Politics and government Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review"In addition to an exploration of controversial labor practices, the book is also about a lake and the confluence of wildlife, commerce, power and politics surrounding it. . . . Styles' book helps contextualize the labor that goes into a gift many will receive." * Illinois Times *"Styles has produced an insightful work filled with evocative analysis." * H-Net *"Styles’ vivid ethnographic descrip-tions draw attention to the myriad local contestations refashioned and created byfloriculture. This approach enables the reader to not only learn about the problem-atic sides offlower production in Kenya but to also get to know Naivasha as a site of possibility that has an important place in political and moral imaginations." * The Journal of Modern African Studies *"Styles succeeds in conveying the complexities and contradictions of global commodity production: work in floriculture, in spite of the possibilities it affords, is no bed of roses." * Exertions *

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Book SynopsisBeginning with the history of Xinjiang and its unique population of Chinese Muslims, Gardner Bovingdon follows fifty years of Uyghur discontent, particularly the development of individual and collective acts of resistance since 1949, as well as the role of various transnational organizations in cultivating dissent.Trade ReviewThe Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land adds substantially to the comprehension of the wider implications of contentious politics in Xinjiang. -- Henryk Szadziewski * Asia Sentinel *A fascinating book, delving into the historical identity of the Uyghurs and their position within the modern Chinese state. -- Andrew Galbraith * China Economic Review *...the book is strongly recommended to anyone interested in nationalism, ethnic identities and inter-ethnic relations in China and Central Asia. * China Journal *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on RomanizationAbbreviationsIntroduction1. Using the Past to Serve the Present2. Heteronomy and Its Discontents3. Everyday Resistance: Guerrilla Actions in the Battle over Public Opinion4. Collective Action and Violence5. Uyghur Transnational OrganizationsConclusionEpilogue: Ürümci's "Hot Summer" of 2009Appendix: Organized Protests and Violent Events in Xinjiang, 1949–2005NotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Ultimately, Leffler’s framework is one of the most perceptive, rigorous, and comprehensive analyses ofAmerican foreign policy in the last eight decades."---Jennifer M. Miller, H-Diplo Roundtable Review"[A] tour de force."---Jacqueline L. Hazelton, Texas National Security Review

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Book SynopsisThe tragedy of Chechnya brought into focus by Poland's formost journalist.

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Book SynopsisA brief yet lively introduction to antiapartheid activist Steve Biko, this biography argues that Biko was the most important political figure to have emerged in South Africa between Nelson Mandela's arrest in the early 1960s and his release in 1990. Written by some of the leading experts in their fields, this informative and accessible volume demonstrates just how fundamental Biko was to the transformation of South Africa in the second half of the 20th century—and how relevant he remains today. The book covers his life and thought, his influence and his legacy, as well as the impact Biko had on the Black Power movement.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Wuthnow has conducted one of the deepest, most intimate examinations of small-town life ever undertaken."—David Shribman, Globe and Mail“Writing with empathy . . . the author reflects on the factors shaping rural life—from the importance of faith to the stability and familiarity of life in town to the importance of ritual events (barn dances, etc.), stories, and symbols—as well as pressing problems (brain drain, teen pregnancy, drugs, lack of good jobs) and concerns over moral decline (abortion and homosexuality). . . . A superb, authoritative sociology book.”—Kirkus Reviews“Thanks to Wuthnow’s rich observations, we are able to address and understand what truly confronts us as a nation: the triumph of mass society through mass politics in the name of the `little guy.’ Little did we know that such a person would also have the hands to match. ”—L. Benjamin Rolsky, Los Angeles Review of Books

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] superb book. . . . In this tour d'horizon, as deep as it is wide, Wolin refuses to be impressed by the glamour of extremity. He shines light into many dark corners where intellectual fraud, self-deception, and hauteur passed for liberty during a murderous century. Talk about genealogy! Unreason will never be the same."--Todd Gitlin, Columbia University "[A] lively, learned, and wide-ranging work."--Choice "Absolutely entrancing. . . . [A] wide-ranging yet subtle consideration of the intellectual's abiding fascination with absolutism. . . . [A] perceptive, compelling and invaluable document."--John Banville, Irish Times "An indispensable book. . . . [A]nother important installment in what has become one of the major intellectual enterprises of our time: Richard Wolin's principled defense of liberalism against its most sophisticated enemies."--Adam Kirsch, New York Sun

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Book SynopsisThe true story of one woman's journey after her sons joined ISIS.

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Book SynopsisIn Biopolitics of the More-Than-Human Joseph Pugliese examines the concept of the biopolitical through a nonanthropocentric lens, arguing that more-than-human entities—from soil and orchards to animals and water—are actors and agents in their own right with legitimate claims to justice. Examining occupied Palestine, Guantánamo, and sites of US drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, Pugliese challenges notions of human exceptionalism by arguing that more-than-human victims of war and colonialism are entangled with and subject to the same violent biopolitical regimes as humans. He also draws on Indigenous epistemologies that invest more-than-human entities with judicial standing to argue for an ethico-legal framework that will enable the realization of ecological justice. Bringing the more-than-human world into the purview of justice, Pugliese makes visible the ecological effects of human war that would otherwise remain outside the domains oTrade Review“A mesmerizing exploration of the more-than-human dimensions of later modern war that is never less than deeply human. Linguistically inventive, analytically sobering—you keep wondering why it has taken us so long to see like this—Joseph Pugliese's vision of forensic ecology initiates an arrestingly novel critique of military violence. At once profoundly political and deeply ethical, this is a magnificently vital achievement.” -- Derek Gregory, Peter Wall Distinguished Professor and Professor of Geography, University of British Columbia“Joseph Pugliese’s reconfiguration of biopolitics does not simply take the politics of populations and life and extend its range to include the more-than-human; the very threshold between the human and ‘other’ life-forms falls away. What is revealed is a new political-legal ethics entirely: not a question of how ‘we’ humans grant rights to others, but of how the more-than-human offers itself as an imperative to rethink the anthropocentrism of European law. Exploring Indigenous and non-Western cosmologies provides a way to think about life, value, and politics that does not rely on the dignity of the human and its concomitant violence for all that is other-than-human. It is rare to read a book that combines such theoretical dexterity with fascinating empirical analysis of some of our most pressing ethical issues.” -- Claire Colebrook, author of * Death of the PostHuman: Essays on Extinction *"Pugliese’s book makes a valuable contribution to the fields of critical legal studies, critical security studies, and geopolitical ecology. . . . He admirably weaves a decolonial lens with new materialism and draws effectively on Indigenous cosmoepistemologies to expand the way we conceptualize, perceive, and feel these forms of more-than-human violence.” -- Michael J. Albert * Law, Culture, and the Humanities *"Pugliese's retheorization of biopolitics offers new ways of understanding military violence by attending to the different technologies used to manage life and death. . . . Pugliese's interventions powerfully unearth the 'forensic ecologies of saturated violence,' their more-than-human witnesses, and their possibilities for resistance." -- Nicole Nguyen * Journal of Palestine Studies *"Biopolitics of the More-Than-Human contributes to debates on violence and conflict in environmental politics on whether and why Israeli occupation, settler colonialism, anti-black racism, and US toxic militarism should be challenged as environmental justice problems. Moreover, this book helps educators to teach Foucauldian discourse, biopolitics, and power relations through a critical postcolonial lens via a life and death example that is still occurring every single day." -- Rezvaneh Erfani * Postcolonial Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1. Zoopolitics of the Cage 39 2. Biopolitical Modalities of the More-Than-Human and Their Forensic Ecologies 81 3. Animal Excendence and Inanimal Torture 124 4. Drone Sparagmos 166 Afterword 203 Notes 217 Bibliography 255 Index

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Book SynopsisOwn it, snowflakes: you've lost everything you claim to hold dear.White is Bret Easton Ellis's first work of nonfiction. Already the bad boy of American literature, from Less Than Zero to American Psycho, Ellis has also earned the wrath of right-thinking people everywhere with his provocations on social media, and here he escalates his admonishment of received truths as expressed by today's version of the left. Eschewing convention, he embraces views that will make many in literary and media communities cringe, as he takes aim at the relentless anti-Trump fixation, coastal elites, corporate censorship, Hollywood, identity politics, Generation Wuss, woke cultural watchdogs, the obfuscation of ideals once both cherished and clear, and the fugue state of American democracy. In a young century marked by hysterical correctness and obsessive fervency on both sides of an aisle that's taken o

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A masterpiece he has recently updated. . . . Baldwin’s (1985) work laid a solid foundation for subsequent studies related to economic statescraft."---Falin Zhang, China International Strategy Review

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisIn Triggered, Donald Trump, Jr. will expose all the tricks that the left uses to smear conservatives and push them out of the public square, from online "shadow banning" to fake accusations of "hate speech." No topic is spared from political correctness. This is the book that the leftist elites don't want you to read! Trump, Jr. will write about the importance of fighting back and standing up for what you believe in. From his childhood summers in Communist Czechoslovakia that began his political thought process, to working on construction sites with his father, to the major achievements of President Trump's administration, Donald Trump, Jr. spares no details and delivers a book that focuses on success and perseverance, and proves offense is the best defense.

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Book SynopsisSeeing the camp as a persistent political instrument in Israel–Palestine and beyondThe Common Camp underscores the role of the camp as a spatial instrument employed for reshaping, controlling, and struggling over specific territories and populations. Focusing on the geopolitical complexity of Israel–Palestine and the dramatic changes it has experienced during the past century, this book explores the region’s extensive networks of camps and their existence as both a tool of colonial power and a makeshift space of resistance. Examining various forms of camps devised by and for Zionist settlers, Palestinian refugees, asylum seekers, and other groups, Irit Katz demonstrates how the camp serves as a common thread in shaping lands and lives of subjects from across the political spectrum. Analyzing the architectural and political evolution of the camp as a modern instrument engaged by colonial and national powers (as well as those opposing them), Katz offers a unique perspective on the dynamics of Israel–Palestine, highlighting how spatial transience has become permanent in the ongoing story of this contested territory. The Common Camp presents a novel approach to the concept of the camp, detailing its varied history as an apparatus used for population containment and territorial expansion as well as a space of everyday life and subversive political action. Bringing together a broad range of historical and ethnographic materials within the context of this singular yet versatile entity, the book locates the camp at the core of modern societies and how they change and transform. Trade Review"The Common Camp is truly original and deeply researched. It is a brilliant study that is bound to become a classic read for anyone wishing to understand the camp in all its various manifestations and shifts in power relations between those entrapped and encamped and those external to its borders."—Dawn Chatty, University of Oxford"The Common Camp is a great book, both theoretically and historically, and likely to become a foundational reference. It provides a substantial advance on theorizations of the camp, developing from and critiquing Agamben’s work. The rich discussion of the history and politics of Israel–Palestine is an analysis through the camp as much as of the camp, which opens some valuable and much-needed perspective."—Stuart Elden, author of The Early FoucaultTable of ContentsGlossaryIntroduction: The Common Camp1. The Camp Reconfigured: Modernity’s Versatile Architecture of Power2. Facilitating Double Colonialism: British and Zionist Camps in Mandatory Palestine3. Gathering, Absorbing, and Reordering the Diaspora: Immigrant and Transit Camps of Israel’s Early Statehood4. Forced Pioneering: Settling Israel’s Frontiers5. Unrecognized Order: The Imposed Camp-ness of the Negev/Naqab Bedouin6. Camping, Decamping, Encamping: Palestinian Refugee and Protest Camps and Israeli Settler Camps in the Occupied Territories 7. In the Desert Penal Colony: Holot Detention Camp for African Asylum SeekersConclusion, or Toward an Ever-Emerging Theory of the CampAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisEvery aspect of the anti-capitalist world is covered in this helpful guide, from WOMBLES to Zapatistas, NGOs to environmentalism, Paris 1968 to Seattle, and beyond. Picking up where Naomi Klein left off, this is not so much a manifesto as a roadmap, which captures the essence of the movement, and also articulates a range of possibilities for future alternatives to the corporate domination of our planet.Trade Review"This is clear, helpful and enlightening. I have learnt a lot from this book, and I'm sure that you will do so as well." George Monbiot, Guardian columnist and author of The Age of Consent "A useful account of the failure of hyper-capitalism, and of those who oppose it." Paul Kingsnorth, author of One No, Many Yeses and Real England: The Battle Against the Bland "I strongly support this book, it is a good critical (or self-critical) guide to the movement and exactly what the movement needs at its current stage." Boris Kagarlitsky, Director, Institute of Globilization and Social Movements, MoscowTable of ContentsIntroduction: ‘Beginning’ anti-capitalism 1. The hows and whys of the thing called ‘capitalism’ 2. Why ‘Seattle’? 1968, the ‘end of history’ and the birth of contemporary anti-capitalism 3. A ‘movement of movements’ (i): ‘reformism’ or ‘globalisation with a human face’ 4. A ‘movement of movements’ (ii): renegades, radicals and revolutionaries 5. The future(s) of anti-capitalism: problems and perspectives Glossary of key terms, thinkers and movements Contemporary anti-capitalism: a timeline Index

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Book SynopsisHardship is now equated with victimhood. Outward displays of vulnerability in defeat are celebrated over winning unabashedly. The pursuit of excellence and exceptionalism are at the heart of American identity, and the disappearance of these ideals in our country leaves a deep moral and cultural vacuum in its wake.But the solution isn't to simply complain about it. It's to revive a new cultural movement in America that puts excellence first again.Leaders have called Ramaswamy "the most compelling conservative voice in the country" and "one of the towering intellects in America," and this book reveals why: he spares neither left nor right in this scathing indictment of the victimhood culture at the heart of America's national decline.Following the success of his instant bestseller Woke Inc., Ramaswamy explains in his new book that we're a nation of victims now. It's one of the few things we still have left in common-across black victims, white victims, liberal victims, and conservative victims. Victims of each other, and ultimately, of ourselves.This fearless, provocative book is for readers who dare to look in the mirror and question their most sacred assumptions about who we are and how we got here. Intricately tracing history from the fall of Rome to the rise of America, weaving Western philosophy with Eastern theology in ways that moved Jefferson and Adams centuries ago, this book describes the rise and the fall of the American experiment itself-and hopefully its reincarnation.

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Book SynopsisCapitalism, Coronavirus and War investigates the decay of neoliberal financialised capitalism as revealed in the crisis the novel coronavirus triggered but did not cause, a crisis that has been deepened by the conflict over Ukraine and its repercussions across the globe.Leading domestically to economic and political breakdown, the pandemic accelerated the decline of the US-led capitalist world's imperial power, intensifying the tendency to lash out with aggression and militarism, as seen in the US-led West's New Cold War against China and the proxy war against Russia over Ukraine. The geopolitical economy of the decay and crisis of this form of capitalism suggests that the struggle with socialism that has long shaped the fate of capitalism has reached a tipping point. The author argues that mainstream and even many progressive forces take capitalism's longevity for granted, misunderstand its historical dynamics and deny its formative bond with imperialism. Only Trade Review"Through an astute, timely, and expansive analysis of our political and theoretical landscape, Radhika Desai’s latest book clears new ground on which to build a renewed left movement against the geopolitical rule of capital. Returning to Marx’s thought and rescuing it from its myriad distortions provides the conceptual clarity required to understand the structural and historical factors responsible for producing the overwhelming and indisputable failures of capitalism. By critiquing responses by both the right and left to the complex international crises we face—from Modern Monetary Theory and "pseudo-civic neoliberalism" to social democracy and anti-communist leftism—Capitalism, Coronavirus and War offers not only a compelling account of how we ended up in our current situation but, more importantly, an accessible roadmap for eliminating global inequality, oppression, and imperialist war. This provocative, intricately reasoned, and ultimately inspiring treatise is a welcome contribution to the ongoing global struggle for socialism that unequivocally demonstrates the necessity of the communist party, socialist planning, and global solidarity of working and oppressed peoples necessary for finally ridding the world of the scourges of capital. Readers will, wherever they currently stand on these topics, leave the text with a radically transformed understanding of the path that lies ahead."Derek R. Ford, Associate Professor of Education Studies, DePauw University, USA; author of Marxism, Pedagogy and the General Intellect; editor of LiberationSchool.org; and contributing editor to the Hampton Institute"Drawing out the contradictions at the core of contemporary capitalism that precipitate recurring crises—illustrated by the outbreak of and damage inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the descent into debilitating proxy wars across the globe—Radhika Desai’s book challenges the perception that capitalism is here to stay. Backing that argument with serious analysis that takes forward progressive assessments of the nature of contemporary capitalist dynamics and the geopolitical fallout, the book makes a case for transcending the system. That canvas allows for a wide audience. Researchers and students as well as activists and organisers can benefit immensely from reading the book."C. P. Chandrasekhar, Senior Research Fellow, Political Economy Research Institute, UMass, Amherst, USA; and former Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India"This fascinating, timely, and scintillating book by Professor Radhika Desai, gives us the clear prognosis and total symptom picture of a moribund capitalism laid low by ‘lightning bolts of catastrophe’: Covid, war, and self-cannibalizing neoliberalism.With elegant prose and clarifying, granular exposition, Professor Desai offers a synoptic analysis that unmasks and unpacks ‘the deceits of Empire’, while opening the reader up to the new horizons of hope of a pluripolar world led by new, visionary socialisms.She also gives an astringent antidote to the western intellectual ‘left’ and their poisonous distortions of sovereign socialist accomplishments by the peoples of the Global South.This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the tectonic shifts occurring in the world we live in: how to untangle the contradictions inherent in commodity production; how to challenge the ideological domination of western ‘universalism’ and its propensity to war; how to plan and transform time, space, knowledge and labor; ultimately, how to resist total immiseration and ecological catastrophe.Bracing, bold, and brilliant, Professor Desai gives us a glimpse of the blueprints for a world beyond the predations and violence of Capital and Empire, the foundations of which are being laid in the sovereign socialisms of the Global South, and which all justice-seeking peoples of the world must unite to build and develop."K.J. Noh, journalist, political analyst, writer, and educator specializing in the geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region; writer for Dissident Voice, Black Agenda Report, Counterpunch, Popular Resistance, Asia Times, MR Online; frequent commentator on the news programs The Critical Hour, By Any Means Necessary, Fault Lines, Political Misfits, Loud & Clear, Breakthrough News, Flashpoints"Radhika Desai’s new book Capitalism, Coronavirus, and War: A Geopolitical Economy is truly a magnum opus. Drawing on a wide range of sources and building on much of her earlier work, she clearly and precisely delineates multiple facets of the current conjuncture, a moment of profound intensification of the contradictions of late capitalism and the possibility of socialist transformation. In eight chapters Desai takes us through a careful exposition of the structural features of finance capital, the long contention between capitalism and socialism, the rise and bankruptcy of neoliberalism, and the ‘unexpected reckoning’ brought on by the crises of the present period, the devastations of the coronavirus pandemic which has killed millions in the capitalist core, and the onset of the NATO-provoked war with Russia that has further destabilized global capital and precipitated crises of livelihood for billions around the planet. She brings this account to a brilliant conclusion with her final chapter, boldly invoking the spirit of Lenin’s What is to be Done? Here she sets out both the failures of bourgeois reformism and the working class turn to populism, and the possibilities for radical political action and revolutionary change.Capitalism, Coronavirus, and War is both a major intervention and call to arms for the present moment, and a critical contribution to the overall theorization of the history of late capitalism. This is a work for our times, and for all times."Ken Hammond, Professor of East Asian and Global History, New Mexico State University, USA, and a member of Pivot to Peace and the Party for Socialism and Liberation"Radhika Desai offers us a brilliant and useful reconstruction of the main theoretical and geostrategic issues that socialist movements face in this era, characterized by neoliberal financialization and the dangerous reaction of US imperialism desperate to maintain its dominance and domination of its currency in the world. The correct understanding of this phase of capitalism allows us to identify some errors in the perspective of some progressive movements, and some lessons for the construction of socialism. The text is very useful to both the scholar and the communist militant."Ascanio Bernardeschi, Rifondazione Comunista; La Città Futura; "Antonio Gramsci" Popular University, Italy"Desai’s timely book does a magnificent job at showing how the capitalist West’s catastrophic management of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with its potentially planet-annihilating New Cold War against Russia and China — carried out through a ‘hot’ proxy war in Ukraine, and potentially in Taiwan — are not isolated and accidental events. These are all interconnected and symptomatic of a moribund capitalism, whose contradictions, and their manifestation in the 1970s crisis, drove it into an era of neoliberal financialization which merely prolonged its death sentence. With the emergence of socialist China and pluripolarity, the spectacle of capitalism’s decay is before us, but with it also is the fact that it prefers an apocalyptic end to the end of its hegemony. The question for us will be: can we take advantage of these objectively ripe conditions to organize for socialism? Or will we continue to be haunted by Fukuyama’s proclaimed end of history so much so that we lose sight of the fact that the end of history is itself coming to an end? Desai definitively shows the putrescent condition of capitalism and the genuine potential this provides for those who can imagine a socialist world beyond our current barbaric one."Carlos L. Garrido, PhD Student and Instructor in Philosophy, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA; editor in the Marxist educational project Midwestern Marx, and in the Journal of American Socialist Studies"Radhika Desai’s Capitalism, Coronavirus and War explains why the dream of a neoliberal ‘end of history’ has turned out to be a dead end. Her excellent book provides a clear perspective to frame the internal contradictions of America’s neoliberal policies that are driving Western capitalism into austerity and a chronic health crisis as its New Cold War actually is a class war.What makes Radhika’s book so important is her clear explanation of how the world’s actual history is being created by the socialist Beijing Consensus based on public infrastructure to raise living standards and productivity. This is what the West’s former socialist and labor parties have lost, she explains. Most insightful is her analysis of how the socialist policy of making money and credit a public utility saves economies from the US–British disease of financialization and debt deflation that has left its only hope for prosperity to be what it can exploit from Eurasia, Africa and South America."Michael Hudson, author of The Destiny of Civilization and Super Imperialism, Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), USA"Radhika Desai has written a masterful modern history of the capitalist-imperialist system, detailing the common threads that link the colonial era to today's financialized neoliberalism. The scope of the work is truly impressive. It explicates the inherent contradictions of capitalism and its propensity for crisis, illustrates the blood on the hands of neoliberal governments in the face of the Covid disaster, and elucidates the imperial machinations driving the proxy war in Ukraine. Capitalism, Coronavirus and War is an invaluable contribution to geopolitics and economics, greatly enriching our understanding of both fields – and effortlessly showing how to unite the disciplines. It is undoubtedly one of the most important books to understand the profound crises we face in the world today."Ben Norton, journalist, writer, and filmmaker based in Latin America; founder and editor of Multipolarista"This book discusses a wide range of theoretical issues germane to the analysis of the nature of the capitalist system at its core, and relates this analysis to the most striking economic and political developments of very recent years, namely pandemic impact, and (so far) localised war. The author writes with a style and elan which engages the reader, while providing very many insights of value. In particular her trenchant critique of what she terms ‘western Marxism’ and its failures, combined with a stout defence of Marx’s vision, will be of special interest to many readers."Utsa Patnaik, Professor Emerita, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India; author of The Agrarian Question in the Neoliberal Era (2011) and The Republic of Hunger and Other Essays (2007); co-author (with Prabhat Patnaik) of Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History and the Future (2021) and A Theory of Imperialism (2016)"The latest of Dr. Radhika Desai’s many books is a tour de force from a modest Canadian expert. Skillfully linking the pandemic, China as a vivid example of the antidote to capitalism through socialism, and a war is no easy task; moreover, the text is published at a time when all three phenomena are still evolving. What is the secret of this success? First, from the beginning, in the dedication, Dr. Desai shows her colours: she takes a stand for socialism and communism, freeing herself and the readers from any cover that confuses more than clarifies. Thus, when readers arrive at the Conclusion after about 230 pages of factual, rigorous but balanced analysis, her socialist and communist reaffirmation flows naturally. Second, the University of Manitoba professor reveals her own intellectual evolution over several decades. It was not until she was a graduate student at a Canadian university that she began to assimilate Marxism–Leninism. This is a major advantage for readers because, while there are people in the capitalist West who were born into a communist family, some of them exhibit the worst deviations and dogmatic interpretations of Marxist–Leninist thought and action. Thus, a very wide spectrum of society in the capitalist West can identify with her writing, despite their complexity, because Dr. Desai writes with the reader’s background in mind. At the time of writing, there seems to be a backlash in China against China’s coronavirus policy. Does this contradict her analysis? I say no, it will stand the test of time; however, readers and national and international developments are the best judges. The same goes for her views on the NATO/Ukraine war against Russia."Arnold August, author/journalist based in Montreal, Canada; M.A. Political Science; member of the International Manifesto Group"In this powerful new work, one of the world’s leading political analysts and economists takes on some of the most pressing issues of the day: the crisis of neoliberalism, the global pandemic, US-led imperialist wars, and the rise of China. She provides much needed historical perspective within a resolutely internationalist framework of analysis grounded in geopolitical economy. Anyone who wants to understand the world we’re living in would be well-served to follow Desai’s intrepid investigation into the current state of global politics and the essential question: ‘what is to be done?’"Gabriel Rockhill, Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop, Professor of Philosophy, Villanova University, USATable of Contents1. Introduction: Resumption of History Return of Choice 2. Capitalism as Contradictory Value Production 3. The Geopolitical Economy of Capitalism and Socialism 4. Neoliberalism and its Financialisations 5. The Unexpected Reckoning 6. Know Your Enemy: Between Pseudo-Civic Neoliberalism and (Neo)Fascism? 7. Capitalism in the Balance of International Power 8. Conclusion: What is to be Done?

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Emmanuel Katongole is quietly but beautifully introducing a new methodology for doing theology in Africa.” —Stan Chu Ilo, author of A Poor and Merciful Church"Katongole compellingly demonstrates that African theologians and the church must revisit the conversation on identity and the contours of Christian conversion to reimagine solutions to the continent’s perennial ecological and political challenges." —Reading ReligionTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Part One: Who Are My People? Philosophical and Theological Reflections 1. On Being African 2. On Being an African Christian Part Two: Love’s Invention in the Midst of Africa’s Violent Modernity 3. Ethnic Violence and the Reinvention of Identity: 4. Religious Violence and the Reinvention of Politics: 5. Ecological Violence and the Reinvention of Land Conclusion Afterword: On Being Some Sort of Catholic: A Sermon Reference Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWhat does the future hold for the international order? In Chaos Reconsidered, leading scholars assess the domestic and global effects of the Trump and Biden presidencies.Trade ReviewChaos Reconsidered is a stellar collection of essays examining the Trump years from a dizzying array of angles. Collecting them together will give scholars, students, and policymakers much to chew on, just as Robert Jervis intended. -- Elizabeth N. Saunders, Georgetown School of Foreign ServiceWith the liberal world order under increasing strain, the highly readable, provocative, and original essays in this book offer a wealth of expertise and deep-seated knowledge on the impact of changes made by the Trump administration as well as their legacy. A must-read for policymakers and students. -- Deborah Welch Larson, University of California, Los AngelesThis collection of essays explores the longevity, durability, and contradictions of the institutions and practices put in place by the United States in the wake of World War II. Readers are in for a treat, ranging from a lucid analysis by the late Robert Jervis of the seriousness of the challenges to Michael N. Barnett’s damning analysis of the hypocrisies of the ‘liberal’ world order to Deborah Avant’s compelling argument about the need to consider the inherent tensions between the illiberal at home and the promotion of a liberal world order abroad. The collection makes an exceptionally strong theoretical contribution to understanding the multiple effects of race on the liberal world order. A must-read for anyone interested in the evolving global system. -- Janice Gross Stein, University of TorontoA fascinating window on how political scientists and historians who study international politics grappled with the implications of the Trump presidency for their subject. Rich with insights worthy of consideration in their own right, Chaos Reconsidered will stand as a primary source on how the field and reacted to a seminal event occurring at a crucial stage of intellectual development. -- William C. Wohlforth, Daniel Webster Professor, Dartmouth CollegeTable of ContentsIntroduction, by Robert Jervis, Diane N. Labrosse, Stacie E. Goddard, and Joshua RovnerPart I. Trump and International Relations Theory1. The Trump Experiment: An Assessment, by Robert Jervis2. Trump Huffed and Puffed, and Liberal International Relations Theory Blew Down, by Michael N. Barnett3. America First? The Erosion of American Status Under Trump, by Michelle Murray4. Has Trump Changed How We Think About American Security?, by Deborah Avant5. Trump’s Realism, by Randall SchwellerPart II. America First6. When Donald Met Washington: The Genesis of “Great-Power Competition”, by Emma Ashford7. What Trump’s Nationalism Ended Up Looking Like, by Thomas W. Zeiler8. Trump’s Presidency as History, by Ryan Irwin9. Globalism and U.S. Foreign Relations After Trump, by Frank Ninkovich10. The Derangements of Sovereignty: Trumpism and the Dilemmas of Interdependence, by Samuel Zipp11. The Trump Presidency in Historical Perspective, by John A. ThompsonPart III. American Institutions and Alliances After Trump12. Presidents, Precedents, and the Laws of War, by Matthew Evangelista13. Trump to the Intelligence Community: You’re Fired, by Richard Immerman14. The Trump Administration and Economic Sanctions, by Nicholas Mulder15. Donald Trump and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Deal, by Susan Colbourn16. Trump’s Transactional Follies: The Consequences of Treating the Arms Trade Like a Business, by Jennifer SpindelPart IV. Trump Abroad17. Trump and Russia: Less Than Meets the Eye, by Angela Stent18. Trump and U.S.-China Strategic Competition as the “New” Normal, by Jonathan DiCicco19. Engage? Trump and the Asia-Pacific, by Dayna Barnes20. Riding the Rollercoaster: India and the Trump Years, by Tanvi Madan21. Swaggering Home: Trump, Grenell, and Pompeo in Conflict with Germany, by William Gray22. Death-Grip Handshakes and Flattery Diplomacy: The Macron-Trump Connection and Its Larger Implications for Alliance Politics, by Kathryn Statler23. “Mr. Brexit”: Donald Trump and the United Kingdom’s Departure from the European Union, by Lindsay Aqui24. The Trump Administration and the Middle East: Not Much Change, Not Much Success, by F. Gregory Gause III25. Fences Make Bad Hombres: Trump and Latin America, by Christy ThorntonPart V. The Expanding Meaning of International Security: Human Rights, Racial Justice, and COVID-1926. “Shithole Countries”: Was Trump’s Foreign Policy Racist?, by William I. Hitchcock27. Rethinking Vulnerability: Structural Inequality as National Insecurity, by Jason Ludwig and Rebecca Slayton28. Lifting the Veil on Racial Capitalism: American Foreign Policy Before and After Trump, by Nivi Manchanda29. Racialized Threats and Security Rationales in U.S. Immigration Policies, by Audie Klotz30. The Trump Presidency, the Question of Palestine, and Biden’s Business as Usual, by A. Dirk Moses and Victor Kattan31. The Trump Administration’s Insidious Approach to Human Rights, by Sarah B. SnyderPart VI. Is Liberal Internationalism Still Alive?32. Trump’s Foreign Policy Legacy, by Joshua Busby and Jonathan Monten33. “America First” Meets Liberal Internationalism, by Stephen Chaudoin, Helen V. Milner, and Dustin Tingley34. Liberal Internationalism and Partisan Conflict in the Post-Trump United States, by George N. Georgarakis and Robert Y. ShapiroPart VII. Looking Forward: The Prospects for Joe Biden’s Presidency 35. The Biden Administration and Russia: Deeper Into a U.S.-Russia Cold War, by Robert Legvold36. Joe Biden, American Democracy, and the China Challenge, by James Goldgeier37. Transatlantic Relations After Trump: Mutual Perceptions and Strategy in Historical Perspective, by Alessandro Brogi38. One Eye on the Rearview Mirror: The Middle East from Trump to Biden, by James Stocker39. Reclaiming America and Its Place in the World, by Elizabeth EconomyPart VIII. Coda40. World History, the American President, and the Gibbon Paradox, by Jeremy Adelman41. Trump’s Limited Legacy, by Lawrence Freedman42. American Constraints: Trump’s “Legacy” or Inexorable History, by Charles S. Maier43. Making Trump History, by Martin ConwayList of ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisExamining the work of Black Enlightenment authors, Surya Parekh reimagines the Enlightenment from the position of the Black subject.Trade Review“Black Enlightenment does not excuse or accuse a monolithized ‘West,’ but rather shows how European theory could not acknowledge its transformation by Africa rising. Unusual and meticulous documentation, brilliant textual readings. Highly relevant to our annihilation of white supremacy.” -- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, author of * A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present *“Offering careful and close readings of key texts written by eighteenth-century Black thinkers, Surya Parekh decenters Kant and Hume from the Enlightenment to emphasize questions around enslavement, freedom, and subjecthood. This strong and important book will touch and inform many fields in current scholarship around the Black Atlantic and the intellectual history of the Enlightenment and beyond.” -- Laurent Dubois, coauthor of * Freedom Roots: Histories from the Caribbean *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. Black Enlightenment 23 2. (Dis)Figuring Kant 50 3. The Changing Rhetoric of Race 74 4. The Character of Ignatius Sancho 106 5. Phillis Wheatley’s Providence 131 Notes 153 Bibliography 177 Index 195

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Book SynopsisJohannes Urpelainen provides an expert guide to India’s energy and environmental issues that incorporates both domestic and global perspectives. He details how unequal economic development and rapid population growth have brought the country to its current state.Trade ReviewUrpelainen provides a social and historical context for the development of India’s environment and energy policy since independence. Not many books do this in an approachable manner, and hence Energy and Environment in India is a welcome intervention. The book convincingly makes the case that meeting India’s growing energy needs sustainably is central to maintaining the global carbon budget. -- Kaushik Deb, Columbia UniversityUrpelainen’s analysis addresses two of 21st century India’s most entrenched, interrelated policy and political challenges: expanding energy access while also protecting a fragile environment. The volume, which deftly situates these problems within their complex social, political, and historical settings, will be equally valuable for researchers, students, and policymakers. -- Sunila S. Kale, University of WashingtonThe book convincingly argues that to produce fair, equitable, and sustainable outcomes for almost two billion Indians, the country must strive for a sustainable future through democratic norms. It’s a great reference book to understand India’s domestic issues and its role in the global energy and environment politics. * The Hindu *An excellent model through which we might argue for the utility of history in environment and energy policy. * H-Environment *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Foundations and History2. Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation3. Governance and Policy4. Flexing Muscle in Global Environmental Politics5. The Future of Energy and Environment in IndiaNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisCONCRETE CITY Armelle Choplin's Concrete City weaves a novel and engaging analysis of urbanization by tracing the journeys of cement and people making urban life in West Africa. From post-independence high modernist ambitions to building the opportunities to make a living, the emerging transnational corridor along the West African coast provides a starting point for insights which will expand and inform understanding of both established and newly emerging urbanization processes in many different contexts. Jennifer Robinson, Professor of Geography, University College of London, UK In this very innovative and superbly illustrated book, Armelle Choplin makes cement vibrant with affect, politics, economic interests and cultural meanings. She takes us to a fascinating journey along the West African urban corridor following the social life of concrete and showing how this material shapes contemporary urbanization and everyday life. Ola Söderström, Professor of Geography, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland Concrete City: Material Flows and Urbanization in West Africa delivers a theoretically informed, ethnographic exploration of the African urban world through the life of concrete. Emblematic of frenetic urban and capitalistic development, this material is pervasive, shaping contemporary urban landscapes and societies and their links to the global world. It stands and circulates at the heart of major financial investments, political forces and environmental debates. At the same time, it epitomises values of modernity and success, redefining social practices, forms of dwelling and living, and popular imaginaries. The book invites the reader to follow bags of cement from production plant to construction site, along the 1000-kilometre urban corridor that links Abidjan to Accra, Lomé, Cotonou and Lagos, combining the perspectives of cement tycoons, entrepreneurs and political stakeholders, but also of ordinary men and women who plan, build and dream of the Concrete City. With this innovative exploration of urban life through concrete, Armelle Choplin delivers a fascinating journey into and reflection on the sustainability of our urban futures.Table of ContentsList of Figures xi Series Editors’ Preface xiii Acknowledgements xv Introduction: Concrete and the City 1 A Gray Matter 1 Age of Concrete 4 Africa Rising and Cement’s New Frontier 6 The Lagos-Abidjan Corridor: A Megacity Region under Construction 8 Cement As A Theoretical Binder 12 (Afri)Capitalism and Neoliberalism 13 Material Matters 15 Building, Dwelling, and Inhabiting a Postcolonial World 18 Tracking Urban Materiality: A Methodological Approach 21 Following Bags of Cement and the City under Construction 21 Thinking Cities Through West Africa 24 Notes 30 1 Concrete Politics 31 Africanizing Cement 33 From Colonial Import to Gray Gold “Made in Africa” 33 Patriotic Consumption and National Identity 37 Dangote, a Cement Magnate 39 Cement Business 42 Conquering Africa 42 “The Price of Cement Is like the Stock Market” 45 On the Road: Trucks and Logistics 47 The Rhetoric of Development 51 Emerging Through Concrete 53 Promoting Cement and Boosting the Economy 53 From Developmental States to Entrepreneurial Presidents 55 Builder Businessmen and Other Africapitalists 58 Conclusion 61 Notes 63 2 Making the City Concrete 65 The Multifaceted Concrete City 67 Premium City–Megaprojects and the Business of the City 67 Affordable City–Social Housing Programs 72 Low Cost City–Autoconstruction in the Outskirts 76 A Booming Building Sector 83 Real Estate Agent: From Broker to Preacher 83 Property Developers and the Diaspora 86 Architects and Building Permits 88 Wholesalers and Retailers: Lebanese, Indian, and Chinese Connections 90 Materials: From Foundations to Finishing 93 A Matter of Sand 95 Reinforcing Steel and Corrugated Iron 98 Tiling from Floor-to-Ceiling 100 Digital Banking or How to Buy your Cement Online 102 Conclusion 104 Notes 106 3 The Social Life of Concrete 109 Caution – Work in Progress! 111 Concrete – Child’s Play? 111 Concrete Block: The Ingot of the Poor 115 The Plot and the Block 117 I Build (with Concrete) Therefore I Am 117 The Incremental City: “Building Bit by Bit” 120 Right to Concrete for a Right to the City 125 Afropolitan Modernity, Imaginaries, and Experience 128 Desire and Success 128 Women at Work! Virility, Gender, and Emancipation 130 Concrete Palace, or Walter Benjamin in Lagos 134 Six-Bedroom-Villas 136 Concrete Fetishes and Voodoo 139 Conclusion 142 Notes 143 Contents ix 4 Uninhabitable Concrete 145 (De)Construction and Destruction 148 Collapse, Rubble, and Ruins 148 Sustainability and Greenwashing 151 Sand: Rarer than you Think 154 Green Expectations: Alternatives to Concrete? 156 Heritage and Vernacular Architecture 157 Back to Earth, Back to the Local 159 “Tropicalizing” Construction 163 Toward Innovation in the Concrete Industry 167 Putting African Architecture on the Map 169 Conclusion 172 Notes 173 Conclusion: Concrete Utopia 177 The West African Corridor: An Urban Laboratory 178 Utopia/Dystopia and Afro/Africanfuturism 182 Toward A Post-concrete World 185 References 189 Index 209

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Book SynopsisIn Strangers in the Family, Guo-Quan Seng provides a gendered history of settler Chinese community formation in Indonesia during the Dutch colonial period (18161942). At the heart of this story lies the creolization of patrilineal Confucian marital and familial norms to the colonial legal, moral, and sexual conditions of urban Java. Departing from male-centered narratives of Ooverseas Chinese communities, Strangers in the Family tells the history of community- formation from the perspective of women who were subordinate to, and alienated from, full Chinese selfhood. From native concubines and mothers, creole Chinese daughters, and wives and matriarchs, to the first generation of colonial-educated feminists, Seng showcases women''s moral agency as they negotiated, manipulated, and debated men in positions of authority over their rights in marriage formation and dissolution. In dialogue with critical studies of colonial Eurasian intimacies, th

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Book SynopsisBy situating his evolving ideas in pan-European debates on the problems and prospects of modern European politics, this book proposes a radically new interpretation of the political thought of Johann Gottfried Herder, and shows that Herder was deeply committed to finding ways to achieve moral and political reform in Russia, Germany and Europe.Table of ContentsPreface; Introduction; 1. Republics, monarchies and the philosophy of human society; 2. Rousseau and the origins of the 'current malaise of the world'; 3. Montesquieu's system and reforms in Russia; 4. The Bildung of humanity and modern virtue; 5. German freedom and modern liberty; 6. The vocation of poets, pastors and philosophers; 7. State-Machines, commerce and the progress of Humanität in Europe; 8. Perpetual peace and purified patriotism; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisAlthough Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international pan-Islamic political party, regularly holds conferences from Jakarta to Ramallah attended by tens of thousands of people, little is known about the organisation, which was founded in 1953, beyond generalities and conjecture. Its members are repeatedly arrested in Russia, Central Asia, Turkey and across the Middle East, and since the Arab uprisings it has emerged as an influential political actor in Tunisia, has a growing profile in Egypt, and is making a visible impact in the Syrian revolution. It is also paradoxically often dismissed as inconsequential despite its call for the implementation of Islam and the establishment of a universal caliphate across the Muslim world. 'Hizb ut-Tahrir: The Untold History of the Liberation Party' uncovers the history of the global Islamic political party, based upon a diverse array of archival research, internal documents, multiple interviews and other sources to build an authoritative account of the party as told from inside and out. From coup attempts in Jordan, sending delegations to meet Sadat, al-Gaddafi and Khomeini, and the execution of hundreds of its members in Libya and Iraq, Pankhurst's book blends political, intellectual and personal history, moving from global, regional and local perspectives.Trade ReviewNowhere have I read a more lucid, accessible and well-researched history of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Reza Pankhurst’s book is not only timely but is also informed by excellent scholarship and meticulous attention to detail. Pankhurst successfully blurs the boundaries between the insider and the academic to narrate how a group of Muslims imagined the caliphate, struggled to establish it and faced many challenges. This is a complex but accessible study of one of the most controversial projects of the Muslim movement in the twentieth century. The book truly demystifies the caliphate and its many advocates. Whether you are a sympathizer or a critic, this book will challenge your stereotypes about Islamic activism. -- Madawi Al-Rasheed, Visiting Professor at the Middle East Centre, LSE, and author of 'Muted Modernists: The Struggle over Divine Politics in Saudi Arabia'In this elegantly written and meticulously researched new book, Reza Pankhurst tells the previously untold story of Hizb-ut-Tahrir's founding and early development in the West Bank, Jordan, and elsewhere in the Middle East. The book is unprecedented and unparalleled in the new light it sheds on the early years of the party's emergence and evolution, and on a period in the history of 'Islamist' mobilization which is otherwise largely passed over in silence. Pankhurst raises important new questions about the trajectory of Islam as a force in world politics in the latter half of the twentieth century and the first decades of the twenty-first. -- John Sidel, Sir Patrick Gillam Professor of International and Comparative Politics, LSECombining scholarly rigour with engaged Muslim intellectualism, this book offers a comprehensive historical survey of an Islamic movement that continues to confound observers of politics in the Muslim world. As an academic and former member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Reza Pankhurst is uniquely positioned to write the history of this intriguing Islamist organisation. Written in the same vein as his earlier exploration of the place of the Caliphate in the Muslim world today, this Untold History of the Liberation Party offers a provocative rereading of an important strand of political Islam. -- Carool Kersten, Senior Lecturer in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World at King’s College London, editor of 'Demystifying the Caliphate' and 'The Caliphate and Islamic Statehood', and author of 'Islam in Indonesia'Reza Pankhurst has written a judicious and engaging account of a much maligned political party. His contribution goes beyond sensationalist headlines and presents us with a serious history of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, helping us to understand how the party has developed and grown in response to the challenges faced by the Muslim Ummah. -- S. Sayyid, author of 'Recalling the Caliphate' and 'A Fundamental Fear'This well-documented, detailed, and readable study fills a gap in knowledge about an important organization. . . . As the author shows, the Liberation Party has recently experienced remarkable growth that has transformed it into a worldwide movement, repressed by authoritarian regimes in most Muslim countries but generally tolerated in the West. Pankhurst had access to important documents and conducted extensive interviews with leaders of the group, notably during brief intervals of relative freedom initiated by the Arab Spring of 2011. Clearly favorable to the organization (of which he was a member) but also demonstrating objective scholarship, he convincingly refutes accusations that it is tied to groups such as Al Qaeda. This will prove valuable to those in various disciplines who deal with Islamist movements and global civil society generally. -- G. E. Perry, Professor Emeritus at Indiana State University

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Book SynopsisDavid B. Roberts offers a definitive guide to continuity and change in the Gulf region. He explores the forces challenging and bolstering the status quo in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates across the political, social, economic, military, and environmental dimensions of security.Trade ReviewDavid Roberts, one of the top regional experts, provides an insightful and timely book on the current changes and transformations taking place in the Gulf monarchies. This is an indispensable and an extremely valuable source of knowledge to those interested in understanding the dynamics of the region and its implications. -- Abdullah Baabood, Waseda UniversityThis masterfully produced book is rich in historical context, is geographically thorough in its coverage of the Persian Gulf region, and analyzes critical issues beyond hard security that the regional states face. This is by far one of the best books produced on Persian Gulf politics and security in some time. -- Mehran Kamrava, Georgetown University QatarSecurity Politics in the Gulf Monarchies provides a richly detailed and innovative new account of the Gulf Arab states. David Roberts deconstructs and analyzes the points of change as well as the underlying continuities and expertly places the study of the region into comparative and theoretical context. -- Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, author of Qatar and the Gulf CrisisTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsFiguresIntroduction1. Political Security2. Societal Security3. Economic Security4. Military Security 5. Environmental Security ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to be gayfriendly? Having gay friends, supporting gay marriage, remaining unfazed when one’s son or daughter comes out? Going to gay bars or questioning one’s own sexual orientation? There is no single model of ‘gayfriendliness’, but rather different attitudes which vary according to age, sex, country and life circumstance. Acceptance of homosexuality has undeniably grown, and homosexuality is increasingly seen as one form of sexuality among others. But embedded in this liberal vision is a perspective that is more troubling. Based on interviews with gayfriendly straight people in the liberal neighbourhoods of Park Slope in New York and the Marais in Paris, Sylvie Tissot shows that stereotypes remain and control of gays and lesbians has not disappeared. Acceptance is directed towards those who are of the same socioeconomic background, who proclaim their wish to emulate traditional norms of family life, and who do not make any other demands. Gays must be normal but not completely so, similar and at the same time different, in order to meet the not always conscious conditions of acceptability. Gayfriendliness has managed to dispel violence and discrimination and has accompanied the invention of less conventional lives. But, as Tissot shows, it has not yet liberated itself from the clutches of heterosexual domination which still structures our society and our ways of thinking.Trade Review“As anti-gay and anti-trans sentiment surges, the illusion of a rainbow coloured world of queer inclusion is rendered ever more apparent and the need for critical and complex analysis becomes ever more pressing. Sylvie Tissot has given us just such an analysis. In this compelling comparative study of two ‘gayfriendly’ oases, she unpacks the often contradictory affects of both queers and straights as they imagine sexual identities in supposedly ‘tolerant’ urban spaces and, in so doing, offers a critical commentary on the limits of tolerance and the possibilities of radical inclusion in a world still governed by normative heterosexuality. A smart and nuanced addition to the burgeoning literature on queer spaces and the promises (and limits) of straight allyship.”Suzanna Danuta Walters, author of The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions Sabotaged Gay EqualityTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1. Becoming GayfriendlyReticence, recognition, indifference: three different generations‘It simply didn’t exist’‘It would be un-cool to be un-gayfriendly’‘A non-issue’The learning processes Atypical heterosexualsThe ordeal of coming outChapter 2. Gay RespectabilityThe right to love each other American-style and sexual freedom in France The Power of the Law Sexual Liberalism Gay marriage, heterosexual relief Republican universalism and the difference between the sexesGood neighbours, good husbands and wives, good parents Appropriating an area in the name of diversity Progressive synagogues and churches in Park Slope A cause for gentrifiers From lesbian enclave to gayfriendly district Family integration, class integrationGayfriendliness within the family You shall be gayfriendly, my child Integration and surveillance of same-sex families You will (perhaps) be gay, my child The guide for gayfriendly parents From tomboy to invisible lesbian Chapter 3. Heterosexuals as alliesFeminine CompassionThe division of moral labourMale uneaseThe ‘Cruisers’ of the Parisian night sceneThe ‘fag hag’ and her ‘gay best friend’Disillusions, safe haven and substituteThe Prism of femininity Gayfriendliness and lesbophobiaWomen rebelling against marriage(Re)-building your life when living aloneSexual experimentsChapter 4. The frontiers of gayfriendlinessA race and class normHomophobia as bad taste Talking about space, not race The Southern United States as a deterrentVisibilities and invisibilitiesKeeping the streets clean My gay friends The home of heterosexualityConclusionBibliographyNotes

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Book SynopsisJohn Feffer is a freelance journalist and director of the Foreign Policy In Focus programme at the Institute for Policy Studies. His journalism has spanned Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. His previous books include the novel Splinterlands (2016) as well as Shock Waves: Eastern Europe After the Revolutions (1992) and Crusade 2.0: The West's Resurgent War on Islam (2012).Trade ReviewA searching, analytical work that tries to make sense of where the former East bloc countries are today and why they arrived there. The lucid, gripping narrative is a joy to read and packed with ideas.' * International Politics and Society *John Feffer brings to this story a traveller’s eye, a rich store of experiences, and a wise perspective. His thoughtful book is a reminder that few nations, anywhere, easily throw off the heritage of tyranny. * Adam Hochschild, author of Spain in our Hearts and King Leopold’s Ghost *A breath-taking whirlwind tour through the transformations of eastern Europe over the past 30 years. With its account of the travails of contemporary capitalism, it is also astonishingly relevant for understanding pressing political problems in the United States as well. * David Ost, author of The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Post-Communist Europe *A brisk, vivid and wide-ranging survey of a region in the grip of neoliberalism. As Feffer makes clear, this is hardly just a book about Eastern Europe, as the challenges there now seem to be spreading throughout the world. Feffer’s sense of the future evinces both pessimism of the mind and optimism of the will. * Lawrence Weschler, author of Vermeer in Bosnia and Calamities of Exile *John Feffer is our 21st-century Jack London. * Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums *Both a merciless political history and a compassionate political psychology of central and eastern Europe’s post-Cold War transformation. * Miklos Haraszti, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Belarus *An essential account of our post-liberal times. * Padraic Kenney, author of A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe, 1989 *Feffer’s vivid, finely crafted chronicle, stocked with real-life characters, explains what went awry in Eastern Europe after communism * Paul Hockenos, author of Berlin Calling: A Story of Anarchy, Music, the Wall, and the Birth of the New Berlin *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Exile Off Main Street Part I: Stepping Backward 1. Pyramids of Sacrifice 2. The Journey to Utopia 3. The Revenge of the Provinces 4. The Faces of Illiberalism 5. Unexploded Ordnance Interlude: Stepping Backward, Leaping Forward Part II: Leaping Forward 6. Reinvention of Self 7. The Talented Tenth 8. The New Dissidents 9. The Next Generation 10. Creating New Worlds Conclusion: The Future of Illiberalism

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Book SynopsisThis sixth edition of a well-established introduction to life in the United States covers everything from US politics, society and culture, to the country's history, economy and place on the world stage. With extensive use of empirical data and illustrative material, Contemporary United States offers readers critical commentary on key political developments and allows them to place this within a wider historical and cultural context. This new edition offers coverage of all of the latest domestic and international developments, including: -The continuing divide between rich and poor, addressing social, legal, economic, and political inequality -The domestic and international ramifications of the Covid-19-induced recession -The rise of China, the return of Putin and the complexity of problems in North Korea, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan -The #MeToo and the Black Lives Matter movements -The Biden administration to date. Contemporary United States takes a broad, balanced apTrade ReviewThis remains the go-to text for an understanding of the contemporary United States. It continues to be the leading source for information for my undergraduates who wish to gain an in-depth appreciation of the USA, its historical roots and those events which have shaped the America of today. * Murray Leith, Professor of Political Science, University of the West of Scotland, UK *This new edition of Contemporary United States mixes history, sociology and political science in a very fruitful way to produce a one volume introductory text that should be indispensable reading for undergraduate students of American politics and/or society. * Ole Helmersen, Associate Professor of British & American Studies, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark *Contemporary United States continues to be a one-stop shop for everything the aspiring student and scholar would want to know about the most complex and diverse nation on earth. Packed full of up-to-the-minute details and analysis, Goddard and Duncan do a remarkable job of condensing America’s core elements. A brilliant synopsis that leads the way as a primer for the study of the United States in all its glorious, contradictory, and increasingly controversial ways. * Ian Scott, Professor of American Film and History, University of Manchester, UK *Tackling the further fissuring of the U.S. in an unflinching but balanced way, this edition provides the necessary overview to understand the complicated and complex reality of contemporary America. Written in clear prose and with academic breadth, it is certain to be a go-to resource for teachers of undergraduate courses. * Steen Ledet Christiansen, Professor of Popular Visual Culture, Aalborg University, Denmark *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. History 2. Land and People 3. Government 4. Politics and Democracy 5. Society 6. Religion, Education, Social Policy 7. Culture, Media, Sports 8. The Economy 9. Global Politics 10. Prospects

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