Politics

A cultural and intellectual balance-sheet of the twentieth century's age of revolutions

What does it mean to be working-class in a middle-class world? Cynthia Cruz shows us how class affects culture and our mental health and what we can do about it - calling not for assimilation, but for annihilation.

South Africa's democracy is often seen as a story of bright beginnings gone astray, a pattern said to be common to Africa. Building on the work of the economic historian Douglass North and the political thinker Mahmood Mamdani, Steven Friedman shows that South African democracy's difficulties are legacies of the pre-1994 past.

The untold story of the unlikely heroes, the cutthroat politics, and the cultural forces that turned a Deep South state purple—by a top reporter at The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionFlipped is the definitive account of how the election of Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff transformed Georgia from one of the staunchest Republican strongholds to the nation’s most watched battleground state—and ground zero for the disinformation wars certain to plague statewide and national elections in the future. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein charts how progressive activists and organizers worked to mobilize hundreds of thousands of new voters and how Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia may shape Democratic strategy for years to come. He also chronicles how Georgia’s Republicans countered with a move to the far right that culminated in state leaders defying Donald Trump’s demands to overturn his defeat. Bluestein tells the story of all the key figures in this election, including Stacey Abrams, Brian Kemp, David Perdue, Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock, and Kelly Loeffler, through hundreds of interviews with the people closest to the election. Flipped also features such fascinating characters as political activist turned U.S. congresswoman Nikema Williams; perma-tanned baseball star turned lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan; and the volunteers and voters who laid the groundwork for Biden’s triumphant Georgia campaign. Flipped tells a story that will resonate through the rest of the decade and beyond, as most political experts see Georgia headed toward years of close elections, and Democrats have developed a deep bench of strong candidates to challenge a still deeply entrenched GOP. Interest in the state only figures to increase if and when Stacey Abrams mounts a rematch against Governor Brian Kemp in the fall of 2022 and Trump promotes his own slate of candidates against Republicans who stood against his efforts to overturn Georgia’s election.

"The name George Soros is recognized around the world. Universally known for his decades of philanthropy, progressive politics, and investment success, he is equally well-known as the nemesis of the right--the target of sustained attacks from national populists, authoritarian regimes, and anti-Semites in the United States and around the world--because of his commitment to open society, freedom of the press, and liberal democracy. Named the Financial Times Person of the Year for 2018, and now at 91 years old, he still looms large on the global stage. And yet the man himself is surprisingly little understood. Depending on who or where you are, describing Soros is likely to elicit different answers. He has even more identities than he has lived decades, now into his tenth. Who is George Soros, really? And why does this question matter? Over the years, attempts have been made to write George Soros's biography, but no single account of his life can capture its extraordinary multi-faceted character. In addition to survivor, billionaire, speculator, philanthropist, activist, author, nemesis of the far right, and global citizen, there is husband, father, and to an extent he may not even realize, friend. The writers whose work appears in this volume have approached Soros from wide-ranging and unique perspectives. Their collective expertise shines a new light on the activities and passions of George Soros' life and, to the extent possible, the motivation for them and their impact. The breadth of these portrayals is considerable; the depth of insight, it is hoped, equally so. The goal is to give readers the best possible representation of George Soros's life that can be achieved. George Soros's life in full"--

What, really, does it mean to be a dangerous woman? This powerful anthology presents fifty answers to that question, reaching past media hyperbole to explore serious considerations about the conflicts and power dynamics with which women live today.In Dangerous Women, writers, artists, politicians, journalists, performers and opinion-formers from a variety of backgrounds – including Irenosen Okojie, Jo Clifford, Bidisha, Nada Awar Jarrar, Nicola Sturgeon and many more – reflect on the long-standing idea that women, individually or collectively, constitute a threat.

In February 2014, al-Qaida issued a statement that shocked the entire Jihadi movement. For the first time in its history, the group declared that a local affiliate, the Islamic State in Iraq, was no longer part of al-Qaida. The renegade Iraqi group, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had expanded its operations to Syria, taking over the regional branch Jabhat al-Nusra; but in the process, the group had defied orders from al-Qaida's amir, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Islamic State's actions, and increasingly aggressive posture towards fellow Jihadis, eventually ignited a Jihadi civil war--a period defined by internal tensions that ultimately turned global. With devastating impact, this fitna left the Jihadi movement more polarised and fragmented than ever, seriously threatening its internal cohesion. 'Jihadi Politics' presents the first exhaustive account of infighting within the global Jihadi movement. Based on years of digital anthropology, hundreds of primary documents, and interviews with Jihadis, it offers an unprecedented glimpse into historic and current conflicts between and within Jihadi groups. This thorough examination of the years 2014-2019 offers a more nuanced understanding of the current state of Jihadism, with important insights into its future evolution--including Islamic State's role in Afghanistan.

A former chair of the Federal Reserve explains the transformation of one our most powerful and consequential institutions

In The Church Speaks to the Modern World, Etienne Gilson presented for the first time the basic encyclicals of Leo XIII arranged in the order expressly indicated by the Pope himself. Gilson's sparkling introduction provides the proper perspective for the encyclicals; his notes brilliantly clarify obscure points; his summaries provide an immediate grasp of each encyclical; and his study of the variant translations is invaluable. In short, here is the definitive collection of the most important and far-reaching papal pronouncements of the modern age.

This is the ultimate guide to self-advocacy for autistic people at all stages of life. Covering self-advocacy in specific scenarios, such as work, school and social media, it also explores the relationship between self-advocacy and personal growth, helping you to be heard, respected and empowered.

The first account of the new Cold War-revealing how today's renewed era of global great power competition could threaten us all

When Lloyd Fouracre left a party with his friends in September 2005, the night before his 18th birthday, nobody could have guessed that within an hour he would be dead. Encountering a gang of drunken teenagers spoiling for a fight, Lloyd and his friends were attacked-leaving him with injuries so numerous and severe that he stood no chance of survival.Shattered by his loss, Lloyd's older brother, Adam, knew life would never be the same again. Spurred on by the senseless tragedy, he founded the Stand Against Violence charity. Over the course of years, Adam's efforts would send him on a real-life game of snakes and ladders, experiencing demoralizing setbacks and incredible highs-finally achieving the support of many, including Paul Sinha from ITV's The Chase and even Her Majesty The Queen. Today, Stand Against Violence is firmly established and continues to educate and inspire thousands of young people each year all over the UK.When September Ends tells the story of how Adam Fouracre turned a devastating loss into an opportunity to help others. It also offers the perspective of the charity's least likely supporter-one of Lloyd's killers-and describes the impact of a global event that would change everyone's lives.

An authoritative history of the French nation that can be read for novelistic pleasure, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Discovery of France and Parisians.

"A Land With A People began as a storytelling project of Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City and subsequently transformed into a theater project performed throughout the New York City area. A Land With A People elevates rarely heard Palestinian and Jewish voices and visions. It brings us the narratives of secular, Muslim, Christian, and LGBTQ Palestinians who endure the particular brand of settler colonialism known as Zionism. It relays the transformational journeys of Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Palestinian and LGBTQ Jews who have come to reject the received Zionist narrative. Unflinching in their confrontation of the power dynamics that underlie their transformation process, these writers find the courage to face what has happened to historic Palestine, and to their own families as a result. Stories touch hearts, open minds, and transform our understanding of the "other"-as well as comprehension of our own roles and responsibilities. A Land With a People emerges from this reckoning. Contextualized by a detailed historical introduction and timeline charting 150 years of Palestinian and Jewish resistance to Zionism, this collection will stir emotions, provoke fresh thinking, and point to a more hopeful, loving future-one in which Palestine/Israel is seen for what it is in its entirety, as well as for what it can be"--

The threat of cyberwar can feel very Hollywood: nuclear codes hacked, power plants melting down, cities burning. In reality, state-sponsored hacking is covert, insidious, and constant. It is also much harder to prevent. Ben Buchanan reveals the cyberwar that's already here, reshaping the global contest for geopolitical advantage.

How did the party of Lincoln become the party of Trump? From a Washington reporter for The New York Times comes the definitive story of the mutiny that shattered American politics.Jeremy Peters's epic narrative of the fracture and collapse of the Republican Party chronicles the once-in-a-lifetime self-destruction of a major political party through the dark and powerful forces that it wrought. Peters turns his incisive gaze toward the people whose shifting core ideas over the last twenty years have fundamentally changed the meaning of what it is to be a Republican. How, he asks, did the Republican Party cease to be the party of small government and fiscal responsibility and morph into a home for nativists, far-right social conservatives, and others whose views were traditionally relegated to the fringes?The answer is a tale traced across two decades, born with the Tea Party revolution in 2009 and fueled by the shattering defeat of Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. Facing an existential crossroads, many in the party believed that the only way to save it was to expand, to embrace Hispanic voters and create a coalition that could build a new Republican majority. But those powers underestimated the energy and savvy of those who would pull the party in the opposite direction, tapping into and manipulating the discontent of millions of voters whom moderates had long taken for granted. And they did not understand the complicated moral framework by which many conservatives view Trump, leading to evangelicals and one-issue voters who were willing to shed Republican orthodoxy if it meant achieving their dream of a Supreme Court that would undo Roe v. Wade.Moving through recent history, from the Ground Zero mosque to Brett Kavanaugh, from Sarah Palin to Donald Trump, Peters unfolds the story of a revolution that was not inevitable but engineered. Its architects had little interest in the America that was emerging in the new century, but they had a deep understanding of a political and electoral system that could be manipulated to serve the iron will of a shrinking minority. And ultimately, with Trump as their polestar, their gamble paid greater dividends than they'd ever imagined, extending the life of far-right conservatism in United States domestic policy into the next half century.

So when Russia offered to store Syria's chemical weapons, the world leaped at the solution. So begins a race to find, remove, and destroy 1,300 tons of chemical weapons in the middle of Syria's civil war.