political culture

"For more than twenty years, Naomi Klein has been the foremost chronicler of the economic war waged on both people and planet-and an unapologetic champion of a sweeping environmental agenda with justice at its center. In lucid, elegant dispatches from the frontlines of contemporary natural disaster, she pens surging, indispensable essays for a wide public: prescient advisories and dire warnings of what future awaits us if we refuse to act, as well as hopeful glimpses of a far better future"--Provided by publisher.

"Over the past few decades, the complicated divides of geography, class, religion, and race created deep fractures in the United States, each side fighting to advance its own mythology and political interests. We lack a central story, a common ground we can celebrate and enrich with deeper meaning. Unable to agree on first principles, we cannot agree on what it means to be American. As we dismantle or disregard symbols and themes that previously united us, can we replace them with stories and rites that unite our tribes and maintain meaning in our American identity? [This book] . . . features leading thinkers from across the political spectrum [who] . . . draw on expertise within their respective fields of history, law, politics, and public policy to contribute a unique perspective about the American story. This collection explores whether a unifying story can be achieved and, if so, what that story could be"--Provided by publisher.

". . . [looks] into two decades of movies and television--from superhero franchises including the "Dark Knight," "X-Men," and "The Avengers" and series like "The Walking Dead" and "Game of Thrones" to thrillers like "Homeland" and "24"--and emerges to argue that these shows are saturated with the values that have incited and enhnaced our extreme politics"--Adapted from dust jacket.

". . . journalist Matt Taibbi provides an insider's guide to the variety of ways today's mainstream media tells us lies. Part tirade, part confessional, it reveals that what most people think of as "the news" is, in fact, a twisted wing of the entertainment business"--Jacket flap.

"Explores what role celebrities should play in politics, discuss the phenomenon of making the transition from celebrity to politician, and investigate the place of contemporary media culture in this pattern"--Amazon.

"Readers will gain a better understanding of the history of public protest, its differing manifestations, and its efficacy in promoting political and social change"--Amazon.

We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases. How did truth become an endangered species in contemporary America? Former New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani takes a penetrating look at the cultural forces that contributed to this gathering storm. In social media and literature, television, academia, and politics, Kakutani identifies the trends -- originating on both the right and the left -- that have combined to elevate subjectivity over factuality, science, and common values. And she returns us to the words of the great critics of authoritarianism, writers like George Orwell and Hannah Arendt, whose work is newly and eerily relevant.

The story of Andrew Jackson's improbable ascent to the White House, centered on the handlers and propagandists who made it possible.

"A . . . look at the demise of liberal democracies around the world--and a road map for rescuing our own"--Dust jacket.

"Two award-winning political scientists provide the psychological key to America's deadlocked politics, showing that we are divided not by ideologies but something deeper: personality differences that appear in everything from politics to parenting to the workplace to TV preferences, and which would be innocuous if only we could decouple them from our noxious political debate"--Provided by publisher.