Many contend that American politics is in a transition time from an old paradigm into something new, but few can divine what the future might hold. One of the social tensions is rhetoric between scarcity and abundance, and Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson wholeheartedly want to focus on ways that America can lead to abundance. They lay out an agenda for the political left, their natural conversational home, to reform itself so that they can…
In scientific circles, the “social determinants of health” is a common phrase used to describe how one’s zip code can have more impact on health outcomes than one’s personal health. This book plays off that title by describing how America’s political situation – whether one is part of a favored class or note – can influence health outcomes. It takes particular aim at health inequities in American history. Daniel Dawes describes attempts in American history…
A standard part of contemporary American culture is the division of society into “red” and “blue” components. Whether concerning states, cities, or ways of life, American society has become more polarized. Instead of the regionalism before the Civil War, these separations often have broken down between a rural versus urban dynamic. Some cities are even considered “red” havens. Bill Bishop first made these observations about 20 years ago, and this book culminated to define the…
Madeleine Albright served in Bill Clinton’s administration as UN Ambassador and Secretary of State – the first female ever in that role. Since Clinton was especially active in international diplomacy, she held a front-row seat and observed many international characters and diplomatic ventures. Further, her career broke the glass ceiling for women in government, and she did it while being a doting mother, grandmother, and even a divorcee. Finally, along with her birth family, she…
This book’s ironic title indicates the “average American’s” complacency towards political concerns – a theme as relevant today as it was during the Great Depression. This book, written at the height of the Depression in 1935, imagines what would happen if a populist/fascist won the presidential election of 1936. Fascism was already taking root in Italy and Germany, and it was on the rise in America (primarily through Senator Huey Long, as the afterword explains).…
Do you think America has never seen such polarizing times as ours today? Pulitizer Prize winner Jon Meacham stands ready to correct you and then to enlist you in the struggle for America to choose the better path. In this work, starting with Abraham Lincoln, he traces how historically Americans fought over choices that today might seem taken for granted – like women’s suffrage, lynchings, the right to vote, and trumped-up charges of political treason.…