Other books that might interest you

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  Our Nations and Nationalisms

  Owen Dudley-Edwards

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  'Nationalism' is an increasingly unpopular word. Few would apply the label of 'nationalist' to themselves, and fewer still to any part of our history before the 1700s. But then, where does it come from? And what does it mean for us today?
  With one eye on the present as he unpicks the past, Owen Dudley Edwards finds nationalism to be older than recorded history and broader than modern geography. Our Nations and Nationalisms traces the phenomena back as far as the Old Testament and the works of Homer and Virgil, through the attempts of Shakespeare and James VI & I to found the first British Union, and into the Celtic legends that helped form the identities held in the UK today. 
  Taking wide-ranging examples from ancient to modern, from home and abroad, Dudley Edwards interrogates nationalism in action, asking what it really is and how it has impacted upon all of our lives, wherever we live or were born
  This demonised word, he argues, is a fact of human nature. It may take a variety of forms, but we are all, in some sense, 'nationalists'; it is incumbent upon each of us to find ways to use this fact in the interests of humanity, and not a single nation. 

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  The Fabulanarchist Luxury Uprising

  Jack Houston

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  Playful, formal, satirical and tender, the poems in The Fabulanarchist Luxury Uprising are wildly wide-ranging. Jack Houston whisks the reader through meditations on family life, the teachings of Lucretius, the sexual potential of Captain Barnacles, and dreams of a socialist utopia, managing to be both deeply weird and touching.
  In his debut pamphlet, Houston draws out and scrutinises the mundanities of life, showing how they can form part of something much bigger. His poems aim to awaken the capacity for revolution within us all, even if it only gets us as far as the roundabout in the local playpark.
  "In the year 2121, we're all now too aware that a sofa is simply a bench
  
  constructed from the hewn corpse
  
  of a tree, covered in a mesh made from the amniotic fibres
  
  of oppressedly mono-cropped cotton plants
  
  & filled with the plumage
  
  from many a murdered full-grown duck [...]"
  
  - from 'Utopia'

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  The Bitter End - The 2020...

  Lynn Vavreck, John Sides, Chris...

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  The year 2020 was a tumultuous time in American politics. It brought a global pandemic, protests for racial justice, and a razor-thin presidential election outcome. It culminated in an attack on the US Capitol that attempted to deny Joe Biden's victory. The Bitter End explores the long-term trends and short-term shocks that shaped this dramatic year and what these changes could mean for the future. 
   
   
   
  John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch, and Lynn Vavreck demonstrate that Trump's presidency intensified the partisan politics of the previous decades. Presidential elections have become calcified, with less chance of big swings in either party's favor. Republicans remained loyal to Trump and kept the election close, despite Trump's many scandals, a recession, and the pandemic. But in a narrowly divided electorate even small changes can have big consequences. The pandemic was a case in point: when Trump pushed to reopen the country even as infections mounted, support for Biden increased. The authors explain that, paradoxically, even as Biden's win came at a time of heightened party loyalty, there remained room for shifts that shaped the election's outcome. Ultimately, the events of 2020 showed that instead of the country coming together to face national challenges—the pandemic, George Floyd's murder, and the Capitol riot—these challenges only reinforced divisions.

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  John Stuart Mill - A Very Short...

  Gregory Claeys

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  John Stuart Mill (1806-73) is widely regarded as the leading liberal philosopher, economist, and political theorist of nineteenth century Britain. In his lifetime he was best known for his System of Logic (1843) and the Principles of Political Economy (1848). Today Mill is chiefly identified with On Liberty (1859), perhaps the definitive text of modern liberal statement of its subject, and probably the single most important work of modern political thought. Mill was also the first major male feminist thinker of the period (author of The Subjection of Women, 1869), and the first, as an MP, to introduce a bill for female enfranchisement before Parliament. 
   
   
   
  This Very Short Introduction offers a brief survey of the life and key ideas of this most influential Victorian British writer. Moving chronologically, Gregory Claeys outlines the philosophical background out of which Mill developed, chiefly through the ideas of Jeremy Bentham and James Mill. He demonstrates how Mill's personal life, especially his 'mental crisis' of 1827, and his relationship with Harriet Taylor, were integral to his intellectual development. Throughout Claeys considers Mill's key works set within the context of his lesser writings and correspondence, and discusses the more controversial aspects of his thought concerning religion, secularism, and birth control.

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  On Truth in Politics - Why...

  Michael Patrick Lynch

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  Do any of us really care about truth when it comes to politics? Should we? In a world of big lies, denialism, and conspiracy theories, democracies are experiencing two interlocked crises: a loss of confidence in democracy itself and the growing sense among many that politics is only about power—not truth. In this book, Michael Patrick Lynch argues that truth not only can—but must—matter in politics. He shows why truth is an essential democratic value—a value we need to sustain our democratic way of life—and how it can be strengthened. 
   
   
   
  Despite evidence that people are rarely motivated by truth when it comes to politics, On Truth in Politics argues that this isn't inevitable. Accessibly written and rigorously argued, it draws on the American pragmatist tradition to develop an original theory of the nature and value of truth in the messy world of politics. Contrary to the belief of many, political beliefs can be true or false. But if democracy is to continue to be a space of reason and not just an arena of power, we must build a better infrastructure of knowledge, including stronger schools and media, and renew our commitment to science and history. 
   
   
   
  A vital and timely book, On Truth in Politics makes an original case for why democracy cannot survive without truth.

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  The Supreme Court - Power...

  Newbury Publishing

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  As the highest court in what has become the world's most powerful nation, The Supreme Court of the United States sits at the faultline between the ideal and the real, between justice and power, between the serene majesty of The Law and the sometimes bombastic, sometimes grubby disputes that define our politics. 
  In the arguments before the court, principles clash with ambition and avarice, and it can be difficult to tell which is which. The decisions that the justices hand back are often wise and reasonable, but there have been moments of folly as well, and on more than one occasion it has taken decades for Americans to recognize the difference. 
  Learn more about the Supreme Court through this series.

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