access to a companion website with discussion questions, additional material, and helpful primary and secondary sources Providing the knowledge and tools required to explore and understand the nature and roles of religion, The Religion Toolkit: Understanding Religion in the World Today, Second Edition is an excellent introductory textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in Religious Studies, History of Religion, Religions of the World, and Theory and Method in the Study of Religion, as well as a valuable resource for general readers interested in the role of religion in the world today.

Author : Jeff Sharlet
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 221 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2011-08-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780393082357

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Sweet Heaven When I Die: Faith, Faithlessness, and the Country In Between by Jeff Sharlet Pdf

“A master investigative stylist and one of the shrewdest commentators on religion’s underexplored realms.”—Michael Washburn, Washington Post In this gorgeous collection of essays that has drawn comparisons to the work of Joan Didion, John McPhee, and Norman Mailer, best-selling author Jeff Sharlet reports back from the far reaches of belief, whether in the clear mountain air of “Sweet Fuck All, Colorado” or in a midnight congregation of anarchists celebrating a victory over police. Like movements in a complex piece of music, Sharlet’s dispatches vibrate with all the madness and beauty, the melancholy and aspirations for transcendence, of American life.

Author : Henry A. Giroux,Anthony R. DiMaggio
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 315 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2024-02-22
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781350421691

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Fascism on Trial by Henry A. Giroux,Anthony R. DiMaggio Pdf

This book interrogates rising fascism in America. It spotlights the major facets of fascism that increasingly characterize contemporary US politics, in relation to political authoritarianism, the rise of anti-intellectualism, the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories, the glorification of political street violence and state violence, rising white supremacy, and the militarization of US political discourse. Alongside this, Giroux and DiMaggio show how the assault on critical education and pedagogy is central to the fascist program. They stress the importance of reprioritizing education as a public good to combating fascist politics and ideology and draw links between fascism and the banning of books in schools, whitewashing history, and punishing policies aimed at Black, Brown, and transgender youth. They challenge the commonly embraced notion that Trumpism is primarily a function of economic insecurity within his support base, documenting how support for the former president primarily centered on reactionary socio-cultural values and white supremacy. They also show how white supremacist values are central to the Trump base defending the January 6th insurrection, despite academics, journalists, and political officials in both major parties ignoring the threat of rising white nationalism.