Social and political philosophy Books

Book SynopsisKarl Marx was born in Trier, Germany and studied law at Bonn and Berlin. In 1848, with Freidrich Engels, he finalized the Communist Manifesto. He settled in London, where he studied economics and wrote the first volume of his major work, Das Kapital (1867, two further volumes were added in 1884 and 1894). He is buried in Highgate Cemetery, London. Friedrich Engles was born in Barmen, Germany. From 1842 he lived mostly in England.

Read more less

Book SynopsisVery Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Democracy refers to both ideal and real forms of government. The concept of democracy means that those governed the demos have a say in government. But different conceptions of democracy have left many out. Naomi Zack provides here a fresh treatment of the history of this idea and its key conceptions. In the ancient world, direct and representative democracy in Athens and Rome privileged elites, as did democratic deliberative bodies in Africa, India, the Middle East, and China. Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero were sceptical of mob-rule dangers of democracy. The medieval and renaissance periods saw legislative checks on monarchy, notably the Magna Carta. The social contract theories of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau matched political expectations that national government be based on consent, for the benefit of those governed. The American Revolution established a new sovereignty, based on British governTrade Review...the book is interesting from a historical perspective in that it sets out details of past and present concepts of democracy. * Michelle Gresty, Law Society *Table of Contents1: Thinking about Democracy: Tools for understanding 2: Democracy in the Ancient World: Greece, Rome, and Beyond 3: Democracy in the Medieval and Renaissance Worlds - Internal Democratic Structures 4: The Social Contract: Consent of those Governed 5: Rights and Revolutions: (Exclusive) Political Equality 6: Social Progressivism: Toward Democracy in Society 7: World War II and after: New Democracies and New Conceptions of Democracy 8: The Future of Democracy: Threats and Resilience

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne of four titles in Thames & Hudson's innovative new Big Idea' series, this book explores and interrogates each form of democracy and questions whether it remains fit for purpose today.Trade Review'A kind of choose-your-own-adventure using fonts: paragraphs are set in type of differing sizes depending on their importance' - The BooksellerTable of ContentsIntroduction • 1. The Evolution of Democracy • 2. How Democracy Works • 3. The Limits of Democracy • 4. The Challenge to Democracy • Conclusion

Read more less

Book Synopsis'A rich and subtle exploration of the sacredness of nature, filled with a timeless wisdom and deep humanity' Guardian In this hugely powerful book, Karen Armstrong argues that it isn't enough to change our behaviour to avert environmental catastrophe - we must rekindle our spiritual bond with the natural world. From gratitude and compassion to sacrifice and non-violence, Armstrong draws themes from the world's religious traditions to offer practical steps to reconnect you with nature.Speaking to anyone interested in our relationship with nature, worried about environmental destruction, or searching for new actions to save our planet, Sacred Nature will uncover the most profound connections between humans and the natural world.'A lamentation in the key of Greta Thunberg, with undertones of Carl Jung' Wall Street Journal'Warm and witty... a challenge to think differently in the face of climate change' Tablet'Karen Armstrong is one of the handful of wise and supremely commentators on religion' Alain de BottonTrade ReviewA rich and subtle exploration of the sacredness of nature, filled with a timeless wisdom and deep humanity ... Much has been written on the scientific and technological aspects of climate change ... But Armstrong's book is both more personal and more profound. Its urgent message is that hearts and minds need to change if we are to once more learn to revere our beautiful and fragile planet * Guardian, Book of the Day *Karen Armstrong is one of the handful of wise and supremely intelligent commentators on religionWarm and witty ... [Armstrong's] ability to summon up examples and quotations...is humbling... Sacred Nature [is] a challenge to think differently in the face of climate change, to recover ways of looking at things, including God * Tablet *An accessible account of how a wider religious perspective might contribute to humans' adopting a more solicitous attitude to nature -- Rowan Williams * New Statesman *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this witty and mischievous book, philosopher Peter Cave dissects the most controversial disputes today and uses philosophical argument to reveal that many issues are less straightforward than we'd like to believe. Leaving no sacred cow standing, Cave uses ingenious stories and examples to challenge our most strongly held assumptions. Is democracy inherently a good thing? What is the basis of so-called human rights? Is discrimination always bad? Are we morally obliged to accept refugees?In an age of identity politics and so-called 'fake news', this book is an essential resource for reinvigorating genuine public debate - and an entertaining challenge to accepted wisdom.Trade ReviewLively... Cave forces his readers to interrogate cherished beliefs and see how many of the principles enshrined in public life are not only inconsistent but incoherent, even paradoxical. * The Herald *An elegant and erudite expose of the hypocrisies and evasions that infect the social and political thinking of our times. * John Cottingham, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Reading University *Britain's wittiest philosopher * Raymond Tallis, bestselling author of The Kingdom of Infinite Space *Highly entertaining, informative and challenging... If you want to check whether your beliefs about democracy, human rights and free speech aren't just prejudices - mere myths you happen to have signed up to - this is a great place to start. * Stephen Law, author of The Complete Philosophy Files *With characteristic wit, philosopher Peter Cave takes readers on a journey of discovery through a maze of perplexities. This is a profound book. * Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Professor Emeritus, University of Wales *At its best, The Myths We Live By resembles a lively tutorial, with the genial Professor Cave challenging readers' prejudices... Useful and educational. * Sydney Morning Herald *Table of Contents0: Prologue: On hiding what we know 1: What's so good about democracy? 2: How democracy lies 3: Freedom and discrimination: burqas, bikinis and Anonymous 4: Should we want what we want? 5: Lives and luck: can Miss Fortuna be tamed? 6: The Land of Justice 7: Plucking the goose: what's so bad about taxation? 8: 'This land is our land' 9: Community identity: nationalism and cosmopolitanism 10: What's so good about equal representation? 11: Human duties - oops - human rights 12: Free speech: the Tower of Babel; the Serpent of Silence 13: Regrets, apologies and past abuses 14: 'Because I'm a woman': trans identities 15: Happy Land 16: Epilogue: In denial 17: Notes and References 18: Acknowledgements 19: Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisA classic collection of essay by Jacques Ranciere, that focuses on the ways in which radical philosophers understand the people they profess to speak for. The Intellectual and His People engages in an incisive and original way with current political and cultural issues, including the "discovery" of totalitarianism by the "new philosophers," the relationship of Sartre and Foucault to popular struggles, nostalgia for the ebbing world of the factory, the slippage of the artistic avant-garde into defending corporate privilege, and the ambiguous sociological critique of Pierre Bourdieu. As ever, Rancière challenges all patterns of thought in which one-time radicalism has become empty convention.Trade ReviewIn the face of impossible attempts to proceed with progressive ideas within the terms of postmodernist discourse, Rancière shows a way out of the malaise. -- Liam GillickRancière's writings offer one of the few consistent conceptualizations of how we are to continue to resist. -- Slavoj Zizek

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Timely and inspiring." * Paradigm Explorer *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book introduces readers to the concepts of political philosophy. It starts by explaining why the subject is important and how it tackles basic ethical questions such as ''how should we live together in society?'' It looks at political authority, the reasons why we need politics at all, the limitations of politics, and whether there are areas of life that shouldn''t be governed by politics. It explores the connections between political authority and justice, a constant theme in political philosophy, and the ways in which social justice can be used to regulate rather than destroy a market economy. David Miller discusses why nations are the natural units of government and whether the rise of multiculturalism and transnational co-operation will change this: will we ever see the formation of a world government?ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Table of Contents1. Why do we need political philosophy? ; 2. Political Authority ; 3. Democracy ; 4. Freedom and the Limits of Politics ; 5. Justice ; 6. Feminism and Multiculturalism ; 7. Nations, States, and Global Justice

Read more less

Book SynopsisThere should no longer be any doubt: global capitalism is fast approaching its terminal crisis. But if the end of capitalism seems to many like the end of the world, how is it possible for Western society to face up to the end times? In a major new analysis of our global situation, Zizek argues that our collective responses to economic Armageddon correspond to the stages of grief: ideological denial, explosions of anger and attempts at bargaining, followed by depression and withdrawal. For this edition, Zizek has written a long afterword that leaves almost no subject untouched, from WikiLeaks to the nature of the Chinese Communist Party.Trade ReviewThe most dangerous philosopher in the West. -- Adam Kirsch * The New Republic *Fierce brilliance ... scintillating. -- Steven Poole * The Guardian *Zizek is to today what Jacques Derrida was to the 80s: the thinker of choice for Europe's young intellectual vanguard. * The Observer *Such passion, in a man whose work forms a shaky, cartoon rope-bridge between the minutiae of popular culture and the big abstract problems of existence, is invigorating, entertaining and expanding enquiring minds around the world. -- Helen Brown * Daily Telegraph *Zizek weaves together psychoanalytic and historical materialist theories with great panache. -- Ashley Dawson * Social Text *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThese essays from the 1970s mark the inception of the distinctive project that Jacques Rancière has pursued across forty years, with four interwoven themes: the study of working-class identity, of its philosophical interpretation, of "heretical" knowledge and of the relationship between work and leisure.Trade ReviewOne of our most stimulating thinkers. * Paris Match *"The essays in Staging the People provide both empirical-historical instantiations and the intellectual road map to the later explicit theoretical formulation in Disagreement for which he is more renowned in the anglophone world. What is evident in this collection of articles is that his more recent political theory must be understood as coming intentionally out of the earlier post '68 empirical and historical works undertaken in an attempt to return 'speech' to the mere 'voice' of the oppressed, exploited, and marginalised, in whose name the intellectuals of the left have repeatedly spoken, with disastrous consequences" -- Capital & Class

Read more less

Book SynopsisEarly in life, Walter Rodney became a major revolutionary figure in a dizzying range of locales that traversed the breadth of the Black diaspora: in North America and Europe, in the Caribbean and on the African continent. He was not only a witness of a Pan-African and socialist internationalism; in his efforts to build mass organizations, catalyze rebellious ferment, and theorize an anti-colonial path to self-emancipation, he can be counted among its prime authors. Decolonial Marxism records such a life by collecting previously unbound essays written during the world-turning days of Black revolution. In drawing together pages where he elaborates on the nexus of race and class, offers his reflections on radical pedagogy, outlines programs for newly independent nation-states, considers the challenges of anti-colonial historiography, and produces balance sheets for a dozen wars for national liberation, this volume captures something of the range and power of Rodney's output. But it also demonstrates the unbending consistency that unites his life and work: the ongoing reinvention of living conception of Marxism, and a respect for the still untapped potential of mass self-rule.Trade ReviewIf Walter Rodney's assassins were under the impression that they could arrest the flow of his ideas by destroying his body, they could have not been more wrong ... In the context of the new resistance to global capitalism, his captivating analysis resonates more than ever before. -- Angela Davis, author of Women, Race and ClassRodney's perspective is alive, dazzling with the potential of revolution. -- Vijay Prashad, author of The Poorer Nations and Director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social ResearchHighly original ... It is very rare to find a thinker in the contemporary world who is equally committed to both theory and action and perhaps Rodney is one those few who does it seamlessly and that is what marks him as unique. -- Viswesh Rammohan * Marx & Philosophy *Walter Rodney galvanised liberation by awakening radical Pan-African consciousness ... [Decolonial Marxism's] messages are consequential for our day and age. -- Donari Yahzid * Race & Class *Table of ContentsEditorial Note IntroductionPart 1: Marxist Theory and Mass Action1. A Brief Tribute to Amilcar Cabral2. Masses in Action3. Marxism and African Liberation4. Marxism as a Third World Ideology 5. Labour as a Conceptual Framework for Pan-African Studies 6. The Angolan QuestionPart 2: Development and Underdevelopment7. The Historical Roots of African Underdevelopment8. Problems of Third World Development 9. Slavery and UnderdevelopmentPart 3: Their Pedagogy and Ours10. The British Colonialist School of African Historiography and the Question of African Independence11. Education in Colonial Africa 12. Education in Africa and Contemporary TanzaniaPart 4: Building Socialism13. Tanzanian Ujamaa and Scientific Socialism14. Class Contradictions in Tanzania 15. Transition 16. Decolonization

Read more less

Book SynopsisAnalysing a wide range of online communities and subcultures, Alice Capelle shows how an unprecedented backlash against women is being orchestrated online. Covering everything from the reactionary politics of the "manosphere" to hookup culture, traditional feminity, the politics of sexual liberation and liberal-friendly lifestyle content, Collapse Feminism shows how the future of feminism is being determined in these online spaces, and what this means for women in the twenty-first century. As conservative and anti-feminist political groups grow in power and popularity online and in the real world, it is urgent that we collectively reject political ideas that harm people of all genders, and instead work to create a freer, fairer and more creative future for all.Trade Review"A breezy, accessible, and non-fatalistic exploration of feminism in the "end times", rooted in a deep appreciation for and knowledge of contemporary digital cultures."

Read more less

Book SynopsisFreud''s epoch-making insights revolutionized our perception of who we are, forming the foundation for psychoanalysis. In Civilization and its Discontents he considers the incompatibility of civilization and individual happiness. Focusing on what he perceives to be one of society''s greatest dangers; ''civilized'' sexual morality, he asks, does repression compromise our chances of happiness?Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 and died in exile in London in 1939. As a writer and doctor he remains one of the informing voices of the twentieth century.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDesigned to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. This edition contains the most salient extracts from Marx's great work, selected and introduced by Hugh Griffith.Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, first printed just before the French revolution of 1848, is his most accessible and famous work. In his powerful call to arms, Marx expounds his famous theory that class struggle is the real determinant of historical change. Next in this volume comes his treatise, Wages, Price and Profit, written in 1865, which serves as an accessible introduction to the ideas which Marx went on to develop in Capital, his masterful, multi-volume analysis of how the world was irreversibly changed by the industrial revolution. Whilst old-style Marxism is now dead and buried, today's conflicts within capitalism are as sharp as ever and Marx’s brilliant, painstaking writings remain incredibly relevant.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom the Arab Spring and London riots through the era of Brexit and Trump, the Covid-19 pandemic and war in Europe, this volume collects eleven years of lively, informative and entertaining essays and polemics, focusing on media treatment of major global conflicts, political entanglements and culture-war squabbles. --- Taking aim at the distortions and omissions of news reports and cultural narratives in the Western world, Stephen Harper highlights the dislocation between humanity's existential crisis and the failure of the corporate media to register its underlying causes - or even to entertain any real discussion of its solution. Instead, he argues, the media blithely serve the narrow interests of a global elite that is subjecting the planet to a reign of fire in the form of endless wars and ecological destruction. --- Harper reviews contemporary journalistic, cinematic and televisual coverage, engaging with broad cultural topics such as 'cancel culture', the incel phenomenon and Covid conspiracy theories, as well as media events like the debate between Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Zizek. For all its eclecticism, Hot Planet, Cool Media has an ideological cohesiveness, rejecting popular left and right political positions and advocating the cause of socialism or communism in the Marxian sense of a classless, leaderless, moneyless society.Table of ContentsPreface - 2011 - Tunisia and Egypt: New Media 'Revolutions'? (2/2/2011) - Sophisticated Sinophobia? (20/2/2011) - 'Humanitarian Intervention' in Libya: Pull the Other One (25/3/2011) - 'Very Clear, Very Clean': Killing Bin Laden (6/5/2011) - One Less Obama-Maniac (25/5/2011) - Justice is Serbed (1/6/2011) - Bigmouth Strikes Again (27/6/2011) - Hackgate: Recuperating the Crisis (9/7/2011) - Islamist Terror Strikes Norway! (25/7/2011) - UK Riots: Echo of the Past, Glimpse of the Future (13/8/2011) - The Deaths of Others (22/9/2011) - Return of the Poppy-Burning Scum (5/11/2011) - Christopher Hitchens, Pro-Imperialist Bully (16/12/2011) - 2012 - Lady Bountiful (17/1/2012) - No True Scotsman (29/3/2012) - 'Terrible Things Happen': On The Bbc's Occupation (30/4/2012) - Neither Hollywood Nor Belgrade! (6/6/2012) - Rihanna Is A Satanist! (19/8/2012) - Stephanie Flounders (8/10/2012) - Whoever You Vote For The Government Gets In (4/11/2012) - Peter Kosminsky's The Promise (Channel 4, 2011) (12/12/2012) - 2013 - Bigelow's Back (19/1/2013) - Our Girls And Theirs (31/3/2013) - Doing Whatever It Takes (3/4/2013) - Mental Illness And The Media (25/5/2013) - Back To Iraq (17/6/2013) - Brand/Paxman (18/11/2013) - 2014 - The War According To Jeremy (5/2/2014) - Did Somebody Say 'Radicalisation'? (29/6/2014) - Israel, Gaza And 'Balance' (17/7/2014) - Scottish Separatism: Is The Subaltern Speaking? (2/9/2014) - War Is Peace: Malala, Our Girl And 'Feminist' Imperialism (11/10/2014) - 2015 - Two Ways Not To Respond To The Charlie Hebdo Massacre (20/1/2015) - Disoriented: Adam Curtis's Bitter Lake (1/2/2015) - Oblique Strategies (15/6/2015) - Srebrenica Revisited, BBC-Style (9/7/2015) - On The Ashley Madison Hack (25/8/2015) - This Is What An Influx Looks Like (3/9/2015) - On Jeremy Corbyn (13/10/2015) - 2016 - The Eu Referendum: Not Our Fight (21/6/2016) - From Obama To Trump: An Orange Thermidor? (13/11/2016) - 2017 - Jolie Jingo (6/3/2017) - Shame And The Soldier Of Conscience (30/4/2017) - Oklahoma City And The Denial Of History (30/4/2017) - From Bosnia To Syria; 'Fake News', Imperialist Agendas (4/5/2017) - Evacuated: Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk (30/7/2017) - Inside The State Of Hate (1/9/2017) - 2018 - Getting Real About Depression (30/1/2018) - Syria And The Media: Neither Rt Nor The Bbc (3/3/2018) - Talk: The Media And Capitalism (6/6/2018) - The Lady Vanishes (28/8/2018) - 9/11: What Happened And Who (Still) Cares? (11/9/2018) - 2019 - Christchurch: Media And Politicians Respond (21/3/2019) - Peterson-Zizek: Debate Of The Century? (1/5/2019) - Election Reflection (28/5/2019) - A Sense Of An Ending (28/6/2019) - People Power In Hong Kong (2/8/2019) - Communism Or Corbynism? That Is The Question (19/11/2019) - 2020 - Hot Planet, Cool Media (3/1/2020) - Cancel Culture: The Loony Left Lives (4/4/2020) - Covid And The Media: Myths And Mystifications (1/5/20) - The Return Of Black Lives Matter (5.7.20) - Making A Conspiracy Out Of A Crisis (2.8.20) - 2021 - Portrait Of The Incel As A Young-Girl (20/07/2021) - Entschlossenheit, Pet (29/12/21) - Postscript, Ukraine (5.3.2022) - Select Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn December 2019, Oly Durose lost by over 25,000 votes as the Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for Brentwood & Ongar. Revealing what it’s like to stand on a socialist platform in one of the safest Conservative seats in the UK, this book makes the case for socialism in the suburbs, unveils the challenges of its electoral realisation, and proposes a strategic revolution required to win. Suburban Socialism asks what it would be like to bring white picket fences under collective control instead. To convince suburbanites of this radical alternative inside the electoral arena, this book argues that we must revolutionise our strategy outside of it. From the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution to the shockwaves of the metropolitan youthquake, socialism has predominantly been framed as an urban struggle. Identifying the possibilities for suburban resistance, this book offers a more geographically inclusive invitation to the socialist struggle, revealing why the suburban struggle is global in scale. Turning a suburb that shares from a hopeless fantasy into an electoral reality, Suburban Socialism illustrates why the path to socialism around the world is through the heterogenous suburban terrain.Trade Review"As a Labour parliamentary hopeful's memoir of 2019 and a thoughtful reflection on class, place and comfort, Suburban Socialism will undoubtedly provoke debate in the labour movement and challenge perceptions that vast swathes of our country remain irrevocably immune to the offer of a non-capitalist world.""Suburban Socialism is a thoughtful, engaging and original despatch from the neglected ground of suburbia, and a roadmap for how the left in Britain and beyond can meet our urgent present and future challenges."“If there is any redemption for the suburbs, it is in this imaginative and stereotype-shattering account. Oly Durose’s work is a fierce companion for those ready to wage class warfare in the suburbs and against surburbia."“Out of tough and tender experiences of an election candidate in a constituency with a political mountain to climb, comes a stimulating economic and political analysis of suburbia that creates a Suburban Manifesto to rise to this challenge.”"In Britain and North America, the overwhelming majority of people live in suburbs — so if we are to have socialism, it will be suburban or not at all. With examples from Essex to Nevada, Oly Durose outlines some of the starting points to turn the outskirts red.""A one-off mix of practical campaigning and visionary theorising, a hustings war story and a comprehensive critique of 'suburban capitalism' that are equally down-to-earth and accessible.""Reading about endangered species is always a challenge: a mixture of despair and hope tinged with a belief that goes beyond immediate reality. Oly Durose may not be the David Attenborough of electioneering, but this book is flavoured with the same kind of inspiring feeling."“The assumptions we have about class, and the frameworks that have been adopted to conceptualise it are outdated. Oly has analysed emerging economic and social dynamics from first principles, and by burnishing mainstream misconceptions he has provided an account of socialism’s relevance and popularity in suburbia.”“This sharply observed analysis grounded in theory offers fascinating insight into what goes on politically on the fringes of our capital, and sets out the politics we all need in the face of an era where glib phrases like ‘levelling up’ are the order of the day. A warmly recommended cautionary tale for our times”.“A convincing and forceful case for radical change in the outskirts.”

Read more less

Book SynopsisSeneca's Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger, and Clemency by means of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a famous Stoic truth seeker from historic Rome, offers deep insights into ethical concept and sensible knowledge. In this series, Seneca talks approximately important problems associated with dwelling a glad lifestyle. The book approximately how to stay a glad lifestyle goes into element about the Stoic ideas of distinctiveness, expertise, and willpower. Seneca says that the right manner to be happy is to end up a good man or woman and hold your internal peace regardless of what takes place inside the outside global. In the phase on gifts, Seneca talks greater about how crucial it is to be generous and the way kindness works each method. He talks about the ethical responsibility to help others and the advantages of doing precise things. The study of anger talks about how dangerous this emotion is and urges people to control it. Seneca offers useful suggestions on the way to study your temper and talks about how out-of-manage anger can harm your relationships and private fitness. Finally, Seneca talks approximately clemency. He says that pity and forgiveness are properly features that assist human beings and society get along. He emphasizes the Stoic concept that forgiveness can store humans and that acts of kindness can make humans better.

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book SynopsisThese concise guides are an antidote to confusion, tracing major political ideas from their origins to today''s headlines.The world has always had conspiracy theories. From the Illuminati to the deep state, the JFK assassination to the death of Princess Diana - there have always been those who believe that events are manipulated by shadowy forces with sinister intent. But in recent years, conspiracism has colonised the mainstream. These days, it is a booming industry, a political strategy and a pseudo-religion - and it''s threatening the foundations of liberal democracy.Where once political battles were fought over ideas and values, it now feels as though we''re arguing over the nature of reality itself. The problem is bigger than lizard people or UFOs: left unchecked, conspiracy theories have the power to warp the fabric of society and justify unspeakable crimes.In Conspiracy Theory: The Story of an Idea, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey pull back t

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn A Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau sets out to demonstrate how the growth of civilization corrupts man’s natural happiness and freedom by creating artificial inequalities of wealth, power and social privilege. Contending that primitive man was equal to his fellows, Rousseau believed that as societies become more sophisticated, the strongest and most intelligent members of the community gain an unnatural advantage over their weaker brethren, and that constitutions set up to rectify these imbalances through peace and justice in fact do nothing but perpetuate them. Rousseau’s political and social arguments in the Discourse were a hugely influential denunciation of the social conditions of his time and one of the most revolutionary documents of the eighteenth-century.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelTable of ContentsA Discourse on InequalityForewordIntroductionDiscourse on the Origins and Foundations of Inequality among MenRousseau's NotesAbbreviations used in Editor's Introduction and NotesEditor's Notes

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the Laws, Plato describes in fascinating detail a comprehensive system of legislation in a small agricultural utopia he named Magnesia. His laws not only govern crime and punishment, but also form a code of conduct for all aspects of life in his ideal state - from education, sport and religion to sexual behaviour, marriage and drinking parties. Plato sets out a plan for the day-to-day rule of Magnesia, administered by citizens and elected officials, with supreme power held by a Council. Although Plato''s views that citizens should act in complete obedience to the law have been read as totalitarian, the Laws nonetheless constitutes a highly impressive programme for the reform of society and provides a crucial insight into the mind of one of Classical Greece''s foremost thinkers.Table of ContentsThe LawsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionUtopianismPlato's Life and WorkPlato's Political ThoughtThe RepublicThe StatesmanThe LawsThe Relationship Between the Republic and the LawsMagnesia: the New Utopiaa. Size and Situationb. Population and Occupationsc. Educationd. Religione. Lawf. Government and AdministrationPlato and TotalitarianismThe Modern Reaction to PlatoComposition and Structure of the Laws: SummaryFurther ReadingNote on the TranslationThe Laws1. The Inadequacy of Spartan and Cretan LegislationIntroductory ConversationThe Aim of Spartan and Cretan LawsCourage and Pleasure2. Drinking Parties as an Educational DeviceTeetotallers MisguidedCan Drinking Parties be Educational?Interlude: The Athenian Pressed for an AnswerThe Nature and Purpose of EducationThe Educational Effect of Drinking Parties3. The Arts in the Service of EducationThe Nature and Purpose of Educationhow the Arts should reinforce EducationIs Pleasure the Proper Criterion in the Arts?Artistic Censorship in EgyptJustice and Happiness for TogetherChildren are Easily PersuadedThe Three ChorusesQualifications of the Third Chorus, and an Attack on Contemporary Trends in the ArtsThe Educational Effects of Drinking PartiesSumming-up on the Uses of Drink4. The Lessons of History: Legislation and the Balance of PowersLife after the FloodAutocracyThe Primitive City and the Origin of LegislationTroyThe Dorian LeagueWhy did the League Fail?Seven Titles to AuthorityThe Reasons for Sparta's Success5. The Lessons of History (2): Monarchy and DemocracyTwo Mother-ConstitutionsThe Persian MonarchyAthens and the Persian WarsThe Corruption of the Athenian DemocracyRecapitulationThe Proposed New Cretan Colony6. Magnesia and Its PeopleNatural ResourcesThe ColonistsThe Need for a Benevolent DictatorWhat Constitution is to be Imposed?The Age of CronusLaw should be SupremeAddress to the New Colonists7. The Correct way to Legislate: Laws and PreamblesIntroductionPhysical FitnessWealthThe Correct Treatment of ChildrenDuties to Relatives, Friends and StateDuties to ForeignersPersonal MoralityHow to Handle CriminalsSelfishnessExtremes of Emotion to be AvoidedVirtue and Happiness9. The Foundation of the New StatePreliminary Analysis of the StateThe Selection of the CitizensDistributing the Land (1)The Size of the Population (1)Religious and Social OccasionsStates Ideal and Real: Community of PropertyDistributing the Land (2)The Size of the Population (2)Holdings are InalienableThe Possession of MoneyThe Four Property-ClassesAdministrative Units of the StateTheory to be Modified by FactsThe Pre-eminence of MathematicsInfluences of Climate10. Civil and Legal AdministrationProblems of Appointing the First OfficialsThe Election of the Guardians of the LawsDuties and Tenure of the Guardians; Registration of PropertyMilitary OfficialsGeneralsCompany-CommandersThe ElectionsCavalry-CommandersDisrupted VotesThe Election of the CouncilThe Notion of EqualityThe Executive Committee of the CouncilOther Officials; PriestsThe Election of the ExpoundersTresurersThe Protection of the TerritoryThe Rural CourtsHow the Country-Wardens are to LiveThe City-WardensThe Market-WardensEducation OfficalsThe Minister of EducationDeath in OfficeThree Grades of CourtElection of the Supreme CourtCorrupt VerdictsThe Court of the PeopleThe Tribal CourtsOur Scheme is only a Sketch11. Marriage and Related TopicsThe Younger LegislatorsThe Organization of Religious FestivalsMarriage: Choosing a Partner (1)Changing the LawsThe Law of MarriagePreamble to the Law of Marriage: Choosing a Partner (2)Failure to MarryDowriesThe Wedding-FeastCorrect Procreation (1)The Life of the Newly-WedsThe Problem of SlaveryThe Buildings of the StateWomen must join the Communal MealsThree Instictive Drives: Food, Drink, SexCorrect ProcreationAdulteryRegistration of Births and DeathsAge Limits12. EducationWritten and Unwritten RulesEducation in the WombThe Importance of Movement: the Evidence of Corybantic Ritualhow far should a Child be Humoured?Unwritten Rules: a ReminderEarly EducationAmbidexterityPhysical Training (1)The Dangers of Innovation in EducationCome Model RulesThe Regulation of MusicThe Right Use of LeisureAttendance at SchoolThe Education of FemalesHow to Live a life of LeisureFurther Duties of the Minister of EducationThe Legislator's Instuctions to the Minister of Education: the CurriculumLiteratureA Set Text: Selections from the Laws of PlatoMusicComedy and TragedyMathematicsAstronomyHunting: Written and Unwritten Rules again13. Sport and Military TrainingArrangements for FestivalsMilitary TrainingObstacles to Correct Military TrainingRacesContests in ArmsHorse-RacingConclusion14. Problems of Sexual ConductThe Problems StatedThree Kinds of FriendshipHow to Discourage Unnatural Sexual IntercourseThe Importance of Self-ControlTwo Alternative Laws15. Agriculture, Economics and TradeThe Food SupplyAgricultural LawsDuties to NeighborsThe Water Supply (1)The harvestThe Water Supply (2)Bringing in CropsArtisansImports and ExportsThe Food Supply (2)Dwelling HousesThe MarketsResident Aliens16. Capital OffencesPreliminary DiscussionRobbery from TemplesProcedure in Capital CasesSubversionTreason17. The Theory of PunishmentTheft: Should all Thefts Attract the Same Punichment?Philosophical Legislation JustifiedA 'Terminological Inexactitude'The Attack on the Distinction between 'Voluntary' and 'Involuntary'The New Distinction, and the Purpose of PunichmentA Fuller Account of Injustice18. Homicide LawPersons Unfit to PleadInvoluntary HomicideHomicide in AngerVoluntary HomicideSuicideAnimals and Inanimate Objects as KillersMurder by Persons UnknownJustifiable Homicide19. WoundingsPreliminariesThe Courts' DiscretionVoluntary Wounding, and a Digression on Adopting an Heir in Cases of ChildlessnessWoundings Inflicted in AngerInvoluntary Woundings20. Assault21. ReligionThree Sources of ImpietyThe Case of the OppositionAddress to the Young HereticNature and Chance versus DesignThe Difficulties of Refuting AtheistsThe Priority of Soul (1)Ten Kinds of MotionSoul Moves ItselfThe Priority of Soul (2)Soul moves the Heavenly BodiesAddress to the Believer in the Indifference of the GodsProof that the Gods care for MankindThe Justice of the Gods, and the Fate of the SoulTransition to the Law of ImpietyTwo Kinds of OffendersThe Punishment for ImpietyPrivate Shrines22. The Law of PropertyRespect for PropertyRemoval of Buried TreasureRemoval of Property in GeneralThe Treatment of Slaves and Freedom23. Commercial LawThe Law of Sale and ExchangeRetail TradeContractsDealings with CraftsmenMilitary 'Craftsmen'24. Family LawMaking a WillTestamentary and Inheritance LawHow to Mitigate the Harshness of the LawThe Care of OrphansDisinheritanceSenilityDivorce and RemarriageDeath of a Wife or HusbandChildren of Mixed StatusRespect for Parents25. Miscellaneous LegislationNon-fatal Injuries by Drugs and CharmsThe Purpose of PunishmentLunacyAbuseThe Censorship of ComediesBeggarsDamage by SlavesFurther Rules of Legal ProcedureUnscrupulous AdvocacyOffences Committed by Members of Diplomatic MissionsTheft of Public PropertyMilitary ServiceAbandonment of WeaponsThe Need for ScrutineersThe Funeral of a ScrutineerProsecutions of ScrutineersOathsRefusal to Contribute to Public ExpensesRelations with the Outside WorldForeign TravelThe ObserversForiegn VisitorsSuretiesSearching a HouseTime Limits for Disputing TitlePrevention of Attendance at CourtPrevention of Participation in ContestsReceiving Stolen GoodsHarbouring an ExileWaging Private WarBribesTaxationOfferings to the GodsThe Three Grades of CourtThe Minor Points of Legal Procedure, and the Importance of Legal StudiesThe Execution of JudgementFuneral Regulations26. The Nocturnal CouncilHow can the State be Preserved Intact?Membership and Functions of the CouncilThe Unity and Plurality of VirtueThe Council's Duty to TeachThe Higher Education of the CouncilThe Importance of TheologyRecruitment of the Council, and its Course of StudiesClosing RemarksDepartures from the Budé TextMap of Central CreteList of CrimesAppendix: Plato's LettersNotesIndex of Names

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom one of the most important contemporary thinkers we have, a compelling, forceful tract about women and motherhood that demands immediate attention. Moving commandingly between pop cultural references such as Roald Dahl's ''Matilda'' to observations about motherhood in the ancient world, from and thoughts about the stigmatization of single mothers in the UK, Mothers delivers a groundbreaking report into something so prevalent we hardly notice.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHistory and Class Consciousness was the most important of Georg Lukács's early theoretical writings, published in Germany in 1923. The subject of high praise and passionate criticism, it had a major impact on all the Marxist debates that followed, introducing key new concepts such as 'totality', 'reification' and 'imputed class consciousness'. This centenary edition, with a new preface by Michael Löwy, comprises a series of essays exploring, among other topics, the definition of orthodox Marxism, the question of legality and illegality, Rosa Luxemburg as a Marxist, the changing function of historic Marxism, and the substantiation and consciousness of the proletariat. This classic book has influenced many key philosophers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including Adorno, Debord, Heidegger, Lefebvre, Merleau-Ponty and Zizek, and it can lay claim to being one of the cornerstones of contemporary thought.Trade ReviewOne of the indispensable works of the twentieth century. -- Raymond WilliamsGeorge Lukács's History and Class Consciousness is a truly extraordinary work, and its English translation, after almost fifty years of neglect by English and American publishers, is a major event. The full quality of Lukács's brilliance is most powerfully manifested in this 'youthful' work (done when merely 38!), where he reveals himself as by far and away the most talented philosopher among 20th-century Marxists, and as their most penetrating critic of contemporary culture. He is a major stimulus in the development of what is certainly the most creative school of social theorists in the 20th century, and of whom Herbert Marcuse is only the best-known member. For all this, then, we owe homage to Georg Lukács. -- Alvin W. Gouldner * New York Times Book Review *Lukacs' book History and Class Consciousness leads Marx back to Hegel to a significant extent, and leads the latter meaningfully beyond himself; here, too, a metaphysics of understanding oneself in existence, of raising our head, our reality above the crooked process, traces its dialectical arcs. -- Ernst BlochHistory and Class Consciousness, a work of genius inseparable from the brief moment when the Bolshevik Revolution seemed to be the beginning of a world revolution. -- Etienne BalibarFor Lukacs, Marxism is, or should be, this integral philosophy without dogma. Weber understood materialism as an attempt to deduce all culture from economics. For Lukacs, it is a way of saying that the relations among men are not the sum of personal acts or personal decisions, but pass through things, the anonymous roles, the common situations, and the institutions where men have projected so much of themselves that their fate is now played out outside them. The exceptional merit of Lukacs-which makes his book, even today, a philosophical one-is precisely that his philosophy was not by implication to be understood as dogma but was to be practiced, that it did not serve to 'prepare' history, and that it was the very chain of history grasped in human experience. His philosophical reading of history brought to light, behind the prose of everyday existence, a recovery of the self by itself which is the definition of subjectivity. -- Maurice Merleau-PontyOn the level of currents of thought we must no doubt go back to Lukacs, whose History and Class Consciousness was already raising questions to do with a new subjectivity. -- Gilles DeleuzeLukács's critique of 'reification' in History and Class Consciousness shows the path toward a philosophy of social praxis, according to which social objectivity must be understood as the creation of human beings themselves in the process of reproducing their material and cultural worlds. -- Seyla BenhabibI can still remember the way that first page of Lukács made my head spin. The cosmic chutzpah of the man was staggering. I'd known plenty of Marxists who were willing to admit that Marx might be wrong about many tjings; in spite of this, they said, he was right about the essential things and that was why they were Marxists. Now here was a Marxist saying that Marx might be wrong about everything, and he couldn't care less, that the truth of Marxism was independent of anything that Marx said about the world, and hence that nothing in the world could ever refute it; and that as the essence not merely of Marxist truth, but of Marxist Orthodoxy. -- Marshall BermanThe charter document of Hegelian Marxism. -- Martin JayTable of ContentsTranslator's NotePreface to the centenary edition (2023)Preface to the new edition (1967)PrefaceWhat is Orthodox Marxism?The Marxism of Rosa LuxemburgClass ConsciousnessReification and the Consciousness of the ProletariatI The Phenomenon of Reifi The Phenomenon of ReificationII The Antinomies of Bourgeois ThoughtIII The Standpoint of the ProletariatThe Changing Function of Historical MaterialismLegality and IllegalityCritical Observations on Rosa Luxemburg's "Critique of the Russian Revolution"Towards a Methodology of the Problem of OrganisationNotes to the English EditionIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisFormed in a time of great unrest in ancient China, The Analects is vital to an understanding of Chinese history and thought, and, 2,500 years on, it remains startlingly relevant to contemporary life.Complete and unabridged. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, cloth-bound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. Highly regarded for the poetic fluency he brings to his award–winning work, David Hinton's translation is inviting and immensely readable.Confucius, the ‘great sage’ of China, believed that an ideal society is based on humanity, benevolence and goodness. His profoundly influential philosophy is encapsulated in The Analects, a collection of sayings which were written down by his followers. Confucius advocates an ethical social order, woven together by selfless and supportive relationships between friends, families and communities. He taught that living by a moral code based on education, ritual, respect and integrity will bring peace to human society.

Read more less

Book Synopsis''One of the radical heroes of our age. A towering intellect'' GuardianHegemony or Survival is Noam Chomsky''s essential polemic on American foreign policy.Noam Chomsky, the world''s foremost intellectual activist, presents an irrefutable analysis of America''s pursuit of total domination and the catastrophic consequences that are sure to follow.From the funding of repressive regimes to the current ''war on terror'', from the toppling of governments opposing its beliefs to the invasion of Iraq, America pursues its global strategy no matter what the cost. With the rigour and insight that have made him our most important unraveller of accredited lies, Noam Chomsky reveals the truth and the true motives behind America''s quest for dominance - and seeks also to show how the world may yet step back from the brink.''A devastating history of American foreign policy since 1945 as well as a dissection of the current war on

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Trouble in Paradise, Slavoj Žižek, one of our most famous, most combative philosophers, explains how by drawing on the ideas of communism, we can find a way out of the crisis of capitalism.There is obviously trouble in the global capitalist paradise. But why do we find it so difficult to imagine a way out of the crisis we''re in? It is as if the trouble feeds on itself: the march of capitalism has become inexorable, the only game in town.Setting out to diagnose the condition of global capitalism, the ideological constraints we are faced with in our daily lives, and the bleak future promised by this system, Slavoj Žižek explores the possibilities - and the traps - of new emancipatory struggles. Drawing insights from phenomena as diverse as Gangnam Style to Marx, The Dark Knight to Thatcher, Trouble in Paradise is an incisive dissection of the world we inhabit, and the new order to come.''The most dangerous philosopher in the West'' - Adam Kirsch, New Republic ''The most formidably brilliant exponent of psychoanalysis, indeed of cultural theory in general, to have emerged in many decades'' - Terry Eagleton ''Žižek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized, and is master of the counterintuitive observation'' - New Yorker

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book thinks through modernity and its representations by exploring critical considerations of time and space. Drawing on anthropology, history and social theory, it investigates the oppositions and enchantments, the contradictions and contentions, and the identities and ambivalences spawned under modernity. Crucially, it understands these antinomies not as errors, but as constitutive elements of modern worlds.The book questions routine portrayals of homogeneous time and antinomian blueprints of cultural space, while acknowledging the production of time and space by social subjects. Instead of assuming a straightforward, singular trajectory for the phenomena, it views modernity as involving checkered, contingent and contended processes of meaning and power, which have found heterogeneous historical elaborations over the past five centuries. Bringing together past and present, theory and narrative, it sows the historical, ethnographic and methodological deep into its critical procedures, offering an innovative understanding of cultural identities and imaginatively exploring the relationship between history and anthropology.Trade Review'Dube ranges widely and globally – from histories of empires and genealogies of disciplines to recent Dalit artwork from India – to explore and carefully delineate a tension he regards as fundamental to the formation of the modern: the modern subject's inevitable entanglement with those subject to modernity. A tour de force, this book offers a critical, timely and powerful sequel to postcolonial and subaltern studies.'Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago'Saurabh Dube, a distinguished scholar of the "enchantments of modernity", turns his attention here to the various "subjects" to which modernity has given rise: to its agents, its subalterns and its narrators; to the particular sort of space and time it produces and presumes; above all, to the disciplined and undisciplined forms of knowledge it has spawned. At a time when the tenets of modernity are increasingly being called into question, he offers us a meditation of unusual insight and critical value.'Jean and John Comaroff, Harvard University'Saurabh Dube has crafted an elegantly essayistic critique of the simplistic (and single-stranded) evolutionism that inspires the pretensions of self-proclaimed global and hegemonic modernity. He shows how even progressive and well-meaning scholars conflate heterogeneous complexities, thereby imbuing this all-encompassing conceptual structure with seemingly ineluctable reality. His provocations offer a challenging break with frameworks that for too long have carried colonialism’s intellectual heritage forward even after its political demise.'Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University'Saurabh Dube’s elegant and insightful meditation on modernity, with a focus on the academic and aesthetic trajectories of the phenomenon, as well as on historical actors who both shaped and were shaped by these processes, constitutes an important revisionist take on the subject. Dube’s exploration of modernity, through a scrupulous attention to its temporal-spatial imperatives, poses a challenge at both the empirical and conceptual level to the exemplary status of the West. The book models a form of critical scholarship that is generous in its engagement with the work of its interlocutors even as it pushes against the latest clichés to chart new directions. Subjects of modernity deserves to be read very widely across a variety of overlapping fields and subfields, from history to anthropology and from subaltern studies to postcolonial theory.'Mrinalini Sinha, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor‘Dube’s book is an excellent reminder of the possibilities as well as the perils of modernity.’Projit Bihari Mukharji, Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Postcolonial Studies‘Dube brings an electric urgency to the task of historiography of modernity, a need to look for a way out and away from the exigencies of modernity. The book is disguised as a thesis. But Dube has obviously penned a manifesto. It has its academic credentials — and he is happy to invite readers to skip and scan, reading the book as six essays rather than as a monograph. But at heart, this book is a call for action. And it is this urgency to act that makes this book a benchmark by which we look at the future investigators of modernity and their ethical and privileged respon sibilities for naming and changing the scripts that bind the subject of modernity.’Nishant Shah is Dean, ArtEZ University of the Arts, The Netherlands and teaches at the Leuphana University, Germany, Economic and Political Weekly, June 2018'Saurabh Dube’s Subjects of modernity is a conceptual reflection on and an extended dialogue with, the vast critical scholarship on modernity that the fields of postcolonial theory, history, and anthropology have yielded. However, rather than treating them as arguments to be transcended, Dube builds on this corpus of writings and further probes them. Methodologically speaking, for the work that this book does, Dube charts a space of, what he aptly calls, ‘disciplinary borderlands’ (3).'Partha Pratim Shil, Trinity College, Cambridge, UK, South Asian History and Culture, December 2019'This book takes an ethnographic approach to its topic by endeavoring to observe how social and disciplinary subjects shaped by modernity go on to constitute modern worlds. Specifically, it attempts to “explore modernity as a contradictory and checkered historical- cultural entity and category as well as a contingent and contended process and condition” (1). Most of the subjects considered are intellectuals and academic disciplines (specifically history and anthropology), although the argument occasionally focuses on artists as well [...] Central to the volume—and its most original contribution—are various deliberations on the productions of time and space by various subjects. To be clear, by “time” the book means history and temporality whereas “space” suggests tradition and culture.'Peter Gottschalk, Wesleyan University, Connecticut, USA, History and Theory, March 2020 -- .Table of Contents1 Subjects of modernity: an introduction 2 Intimations of modernity: time and space3 Maps of modernity: antinomies and enticements4 Disciplines of modernity: entanglements and ambiguities5 Margins of modernity: identities and incitements6 Modern subjects: an epilogueIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe capitalist mode of destruction traces contemporary capitalism’s economic, ecological and democratic crises. Combining insights from a range of disciplines, including psychology, sociology and political economy, Panayotakis interprets these crises as manifestations of a previously unrecognized contradiction: over time, the benefits of capitalism’s technological dynamism tend to decline even as its threats to humanity and the planet continue to mount.To explain this contradiction, the book analyzes the production and distribution of surplus in capitalist societies and rethinks the concept of surplus itself. Identifying the public sector and households as sites of production no less important than the workplace, this book attributes capitalism’s contradictions to working people’s lack of control over the surplus they produce. This lack of control is undemocratic and threatens the planet. Only a classless society, in which working people democratically determine the size and use of the surplus they produce, can effectively respond to our current predicament. Recognizing such a democratic classless society as the essence of the communist ideal, the book argues that, far from becoming obsolete, this ideal is ever more indispensable. But since the necessity of this ideal does not guarantee its realization, the book also investigates the conditions necessary for the formation of an anti-capitalist alliance for social justice, democracy and ecological sustainability.Table of ContentsConfronting the capitalist virus: A prefatory noteIntroduction1 Rethinking the Surplus2 Surplus and Freedom3 Capital’s Real Subsumption of Consumption 4 Consumerism and Capital’s Use of Science and Technology to Undercut Democracy5 Capitalism as a Force of Destruction6 Futile Growth and Mounting Destruction: The Need to Rethink Contemporary Capitalism’s Contradictions7 The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy and the Continuing Relevance of the Communist IdealConclusion: Rethinking the Relationship Between Capitalism, Communism and Democracy

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow can we bring people together? Sociologist and best-selling author Eric Klinenberg introduces a transformative and powerfully uplifting new idea for health, happiness, safety and healing our divided, unequal society. 'This wonderful book shows us how democracies thrive' Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, authors of How Democracies DieToo often we take for granted and neglect our libraries, parks, markets, schools, playgrounds, gardens and communal spaces, but decades of research now shows that these places can have an extraordinary effect on our personal and collective wellbeing. Why? Because wherever people cross paths and linger, wherever we gather informally, strike up a conversation and get to know one another, relationships blossom and communities emerge – and where communities are strong, people are safer and healthier, crime drops and commerce thrives, and peace, tolerance and stability take root. Through uplifting human stories and an illuminating tour through the science of social connection, Palaces for the People shows that properly designing and maintaining this ‘social infrastructure’ might be our single best strategy for a more equal and united society.Trade ReviewThis wonderful book shows us how democracies thrive -- Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, authors of How Democracies DieFantastic ... both idealistic and, in its myriad examples, pragmatic, and delightfully readable -- Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things to MeThis book is full of hope, which is all the more striking because Klinenberg is a realist. He is a major social thinker, and this is a beautifully written, major book -- Richard Sennett, author of The CraftsmanAn important book for our difficult age. In very unequal societies, where the social fabric has been torn apart, it is vitally important to bring people together. Eric Klinenberg shows us how this can be done -- Kate Pickett, co-author of The Spirit Level and The Inner LevelKlinenberg’s observations hold as true for Brexit Britain as they do for Trump’s America ... In ripping out our social infrastructure, we are outraging a wisdom that goes back centuries and spans countries ... Our people deserve palaces" Aditya Chakrabortty

Read more less

Book SynopsisScruton argues that the tragedies and disasters of the history of the European continent have been the consequences of a false optimism and the fallacies that derive from it. In place of these fallacies, Scruton mounts a passionate defence of both civil society and freedom. He shows that the true legacy of European civilisation is not the false idealisms that have almost destroyed it - in the shapes of Nazism, fascism and communism - but the culture of forgiveness and irony which we must now protect from those whom it offends. The Uses of Pessimism is a passionate plea for reason and responsibility, written at a time of profound change.

Read more less

Book SynopsisElisabeth R. Anker reckons with the complex legacy of freedom offered by liberal American democracy, identifying modes of ugly freedom that can lead to domination or provide a source of emancipatory potential.Trade Review“Ugly Freedoms argues that the history of freedom as ‘a majestic practice’ erases ‘the appalling violence that traffics under its name’ and refuses to dignify as freedom the small but inventive actions whereby courageous people resist domination. Elisabeth R. Anker rectifies both these wrongs. Beginning with Locke’s liberal individual, read through the lens of the Barbadian ‘planters’ who likely inspired it, Anker brilliantly finds in the creases of our history and culture a more just freedom for our own not very beautiful world.” -- Bonnie Honig, author of * Shell-Shocked: Feminist Criticism After Trump *“Elisabeth R. Anker takes us into unnerving, disconcerting, even disgusting territory to find the hidden treasures in this revelatory new book. Approaching the impasses and confusions of our political present, she draws on the best contemporary political theorists to go significantly beyond them, seeing ‘freedom’ as ugly and ‘ugliness’ as a resource for practices of the free. Read it, teach it, sit with it. Let Ugly Freedoms change the way you think about political possibility.” -- Lisa Duggan, author of * Mean Girl: Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greed *"Anker's interventions offer a lively, energetic rethinking of the foundations and future of liberalism. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty." -- S. M. Barndt * Choice *“Building on scholarship in Black studies, queer theory, and Indigenous studies, Anker explores the flip side of ugly freedom’s brutality in affirming wayward practices, unrefined affective orientations, opaque gestures, and interstitial acts that are usually obscured and undervalued as instances of lauded freedom. . . . Ugly Freedoms is an exciting and persuasive study that challenges contemporary political theorists to rethink their approaches to the historical problem spaces of freedom.” -- Jason Frank * Perspectives on Politics *"Ugly Freedoms stands as a fine demonstration of how objects can be valuable and important sites of analysis. ... [It] provides a good introductory text for those looking to understand the formation of modern American freedom, while serving as an invitation for others to explore additional alternative freedoms." -- Sarah-Nicole Aghassi-Isfahani * Cultural Critique *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Ugly Freedoms 1 1. White and Deadly: Sugar and the Sweet Taste of Freedom 37 2. Tragedies of Emancipation: Freedom, Sex, and Theft after Slavery 77 3. Thwarting Neoliberalism: Boredom, Dysfunction, and Other Visionless Challenges 113 4. Freedom as Climate Destruction: Guts, Dust, and Toxins in an Era of Consumptive Sovereignty 148 Notes 181 Bibliography 207 Index 231

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisWendy Brown explains the hard-right turn in Western politics. She argues that neoliberalism’s intensification of nihilism coupled with its accidental wounding of white male supremacy generates an apocalyptic populism willing to destroy the world rather than endure a future in which this supremacy disappears.Trade ReviewWendy Brown is the great radical theorist of democracy of our time, in the grand tradition of Sheldon Wolin. This book is the best treatment we have of the aftermath of the high moments of our neoliberal age and the descent into antidemocratic darkness. Yet Brown's profound analysis and mature vision give us a glimmer of hope! -- Cornel West, Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy, Harvard UniversityIn this fascinating book, Wendy Brown demonstrates that neoliberal rationality, more than merely economistic in spirit, also contains a reactionary moralism. The two elements dovetail in curtailing every form of equality. This has devastating effects, as we can observe in the world from Trump to Bolsonaro to Erdogan. -- Étienne Balibar, author of Secularism and Cosmopolitanism: Critical Hypotheses on Religion and PoliticsWendy Brown is our most astute and far-reaching political anatomist. Here, she deepens and revises her prior, influential excavations of neoliberal reason, demonstrating how the global resurgence of far-right authoritarianism, white nationalism, and neofascism is less a reaction to economic distress or a return of repressed hatreds than a political mutation born of a long, steady corrosion of social capacities, public goods, democratic subjectivities, and information ecologies. In the Ruins of Neoliberalism exposes a novel and deadly symbiosis of neoliberal policy and reactionary politics in our time; in doing so, it provides essential orientation for all of us working to salvage democratic politics. -- Nikhil Pal Singh, New York UniversityBrown attends to the perceived puzzles of neoliberalism that have baffled other analysts and solves them outright. In the Ruins of Neoliberalism offers a complete rethinking of our current political reality. -- Nicholas Xenos, Director of the Amherst Program in Critical TheoryWhat makes Brown such a compelling political thinker — her unique ability to resist the terms in which political problematics present themselves and to reframe them in a way that opens up new lines of sight. * Los Angeles Review of Books *Brilliant. . . . Essential. * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Society Must Be Dismantled2. Politics Must Be Dethroned3. The Personal, Protected Sphere Must Be Extended 4. Speaking Wedding Cakes and Praying Pregnancy Centers: Religious Liberty and Free Speech in Neoliberal Jurisprudence 5. No Future for White Men: Nihilism, Fatalism, and RessentimentNotesIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWinner of the 2016 PROSE Award in Philosophy, Association of American Publishers "Provides valuable insights into an important and timely subject."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times Book Review "[T]he book crackles with brilliant insights and erudition, while also managing to explain the arcane preoccupations of analytic philosophy in a way that's accessible to a wider audience."---Bookforum "How Propaganda Works deserves huge praise and should be read by anyone who cares about politics and language. Its trove of tools and insights is impossible to completely summarise here."--The National "As with other books that expose hidden patterns in American political life from a great height (those that come to mind are Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent and Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow), the lofty perspective of How Propaganda Works challenges researchers to fill in gaps with more detailed, particular explanations of how and why."--Stephen Siff, Journalism & Mass Communications Quarterly "Rich and thoughtful... The best way to fight propaganda is to become savvier about how it manipulates, how it actually works, as Stanley does in his work."--Desmog Canada "Brilliant and incisive."--Survival: Global Politics and Strategy "[A] timely and important work that contributes a good deal of theoretical understanding to a crucial yet relatively neglected topic of inquiry."--Spinwatch "A book uniquely suited to its time... An example of political philosophy at its finest."--Voegelinview "Stanley tracks propaganda's history across continents and through decades, illuminating its power to make people vote against their own best interests. And what he has found is [that] the words being used may be as important as the politics behind them."--Nick Osbourne, Boston Globe "Citing examples ranging from historical racism in America to Citizens United, Stanley's critique of propaganda and ideology will only prove more influential as public and political opinion is further polarized... [A] useful examination of propaganda's pervasiveness."--Kirkus Reviews "Stanley has produced a highly stimulating book that brings the issue of propaganda to the attention of political philosophers and draws on an impressive range of philosophical and social scientific sources to illustrate his analysis and provide support for his claims. It is bound to be widely discussed and debated."--Jonathan Wolff, Analysis "A searching, eclectic, lively and personal book."--Matthew Festenstein, Political TheoryTable of ContentsPreface IX Introduction: The Problem of Propaganda 1 1 Propaganda in the History of Political Thought 27 2 Propaganda Defined 39 3 Propaganda in Liberal Democracy 81 4 Language as a Mechanism of Control 125 5 Ideology 178 6 Political Ideologies 223 7 The Ideology of Elites: A Case Study 269 Conclusion 292 Acknowledgments 295 Notes 305 Bibliography 335 Index 347

Read more less

Book SynopsisThese concise guides are an antidote to confusion, tracing major political ideas from their origins to today''s headlines.A coherent political philosophy or a vacuous cop-out? A pragmatic middle way between the extremes of left and right or a cynical strategy to secure power and neuter debate?Politicians have long invoked centrism as both a term of abuse (Margaret Thatcher) and a badge of pride (Tony Blair). Figures as important as John Maynard Keynes, Roy Jenkins, Bill Clinton and Emmanuel Macron have all had different ideas about how to make sure the centre holds. But for a term that purports to describe consensus, it''s ironic just how little agreement there is over what ''centrism'' actually means.In Centrism: The Story of an Idea, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey trace the evolution of centrism from ancient Greece to the French Revolution, the Second World War to the 2024 elections. They find a story that is much bigger than the sum of its parts - and

Read more less

Book SynopsisHannah Arendt is one of the most renowned political thinkers of the twentieth century and her work has never been more relevant than it is today. Born in Germany in 1906, Arendt published her first book at the age of 23, before turning away from the world of academic philosophy to reckon with the rise of the Third Reich. After the War, Arendt became one of the most prominent - and controversial - public intellectuals of her time, publishing influential works such as The Origins of Totalitarianism, The Human Condition and Eichmann in Jerusalem. Samantha Rose Hill weaves together new biographical detail, archival documents, poems and correspondence to reveal a woman whose passion for the life of the mind was nourished by her love of the world.Trade Review‘Hill sparingly and undramatically chooses her details (without, thankfully, passing over the gossip) . . . She is evidently so used to explaining Arendt’s ideas to nervous freshmen that each chapter contains a SparkNotes-like summary of the major works written during the time period in question. They are concise and comprehensible . . . Hill was well situated to go diving for gems in Arendt’s papers, letters, and marginalia . . . Hill spares us the clichéd, tabloid-ish critiques that make up a sizable chunk of Arendtian lore (“she was a self-hating Jew”; “I can’t believe she loved Heidegger”; “she thought Eichmann’s crimes were banal”; and so on and so forth). Instead, Hill calmly — and quietly, but without truckling — applies her close readings of Arendt’s most controversial ideas to our own oftentimes taut and illiberal social atmosphere.’ — LA Review of Books; ‘The stated aim of Samantha Rose Hill’s new Arendt biography, a slim installment in Reaktion Books’s Critical Lives series, is to introduce this perennially relevant thinker to new readers . . . A brief primer on her life and thinking is timely, given the resurgence of interest . . . While the aim of this biography might be to serve as a brief, lively introduction to Arendt, Hill accomplishes something richer. In introducing us to Arendt's life and thought, what emerges is an example of thinking as a dynamic activity . . . Hill does not present Arendt as a banister to hold up our thinking. Rather, she aptly shows that Arendt is someone to read now because Arendt is someone worth thinking with.’ — Women’s Review of Books; ‘As Hill points out in Hannah Arendt, even in works such as The Origins of Totalitarianism – surprise bestseller of the Trump era – the political is invariably brought back to the personal.’ — Prospect Magazine; ‘This book could hardly appear more opportunely. Arendt’s way of thinking, though original to the point of being difficult to follow, appeals to an increasing number of men and women who question the meaning of their lives in the world we share. Arendt’s own writings and the books and essays analyzing them may seem exhaustive, yet Hill’s work does something new: without simplifying Arendt’s thinking, she opens it to contemporary readers who, in the darkness of our times, will find a friend, a woman, who lived through the darkest of all times.’ — Jerome Kohn, trustee of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"[Singer] is persuasive on so many topics that he makes you wish we could turn the world off, then on again, in an attempt to reset it."---Dwight Garner, New York Times"A terrific recent book . . . that wrestles with how much we should donate to charity, and whether wearing a $10,000 watch is a sign of good taste, or of shallow narcissism."---Nicholas Kristof, New York Times"Could well inspire conversations—and arguments—that deepen and complicate the crucial moral and ethical issues that Singer presents." * Kirkus Reviews *"An accessible introduction to the work of a philosopher who would not regard being described as ‘accessible' as an insult. . . . Despite their brevity, the essays do not shirk the big moral questions." * The Economist *"Philosophy should be a more public endeavor, and Singer's work is an excellent entry point. In a fall that will be shaped by a political contest in many ways detached from genuinely pressing moral issues, it might also serve as a refreshingly complex source of ethical questioning."---Talya Zax, Forward"Singer demonstrates how to write pungently and succinctly about moral philosophy."---Daniel Johnson, Standpoint"The essays in the present volume address issues well beyond Singer's normal range of commentary. In sum, this book not only provides a broad-based introduction to Singer¹s moral philosophy but also will serve . . . as an excellent textbook for any course in applied ethics. For philosophers, Singer's work provides a model for how to transition from the ivory tower to the domain of public philosophy." * Choice *"Singer is a provocative, well-informed and hands-on philosopher, with a lucid and engaging writing style. The collection provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of themes that are central to Singer's ethics. . . . His essays are well-structured, engaging, and exemplarily clear. Moreover, his arguments tend to be nuanced and non-dogmatic, in spite of his well-known ethical agenda: here is an ethicist not looking for arguments to support a preconceived conclusion, but sincerely pondering the implications of his utilitarian stance."---Jeroen Hopster, Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics"Inspiring and enlivening; each essay is an easily digested nugget of acute, inventive reasoning and moral urgency, focused on practical, achievable results and the resistance of lazy, dogmatic thinking. . . . Any reader will find the book accessible; every reader will find it both thought-provoking and challenging."---Shane N. Glackin, Quarterly Review of Biology"The way Singer approaches his subject matter is awesome and instructive. He picks up news, anniversaries, but also personal encounters, and—within three or four sentences—shows the deeper ethical questions that lie behind these snippets."---Jan Friedrich, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice"This is a lovable book which deserves to be read and discussed."---Tommi Lehtonen, European Legacy"This book of clear analysis and challenging thinking encourages readers towards radical shifts of thinking and action."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer"Quick, punchy and clear. . . . [Singer] has an enviable mastery of his form, and the book provides a representative introduction to the breadth of his public thought."---Simone Gubler, Times Literary Supplement

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Kate Manne is the Simone de Beauvoir of the 21st century'' - Amanda Marcotte''I want to press this book on every schoolgirl who thinks that feminism is uncool, any woman who thinks the most important gender battles are won, pretty much every man I know, and say, have you thought about this?'' Sophie McBain, New StatesmanMale entitlement takes many forms. To sex, yes, but more insidiously to admiration, bodily autonomy, knowledge, power, even care. In this urgent intervention, philosopher Kate Manne offers a radical new framework for understanding misogyny. In clear-sighted, powerful prose, she ranges widely across the culture to show how the idea that a privileged man is tacitly deemed to be owed something is a pervasive problem. Male entitlement can explain a wide array of phenomena, from mansplaining and the undertreatment of women''s pain to mass shootings by incels and the seemingly intractable notion that women are ''unelectable''.Trade ReviewI want to press it on every schoolgirl who thinks that feminism is uncool, any woman who thinks the most important gender battles are won, pretty much every man I know, and say, have you thought about this? -- Sophie McBain * New Statesman *With perspicacity and clear, jargon-free language, Manne keeps elevating the discussion to show how male privilege is an entire moral framework... The rage and sadness of the book is lifted by the final chapter in which she addresses her unborn daughter, wishing for her all the things she should feel entitled to... For Manne's daughter and many others, this book will make that fight a little bit easier * Guardian *Entitled presents a paradigm that maps neatly onto life in lockdown. . . Once again, Manne's work is speaking to a moment that she could not have foreseen. . . Her concept of entitlement is versatile and useful; like the theory of gravity, it has equal power in explaining phenomena both big and small * New Yorker *Kate Manne is the Simone de Beauvoir of the 21st century -- Amanda MarcotteEntitled is not just timely, but timeless -- sure to be part of the feminist canon -- Jessica ValentiIncisive, perceptive and profound. . . an absolute must-read -- Soraya ChemalyEntitled is not just timely, but timeless-sure to be part of the feminist canon. -- Jessica Valenti, author of SEX OBJECT: A MEMOIRKate Manne continues to be a thrilling and provocative feminist thinker, who helps readers make sense of how power and privilege is distributed along gendered lines. Her work is indispensable. -- Rebecca Traister, author of GOOD & MADEntitled is a clarion call to undo the intimate ravages of patriarchy. With probing clarity, Manne analyzes both the explicit and implicit ways that advantage and preference are granted to elite men, to the detriment of our families, communities and democracy, and makes it strikingly clear that we all have a direct role in pursuing a feminist future. -- Imani Perry, author of LOOKING FOR LORRAINE and BREATHEKate Manne is among the greatest political philosophers of her generation. Her work is clear, compelling and intellectually devastating, and it matters to everyone who cares about thinking a way through to a better future. -- Laurie Penny, author of UNSPEAKABLE THINGSKate Manne has a special talent for articulating and expanding on the implicit norms of patriarchal society-and the damage those norms wreak on its citizenry. Entitled is electric. -- Darcy Lockman, author of ALL THE RAGEWith eloquent prose and irrefutable evidence, Kate Manne gives voice to a twenty-first century rage. Entitled builds on Manne's earlier work on the forces of systemic patriarchy and the eternal frustration felt by generations of women forced year after year to fight for egalitarianism at the most fundamental levels. One of our most prophetic and gifted feminist voices today, Manne's work is as necessary as sunlight. Your anger may not be quelled by the final page, but at least you'll feel less alone ... A staggering, timely read. -- Rachel Louise Snyder, author of NO VISIBLE BRUISESIn Entitled, Kate Manne gets right to the heart of gender, power, and inequality: What men presume they deserve, and what women learn we owe. The result is an unflinching indictment of male entitlement in nearly every aspect of modern life. Entitled is exactly what we need to understand our current moment-and to imagine something better. -- Jill Filipovic, author of THE H-SPOTKate Manne is the Simone de Beauvoir of the 21st century. In Entitled, she compellingly lays out the stubborn social assumptions behind our still-sexist cultural norms. Manne's writing is as breezy as it is sharp and unflinching, and will give any patriarchy-fighter the ammo she needs to keep fighting. -- Amanda Marcotte * Salon *Kate Manne's brilliant breakdown of male entitlement is essential to understanding the world we live in. Her thinking about this critical and complex topic is characteristically incisive, perceptive, and profound. Now, more than ever, Entitled is an absolute must-read! -- Soraya Chemaly, author of RAGE BECOMES HERKate Manne tackles the kaleidoscopic manifestations of male entitlement with insights as invigorating as her subject matter is frustrating. Her thinking is so elegant and her theory of male entitlement as a symptom of a moral economy in which women are perpetually in men's debt is so groundbreaking that the book is sure to spark and inspire other feminist writers. Entitled is the work of a once-in-a-generation mind, and as always, Manne succeeds in leaving feminism richer and more robust than when she found it. -- Moira Donegan * The Guardian *Entitled is a painful book that sets things right. Manne guides us through some of the most violent traumas our culture has to offer women, starting with #MeToo creeps and murderous incels and descending from there through just about every level of female Hell. Yet Manne's marvelous clarity and cool in the face of the unthinkable, her habit of crystallizing unspeakable problems into simple sentences that stay with you for years, makes her the most trustworthy possible guide through this house of horrors. One of the most essential voices of our times. -- Sady Doyle, author of TRAINWRECK and DEAD BLONDES & BAD MOTHERSChallenging, controversial, wide-ranging, and powerful, the eminent young philosopher Kate Manne brings to bear her well-known theory of patriarchy and misogyny on a range of contemporary issues, providing powerful evidence of its ubiquity and pervasiveness on everything from our ordinary interchanges with one another to our health care systems and elections. -- Jason Stanley, author of HOW FASCISM WORKSIn lucid prose, Kate Manne illustrates how male entitlement-to sex, power, and knowledge; to women's care, doctors' attention, and the benefit of the doubt-undergirds misogyny. Examining the special effects of misogynoir and transmisogyny alongside hostile behaviors that keep all women and non-binary people 'in their place,' Manne provides a thorough (if by no means exhaustive) look at the ways we prioritize cis men's needs and desires, to the detriment of half the population. -- Kate Harding, author of ASKING FOR IT and co-editor of NASTY WOMENManne's like a pathologist wielding a scalpel, methodically dissecting various specimens of muddled argument to reveal the diseased tissue inside . . . it's thrilling to read * New York Times *Entitled is a brilliant analysis of the systematic advantages and prerogatives awarded to men for nothing more than being men. Its deep engagement with real-world examples, eloquent prose, and compelling arguments provide a corrective lens through which to view the world without the blur and distortion that we don't even notice. This is the world we live in, and although the clarity can be painful, Manne also provides reason for hope. -- Sally Haslanger, Professor of Philosophy and Women’s & Gender Studies, MITA lively yet forensic analysis of systemic misogyny. . . Entitled is the perfect guide to fight an imperfect world -- Emma Rees * Times Higher Education *The visionary author of Down Girl returns with a bracing and brilliant study of male entitlement, bound to become a cornerstone of contemporary feminist canon. . . Manne interrogates how entitlement gives rise to misogynist violence, making for a perceptive, precise, and gut-wrenching account of a social framework with devastating consequences * Esquire *A trenchant and accessible follow-up to her powerful Down Girl -- Anna Funder

Read more less

Book SynopsisA powerful indictment of the ways elites have co-opted radical critiques of racial capitalism to serve their own endsTrade Review‘Worth sitting with and absorbing. While critically examining what happens when elites hijack our critiques and terminologies for their own interests, Elite Capture acutely reminds us that building power globally means we think and build outside of our internal confines. That is when we have the greatest possibility at worldmaking’ -- Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of ‘How to Be an Antiracist’‘I was waiting for this book without realising I was waiting for this book' -- Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of ‘Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition’‘Olúfémi O. Táíwò is a thinker on fire. He not only calls out empire for shrouding its bloodied hands in the cloth of magical thinking but calls on all of us to do the same. Elite capture, after all, is about turning oppression and its cure into a neoliberal commodity exchange where identities become capitalism’s latest currency rather than the grounds for revolutionary transformation. The lesson is clear: only when we think for ourselves and act with each other, together in deep, dynamic, and difficult solidarity, can we begin to remake the world’ -- Robin D. G. Kelley, author of ‘Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination’‘Coursing with moral urgency and propelled by brilliant prose, this is more than argument. It's how we build the power needed to win’ -- Naomi Klein, author of ‘This Changes Everything’ (on his previous book)'Offers important new ways to think about political possibilities in a world increasingly dominated by the ultra-rich' -- Amitav Ghosh, author of the Booker-shortlisted 'Sea of Poppies''Anyone concerned with both understanding and transforming the world must read this succinct but mighty book. A invigoratingly subversive gem' -- Minna Salami, award-winning essayist and author of 'Sensuous Knowledge'‘This book, building on one of the most lucid, powerful, and important essays I can recall reading in recent years, is, in a word, brilliant. Read it—and read it twice. Every sentence contains multitudes.’ -- Daniel Denvir, host of The Dig‘An indispensable and urgent set of analyses, interventions, and alternatives to ‘identity politics,’ ‘centering,’ and much more. The book offers a sober assessment of the state of our racial politics and a powerful path on how to build the world that we deserve’ -- Derecka Purnell, author of ‘Becoming Abolitionists’‘With global breadth, clarity and precision, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò dissects the causes and consequences of elite capture and charts an alternative constructive politics for our time. The result is an erudite yet accessible book that draws widely on the rich traditions of black and anticolonial political thought’ -- Adom Getachew, author of ‘Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination’‘Among the churn of books on ‘wokeness’ and ‘political correctness,’ philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò’s Elite Capture clearly stands out. With calm, clarity, erudition, and authority, Táíwò walks the reader through the morass, deftly explicating the distinction between substantive and worthy critique and weaponized backlash. Understanding the culture wars is essential to US politics right now, and no one has done it better than Táíwò in this book.’ -- Jason Stanley, author of ‘How Fascism Works’‘Olúfẹḿi O. Táíwò is one of the great social theorists of our generation. Elite Capture is a brilliant, devastating book. Táíwò deploys his characteristic blend of philosophical rigor, sociological insight, and political clarity to reset the debate on identity politics. Táíwò shows how the structure of racial capitalism, not misguided activism, is today’s prime threat to egalitarian, anti-racist politics. And Táíwò’s suggested path forward, a constructive and materialist politics at the radical edge of the possible, is exactly what we need to escape these desperate times. Anyone concerned with dismantling inequalities, and building a better world, needs to read this book.’ -- Daniel Aldana Cohen, co-author of ‘A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal’‘Táíwò's book is an insightful and fascinating look at how it is that elites capture and subvert efforts to better society. Anyone who wants to understand and improve upon the activist movements shaking our world needs to read this book.’ -- Liam Kofi Bright, Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics‘The misuse of identity politics has led to Nancy Pelosi wearing kente cloth but has done little to address actual inequality. Táíwò’s project is reclamation’ -- Zak Cheney-Rice, ‘New York magazine’'One of the most important books I’ve read for cultivating a dedication to progressive change, and for unscrambling some of the cultural frustration of capitalism and its digital revolution' -- Eliz Mizon, ‘Chompsky’‘A transformational text’ -- Emma Dabiri, research associate at SOAS University of London, and author of ‘What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition’‘An emboldening step towards a constructive politics that aims to collectively free us from the violent overdetermination of our lives’ -- ‘ArtReview’‘Astonishing … a philosophically, morally and politically thrilling book’ -- Scott Stephens, The Minefield (ABC)Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. What Is Elite Capture? 2. Reading the Room 3. Being in the Room 4. Building a New House 5. The Point Is to Change It Notes Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisAfter the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia under Yeltsin and Putin implemented a political system of "imitation democracy," marked by "a huge disparity between formal constitutional principles and the reality of authoritarian rule." How did this system take shape, how else might it have developed, and what are the prospects for re-envisioning it more democratically in the future?These questions animate Dmitrii Furman's Imitation Democracy, a welcome antidote to books that blandly decry Putin as an omnipotent dictator, without considering his platforms, constituencies, and sources of power. With extensive public opinion polling drawn from throughout the late- and post-Soviet period, and a thorough knowledge of both official and unofficial histories, Furman offers a definitive account of the formation of the modern Russian political system, casting it into powerful relief through comparisons with other post-Soviet states.Peopled with grey technocrats, warring oligarchs, patriots, and provocateurs, Furman's narrative details the struggles among partisan factions, and the waves of public sentiment, that shaped modern Russia's political landscape, culminating in Putin's third presidential term, which resolves the contradiction between the "form" and "content" of imitation democracy, "the formal dependence of power on elections and the actual dependence of elections on power."Trade ReviewIn the flatlands of post-communism, one exceptional figure always stood out. Uniquely, in the mind and character of Dmitri Furman the two distinct incarnations of the Russian intelligentsia came together, at a time when both seemed to have all but disappeared. Virtually unknown outside the country, and little registered within it, he was a scholar of comparative religion and an anatomist of the aftermath of the USSR who joined political integrity and intellectual originality in a body of work that addressed the fate of his country, and the past of the world, in ways that were equally and strikingly passionate and dispassionate. -- Perry Anderson * London Review of Books *Russia is an imitation culture. Throughout the country's history it has formulated its existence using European formulas. But then unable to compete on the well-established democratic terms Russia has repeatedly positioned itself as a special civilization, in essence, what the West is not. Dmitry Furman's book discusses one of the most important moments in russian history - transition from communism to democracy, as it were. At the time it seemed that Russia's cycle of imitation of the West and then the resentment that it cannot or doesn't not want to follow the rules, could finally be broken. Despite all the democratic promises it was not. Furman brilliantly and meticulously explains as why Russia constantly falls into an autocratic trap of its own making. His is a sober analysis not only of Russia's past but also grim prospects for democracy in its future. -- Nina Khrushcheva, professor of international affairs, The New School, New York

Read more less

Book SynopsisIf this life is all there is, what should we do with it? Join Swedish philosopher Martin Hägglund on an original inquiry into the deepest questions of existence, beginning with a radical declaration: 'What I do and what I love can matter to me only because I understand myself as mortal.' Through revelatory engagements with some of history's greatest philosophers, including Aristotle, St Augustine, Nietzsche, Hegel and Marx, Hägglund attacks our two great deceivers, religion and capitalism. Only by stripping away their subtle illusions can we discover the true value of our earthly freedom. Existence is revealed as a collective project: everything is at stake in what we do together, and no victory can survive us. 'The light of bliss - even when it floods your life - is always attended by the shadow of loss.' By illuminating this truth, This Life forges an existential philosophy fit for a darkening century.Trade ReviewBeautifully liberating ... Hägglund's fundamental secular cry seems right: since time is all we have, we must measure its preciousness in units of freedom. Nothing else will do. Once this glorious idea has taken hold, it is very hard to dislodge. -- James Wood * New Yorker *A splendid primer in the importance of authentic freedom. * Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek minister of finance and author of Adults in the Room *Lucidly written, and at times beautifully so, it is unmistakably a work of philosophy... [Hägglund] wants to effect a revolutionary change in our understanding of value, in our economies and in our lives. -- Mark O'Connell * New Statesman *Martin Hägglund shows with real originality why the moral concern that underlies religious faith has always been a hope for the perpetuation of life on earth. Stringent, lucid, and urgent in its appeal for a politics equal to the prospect of climate disaster, This Life is both an argument and a summons. * David Bromwich, Sterling Professor at Yale University and author of Moral Imagination *This is a rare piece of work, the product of great intellectual strength and moral fortitude. The writing shows extraordinary range and possesses an honesty and fervor which is entirely without cynicism... Hägglund is a genuine moralist for our times, possessed of an undaunted resoluteness and a fierce commitment to intellectual probity. Maybe he's the philosophical analogue to Karl Ove Knausgaard. * Simon Critchley, curator for The New York Times‘ The Stone and author of Tragedy, the Greeks, and Us *A bold contemporary take on existentialism... Earnest and precise... huge intellectual range... beautifully clear. This Life requires no philosophical training or lexicon to follow it, only an interest in the meaning of this life...I found Hägglund's cherishing of mortal life a cheering corrective to the sometimes joyless scientificity of the new atheism....Hägglund is surely right that it is our mortality, our miraculous existence as carbon-based matter turned all too briefly into conscious beings who can love and be loved, that makes us priceless to ourselves and to each other. -- Joe Moran * Times Higher Education *Hägglund's This Life is a highly readable, accessible - yet profound - examination of what kind of society might enable life at its most fulfilling. Whilst realising our interdependence, we have to be responsible for our own fragile lives. The theses may be heavy, but the discussions and analyses, however complex, are written with a light touch and beguiling clarity which is both wholly absorbing and deeply relevant. The reader is complicit, a partner. It is a book to read slowly, and this reviewer is about to start reading it all over again. -- Marina Vaizey * The Arts Desk *

Read more less

Book Synopsis“We should be grateful to Schopenhauer for managing to express the truth about life so beautifully.” — Alain De Botton, author of The Consolations of PhilosophyThe Essential Schopenhauer delivers the first comprehensive English anthology of the seminal philosopher’s writings, edited by Wolfgang Schirmacher, president of the International Schopenhauer Association. This indispensable collection affords readers a uniquely accessible gateway into the monolithic thinker’s prodigious body of work. Just as the Harper Perennial Basic Writings series renders the work of Heidegger and Nietzsche accessible for English readers, The Essential Schopenhauer gives us unprecedented access to the complex ideas of this profound and influential thinker.Trade Review“Schopenhauer’s beautiful, exceptionally dark philosophy liberates us from the intolerable burden placed upon us by our contemporary optimism. The Essential Schopenhauer is a book to turn to when all others have failed.” — Alain de Botton, bestselling author of The Consolations of Philosophy and How Proust Can Change Your Life “Unquestionably one of the most profound and penetrating intellects.” — New York Times “A great philosopher” — The Guardian “Schopenhauer’s philosophy has had a special attraction for those who wonder about life’s meaning, along with those engaged in music, literature, and the visual arts.” — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Read more less

Book SynopsisTo Have Or to Be? is one of the seminal books of the second half of the 20th century. Nothing less than a manifesto for a new social and psychological revolution to save our threatened planet, this book is a summary of the penetrating thought of Eric Fromm. His thesis is that two modes of existence struggle for the spirit of humankind: the having mode, which concentrates on material possessions, power, and aggression, and is the basis of the universal evils of greed, envy, and violence; and the being mode, which is based on love, the pleasure of sharing, and in productive activity. To Have Or to Be? is a brilliant program for socioeconomic change.Table of ContentsForeword Introduction: The Great Promise, Its Failure, and New Alternatives Part 1: Understanding the Difference between Having and Being I. A First Glance II. Having and Being in Daily Experience III. Having and Being in the Old and New Testaments and in the Writings of Master Eckhart Part 2: Analyzing the Fundamental Differences between the Two Modes of Existence IV. What Is the Having Mode? V. What Is the Being Mode? VI. Further Aspects of Having and Being Part 3: The New Man and the New Society VII. Religion, Character, and Society VIII. Conditions for Human Change and the Features of the New Man IX. Features of the New Society Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the Best First Book Prize, Foundations of Political Theory section of the American Political Science Association""A fresh and splendidly clear guide to the intellectual history of monetary policy. . . . The Currency of Politics is an invaluable guide to why — and how to think about what comes next."---Felix Martin, Financial Times"Eich’s extraordinary book provides an essential guide to thinking about the politics of money." * Adam Tooze *"Eich offers a rich treatment of each historical episode. But the chapters on the two Englishmen, Locke and Keynes, stand out. . . . pathbreaking."---Jonathan Levy, Project Syndicate"Eich’s book is ultimately a call to revive democratic debate about money…this excellent book…does not tell us what to do, but he does show us something can be done."---Geoff Mann, New Statesman"A pathbreaking new intellectual history of monetary policy. In examining how key thinkers approached the economic crises of their respective times, Eich offers a map for navigating the politics of money today."---Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, The Nation"Eich’s work is sure to be a landmark in political science. His argument is bold and ambitious; his writing clear and engaging; and his message timely, persuasive and imperative."---Erik Jones, Survival"A deep ex­amination of the theoretical and political foundations of money that rescues the money discus­sion from economists."---Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Open Magazine"An intellectual history of money that theoretically grounds the works of others working on democratizing money. The Currency of Politics is a great addition to the philosophy of money."---Valerie Schreur, Oeconomia"A very good book. . . . Eich takes us on a fascinating journey."---Paul Sagar, Perspectives on Politics"Exquisitely written."---Jorge González-Gallarza, The Critic"Eich’s contribution demarcates a new space for political thought on money, and brings together key theorists on the structuration of money both to show that political thought often has a direct effect on the type of monetary system that is maintained, and to show that democratic agency vis-a-vis money is often wilfully ignored."---Dominic Burbidge, Politics and Poetics"[The Currency of Politics] fits well into the growing critical debate on neoliberal policies that have dominated the economic discussion in the latest decades. . . . [and] helps us to understand that monetary policy must be the prerogative of a healthy and fruitful public and thus political debate."---Giampaolo Conte, The Journal of European Economic History

Read more less

Book SynopsisDeals with a question central to both anthropology and philosophy: what is the relationship between nature and culture? Drawing on ethnographic examples from around the world, the author formulates a new framework, the four ontologies - animism, totemism, naturalism, and analogism - to account for all the ways we relate ourselves to nature.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.We have declared before that it is not only expedient but necessary for a prince to take care his foundations be good, otherwise his fabric will be sure to fail.'Considered one of the first works of modern philosophy, Machiavelli's The Prince is an intense study on the nature of power and the course it should take when ruling a country and expresses the author's strong and unyielding ideals and beliefs on using force rather than law to achieve your aims.Responsible for the widely-used phrase Machiavellian', with all of its negative connotations, his extreme treatise remains a classic text to this day.

Read more less