Social Democracy

Is philanthropy, by its very nature, a threat to today's democracy? Though we may laud wealthy individuals who give away their money for society's benefit, Just Giving reveals how such generosity not only isn't the unassailable good we think it to be but might also undermine democratic values and set back aspirations of justice.

Should we draw an analogy between Shakespeare’s tyrants—Richard III, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and King Lear—and Donald Trump? In Shakespeare and Trump, Jeffrey Wilson applies literary criticism to real life, examining plot, character, villainy, soliloquy, tragedy, myth, and metaphor to identify the formal features of the Trump phenomenon, and its hidden causes, structure, and meanings.

Packed auditoriums. Crowds of anxious people. Crowds of scary people. Suffocating sound studios. TV lights cooking my skull and cameras that looked like they were going to bite me in the face. Rooms full of lawyers. Celebrities. Strangers pleading with me to save them. The unbearable pressure of money. The genuine beauty of quiet democracy. If you’re not interested in listening about any of that, fine, but at least listen to chapter Googolplex.

Written by a former election campaign consultant for a major political party, How to Win an Indian Election takes listeners into the forbidden world of election war-rooms and gives them a glimpse of how strategy is formulated, what works with voters on the ground and what doesn't. Based on research, interviews and the author's own experiences, this book is invaluable for its insight into the inner workings of politics, political parties and what really makes for a winning election campaign.

#1 New York Times best-selling author Mark Levin explores the philosophical basis of America's foundations and the crisis that faces government today.

New York Times best-selling author David Talbot and New Yorker journalist Margaret Talbot illuminate “America’s second revolutionary generation” in this gripping history of one of the most dynamic eras of the 20th century - brought to life through seven defining radical moments that offer vibrant parallels and lessons for today.

In such a politically charged environment, we have the power at our fingertips to develop informed opinions about the issues most important to us. But it’s not easy. Biased news, knee-jerk social media, and partisan hacks are all flooding our senses to convince us to see things their way. You can cut through the noise. Democracy requires informed voters. We can be the guardians of democracy.

It has been the source of some of the most explosive scandals in American politics over the last century, quietly shaping U.S. foreign policy while producing lucrative paydays for some of the biggest names in Washington. But the foreign influence industry has remained shrouded in mystery, defying understanding and explanation—until now. Selling America shines a harsh light on the shadowy intersection of U.S. government diplomacy and private dealmaking.

En el actual panorama político convulso, el libro nos recuerda que la responsabilidad política nos pertenece a todos. La democracia es algo vivo, que respira, y Erica Benner ha pasado toda una vida pensando en el papel que juegan los ciudadanos comunes para mantenerla viva: desde su infancia en el Japón de la posguerra, donde la democracia fue impuesta en un país vencido, hasta trabajar en la Polonia postcomunista, con sus repentinas brechas de riqueza y seguridad.

Was unsere Demokratie bedroht: Joachim Gauck über die Gefahren von außen und innen – der Bestseller in aktualisierter Fassung Der russische Überfall auf die Ukraine bedroht unsere liberale Demokratie in einem Moment, in dem sie zugleich auch von innen unter Druck steht. Wie ist es dazu gekommen? Der ehemalige Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck geht gemeinsam mit seiner Co-Autorin Helga Hirsch der Frage nach, weshalb das Vertrauen vieler Bürger in unsere liberale Demokratie erschüttert ist.

The Propagandists' Playbook peels back the layers of the right-wing media manipulation machine to reveal why its strategies are so effective and pervasive, while also humanizing the people whose worldviews and media practices conservatism embodies.

Major Garrett and David Becker completely upend The Big Lie that has infected the Far Right with firsthand stories of election officials like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, election director Thomas Freitag. And they reveal the concrete evidence proving that 2020 may have been the most secure US election ever. Garrett and Becker lay bare the methods being undertaken right now to undercut faith, belief, and effectiveness of elections, identifying the places where the most dire actions have been taken since 2020.

Time and again, when confronted with serious challenges to their power and privilege, white Christian nationalists seek solace—and satisfaction—in state-supported forms of vigilantism. Vigilante Nation tells this story of the American Right marginalizing, subordinating, and disenfranchising the increasingly diverse and cosmopolitan members of the American polity. This book exposes the vigilantes’ plans, explains their methods—everything from book bans to anti-abortion bounties to attacks on government proceedings, including elections—and underscores the stakes.

These days it seems that nobody is satisfied with American democracy. Critics across the ideological spectrum warn that the country is heading toward catastrophe but also complain that nothing seems to change. At the same time, many have begun to wonder if the gulf between elites and ordinary people has turned democracy itself into a myth. The urge to defend the country’s foundations and to dismantle them coexist—often within the same people. How did we get here? Why does it feel like the country is both grinding to a halt and falling to pieces?

In Being Right Is Not Enough, political analyst Paul Waldman offers Democrats and progressives a clear-eyed, multifaceted strategy for victory in elections, policy debates, and the fundamental battle between progressivism and conservatism. The time has come, he says, for progressives to borrow several pages from the right-wing playbook and beat them at their own game. The book outlines an exhaustive list of things progressives must do, and do soon.

Natan Sharansky believes the challenge of the 21st century is to assert our cultural, ethnic, or religious identities - a struggle never more important than now.

The demon is a mob, and the mob is demonic. The Democratic Party activates mobs, depends on mobs, coddles mobs, publicizes and celebrate mobs - it is the mob. Sweeping in its scope and relentless in its argument, Demonic explains the peculiarities of liberals as standard groupthink behavior. To understand mobs is to understand liberals.

How did China transform itself from basket case to world leadership in two generations? The short answer: They hired geniuses to run their government (talent at the top); they used data to create policies (data in the middle); and they gave the last word on all appointments and legislation to 3,000 representatives (democracy at the bottom).

Will progressives and moderates feud while America burns? Or will these natural allies take advantage of the greatest opportunity since the New Deal Era to strengthen American democracy, foster social justice, and turn back the threats of the Trump Era? In Code Red, award-winning journalist E. J. Dionne, Jr., calls for a shared commitment to decency and a politics focused on freedom, fairness, and the future, encouraging progressives and moderates to explore common ground and expand the unity that brought about Democrat victories in the 2018 elections.

In The Spirit of Compromise, eminent political thinkers Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson connect the rejection of compromise to the domination of campaigning over governing - the permanent campaign - in American democracy today. They show that campaigning for political office calls for a mindset that blocks compromise - standing tenaciously on principle to mobilize voters and mistrusting opponents in order to defeat them. Good government calls for an opposite cluster of attitudes and arguments - the compromising mindset - that inclines politicians to adjust their principles and to respect their opponents.