Social Movements

Democracy has been the American religion since before the Revolution - from New England town halls to the multicultural democracy of Atlantic pirate ships. But can our current political system, one that seems responsive only to the wealthiest among us and leaves most Americans feeling disengaged, voiceless, and disenfranchised, really be called democratic? And if the tools of our democracy are not working to solve the rising crises we face, how can we - average citizens - make change happen? David Graeber, one of the most influential scholars and activists of his generation, takes listeners on a journey through the idea of democracy.

Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.

Dr. M. Scott Peck has inspired millions by combining the deepest insights of psychiatry with those of religion. In this second of a three volume audio series based on his best-selling book People of the Lie, Dr. Peck once again integrates religious teaching with the science of psychology as he offers hope for healing one of society's most persistent failings: human evil.

Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on organized religion, Christianity, morality, ethics, psychology, and the philosophy of religion, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony, and parables. Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single individual", giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking and highlighting the importance of personal choice and commitment.

"Awaken to Love" offers an integrated approach that unites diverse elements into a cohesive path towards restoring wholeness and presence. Drawing from IFS, Jungian psychology, psychosynthesis, and nonduality teachings, it introduces the "path of duonity"—a nested model that honors the distinct aspects of our being while recognizing their inseparability from the whole.

This program is read by the author. Blythe Roberson’s sharp observational humor is met by her openhearted willingness to revel in the ugliest warts and shimmering highs of choosing to live our lives amongst other humans. She collects her crushes like ill-cared-for pets, skewers her own suspect decisions, and assures listeners that any date you can mess up, she can top tenfold. And really, was that date even a date in the first place?

Take a drive through the Mississippi Delta today and you'll find a landscape dotted with memorials to major figures and events from the civil rights movement. Perhaps the most chilling are those devoted to the murder of Emmett Till, a tragedy of hate and injustice that became a beacon in the fight for racial equality. In Remembering Emmett Till, Dave Tell gives us five accounts of the commemoration of this infamous crime.

Wrestling with life's greatest demands? Find answers within yourself with a little Stoic guidance. Marcus Aurelius penned many of his incredible thoughts working off of Ancient Stoic teachings. It's unreal how you can still grasp his concepts and apply them to your daily problems! Modern problems require modern Stoicism. Often, men find themselves as the first line of defense when it comes to family and professional problems. These circumstances are out of anyone's control, and just because you can "handle" it, doesn't mean you must sacrifice your security and happiness for it.

From Aristotle to Wittgenstein and Zizek, 50 Philosophy Classics provides a lively entry point to the field of philosophy. Analyses of key works by Descartes, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Heidegger, and Nietzsche also show how philosophy helped shape the thinking and events of the last 150 years.

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius have inspired thinkers, philosophers, statesmen, entrepreneurs, poets and people from all walks of life since antiquity. Renowned as one of the most influential philosophy books in the history of the world, Marcus Aurelius’ meditations comprise a collection of personal reflections on life, stoic philosophy, duty, virtue and mortality by an Emperor of ancient Rome.

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180.

Jacques Lacan was one of the most important psychoanalysts ever to have lived. Building upon the work of Sigmund Freud, he sought to refine Freudian insights with the use of linguistics and mathematics, arguing that "the structure of unconscious is like a language." He is widely misunderstood and often unfairly dismissed as impenetrable. In this clear, wide-ranging primer, Lionel Bailly demonstrates how Lacan’s ideas are still vitally relevant to contemporary issues of mental health treatment. Including coverage of developments in Lacanian psychoanalysis since his death, this is the perfect introduction to the great modern theorist.

Volume III of Dick Russell’s monumental biography, The Life and Ideas of James Hillman, takes up the final decades of the pioneering depth psychologist’s explorations of “Soul in the World.”  Hillman’s twenty-three-year relationship and ultimately marriage to visual artist Margot McLean provides the backdrop for the diversity of his wide-ranging pursuits—where the aesthetic and the imagination become central motifs for the founder of archetypal psychology.

Part thesis, part memoir, and part poetry, this book is unlike any other therapeutic text. Psychotherapist and writer Foluke Taylor explores how the centering of Black women’s experiences in therapeutic scholarship allows for greater space―space for wandering, for wondering, and for deepening narratives―in every therapeutic relationship.

On the first anniversary of the events at Parkland, the acclaimed, New York Times best-selling author of Columbine offers an intimate, deeply moving account of the extraordinary teenage survivors who became activists and pushed back against the NRA and feckless Congressional leaders - inspiring millions of Americans to join their grassroots #neveragain movement.

Speed-read people, decipher body language, detect deception, and get to the truth. We live in a world where dishonesty and lies are seemingly everywhere. From fake news and problematic media outlets to corrupt management in our workplaces and selfish friends, there’s no doubt that as you grow older, you become more cynical and more distrusting of the world and the people in it. What if there was a way to spot the lies and take yourself closer to the truth? Well, there is, and it’s all detailed in this very audiobook.

In the 1960s and early '70s, the most prominent, vocal cultural movement was the New Left: a movement that condemned America and everything it stood for: individualism, material wealth, science, technology, capitalism.

Midwives in the United States live and work in a complex regulatory environment that is a direct result of state and medical intervention into women's reproductive capacity. In Birthing a Movement, Renee Ann Cramer draws on over a decade of ethnographic and archival research to examine the interactions of law, politics, and activism surrounding midwifery care.

There is a major disconnect between what we wear and our knowledge of its impact on land, air, water, labor, and human health. Even those who value access to safe, local, nutritious food have largely overlooked the production of fiber, dyes, and the chemistry that forms the backbone of modern textile production. While humans are 100 percent reliant on their second skin, it’s common to think little about the biological and human cultural context from which our clothing derives.

A global exploration of the Internet meme as an agent of pop culture, politics, protest, and propaganda on and offline and how they will save or destroy us all. Using social media-driven movements as her guide, technologist and digital media scholar An Xiao Mina unpacks the mechanics of memes and how they operate to reinforce, amplify, and shape today's politics.