Critics of Society (Routledge Revivals)

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136923233
Total Pages : 149 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (369 download)

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Book Synopsis Critics of Society (Routledge Revivals) by : Tom B. Bottomore

Download or read book Critics of Society (Routledge Revivals) written by Tom B. Bottomore and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1967, this essay in the interpretation of radical social thought deals mainly with the radical theorists rather than the doctrines of social and political movements, but makes an exception in an important discussion of the new radicalism of the 1960s. The author's main concern is to lay bare the connections between intellectual dissent and theories of society, and in so doing to to explore the neglected subject of the heritage of American radical thinking. Readers of this book will not only emerge enlightened by Professor Bottomore's impressive knowledge of American radical thought, but with a greatly increased understanding of contemporary American history. He ends with the question of whether the new radicalism can find a firmer basis than the student movement or the negro revolt; cn produce an ideology both responsive to the doutbs and complexties of our time and capable of directing action to plausible ends.

The Post-racial Society is Here

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0415818516
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (158 download)

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Book Synopsis The Post-racial Society is Here by : Wilbur C. Rich

Download or read book The Post-racial Society is Here written by Wilbur C. Rich and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a provocative and controversial analysis, Wilbur C. Rich's The Post-Racial Society is Here conclusively demonstrates that nation is in midst of a post-racial society, although many Americans are skeptical of this fundamental social transformation. Using the findings of historians and social scientists, this book outlines why the construction and deconstruction of the race-based society was such a difficult and daunting enterprise. Rich also alerts the reader to the unprecedented progress made and why the forces of the new global economy demand that we move faster to make society more inclusive.

Black Critics and Kings

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226023427
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (234 download)

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Book Synopsis Black Critics and Kings by : Andrew Apter

Download or read book Black Critics and Kings written by Andrew Apter and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1992-04-15 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can we account for the power of ritual? This is the guiding question of Black Critics and Kings, which examines how Yoruba forms of ritual and knowledge shape politics, history, and resistance against the state. Focusing on "deep" knowledge in Yoruba cosmology as an interpretive space for configuring difference, Andrew Apter analyzes ritual empowerment as an essentially critical practice, one that revises authoritative discourses of space, time, gender, and sovereignty to promote political—-and even violent—-change. Documenting the development of a Yoruba kingdom from its nineteenth-century genesis to Nigeria's 1983 elections and subsequent military coup, Apter identifies the central role of ritual in reconfiguring power relations both internally and in relation to wider political arenas. What emerges is an ethnography of an interpretive vision that has broadened the horizons of local knowledge to embrace Christianity, colonialism, class formation, and the contemporary Nigerian state. In this capacity, Yoruba òrìsà worship remains a critical site of response to hegemonic interventions. With sustained theoretical argument and empirical rigor, Apter answers critical anthropologists who interrogate the possibility of ethnography. He reveals how an indigenous hermeneutics of power is put into ritual practice—-with multiple voices, self-reflexive awareness, and concrete political results. Black Critics and Kings eloquently illustrates the ethnographic value of listening to the voice of the other, with implications extending beyond anthropology to engage leading debates in black critical theory.

Critics, Ratings, and Society

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Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780742547032
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (47 download)

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Book Synopsis Critics, Ratings, and Society by : Grant Blank

Download or read book Critics, Ratings, and Society written by Grant Blank and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2007 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critics, Ratings, and Society is the first comprehensive study of the review as social institution. Its theories and data encompass reviews of all types of products--including the arts (e.g. theater, books, and music) and consumer products (e.g. cars, software, and appliances). According to Blank, the core problem of reviews is credibility. Concerns about credibility organize the formulation of reviews and audiences. The connoisseurial-procedural distinction describes the production of credibility and its assessment under different types of rating systems.

Critique and Crisis

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Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262611572
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (115 download)

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Book Synopsis Critique and Crisis by : Reinhart Koselleck

Download or read book Critique and Crisis written by Reinhart Koselleck and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000-03-13 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critique and Crisis established Reinhart Koselleck's reputation as the most important German intellectual historian of the postwar period. This first English translation of Koselleck's tour de force demonstrates a chronological breadth, a philosophical depth, and an originality which are hardly equalled in any scholarly domain. It is a history of the Enlightenment in miniature, fundamental to our understanding of that period and its consequences. Like Tocqueville, Koselleck views Enlightenment intellectuals as an uprooted, unrealistic group of onlookers who sowed the seeds of the modern political tensions that first flowered in the French Revolution. He argues that it was the split that developed between state and society during the Enlightenment that fostered the emergence of this intellectual elite divorced from the realities of politics. Koselleck describes how this disjunction between political authority proper and its subjects led to private spheres that later became centers of moral authority and, eventually, models for political society that took little or no notice of the constraints under which politicians must inevitably work. In this way progressive bourgeois philosophy, which seemed to offer the promise of a unified and peaceful world, in fact produced just the opposite. The book provides a wealth of examples drawn from all of Europe to illustrate the still relevant message that we evade the constraints and the necessities of the political realm at our own risk. Critique and Crisis is included in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy.

Inside the Critics’ Circle

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691212503
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Inside the Critics’ Circle by : Phillipa K. Chong

Download or read book Inside the Critics’ Circle written by Phillipa K. Chong and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inside look at the politics of book reviewing, from the assignment and writing of reviews to why critics think we should listen to what they have to say Taking readers behind the scenes in the world of fiction reviewing, Inside the Critics’ Circle explores the ways critics evaluate books despite the inherent subjectivity involved and the uncertainties of reviewing when seemingly anyone can be a reviewer. Drawing on interviews with critics from such venues as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post, Phillipa Chong delves into the complexities of the review-writing process, including the considerations, values, and cultural and personal anxieties that shape what critics do. Chong explores how critics are paired with review assignments, why they accept these time-consuming projects, how they view their own qualifications for reviewing certain books, and the criteria they employ when making literary judgments. She discovers that while their readers are of concern to reviewers, they are especially worried about authors on the receiving end of reviews. As these are most likely peers who will be returning similar favors in the future, critics’ fears and frustrations factor into their willingness or reluctance to write negative reviews. At a time when traditional review opportunities are dwindling while other forms of reviewing thrive, book reviewing as a professional practice is being brought into question. Inside the Critics’ Circle offers readers a revealing look into critics’ responses to these massive transitions and how, through their efforts, literary values get made.

Critics Against Culture

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Publisher : Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN 13 : 9780299213701
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (137 download)

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Book Synopsis Critics Against Culture by : Richard Handler

Download or read book Critics Against Culture written by Richard Handler and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays on the history of anthropology focused on Benedict, Boss, Sapir, and modernist thought. It explores the roots of anthropology's involvement with the study of American society. They focus on the critique of mass society and the history of the culture concept and examine Boasian anthropologists as critics of mass society.

Energy and Society

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351019007
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis Energy and Society by : Gavin Bridge

Download or read book Energy and Society written by Gavin Bridge and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-30 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Energy and Society is the first major text to provide an extensive critical treatment of energy issues informed by recent research on energy in the social sciences. Written in an engaging and accessible style it draws new thinking on uneven development, consumption, vulnerability and transition together to illustrate the social significance of energy systems in the global North and South. The book features case studies, examples, discussion questions, activities, recommended reading and more, to facilitate its use in teaching. Energy and Society deploys contemporary geographical concepts and approaches but is not narrowly disciplinary. Its critical perspective highlights connections between energy and significant socio-economic and political processes, such as globalisation, urban isation, international development and social justice, and connects important issues that are often treated in isolation, such as resource availability, energy security, energy access and low-carbon transition. Co-authored by leading researchers and based on current research and thinking in the social sciences, Energy and Society presents a distinctive geographical approach to contemporary energy issues. It is an essential resource for upperlevel undergraduates and Master’s students in geography, environmental studies, urban studies, energy studies and related fields.

The Problems and Promise of Commercial Society

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Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271045760
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis The Problems and Promise of Commercial Society by : Dennis Carl Rasmussen

Download or read book The Problems and Promise of Commercial Society written by Dennis Carl Rasmussen and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adam Smith is popularly regarded as the ideological forefather of laissez-faire capitalism, while Rousseau is seen as the passionate advocate of the life of virtue in small, harmonious communities and as a sharp critic of the ills of commercial society. But, in fact, Smith had many of the same worries about commercial society that Rousseau did and was strongly influenced by his critique. In this first book-length comparative study of these leading eighteenth-century thinkers, Dennis Rasmussen highlights Smith&’s sympathy with Rousseau&’s concerns and analyzes in depth the ways in which Smith crafted his arguments to defend commercial society against these charges. These arguments, Rasmussen emphasizes, were pragmatic in nature, not ideological: it was Smith&’s view that, all things considered, commercial society offered more benefits than the alternatives. Just because of this pragmatic orientation, Smith&’s approach can be useful to us in assessing the pros and cons of commercial society today and thus contributes to a debate that is too much dominated by both dogmatic critics and doctrinaire champions of our modern commercial society.

Society Of The Spectacle

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Publisher : Bread and Circuses Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1617508306
Total Pages : 154 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis Society Of The Spectacle by : Guy Debord

Download or read book Society Of The Spectacle written by Guy Debord and published by Bread and Circuses Publishing. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Das Kapital of the 20th century,Society of the Spectacle is an essential text, and the main theoretical work of the Situationists. Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative. From its publication amid the social upheavals of the 1960's, in particular the May 1968 uprisings in France, up to the present day, with global capitalism seemingly staggering around in it’s Zombie end-phase, the volatile theses of this book have decisively transformed debates on the shape of modernity, capitalism, and everyday life in the late 20th century. This ‘Red and Black’ translation from 1977 is Introduced by Notting Hill armchair insurrectionary Tom Vague with a galloping time line and pop-situ verve, and given a more analytical over view by young upstart thinker Sam Cooper.

International Society and Its Critics

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199265194
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (992 download)

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Book Synopsis International Society and Its Critics by : Alex J. Bellamy

Download or read book International Society and Its Critics written by Alex J. Bellamy and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, the English School or international society approach to International Relations has risen to prominence because its theories and concepts seem able to help us explain some of the most complex and seemingly paradoxical features of contemporary world politics. In doing so, the approach has attracted a variety of criticisms from both ends of the political spectrum. Some argue that the claim that states form an international society is premature in an era of terrorwhere power politics and the use of force have returned to the fore. Others insist that international society's state-centrism make it an inherently conservative approach unable to address many of the world's most pressing problems.International Society and its Critics provides the first in-depth study of the English School approach to International Relations from a variety of different theoretical and practical perspectives. Sixteen leading scholars from three continents critically evaluate the School's contribution to the study of international theory and history; consider its relationship with a variety of alternative perspectives including international political economy, feminism, environmentalism, andcritical security studies; and assess how the approach can help us to make sense of the big issues of the day such as terrorism, the management of cultural difference, global governance, the ethics of coercion, and the role of international law. They find that whilst the concept of international society helps toshed light on many of the important tensions in world politics, much work still needs to be done. In particular, the approach needs to broaden its empirical scope to incorporate more of the issues and actors that shape global politics; draw upon other theoretical traditions to improve its explanations of change in world politics; and recognize the complex and multi-layered nature of the contemporary world.

The Hollow Hope

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226726681
Total Pages : 541 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis The Hollow Hope by : Gerald N. Rosenberg

Download or read book The Hollow Hope written by Gerald N. Rosenberg and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In follow-up studies, dozens of reviews, and even a book of essays evaluating his conclusions, Gerald Rosenberg’s critics—not to mention his supporters—have spent nearly two decades debating the arguments he first put forward in The Hollow Hope. With this substantially expanded second edition of his landmark work, Rosenberg himself steps back into the fray, responding to criticism and adding chapters on the same-sex marriage battle that ask anew whether courts can spur political and social reform. Finding that the answer is still a resounding no, Rosenberg reaffirms his powerful contention that it’s nearly impossible to generate significant reforms through litigation. The reason? American courts are ineffective and relatively weak—far from the uniquely powerful sources for change they’re often portrayed as. Rosenberg supports this claim by documenting the direct and secondary effects of key court decisions—particularly Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. He reveals, for example, that Congress, the White House, and a determined civil rights movement did far more than Brown to advance desegregation, while pro-choice activists invested too much in Roe at the expense of political mobilization. Further illuminating these cases, as well as the ongoing fight for same-sex marriage rights, Rosenberg also marshals impressive evidence to overturn the common assumption that even unsuccessful litigation can advance a cause by raising its profile. Directly addressing its critics in a new conclusion, The Hollow Hope, Second Edition promises to reignite for a new generation the national debate it sparked seventeen years ago.

The Third Way

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Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0745666604
Total Pages : 130 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (456 download)

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Book Synopsis The Third Way by : Anthony Giddens

Download or read book The Third Way written by Anthony Giddens and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-05-29 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of finding a 'third way' in politics has been widely discussed over recent months - not only in the UK, but in the US, Continental Europe and Latin America. But what is the third way? Supporters of the notion haven't been able to agree, and critics deny the possibility altogether. Anthony Giddens shows that developing a third way is not only a possibility but a necessity in modern politics.

Making Capitalism Fit For Society

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Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 074568808X
Total Pages : 173 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (456 download)

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Book Synopsis Making Capitalism Fit For Society by : Colin Crouch

Download or read book Making Capitalism Fit For Society written by Colin Crouch and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-08-21 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capitalism is the only complex system known to us that can provide an efficient and innovative economy, but the financial crisis has brought out the pernicious side of capitalism and shown that it remains dependent on the state to rescue it from its own deficiencies. Can capitalism be reshaped so that it is fit for society, or must we acquiesce to the neoliberal view that society will be at its best when markets are given free rein in all areas of life? The aim of this book is to show that the acceptance of capitalism and the market does not require us to accept the full neoliberal agenda of unrestrained markets, insecurity in our working lives, and neglect of the environment and of public services. In particular, it should not mean supporting the growing dominance of public life by corporate wealth. The world’s most successful mature economies are those that fully embrace both the discipline of the market and the need for protection against its negative outcomes. Indeed, a continuing, unresolved clash between these two forces is itself a major source of vitality and innovation for economy and society. But maintenance of that tension depends on the enduring strength of trade unions and other critical groups in civil society - a strength that is threatened by neoliberalism’s increasingly intolerant onward march. Outlining the principles for a renewed and more assertive social democracy, this timely and important book shows that real possibilities exist to create a better world than that which is being offered by the wealthy elites who dominate our public and private lives.

How to Do Nothing

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Publisher : Melville House
ISBN 13 : 1612197507
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (121 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Do Nothing by : Jenny Odell

Download or read book How to Do Nothing written by Jenny Odell and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ** A New York Times Bestseller ** NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: Time • The New Yorker • NPR • GQ • Elle • Vulture • Fortune • Boing Boing • The Irish Times • The New York Public Library • The Brooklyn Public Library "A complex, smart and ambitious book that at first reads like a self-help manual, then blossoms into a wide-ranging political manifesto."—Jonah Engel Bromwich, The New York Times Book Review One of President Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of 2019" Porchlight's Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year In a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, it can seem impossible to escape. But in this inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell shows us how we can still win back our lives. Odell sees our attention as the most precious—and overdrawn—resource we have. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. We might not spend it on things that capitalism has deemed important … but once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind’s role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress. Far from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism. Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book will change how you see your place in our world.

Trick Mirror

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Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0525510559
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

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Book Synopsis Trick Mirror by : Jia Tolentino

Download or read book Trick Mirror written by Jia Tolentino and published by Random House. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “From The New Yorker’s beloved cultural critic comes a bold, unflinching collection of essays about self-deception, examining everything from scammer culture to reality television.”—Esquire Book Club Pick for Now Read This, from PBS NewsHour and The New York Times • “A whip-smart, challenging book.”—Zadie Smith • “Jia Tolentino could be the Joan Didion of our time.”—Vulture FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE’S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY AND HARVARD CRIMSON AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Chicago Tribune • The Washington Post • NPR • Variety • Esquire • Vox • Elle • Glamour • GQ • Good Housekeeping • The Paris Review • Paste • Town & Country • BookPage • Kirkus Reviews • BookRiot • Shelf Awareness Jia Tolentino is a peerless voice of her generation, tackling the conflicts, contradictions, and sea changes that define us and our time. Now, in this dazzling collection of nine entirely original essays, written with a rare combination of give and sharpness, wit and fearlessness, she delves into the forces that warp our vision, demonstrating an unparalleled stylistic potency and critical dexterity. Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly through a culture that revolves around the self. In each essay, Tolentino writes about a cultural prism: the rise of the nightmare social internet; the advent of scamming as the definitive millennial ethos; the literary heroine’s journey from brave to blank to bitter; the punitive dream of optimization, which insists that everything, including our bodies, should become more efficient and beautiful until we die. Gleaming with Tolentino’s sense of humor and capacity to elucidate the impossibly complex in an instant, and marked by her desire to treat the reader with profound honesty, Trick Mirror is an instant classic of the worst decade yet. FINALIST FOR THE PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD FOR THE ART OF THE ESSAY

The Decadent Society

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Publisher : Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1476785252
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (767 download)

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Book Synopsis The Decadent Society by : Ross Douthat

Download or read book The Decadent Society written by Ross Douthat and published by Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2021-03-16 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bad Religion, a “clever and stimulating” (The New York Times Book Review) portrait of how our turbulent age is defined by dark forces seemingly beyond our control. The era of the coronavirus has tested America, and our leaders and institutions have conspicuously failed. That failure shouldn’t be surprising: Beneath social-media frenzy and reality-television politics, our era’s deep truths are elite incompetence, cultural exhaustion, and the flight from reality into fantasy. Casting a cold eye on these trends, The Decadent Society explains what happens when a powerful society ceases advancing—how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemate, and demographic decline creates a unique civilizational crisis. Ranging from the futility of our ideological debates to the repetitions of our pop culture, from the decline of sex and childbearing to the escapism of drug use, Ross Douthat argues that our age is defined by disappointment—by the feeling that all the frontiers are closed, that the paths forward lead only to the grave. Correcting both optimism and despair, Douthat provides an enlightening explanation of how we got here, how long our frustrations might last, and how, in renaissance or catastrophe, our decadence might ultimately end.