Author: James Q. Wilson
Publisher: Basic Books
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 1991 My Rating: 0
Summary: A leading expert explains what government bureaucracies do and why they behave the way they do.
Publisher: Basic Books
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 1991 My Rating: 0
Summary: A leading expert explains what government bureaucracies do and why they behave the way they do.
Author: Will Kymlicka
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Feb 1991 My Rating: 0
Summary: This important new book provides a critical introduction to the rapidly growing literature on theories of justice and community. Each chapter covers a major school of contemporary political thought--utilitarianism, liberal egalitarianism, libertarianism, Marxism, communitarianism, and
feminism--while discussing the work of the most influential contemporary Anglo-American theorists, including G. A. Cohen, Ronald Dworkin, Carol Gilligan, R.M. Hare, Catherine Mackinnon, Robert Nozick, John Rawls, John Roemer, Michael Sandel, and Charles Taylor. By showing how each of these thinkers
interprets the idea of treating people as equals, Kymlicka highlights the key similarities and differences in their modes of thought. He demonstrates how viewing different theories in terms of this "egalitarian plateau" can help to clarify traditional philosophical disputes over the meaning of such
concepts as rights, freedom, the common good, exploitation, and justice. Written in a lively, non-technical style that is accessible to students approaching the subject for the first time, this book will be useful and important reading in a wide variety of courses in political science, philosophy,
and legal studies.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Feb 1991 My Rating: 0
Summary: This important new book provides a critical introduction to the rapidly growing literature on theories of justice and community. Each chapter covers a major school of contemporary political thought--utilitarianism, liberal egalitarianism, libertarianism, Marxism, communitarianism, and
feminism--while discussing the work of the most influential contemporary Anglo-American theorists, including G. A. Cohen, Ronald Dworkin, Carol Gilligan, R.M. Hare, Catherine Mackinnon, Robert Nozick, John Rawls, John Roemer, Michael Sandel, and Charles Taylor. By showing how each of these thinkers
interprets the idea of treating people as equals, Kymlicka highlights the key similarities and differences in their modes of thought. He demonstrates how viewing different theories in terms of this "egalitarian plateau" can help to clarify traditional philosophical disputes over the meaning of such
concepts as rights, freedom, the common good, exploitation, and justice. Written in a lively, non-technical style that is accessible to students approaching the subject for the first time, this book will be useful and important reading in a wide variety of courses in political science, philosophy,
and legal studies.
Author: Michael Mann
Publisher: Verso
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 2003 My Rating: 0
Summary: In this book noted sociologist Michael Mann argues that the "new American imperialism" is actually a new militarism that will bring disaster to the US andthe world.
The US is a military giant, better at devastating than pacifying countries. It is politically schizophrenic, split between multilateralism, unilateralism, and an actual inability to rule over foreign lands or control its own supposed client states. It is only a back-seat driver of the global economy, not steering but prodding poorer countries toward an unproductive and unpopular neoliberalism. Finally, it is an ideological phantom, proclaiming attractive values of freedom, democracy, and material plenty to the world, which its militarism brutally contradicts.
Dissecting the military, economic, and political resources of the US, Mann concludes they are so lacking in comparison to earlier empires, and so uneven, as to generate only an incoherent empire and increasing world disorder.
Publisher: Verso
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 2003 My Rating: 0
Summary: In this book noted sociologist Michael Mann argues that the "new American imperialism" is actually a new militarism that will bring disaster to the US andthe world.
The US is a military giant, better at devastating than pacifying countries. It is politically schizophrenic, split between multilateralism, unilateralism, and an actual inability to rule over foreign lands or control its own supposed client states. It is only a back-seat driver of the global economy, not steering but prodding poorer countries toward an unproductive and unpopular neoliberalism. Finally, it is an ideological phantom, proclaiming attractive values of freedom, democracy, and material plenty to the world, which its militarism brutally contradicts.
Dissecting the military, economic, and political resources of the US, Mann concludes they are so lacking in comparison to earlier empires, and so uneven, as to generate only an incoherent empire and increasing world disorder.
Author: Joan Didion
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Sep 2001 My Rating: 0
Summary: This collection of eight essays covering U.S. politics between 1988 and 2000 is a critical look at what author Joan Didion calls "the ways in which the political process did not reflect but increasingly proceeded from a series of fables about American experience." "The New York Review of Books" originally published these writings, and they hit all the major events of the previous dozen years: the election of George Bush (the first), the emergence of Bill Clinton, the Republican takeover of Congress, Clinton's impeachment, and the 2000 race between George Bush (the second) and Al Gore. During this period, Didion worked and reworked a theme of political disconnect. In examining who cast ballots in 2000 (for the first time, more than half of all voters had incomes about $50,000), she notes acidly in her foreword: "That this was not a demographic profile of the country at large, that half the nation's citizens had only a vassal relationship to the government under which they lived, that the democracy we spoke of spreading throughout the world was now in our own country only an ideality, had come to be seen, against the higher priority of keeping the process in the hands of those who already held it, as facts without application." She puts it a bit more succinctly elsewhere by describing "the largest political party in America" as "those who did not vote."
Didion brings a novelist's eye to her project, and she delights in exposing fakery. In describing one of Vice President Bush's visits to the Middle East in the 1980s, she notes that his advance team requested that camels be present at every stop--so that photographers could capture the supposed authenticity of the trip. Many of the essays in "Political Fictions" are, at a fundamental level, book reviews--and Didion's observations can be withering. She calls Newt Gingrich's novel "1945" "a fairly primitive example of the kind of speculative fiction known as 'alternate history.'" The accomplishment of "Washington Post" journalist Bob Woodward, she says, is to have produced "books in which measurable cerebral activity is virtually absent." Her targets are not always other writers: "No one who ever passed through an American public high school could have watched William Jefferson Clinton running for office in 1992 and failed to recognize the familiar predatory sexuality of the provincial adolescent." Needless to say, "Political Fictions" is not a celebration of American democracy. It is more like an indictment. "--John Miller"
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Sep 2001 My Rating: 0
Summary: This collection of eight essays covering U.S. politics between 1988 and 2000 is a critical look at what author Joan Didion calls "the ways in which the political process did not reflect but increasingly proceeded from a series of fables about American experience." "The New York Review of Books" originally published these writings, and they hit all the major events of the previous dozen years: the election of George Bush (the first), the emergence of Bill Clinton, the Republican takeover of Congress, Clinton's impeachment, and the 2000 race between George Bush (the second) and Al Gore. During this period, Didion worked and reworked a theme of political disconnect. In examining who cast ballots in 2000 (for the first time, more than half of all voters had incomes about $50,000), she notes acidly in her foreword: "That this was not a demographic profile of the country at large, that half the nation's citizens had only a vassal relationship to the government under which they lived, that the democracy we spoke of spreading throughout the world was now in our own country only an ideality, had come to be seen, against the higher priority of keeping the process in the hands of those who already held it, as facts without application." She puts it a bit more succinctly elsewhere by describing "the largest political party in America" as "those who did not vote."
Didion brings a novelist's eye to her project, and she delights in exposing fakery. In describing one of Vice President Bush's visits to the Middle East in the 1980s, she notes that his advance team requested that camels be present at every stop--so that photographers could capture the supposed authenticity of the trip. Many of the essays in "Political Fictions" are, at a fundamental level, book reviews--and Didion's observations can be withering. She calls Newt Gingrich's novel "1945" "a fairly primitive example of the kind of speculative fiction known as 'alternate history.'" The accomplishment of "Washington Post" journalist Bob Woodward, she says, is to have produced "books in which measurable cerebral activity is virtually absent." Her targets are not always other writers: "No one who ever passed through an American public high school could have watched William Jefferson Clinton running for office in 1992 and failed to recognize the familiar predatory sexuality of the provincial adolescent." Needless to say, "Political Fictions" is not a celebration of American democracy. It is more like an indictment. "--John Miller"
Author: Richard Mgrdechian
Publisher: Coventry Circle
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Aug 2006 My Rating: 1
Summary: Combining a series of unique insights with an entirely new set of analytical techniques, How the Left Was Won systematically dismantles each and every element of modern-day liberalism ranging from the justifications behind any and all of its flawed social and political policies to the most basic assumptions regarding the ideology itself.
In order to achieve this goal, the author first introduces a new framework which segments and isolates all liberal behaviors and beliefs into the most objective and discrete elements possible. He then goes on to provide numerous examples of how liberals relentlessly employ this simple set of tools and methodologies over and over again and then discusses the resulting effects they have on our society. Some of these strategies include: Promote and Exploit Divisiveness: Learn why liberals should thank God every day for differences between people and how without them, liberalism would be dead in the water. Bad Competition: Learn why practically all liberal policies create success only through the impairment of others and exactly where this dynamic must necessarily lead. Relevancy and Proportion: See why the vast majority of what liberals say has absolutely no meaning whatsoever and learn a simple way to prove it every time. Groupdividual: Find out how liberalism has distorted the differences between groups and individuals and why this continued distortion is the basis for all flawed social policies within the United States. Implicit Assumptions: Explore the assumptions liberals use to shape public policy and see why the arguments supporting them are ultimately nothing more than a house of cards. The Perpetual Motion Machine: Learn how the vast majority of liberal programs are based on the scientific impossibility of getting something for nothing. A Swarm of Ants: Find out the real reason liberalism continues to permeate more and more elements of our society and why there just may be no way of stopping it.
Publisher: Coventry Circle
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Aug 2006 My Rating: 1
Summary: Combining a series of unique insights with an entirely new set of analytical techniques, How the Left Was Won systematically dismantles each and every element of modern-day liberalism ranging from the justifications behind any and all of its flawed social and political policies to the most basic assumptions regarding the ideology itself.
In order to achieve this goal, the author first introduces a new framework which segments and isolates all liberal behaviors and beliefs into the most objective and discrete elements possible. He then goes on to provide numerous examples of how liberals relentlessly employ this simple set of tools and methodologies over and over again and then discusses the resulting effects they have on our society. Some of these strategies include: Promote and Exploit Divisiveness: Learn why liberals should thank God every day for differences between people and how without them, liberalism would be dead in the water. Bad Competition: Learn why practically all liberal policies create success only through the impairment of others and exactly where this dynamic must necessarily lead. Relevancy and Proportion: See why the vast majority of what liberals say has absolutely no meaning whatsoever and learn a simple way to prove it every time. Groupdividual: Find out how liberalism has distorted the differences between groups and individuals and why this continued distortion is the basis for all flawed social policies within the United States. Implicit Assumptions: Explore the assumptions liberals use to shape public policy and see why the arguments supporting them are ultimately nothing more than a house of cards. The Perpetual Motion Machine: Learn how the vast majority of liberal programs are based on the scientific impossibility of getting something for nothing. A Swarm of Ants: Find out the real reason liberalism continues to permeate more and more elements of our society and why there just may be no way of stopping it.
Author: Joseph Aprile
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jul 2004 My Rating: 3
Summary: The United States, with its wealth of natural resources, expansive frontiers and diverse populations, has always been endowed with great potential. The possibilities inherent in the American nation are being squandered, however, by the arrogance of power. Those in power regard the free and vital political expression of the vast majority of people as a threat to their authority. Any real movement for a change in the political, social and economic order is seen as a threat to the status quo. The members of Congress have themselves been corrupted by both power and the corporate interests that they have become dependent upon.
In this book, the mythology of greatness that is used so effectively in support of an extremist national agenda, is examined and challenged. The delusional self image of America's moral superiority in the world is countered with an honest appraisal of its actual behavior. An alternative national image is suggested, if there is to be hope for resolving the political, social and economic imbalances between the rich and poor nations that feeds the ever expanding violence in the world.
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jul 2004 My Rating: 3
Summary: The United States, with its wealth of natural resources, expansive frontiers and diverse populations, has always been endowed with great potential. The possibilities inherent in the American nation are being squandered, however, by the arrogance of power. Those in power regard the free and vital political expression of the vast majority of people as a threat to their authority. Any real movement for a change in the political, social and economic order is seen as a threat to the status quo. The members of Congress have themselves been corrupted by both power and the corporate interests that they have become dependent upon.
In this book, the mythology of greatness that is used so effectively in support of an extremist national agenda, is examined and challenged. The delusional self image of America's moral superiority in the world is countered with an honest appraisal of its actual behavior. An alternative national image is suggested, if there is to be hope for resolving the political, social and economic imbalances between the rich and poor nations that feeds the ever expanding violence in the world.
Author: Mark W. Smith
Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 2004 My Rating: 3
Summary: Attorney and conservative commentator Mark Smith deconstructs the 10 biggest liberal myths, provides facts and proof to expose liberal lies and hypocrisy, and delivers hard evidence on why the liberals' standing policies on such issues as taxes, welfare. goverment spending, and defense are just plain wrong.
Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 2004 My Rating: 3
Summary: Attorney and conservative commentator Mark Smith deconstructs the 10 biggest liberal myths, provides facts and proof to expose liberal lies and hypocrisy, and delivers hard evidence on why the liberals' standing policies on such issues as taxes, welfare. goverment spending, and defense are just plain wrong.
Author:
Publisher: Red Letter Pr
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 2001 My Rating: 3
Summary: Required reading for rebel grrrlz, working women, and sisters of all colors!
This exciting new edition of a women's liberation classic is an exhilarating exploration of socialist feminist ideas. Third Wave militants, grassroots organizers, and Women Studies scholars will find it a unique and valuable resource — and great reading. Radical Women's impressive 33-year career as a multi-racial, queer and straight, workingclass feminist organization makes the Manifesto an unrivaled and time-tested guide to activism.
Publisher: Red Letter Pr
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 2001 My Rating: 3
Summary: Required reading for rebel grrrlz, working women, and sisters of all colors!
This exciting new edition of a women's liberation classic is an exhilarating exploration of socialist feminist ideas. Third Wave militants, grassroots organizers, and Women Studies scholars will find it a unique and valuable resource — and great reading. Radical Women's impressive 33-year career as a multi-racial, queer and straight, workingclass feminist organization makes the Manifesto an unrivaled and time-tested guide to activism.
Author: James Carville, Jeff Nussbaum
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Nov 2003 My Rating: 4
Summary: Veteran political strategist James Carville has always had a knack for being concise. He is, after all, credited with coining "It's the economy, stupid" while directing the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. And as host of CNN's "Crossfire", he favored a combative in-your-face approach that stood in stark contrast to the stereotype of the mushy liberal. In "Had Enough", Carville, along with co-author Jeff Nussbaum, takes that economic phrasing and aggressive style to offer a handbook for lefties tired of losing arguments and elections. To point out how fundamentally misguided he believes the GOP to be, Carville goes straight to the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. While Republicans can be credited with providing for the common defense, Carville says, they have failed miserably on all other directives issued by the founding fathers on what government is supposed to do, including promoting the general welfare, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, and securing the blessings of liberty for ourselves and posterity. Although the arguments are not remarkably different from those made in a slew of other lefty books (Bush's tax cuts favor the rich, Republicans seek to curtail civil liberties), the book also offers "Had Enough" solutions to pressing issues of public policy that will come in handy for liberals looking to defeat a conservative brother-in-law in a political argument or even hold their own on "Crossfire". These solutions always sound eminently reasonable, although that's due in large part to their being contrasted to Carville's interpretation of Bush and company's approach ("Use everything as an excuse to dig, drill, and burn.") Still, Carville and Nussbaum make a cogent, impassioned, and highly entertaining indictment of the Bush administration, which, combined with a smattering of incongruously placed but nonetheless tempting Cajun recipes, makes "Had Enough" a worthwhile read. "--John Moe"
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Nov 2003 My Rating: 4
Summary: Veteran political strategist James Carville has always had a knack for being concise. He is, after all, credited with coining "It's the economy, stupid" while directing the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. And as host of CNN's "Crossfire", he favored a combative in-your-face approach that stood in stark contrast to the stereotype of the mushy liberal. In "Had Enough", Carville, along with co-author Jeff Nussbaum, takes that economic phrasing and aggressive style to offer a handbook for lefties tired of losing arguments and elections. To point out how fundamentally misguided he believes the GOP to be, Carville goes straight to the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. While Republicans can be credited with providing for the common defense, Carville says, they have failed miserably on all other directives issued by the founding fathers on what government is supposed to do, including promoting the general welfare, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, and securing the blessings of liberty for ourselves and posterity. Although the arguments are not remarkably different from those made in a slew of other lefty books (Bush's tax cuts favor the rich, Republicans seek to curtail civil liberties), the book also offers "Had Enough" solutions to pressing issues of public policy that will come in handy for liberals looking to defeat a conservative brother-in-law in a political argument or even hold their own on "Crossfire". These solutions always sound eminently reasonable, although that's due in large part to their being contrasted to Carville's interpretation of Bush and company's approach ("Use everything as an excuse to dig, drill, and burn.") Still, Carville and Nussbaum make a cogent, impassioned, and highly entertaining indictment of the Bush administration, which, combined with a smattering of incongruously placed but nonetheless tempting Cajun recipes, makes "Had Enough" a worthwhile read. "--John Moe"
Author: Al Franken
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Aug 2003 My Rating: 4
Summary: Having previously dissected the factual inaccuracies of a single bellicose talk show host in "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot", Al Franken takes his fight to a larger foe: President George W. Bush, the Bush Administration, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and scores of other conservatives whom, he says, are playing loose with the facts. It's a lot of ground to cover, as evidenced by the 43 chapters in "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them", but the results are often entertaining and insightful. Franken occupies a unique place in the modern political dialogue as perhaps the media's only comedy writer and performer who is also a Harvard fellow as well as a liberal political commentator. This unique and vaguely lonely position lends a charming quixotic quality to adventures such as a tense encounter with the Fox News staff at the National Press Club, a challenge to fisticuffs with National Review Editor Rich Lowry, and an oddly sweet admissions visit to ultra-conservative Bob Jones University (with a young research assistant posing as his son when Franken's real-life son refuses to participate in the charade). Less useful are comic book dramatizations of "Supply Side Jesus" and a fictitious Vietnam War story featuring the numerous righties who, Franken intimates, improperly avoided service. And Franken's criticisms of conservative talk show hosts Sean Hannity, O'Reilly, and columnist Coulter, while admirable in their attention to detail, fail to shed much new light on people who have built careers on broad arguments and relentless self-aggrandizement. But Franken is at his best, and most compellingly readable, when he backs off the wackiness and the personal grudges and writes about more personal matters such as the political circus surrounding the memorial service of the late Senator Paul Wellstone. But even on these more serious topics, Franken's wit is still present and, in fact, grows sharper. In a time when much political discourse is composed of rage and shouting, it's refreshing that Al Franken is able to shout in a witty manner. "--John Moe"
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Aug 2003 My Rating: 4
Summary: Having previously dissected the factual inaccuracies of a single bellicose talk show host in "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot", Al Franken takes his fight to a larger foe: President George W. Bush, the Bush Administration, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and scores of other conservatives whom, he says, are playing loose with the facts. It's a lot of ground to cover, as evidenced by the 43 chapters in "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them", but the results are often entertaining and insightful. Franken occupies a unique place in the modern political dialogue as perhaps the media's only comedy writer and performer who is also a Harvard fellow as well as a liberal political commentator. This unique and vaguely lonely position lends a charming quixotic quality to adventures such as a tense encounter with the Fox News staff at the National Press Club, a challenge to fisticuffs with National Review Editor Rich Lowry, and an oddly sweet admissions visit to ultra-conservative Bob Jones University (with a young research assistant posing as his son when Franken's real-life son refuses to participate in the charade). Less useful are comic book dramatizations of "Supply Side Jesus" and a fictitious Vietnam War story featuring the numerous righties who, Franken intimates, improperly avoided service. And Franken's criticisms of conservative talk show hosts Sean Hannity, O'Reilly, and columnist Coulter, while admirable in their attention to detail, fail to shed much new light on people who have built careers on broad arguments and relentless self-aggrandizement. But Franken is at his best, and most compellingly readable, when he backs off the wackiness and the personal grudges and writes about more personal matters such as the political circus surrounding the memorial service of the late Senator Paul Wellstone. But even on these more serious topics, Franken's wit is still present and, in fact, grows sharper. In a time when much political discourse is composed of rage and shouting, it's refreshing that Al Franken is able to shout in a witty manner. "--John Moe"
Author: Diane Renzulli, The Center For Public Integrity
Publisher: Public Integrity Books
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Apr 2002 My Rating: 5
Summary: "Capitol Offenders," winner of the Investigative Reporters and Editors 2002 Book Award, is the first investigative book to expose the close ties between state lawmakers and well-heeled industries, documenting the fusion of public service and private interests.
Publisher: Public Integrity Books
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Apr 2002 My Rating: 5
Summary: "Capitol Offenders," winner of the Investigative Reporters and Editors 2002 Book Award, is the first investigative book to expose the close ties between state lawmakers and well-heeled industries, documenting the fusion of public service and private interests.
Author: John Dean
Publisher: Viking Adult
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jul 2006 My Rating: 5
Summary: In "Conservatives Without Conscience", John Dean, who served as White House counsel under Richard Nixon and then helped to break the Watergate scandal with his testimony before the Senate, takes a vivid and analytical look at a Republican Party that has changed drastically from the conservative movement that he joined in the mid-1960s as an admirer of Senator Barry Goldwater. Listen to our interview with Dean as part of our July 13 Amazon Wire podcast (along with interviews with Garrison Keillor and Henry Rollins) to hear how he originally conceived of the book with the late Senator Goldwater, and the social science research he drew on to put together his portrait of the "conservative authoritarian." (You can subscribe to regular Wire podcasts here.) And take a look at Dean's choices for the best books to read on the American presidency in our Grownup School feature.
Publisher: Viking Adult
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jul 2006 My Rating: 5
Summary: In "Conservatives Without Conscience", John Dean, who served as White House counsel under Richard Nixon and then helped to break the Watergate scandal with his testimony before the Senate, takes a vivid and analytical look at a Republican Party that has changed drastically from the conservative movement that he joined in the mid-1960s as an admirer of Senator Barry Goldwater. Listen to our interview with Dean as part of our July 13 Amazon Wire podcast (along with interviews with Garrison Keillor and Henry Rollins) to hear how he originally conceived of the book with the late Senator Goldwater, and the social science research he drew on to put together his portrait of the "conservative authoritarian." (You can subscribe to regular Wire podcasts here.) And take a look at Dean's choices for the best books to read on the American presidency in our Grownup School feature.
Author: George Lakoff
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 2004 My Rating: 5
Summary: In the first of his three debates with George W. Bush, 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry argued against the war in Iraq not by directly condemning it but by citing the various ways in which airport and commercial shipping security had been jeopardized due to the war's sizable price tag. In so doing, he re-framed the war issue to his advantage while avoiding discussing it in the global terrorism terms favored by President Bush. One possible reason for this tactic could have been that Kerry familiarized himself with the influential linguist George Lakoff, who argues in "Don't Think of an Elephant" that much of the success the Republican Party can be attributed to a persistent ability to control the language of key issues and thus position themselves in favorable terms to voters. While Democrats may have valid arguments, Lakoff points out they are destined to lose when they and the news media accept such nomenclature as "pro-life," "tax relief," and "family values," since to argue against such inherently positive terminology necessarily casts the arguer in a negative light. Lakoff offers recommendations for how the progressive movement can regain semantic equity by repositioning their arguments, such as countering the conservative call for "Strong Defense" with a call for "A Stronger America" (curiously, one of the key slogans of the Kerry camp). Since the book was published during the height of the presidential campaign, Lakoff was unable to provide an analytical perspective on that race. He does, however, apply the notion of rhetorical framing devices to the 2003 California recall election in an insightful analysis of the Schwarzenegger victory. "Don't Think of an Elephant" is a bit rambling, overexplaining some concepts while leaving others underexplored, but it provides a compelling linguistic analysis of political campaigning. "--John Moe"
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 2004 My Rating: 5
Summary: In the first of his three debates with George W. Bush, 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry argued against the war in Iraq not by directly condemning it but by citing the various ways in which airport and commercial shipping security had been jeopardized due to the war's sizable price tag. In so doing, he re-framed the war issue to his advantage while avoiding discussing it in the global terrorism terms favored by President Bush. One possible reason for this tactic could have been that Kerry familiarized himself with the influential linguist George Lakoff, who argues in "Don't Think of an Elephant" that much of the success the Republican Party can be attributed to a persistent ability to control the language of key issues and thus position themselves in favorable terms to voters. While Democrats may have valid arguments, Lakoff points out they are destined to lose when they and the news media accept such nomenclature as "pro-life," "tax relief," and "family values," since to argue against such inherently positive terminology necessarily casts the arguer in a negative light. Lakoff offers recommendations for how the progressive movement can regain semantic equity by repositioning their arguments, such as countering the conservative call for "Strong Defense" with a call for "A Stronger America" (curiously, one of the key slogans of the Kerry camp). Since the book was published during the height of the presidential campaign, Lakoff was unable to provide an analytical perspective on that race. He does, however, apply the notion of rhetorical framing devices to the 2003 California recall election in an insightful analysis of the Schwarzenegger victory. "Don't Think of an Elephant" is a bit rambling, overexplaining some concepts while leaving others underexplored, but it provides a compelling linguistic analysis of political campaigning. "--John Moe"
Author: George Lakoff
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: May 2002 My Rating: 5
Summary: In this classic text, the first full-scale application of cognitive science to politics, George Lakoff analyzes the unconscious and rhetorical worldviews of liberals and conservatives, discovering radically different but remarkably consistent conceptions of morality on both the left and right. For this new edition, Lakoff adds a preface and an afterword extending his observations to major ideological conflicts since the book's original publication, from the impeachment of Bill Clinton to the 2000 presidential election and its aftermath.
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: May 2002 My Rating: 5
Summary: In this classic text, the first full-scale application of cognitive science to politics, George Lakoff analyzes the unconscious and rhetorical worldviews of liberals and conservatives, discovering radically different but remarkably consistent conceptions of morality on both the left and right. For this new edition, Lakoff adds a preface and an afterword extending his observations to major ideological conflicts since the book's original publication, from the impeachment of Bill Clinton to the 2000 presidential election and its aftermath.
Author: Jane Jacobs
Publisher: Vintage
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 1994 My Rating: 5
Summary: The author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities looks at business fraud and criminal enterprise, overextended government farm subsidies and zealous transit police, to show what happens when the moral systems of commerce collide with those of politics.
Publisher: Vintage
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 1994 My Rating: 5
Summary: The author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities looks at business fraud and criminal enterprise, overextended government farm subsidies and zealous transit police, to show what happens when the moral systems of commerce collide with those of politics.
Author: Thomas Frank
Publisher: Owl Books
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: May 2005 My Rating: 5
Summary: The largely blue collar citizens of Kansas can be counted upon to be a "red" state in any election, voting solidly Republican and possessing a deep animosity toward the left. This, according to author Thomas Frank, is a pretty self-defeating phenomenon, given that the policies of the Republican Party benefit the wealthy and powerful at the great expense of the average worker. According to Frank, the conservative establishment has tricked Kansans, playing up the emotional touchstones of conservatism and perpetuating a sense of a vast liberal empire out to crush traditional values while barely ever discussing the Republicans' actual economic policies and what they mean to the working class. Thus the pro-life Kansas factory worker who listens to Rush Limbaugh will repeatedly vote for the party that is less likely to protect his safety, less likely to protect his job, and less likely to benefit him economically. To much of America, Kansas is an abstract, "where Dorothy wants to return. Where Superman grew up." But Frank, a native Kansan, separates reality from myth in "What's the Matter with Kansas" and tells the state's socio-political history from its early days as a hotbed of leftist activism to a state so entrenched in conservatism that the only political division remaining is between the moderate and more-extreme right wings of the same party. Frank, the founding editor of "The Baffler" and a contributor to "Harper's" and "The Nation", knows the state and its people. He even includes his own history as a young conservative idealist turned disenchanted college Republican, and his first-hand experience, combined with a sharp wit and thorough reasoning, makes his book more credible than the elites of either the left and right who claim to understand Kansas. "--John Moe"
Publisher: Owl Books
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: May 2005 My Rating: 5
Summary: The largely blue collar citizens of Kansas can be counted upon to be a "red" state in any election, voting solidly Republican and possessing a deep animosity toward the left. This, according to author Thomas Frank, is a pretty self-defeating phenomenon, given that the policies of the Republican Party benefit the wealthy and powerful at the great expense of the average worker. According to Frank, the conservative establishment has tricked Kansans, playing up the emotional touchstones of conservatism and perpetuating a sense of a vast liberal empire out to crush traditional values while barely ever discussing the Republicans' actual economic policies and what they mean to the working class. Thus the pro-life Kansas factory worker who listens to Rush Limbaugh will repeatedly vote for the party that is less likely to protect his safety, less likely to protect his job, and less likely to benefit him economically. To much of America, Kansas is an abstract, "where Dorothy wants to return. Where Superman grew up." But Frank, a native Kansan, separates reality from myth in "What's the Matter with Kansas" and tells the state's socio-political history from its early days as a hotbed of leftist activism to a state so entrenched in conservatism that the only political division remaining is between the moderate and more-extreme right wings of the same party. Frank, the founding editor of "The Baffler" and a contributor to "Harper's" and "The Nation", knows the state and its people. He even includes his own history as a young conservative idealist turned disenchanted college Republican, and his first-hand experience, combined with a sharp wit and thorough reasoning, makes his book more credible than the elites of either the left and right who claim to understand Kansas. "--John Moe"
Author: E. J. Dionne, Jr.
Publisher: Touchstone
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 1991 My Rating: 5
Summary: Influential proposals for a politics that can and must find a balance between rights and obligations, between responsibility and compassion.
"At the heart of 'Why Americans Hate Politics' is the view that ideas shape politics far more than most accounts of public life usually allow. I believe ideas matter not only to elites and intellectuals, but also to rank and file voters. Indeed, I often think that the rank and file see the importance of ideas more clearly than the elites, who often find themselves surprised by the rise of the movements that arise from the bottom up and shape our politics."
-- E. J. Dionne
Publisher: Touchstone
Genre: Politics & Government
Release: Jan 1991 My Rating: 5
Summary: Influential proposals for a politics that can and must find a balance between rights and obligations, between responsibility and compassion.
"At the heart of 'Why Americans Hate Politics' is the view that ideas shape politics far more than most accounts of public life usually allow. I believe ideas matter not only to elites and intellectuals, but also to rank and file voters. Indeed, I often think that the rank and file see the importance of ideas more clearly than the elites, who often find themselves surprised by the rise of the movements that arise from the bottom up and shape our politics."
-- E. J. Dionne