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Author: Chris Hedges Publisher: Knopf Canada ISBN: 0307398587 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 242
Book Description
Pulitzer prize–winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion. Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: One, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world, that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other, a growing majority, is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. In this “other society,” serious film and theatre, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins. In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Hedges navigates this culture — attending WWF contests as well as Ivy League graduation ceremonies — exposing an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion.
Author: James Petras Publisher: SCB Distributors ISBN: 0997287063 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 248
Book Description
Are we approaching “peak America”, where the Republic has failed, and the Empire which put paid to it cannot be achieved?Seasoned political analyst James Petras addresses in broad brush the four major upheavals that loom:1) For the first time, the goal of socialism has been raised in the presidential primaries, backed by tens of millions of voters. The likely Republican candidate leads a mass right wing revolt which opposes globalization, capital flight and the free entry of immigrant labor. The US presidential elections are everything abnormal, with both major party candidates arousing popular revulsion. Not since the New Deal, nearly a century ago, have class relations come into sharper confrontation.2) Not since World War II have the US and Russia drawn closer to the possibility of mutual annihilation through nuclear war due to US empire building. The Presidency, in pursuit of a global legacy, draws on the support of the extremist mainstream media, prestigious Harvard mandarins of war, and military factions to pursue global hegemony, even as rebellious working peoples resist, and Russian and Chinese adversaries rearm and advance.3) Popular movements in France, Spain, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil, call for popular revolutions. Right wing nationalist parties are rising in Europe. Though the traditional center-left parties have been ousted or co-opted by elites, under the duress of capitalist wars and austerity, mass electoral upheavals, general strikes, and armed resistance openly challenge the empire in all its bastions.4) Who rules America and who sets the military agenda in the most contentious regions of the Middle East is in open dispute. A neoconservative domestic policy elite reflecting Zionist influence has gained ascendancy under dubious claims of meritocratic credentials. Their economic policies have plunged the country into repeated crises, systematic swindles and spiraling inequalities, while their foreign policy has led to prolonged, losing wars resulting in disastrous human and financial losses. The political and economic power of the Zionist configuration in America has severely repressed critical debate and political action seeking to challenge its dominance.
Author: Chris Hedges Publisher: Knopf Canada ISBN: 0307398587 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 242
Book Description
Pulitzer prize–winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion. Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: One, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world, that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other, a growing majority, is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. In this “other society,” serious film and theatre, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins. In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Hedges navigates this culture — attending WWF contests as well as Ivy League graduation ceremonies — exposing an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion.
Author: C. L. Alden Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781541254909 Category : Languages : en Pages : 304
Book Description
History will not be forgotten...or silenced. Darcy's mother may be dead, but that doesn't stop her from trying to warn her that trouble is brewing. For weeks Darcy Adams has been haunted in her dreams by her mother and images of her hometown; past and present. The dreams make no sense until a frantic phone call from her father in the middle of the night confirms what her mother has been trying to tell her. Shoreton is in trouble. Compelled by the desperation in her father's voice and her mother's warnings, Darcy travels across the country to the quaint coastal town she left behind years ago only to find it in a state of upheaval. The state plans to make changes that could doom the town, leaving the residents in a bitter conflict between those who crave progress and those determined to preserve their heritage. Meanwhile Darcy's dreams are becoming increasingly realistic and disturbing. There is more to the problems in town than meets the eye, as unexplainable encounters with strange people begin to occur. While searching for the connection, Darcy discovers a shocking secret confirming her ties to the future of the town, forcing her to delve not only into the town's past, but her own. Faced with a history she thought buried in her past, Darcy discovers that sometimes moving forward means looking back. The ghosts of Shoreton will not be forgotten...or silenced.
Author: Cullen Murphy Publisher: HMH ISBN: 0547527071 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 272
Book Description
What went wrong in imperial Rome, and how we can avoid it: “If you want to understand where America stands in the world today, read this.” —Thomas E. Ricks The rise and fall of ancient Rome has been on American minds since the beginning of our republic. Depending on who’s doing the talking, the history of Rome serves as either a triumphal call to action—or a dire warning of imminent collapse. In this “provocative and lively” book, Cullen Murphy points out that today we focus less on the Roman Republic than on the empire that took its place, and reveals a wide array of similarities between the two societies (The New York Times). Looking at the blinkered, insular culture of our capitals; the debilitating effect of bribery in public life; the paradoxical issue of borders; and the weakening of the body politic through various forms of privatization, Murphy persuasively argues that we most resemble Rome in the burgeoning corruption of our government and in our arrogant ignorance of the world outside—two things that must be changed if we are to avoid Rome’s fate. “Are We Rome? is just about a perfect book. . . . I wish every politician would spend an evening with this book.” —James Fallows
Author: Zygmunt Bauman Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0745685293 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 151
Book Description
Today we hear much talk of crisis and comparisons are often made with the Great Depression of the 1930s, but there is a crucial difference that sets our current malaise apart from the 1930s: today we no longer trust in the capacity of the state to resolve the crisis and to chart a new way forward. In our increasingly globalized world, states have been stripped of much of their power to shape the course of events. Many of our problems are globally produced but the volume of power at the disposal of individual nation-states is simply not sufficient to cope with the problems they face. This divorce between power and politics produces a new kind of paralysis. It undermines the political agency that is needed to tackle the crisis and it saps citizens’ belief that governments can deliver on their promises. The impotence of governments goes hand in hand with the growing cynicism and distrust of citizens. Hence the current crisis is at once a crisis of agency, a crisis of representative democracy and a crisis of the sovereignty of the state. In this book the world-renowned sociologist Zygmunt Bauman and fellow traveller Carlo Bordoni explore the social and political dimensions of the current crisis. While this crisis has been greatly exacerbated by the turmoil following the financial crisis of 2007-8, Bauman and Bordoni argue that the crisis facing Western societies is rooted in a much more profound series of transformations that stretch back further in time and are producing long-lasting effects. This highly original analysis of our current predicament by two of the world’s leading social thinkers will be of interest to a wide readership.
Author: Peter Dauvergne Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 1509524045 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 160
Book Description
Walmart. Coca-Cola. BP. Toyota. The world economy runs on the profits of transnational corporations. Politicians need their backing. Non-profit organizations rely on their philanthropy. People look to their brands for meaning. And their power continues to rise. Can these companies, as so many are now hoping, provide the solutions to end the mounting global environmental crisis? Absolutely, the CEOs of big business are telling us: the commitment to corporate social responsibility will ensure it happens voluntarily. Peter Dauvergne challenges this claim, arguing instead that corporations are still doing far more to destroy than protect our planet. Trusting big business to lead sustainability is, he cautions, unwise — perhaps even catastrophic. Planetary sustainability will require reining in the power of big business, starting now.
Author: Milly Williamson Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 1509511431 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 216
Book Description
It is a truism to suggest that celebrity pervades all areas of life today. The growth and expansion of celebrity culture in recent years has been accompanied by an explosion of studies of the social function of celebrity and investigations into the fascination of specific celebrities. And yet fundamental questions about what the system of celebrity means for our society have yet to be resolved: Is celebrity a democratization of fame or a powerful hierarchy built on exclusion? Is celebrity created through public demand or is it manufactured? Is the growth of celebrity a harmful dumbing down of culture or an expansion of the public sphere? Why has celebrity come to have such prominence in today’s expanding media? Milly Williamson unpacks these questions for students and researchers alike, re-examining some of the accepted explanations for celebrity culture. The book questions assumptions about the inevitability of the growth of celebrity culture, instead explaining how environments were created in which celebrity output flourished. It provides a compelling new history of the development of celebrity (both long-term and recent) which highlights the relationship between the economic function of celebrity in various media and entertainment industries and its changing social meanings and patterns of consumption.
Author: Simon Tormey Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0745690513 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 182
Book Description
Representative politics is in crisis. Trust in politicians is at an all-time low. Fewer people are voting or joining political parties, and our interest in parliamentary politics is declining fast. Even oppositional and radical parties that should be benefitting from public disenchantment with politics are suffering. But different forms of political activity are emerging to replace representative politics: instant politics, direct action, insurgent politics. We are leaving behind traditional representation, and moving towards a politics without representatives. In this provocative new book, Simon Tormey explores the changes that are underway, drawing on a rich range of examples from the Arab Spring to the Indignados uprising in Spain, street protests in Brazil and Turkey to the emergence of new initiatives such as Anonymous and Occupy. Tormey argues that the easy assumptions that informed our thinking about the nature and role of parties, and ‘party based democracy’ have to be rethought. We are entering a period of fast politics, evanescent politics, a politics of the street, of the squares, of micro-parties, pop-up parties, and demonstrations. This may well be the end of representative politics as we know it, but an exciting new era of political engagement is just beginning.
Author: Ziad Munson Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0745688829 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 200
Book Description
Abortion has remained one of the most volatile and polarizing issues in the United States for over four decades. Americans are more divided today than ever over abortion, and this debate colors the political, economic, and social dynamics of the country. This book provides a balanced, clear-eyed overview of the abortion debate, including the perspectives of both the pro-life and pro-choice movements. It covers the history of the debate from colonial times to the present, the mobilization of mass movements around the issue, the ways it is understood by ordinary Americans, the impact it has had on US political development, and the differences between the abortion conflict in the US and the rest of the world. Throughout these discussions, Ziad Munson demonstrates how the meaning of abortion has shifted to reflect the changing anxieties and cultural divides which it has come to represent. Abortion Politics is an invaluable companion for exploring the abortion issue and what it has to say about American society, as well as the dramatic changes in public understanding of women’s rights, medicine, religion, and partisanship.
Author: Jeremy Paxman Publisher: Penguin UK ISBN: 0670919608 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 437
Book Description
From the bestselling author of The English comes Empire, Jeremy Paxman's history of the British Empire accompanied by a flagship 5-part BBC TV series, for readers of Simon Schama and Andrew Marr. The influence of the British Empire is everywhere, from the very existence of the United Kingdom to the ethnic composition of our cities. It affects everything, from Prime Ministers' decisions to send troops to war to the adventurers we admire. From the sports we think we're good at to the architecture of our buildings; the way we travel to the way we trade; the hopeless losers we will on, and the food we hunger for, the empire is never very far away. In this acute and witty analysis, Jeremy Paxman goes to the very heart of empire. As he describes the selection process for colonial officers ('intended to weed out the cad, the feeble and the too clever') the importance of sport, the sweating domestic life of the colonial officer's wife ('the challenge with cooking meat was "to grasp the fleeting moment between toughness and putrefaction when the joint may possibly prove eatable"') and the crazed end for General Gordon of Khartoum, Paxman brings brilliantly to life the tragedy and comedy of Empire and reveals its profound and lasting effect on our nation and ourselves. 'Paxman is witty, incisive, acerbic and opinionated . . . In short, he carries the whole thing off with panache bordering on effrontery' Piers Brendon, Sunday Times 'Paxman is a magnificent historian, and Empire may be remembered as his finest work' Independent on Sunday Jeremy Paxman was born in Yorkshire and educated at Cambridge. He is an award-winning journalist who spent ten years reporting from overseas, notably for Panorama. He is the author of five books including The English. He is the presenter of Newsnight and University Challenge and has presented BBC documentaries on various subjects including Victorian art and Wilfred Owen.
Author: Chris Hedges
Author: James Petras
Author: Chris Hedges
Author: C. L. Alden
Author: Cullen Murphy
Author: Zygmunt Bauman
Author: Peter Dauvergne
Author: Milly Williamson
Author: Simon Tormey
Author: Ziad Munson
Author: Jeremy Paxman