32 results for "Science"

The parasitic mind: how infectious ideas are killing common sense

Saad, Gad
"There's a war against truth... and if we don't win it, intellectual freedom will be a casualty. The West's commitment to freedom, reason, and true liberalism has never been more seriously threatened than it is today by the stifling forces of political correctness. Dr. Gad Saad, the host of the enormously popular YouTube show THE SAAD TRUTH, exposes the bad ideas--what he calls "idea pathogens"--that are killing common sense and rational debate. Incubated in our universities and spread through the tyranny of political correctness, these ideas are endangering our most basic freedoms--including freedom of thought and speech. The danger is grave, but as Dr. Saad shows, politically correct dogma is riddled with logical fallacies. We have powerful weapons to fight back with--if we have the courage to use them.Includes bibliographical references and index"--Jacket flap.
Regnery Publishing 2021-10-05 240 pages

Nothing is true and everything is possible: the surreal heart of the new Russia

Pomerantsev, Peter
A journey into the glittering, surreal heart of 21st century Russia: into the lives of Hells Angels convinced they are messiahs, professional killers with the souls of artists, bohemian theatre directors turned Kremlin puppet-masters, supermodel sects, post-modern dictators and oligarch revolutionaries. This is a world erupting with new money and new power, changing so fast it breaks all sense of reality, where life is seen as a whirling, glamorous masquerade where identities can be switched and all values are changeable. It is home to a new form of authoritarianism, far subtler than 20th century strains, and which is rapidly expanding to challenge the global order. An extraordinary book - one which is as powerful and entertaining as it is troubling - Nothing is True and Everything is Possible offers a wild ride into this political and ethical vacuum
PublicAffairs 2014 243 pages

Things that make white people uncomfortable

Bennett, Michael,Zirin, Dave
"Defensive lineman Michael Bennett adds his voice to discussions of racism and police violence, Black athletes and their relationship to powerful institutions like the NCAA and the NFL, the role of protest in history, and the responsibilities of athletes as role models to speak out against injustice. Following in the footsteps of activist-athletes from Muhammad Ali to Colin Kaepernick, Bennett demonstrates his outspoken leadership both on and off the field."--Provided by publisher.
Haymarket Books 2018 220 pages

Sex matters: how modern feminism lost touch with science, love, and common sense

Charen, Mona
Author of the New York Times bestseller Useful Idiots and popular columnist Mona Charen takes a close, reasoned look at the aggressive feminist agenda undermining the success and happiness of men and women across the country In this smart, deeply necessary critique, Mona Charen unpacks the ways feminism fails us at home, in the workplace, and in our personal relationships--by promising that we can have it all, do it all, and be it all. Here, she upends the feminist agenda and the liberal conversation surrounding women's issues by asking tough and crucial questions, such as: Did women's full equality require the total destruction of the nuclear family? Did it require a sexual revolution that would dismantle traditions of modesty, courtship, and fidelity that had characterized relations between the sexes for centuries? Did it cause the broken dating culture and the rape crisis on our college campuses? Did it require war between the sexes that would deem men the "enemy" of women? Have the strides of feminism made women happier in their home and work life. (The answer is No.) Sex Matters tracks the price we have paid for denying sex differences and stoking the war of the sexes--family breakdown, declining female happiness, aimlessness among men, and increasing inequality. Marshaling copious social science research as well as her own experience as a professional as well as a wife and mother, Mona Charen calls for a sexual ceasefire for the sake of women, men, and children.
Crown Forum 2018-06-26 295 pages

Putinism: Russia and its future with the West

Laqueur, Walter
"A timely, topical book grounding Russia's recent turn towards conservativism in pre-1917 culture and explaining what this shift could mean for the rest of the world" ; "There is no question that tensions between Russia and America are on the rise. The forced annexation of Crimea, the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17, and the Russian government's treatment of homosexuals have created diplomatic standoffs and led to a volley of economic sanctions. Much of the blame for Russia's recent hostility towards the West has fallen on steely-eyed President Vladimir Putin, and Americans have begun to wonder if they are witnessing the rebirth of Cold War-style dictatorship. Not so fast, argues veteran historian Walter Laqueur. For two decades Laqueur has been ahead of the curve, predicting events in post-Soviet Russia with uncanny accuracy. In Putinism, he deftly demonstrates how three long-standing pillars of Russian ideology: a strong belief in the Orthodox Church, a sense of Eurasian 'manifest destiny, ' and a fear of foreign enemies, continue to exert a powerful influence on the Russian populace. As a result, Putin may well be much more a servant of his people than we think. Topical and provocative, Putinism contains much more than historical analysis. Looking to the future, Laqueur explains how the tendency to view Russia as a Cold War relic is dangerous and premature. Russia can, and will, continue to challenge the West so it is in our best interest to figure out exactly who it is we are facing--and what they want--before it is too late"
Thomas Dunne Books 2015-06-30 271 pages

Tailspin: the people and forces behind America's fifty-year fall--and those fighting to reverse it

Brill, Steven
"From the award-winning journalist and best-selling author of America's Bitter Pill: a tour de force examination of 1) how and why major American institutions no longer serve us as they should, causing a deep rift between the vulnerable majority and the protected few, and 2) how some individuals and organizations are laying the foundation for real, lasting change. In this revelatory narrative covering the years 1967 to 2017, Steven Brill gives us a stunningly cogent picture of the broken system at the heart of our society. He shows us how, over the last half-century, America's core values--meritocracy, innovation, due process, free speech, and even democracy itself--have somehow managed to power its decline into dysfunction. They have isolated our best and brightest, whose positions at the top have never been more secure or more remote. The result has been an erosion of responsibility and accountability, an epidemic of shortsightedness, an increasingly hollow economic and political center, and millions of Americans gripped by apathy and hopelessness. By examining the people and forces behind the rise of big-money lobbying, legal and financial engineering, the demise of private-sector unions, and a hamstrung bureaucracy, Brill answers the question on everyone's mind: How did we end up this way? Finally, he introduces us to those working quietly and effectively to repair the damages. At once a diagnosis of our national ills, a history of their development, and a prescription for a brighter future, Tailspin is a work of riveting journalism--and a welcome antidote to political despair"--
Alfred A. Knopf 2018-05-29 441 pages

Last best hope: America in crisis and renewal

Packer, George
2020: A ruthless pandemic, an inept and malign government response, polarizing protests, and an election marred by conspiracy theories left many citizens in despair about their country and its democratic experiment. Packer explores four narratives that now dominate American life: Free America, which imagines a nation of separate individuals and serves the interests of corporations and the wealthy; Smart America, the world view of Silicon Valley and the professional elite; Real America, the white Christian nationalism of the heartland; and Just America, which sees citizens as members of identity groups that inflict or suffer oppression. He shows that none of these narratives can sustain a democracy: we must look for a common American identity and find it in the passion for equality that Americans of diverse persuasions have held for centuries. -- adapted from jacket
Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2021-06-15 226 pages

Under the affluence: shaming the poor, praising the rich and sacrificing the future of America

Wise, Tim J.
""One of the most brilliant, articulate, and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation."--Michael Eric DysonTim Wise is one of America's most prolific public intellectuals. His critically acclaimed books, high-profile media interviews, and year-round speaking schedule have established him as a leading voice for racial equity. In Under the Affluence, Wise builds on his fierce critique of racial privilege to discuss a related issue: class disparity and a culture of cruelty that demonizes those in need.As Wise demonstrates, there was a time when the hardship of fellow Americans stirred feelings of sympathy, civic responsibility, and direct support for policies meant to alleviate poverty. But today, mainstream discourse increasingly blames low-income folks for their own situation, and the notion of an intractable "culture of poverty" has pushed our country in an especially ugly direction. Wise shows how the wealthy elite have commandeered discussions about class, moving the nation toward scorn and disengagement from the marginalized.With clarity and precision, Wise not only documents growing contempt for the nation's have-nots, but also explores the underlying forces that perpetuate it. In doing so, he demonstrates how classism, racism, and sexism are inextricably linked, and how popular culture contributes to a deepening indifference to those who are struggling. Finally, Wise shows that far from a culture of poverty, it is the culture of affluence and power that deserves the blame for America's simmering economic and social crises.Tim Wise is the author of many books, including Dear White America and Colorblind"--
City Lights Books 2015 360 pages

Saudi Arabia in transition: insights on social, political, economic and religious change

Bernard Haykel,Thomas Hegghammer,Stéphane Lacroix
"Making sense of Saudi Arabia is crucially important today. The kingdom's western province contains the heart of Islam, and it is the United States' closest Arab ally and the largest producer of oil in the world. However, the country is undergoing rapid change: its aged leadership is ceding power to a new generation, and its society, dominated by young people, is restive. Saudi Arabia has long remained closed to foreign scholars, with a select few academics allowed into the kingdom over the past decade. This book presents the fruits of their research as well as those of the most prominent Saudi academics in the field. This volume focuses on different sectors of Saudi society and examines how the changes of the past few decades have affected each. It reflects new insights and provides the most up-to-date research on the country's social, cultural, economic and political dynamics"--
Cambridge University Press 2015-01-19 351 pages

Modernism in the streets: a life and times in essays

Berman, Marshall,Marcus, David,Sclan, Shellie
"Essays tracing the intellectual life of a quintessential New York City writer and thinker Marshall Berman was one of the great urbanists and Marxist cultural critics of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and his brilliant, nearly sui generis book All That Is Solid Melts Into Air is a masterpiece of the literature on modernism. But like many New York intellectuals, the essay was his characteristic form, accommodating his multifarious interests and expressing his protean, searching exuberant mind. This collection includes early essays from and on the radical '60s, on New York City, on literary figures from Kafka to Pamuk, and late essays on rock, hip hop, and gentrification. Concluding with his last essay, completed just before his death in 2013, this book is Berman's intellectual autobiography, tracing his career as a thinker through the way he read the "signs in the street.""--
Verso 2017 393 pages

The change I believe in: fighting for progress in the age of Obama

Vanden Heuvel, Katrina
On the night of the 2008 presidential election, Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel spoke for many: “For the first time in decades, electoral politics became a vehicle for raising expectations and spreading hope.” But, she cautioned, “We progressives need to be as clear-eyed, tough, and pragmatic about Obama as he is about us.” Where I Stand collects vanden Heuvel’s commentaries and columns from the first years of the Obama administration, an era that has come to be defined by reform and reaction. In the wake of the economic crisis and challenges from the insurgent Tea Party movement, it is clear that it will take more than one election (and one person) to reshape American politics and repair the damage wreaked by a decade of calamitous conservative rule. Vanden Heuvel challenges the limits of our downsized political debate, arguing that timid incrementalism and the forces of money and establishment power that debilitate American politics will be overcome only by independent organizing, strategic creativity, bold ideas, and determined idealism.
Nation Books 2011-10-25 366 pages

The new chastity, and other arguments against Women's Liberation

Decter, Midge
Title The new chastity and other arguments against women's liberation Author Midge Decter Publisher Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1972 Original from the University of Virginia Digitized Jul 28, 2008 Length 188 pages Subjects Social Science › Feminism & Feminist Theory Feminism Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory Social Science / Women's Studies Women
Wildwood House 1973 188 pages

The State of Americans: this generation and the next

Bronfenbrenner, Urie
Politicians, pundits, and media "experts" are constantly barraging us with facts and figures to bolster their arguments about America's social and economic ills. Most of the time their information is partial, misleading, or just plain wrong. Now, some of America's foremost social science researchers collaborate to provide citizens and voters with an accessible, jargon-free guide to the key issues that will be debated in the coming campaigns. After culling through thousands of surveys, data banks, and research documents they have put together in an easy-to-read guide the most reliable facts and statistics on crime, the economy, changing family structure, poverty, education, changing attitudes and values, and the shift in age structure in the United States.
Free Press 1996 294 pages

My Israel, our generation

Wilf, Einat
My Israel, Our Generation is the story of the generation of Israelis born after the Six Day War, a generation whose grandparents founded the country, whose parents fought for its survival, and who themselves now face the challenge of shaping Israel's character. This generation was raised with great idealism and a belief in simple truths about justice, morality and right and wrong, but is living with a far more complex reality than they expected or were prepared to face. My Israel, Our Generation is also an open letter to Israel's next generation of leaders, in which Wilf offers a vision of a country based on excellence and inclusion: Excellence, because Israel simply cannot afford less, and inclusion because each and every Israeli has the right to experience the sense of belonging which all humans crave. About the Author: Einat Wilf is a Member of Knesset within the Independence Faction and serves on the influential Foreign Affairs and Defense committee. Previously, she served as a Senior Fellow with the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, a Foreign Policy Advisor to Vice Premier Shimon Peres, and a strategic consultant with McKinsey & Co. in New York.She is also the author of two books: 'My Israel, Our Generation' and 'Back to Basics: How to Save Israeli Education (at no additional cost)'. She holds a BA in Government and Fine Arts from Harvard University, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge.
Booksurge.com 2007 134 pages

Israel has moved

Pinto, Diana
Israel has changed. The country was born in Europe's shadow, haunted by the Holocaust and inspired by the Enlightenment. But for Israelis today, Europe is hardly relevant, and the country's ties to the broader West, even to America, are fraying. Where is Israel heading? How do citizens of an increasingly diverse nation see themselves globally and historically? In this revealing portrait of the new Israel, Diana Pinto presents a country simultaneously moving forward and backward, looking outward and turning in on itself. In business, Israel is forging new links with the giants of Asia, and its booming science and technology sectors are helping define the future for the entire world. But in politics and religion, Israelis are increasingly self-absorbed, building literal and metaphorical walls against hostile neighbors and turning to ancient religious precepts for guidance here and now.
Harvard University Press 2013-02-28 215 pages

The American intellectual elite

Kadushin, Charles
There are almost as many works about intellectuals as there are intellectuals. Perhaps this is because intellectuals are masters of the word and their mastery is often used to write about themselves. Indeed, with the possible exceptions of sports figures and film actors, intellectuals may be the most overpublicized people in America. In this classic study, originally published in 1974, Charles Kadushin examines the attitudes of that class of people known as the American intellectual elite. While most works on intellectuals first establish who should be included under the title "intellectual," and debate their characteristics, Kadushin instead sets forth a sociological history of leading American intellectuals of the late 1960s. The book's concern, however, is primarily with time and place. While The American Intellectual Elite is very much about social circles and the networked "small world" of intellectuals defined by the institutions such as the journals and magazines around which they gathered, the uniqueness of this volume is the recognition that fact must come before theory. Thus, the collective attitude of leading intellectuals of the sixties are presented in a straightforward and dispassionate manner on topics as diverse as the Vietnam War, race relations, foreign and domestic policy, and the place of intellectuals in the resolution of such issues. Now in paperback with a new introduction by the author, The American Intellectual Elite is an influential work that will be valued by students of sociology, members of the intellectual elite, and professionals and students of contemporary American history. "What a boon to sociologists of knowledge, and, in fact, to anyone who cares about the role and future of intellectuals to have THE AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL ELITE back and print and with a thoughtful new essay by the author that places the work in the context of thirty years of social and cultural change that have transpired since its publication. Professor Kadushin not only recognized that intellectuals populate an intellectual field that is, to a far greater extent than others, constituted and sustained by the networks of relationships among them but he pioneered in the application of social network analysis to identify both players and links using concrete social data. In a conversation too frequently dominated by the empirically undisciplined claims of those with the greatest stakes in the debate, THE AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL ELITE stands out as a beacon of careful research and clear thinking. One hopes that social scientists and other interested in modern intellectual life will read it carefully, and even that republication may inspire replication." -Professor Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University Charles Kadushin is professor emeritus of sociology at the Graduate Center of CUNY and Distinguished Scholar at Brandeis University, and has also taught at Columbia University and Yale University's School of Management. He is the author of Why People Go to Psychiatrists.
Transaction Publishers 2006 395 pages

Israeli women's studies: a reader / Esther Fuchs, editor

Esther Fuchs
Israeli women do not enjoy the equality, status, and power often attributed to them by the media and popular culture. Despite significant achievements and progress, as a whole they continue to earn less than their male counterparts, are less visible and influential in the political arena, do not share equal responsibilities or privileges in the military, have unequal rights and freedoms in family life and law, and are less influential in shaping the nation's self image and cultural orientation. Bringing together classic essays by leading scholars of Israeli culture, this reader exposes the hidden causes of ongoing discrimination and links the restrictions that Israeli women experience to deeply entrenched structures, including colonial legacies, religious traditions, capitalism, nationalism, and ongoing political conflict. In contrast, the essays also explore how women act creatively to affect social change and shape public discourse in less ostensible ways. Providing balanced perspectives from the social sciences and the humanities, this comprehensive reader reflects both an emerging consensus and exciting diversity in the field. It is the definitive text for courses in Israeli women's studies.
Rutgers University Press 2005 342 pages