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  Uncivil War An - Taking Back Our...

  Greg Sargent

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  The author of the Washington Post's hugely influential "Plum Line" sounds the alarm on the subversion of our democracy by self-interested politicians, greedy plutocrats, foreign government hacking, racial prejudice, media propaganda and our own lack of vigilance, and what must be done to save it before it's too late. 
  The sophistication and ambition of those now eroding American democracy by gaming the rules in their favor is unprecedented, including computer-generated gerrymandering, unreasonable voter ID laws, limitations on voting hours, a lack of convenient polling places, and efforts to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters. This has been accompanied by foreign government intervention and an unprecedented level of political disinformation that threatens to undermine the very possibility of shared agreement on facts and poses profound new challenges to the media's ability to inform the citizenry. 
  Yet it would be wrong to think that the problem is that Republicans alone have learned how to work the system—our electoral process is undermining itself from within: its dysfunctional rules incentivize vicious partisan efforts to tilt the playing field, combining in a toxic escalation of polarization and a frightening corrosion of basic norms that threaten to totally eradicate fair play in politics. 
  In An Uncivil War, Washington Post journalist Greg Sargent vividly lifts the curtain on the nightmare dynamic that is transforming American politics into little more than a naked power struggle. Yet An Uncivil War is not only a thorough dissection of an ultimately immoral system, but a handbook for turning that around by restoring authentic democracy. Given the incredibly high stakes in 2018 and 2020, Sargent's book could not be more essential.

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  The Nazi Seizure of Power - The...

  William Sheridan Allen

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  “Tells us how Nazism happened, in microcosm, in a single German town that was neither typical nor exceptional in admitting and then yielding to tyranny.” —The New York Times   In this classic work of twentieth-century history, William Sheridan Allen demonstrates how dictatorship subtly surmounted democracy in Germany and how the Nazi seizure of power encroached from below. Relying upon legal records and interviews with primary sources, Allen dissects Northeim, Germany with microscopic precision to depict the transformation of a sleepy town to a Nazi stronghold. This cogent analysis argues that Hitler rose to power primarily through democratic tactics that incited localized support rather than through violent means. Revised on the basis of newly discovered Nazi documents, The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922–1945 continues to significantly contribute to our understanding of this phenomenon and the political and moral debate over the roots of fascism. Allen’s research provides an intimate, comprehensive study of the mechanics of revolution and an analysis of the Nazi Party’s subversion of democracy. Beginning at the end of the Weimar Republic, Allen examines the entire period of the Nazi Revolution within a single locality.   “The book’s distinction lies . . . in its fidelity to the facts in one particular town, with one set of civic officials (notably the Nazi ‘Local Group Leader’), and one population—whose shift in attitudes, indifference and, in the end, total lack of comprehension of what was really happening convert the theory into actuality and make it both clearer and more readable.” —Kirkus Reviews   “A first-rate study of absorbing interest…Hitler did not seize power single-handed.” —Walter Laqueur, The New York Review of Books

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  The Church and Abortion - A...

  George Dennis O'Brien

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  This provocative book takes a critical look at what is increasingly viewed as the central political issue for Catholics—abortion. From pro-choice politicians being denied communion to Democrats being called "the party of death," for some of the most vocal Catholic leaders, the abortion issue often trumps all others. The author, a practicing Catholic who is against abortion in principle, believes the Church is on the wrong course with this issue, with grievous results for the Church and American society more broadly. He gives a brief history of abortion legislation, then explores the issue from legal, moral, and Christian perspectives, presenting compelling reasons why Church leaders and Catholics should stop trying to overturn Roe v. Wade and reconsider the issue.

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  Polk and the Presidency

  Charles A. McCoy

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  A historical analysis of how James Polk influenced the authority and importance of the role of the U.S. presidency for future incumbents.“Who is James K. Polk?” was a rallying cry of the Whigs during the campaign of 1844. Polk answered that question adequately by winning the election against his Whig opponent, Henry Clay.Today the question might be recast—respectfully, not derisively—“Who was James K. Polk?” Few persons could give more than a perfunctory answer, even though when he left office the United States was half again larger than it was when he became president.Polk, unlike his close friend Andrew Jackson, has been the subject of but few books. Stern and serious-minded, intent upon his work, he never caught the public’s imagination as did some of the more magnetic personalities who filled the office of president. His lack of personal charm, however, should not hide from generations of Americans the great benefit he brought their country and his key role in developing the powers of the presidency.This book assumes that the presidential power-role, though expressed in the Constitution and prescribed by law, is not a static role but a dynamic one, shaped and developed by a president’s personal reaction to the crises and circumstances of the times during which he serves. And Polk faced many crises, among them the Mexican War, the Oregon boundary dispute, the tariff question, Texas’s admission to the Union, and the establishment by the United States of a more stable and respected position in the world of nations.Based on the dynamic power-role theory, the book analyzes its theme of how and why James K. Polk, the eleventh president of the United States, responded to the challenges of his times and thereby increased the authority and importance of the presidential role for future incumbents. Charles McCoy became interested in writing this book after two of his friends, both informed historians, pointed out to him that James K. Polk was a neglected figure in American history. Preliminary research showed this to be true, but without reason—for, as the eminent historian George Bancroft said, “viewed from the standpoint of results, [Polk’s administration] was perhaps the greatest in our national history, certainly one of the greatest.” For his own astute appraisal of the Polk administration, McCoy emphasized the use of firsthand sources of information: the Polk Diary; newspapers of the period; the unpublished papers of Polk, Jackson, Trist, Marcy, and Van Buren; and congressional documents and reports.

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  The End of Growth - Adapting to...

  Richard Heinberg

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  Economists insist that recovery is at hand, yet unemployment remains high, real estate values continue to sink, and governments stagger under record deficits. The End of Growth proposes a startling diagnosis: humanity has reached a fundamental turning point in its economic history. The expansionary trajectory of industrial civilization is colliding with non-negotiable natural limits.Richard Heinberg's latest landmark work goes to the heart of the ongoing financial crisis, explaining how and why it occurred, and what we must do to avert the worst potential outcomes. Written in an engaging, highly readable style, it shows why growth is being blocked by three factors:Resource depletionEnvironmental impactsCrushing levels of debtThese converging limits will force us to re-evaluate cherished economic theories and to reinvent money and commerce.The End of Growth describes what policy makers, communities, and families can do to build a new economy that operates within Earth's budget of energy and resources. We can thrive during the transition if we set goals that promote human and environmental well-being, rather than continuing to pursue the now-unattainable prize of ever-expanding GDP.

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  Politics Intellectuals and Faith...

  Matthew Feldman

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  This wide-ranging collection of academic essays examines the various undertakings by modern intellectuals and ideologues in the process of propaganda and political debate. Matthew Feldman calls attention to the substantial role played in post-Great War Europe and the US by religions—both familiar monotheisms like Christianity and secular ‘political faiths’—over the last century of upheaval and revolutionary change. While the first part considers Ezra Pound as a case study in fascist ʼconversion’ in Mussolini’s Italy, leading to extensive propaganda, the second half examines other fascist ideologues, from Martin Heidegger to Anders Behring Breivik, before turning to other leading ideologies in modern Europe and the US, communism and liberalism, covering key figures from Thomas Merton and Albert Camus to the Russian Constructionists and Samuel Beckett, with especial focus on the subjects of modern warfare, political terrorism, and genocide, ranging from Stalinist gulags to the war in Iraq. 
  
  With thought-provoking discussion of the interplay between belief and modern politics as understood by familiar intellectual voices, this volume will be of interest to scholars and general readers alike.

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