Collection: Politics

When Sharde M. Davis turned to social media during the summer of racial reckoning in 2020, she meant only to share how racism against Black people affects her personally. But her hashtag, BlackintheIvory, went viral, fostering a flood of Black scholars sharing similar stories. Soon the posts were being quoted during summer institutes and workshops on social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. And in fall 2020, faculty assigned the tweets as material for course curriculum.

This curated collection of original personal narratives from Black scholars across the country seeks to continue the conversation that started with BlackintheIvory. Put together, the stories reveal how racism eats its way through higher education, how academia systemically ejects Black scholars in overt and covert ways, and how academic institutions--and their individual members--might make lasting change. While anti-Black racism in academia is a behemoth with many entry points to the conversation, this book marshals a diverse group of Black voices to bring to light what for too long has been hidden in the shadow of the ivory tower.

The definitive biography of Zhou Enlai, the first premier and preeminent diplomat of the People's Republic of China, who protected his country against the excesses of his boss--Chairman Mao.

Zhou Enlai spent twenty-seven years as premier of the People's Republic of China and ten as its foreign minister. He was the architect of the country's administrative apparatus and its relationship to the world, as well as its legendary spymaster. Richard Nixon proclaimed him "the greatest statesman of our era." Yet Zhou has always been overshadowed by Chairman Mao. Chen Jian brings Zhou into the light, offering a nuanced portrait of his complex life as a revolutionary, a master diplomat, and a man with his own vision and aspirations who did much to make China, as well as the larger world, what it is today.

Born to a declining mandarin family in 1898, Zhou received a classical education and as a teenager spent time in Japan. As a young man, driven by the desire for China's development, Zhou embraced the communist revolution as a vehicle of China's salvation. He helped Mao govern through a series of transformations, including the disastrous Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. Yet, as Chen shows, Zhou was never a committed Maoist. His extraordinary political and bureaucratic skill, combined with his centrist approaches, enabled him to mitigate the enormous damage caused by Mao's radicalism.

When Zhou died in 1976, the PRC that we know of was not yet visible on the horizon; he never saw glistening twenty-first-century Shanghai or the broader emergence of Chinese capitalism. But it was Zhou's work that shaped the nation whose influence and power are today felt in every corner of the globe.

From a highly lauded modern voice in feminism and racial justice comes a deeply personal and insightful testament to the power of reimagining to dismantle the frameworks and systems that no longer serve us while building new ones that do.

"Powerful . . . You will leave these pages changed for the better."--Gabrielle Union, New York Times bestselling author of We're Going to Need More Wine

There are breaking points in all our lives when we realize that the way things have been done before just don't work for us anymore, be it the way we approach our relationships, our belief systems, our work, our education, even our rest. For activist, philanthropist, and CEO Rachel E. Cargle, reimagining--the act of creating in our minds that which does not exist but that we believe can and should--has been a lifelong process. Reimagining served as the most powerful catalyst for Cargle's personal transformation from a small-town Christian wife to an incisive queer feminist voice of a generation.

In A Renaissance of Our Own, we witness the sometimes painful but always inspiring breaking points in Cargle's life that fostered a truer identity. These defining moments offer a blueprint for how we must all use our imagination--the space that sees beyond limits--to live in alignment with our highest values and to craft a world independent of oppressive structures, both personal and societal. Cargle now invites you to acknowledge ways of being that stem from societal expectations instead of your personal truth, and to embark on a renaissance of your own. She provides the very tools and prompts that she used to unearth her own truth, tools that opened her up to being a more authentic feminist and purpose-driven matriarchal leader.

A Renaissance of Our Own gives us the courage to look at the world and say "I want something different." It serves as a reminder of the power and possibility of reimagining a life that feels right, all the way down to the marrow of your bones.

This volume presents nearly 250 of Lincoln's most important speeches, state papers, and letters in their entirety. Here are not only the masterpieces--the Gettysburg Address, the Inaugural Addresses, the 1858 Republican Convention Speech, the Emancipation Proclamation--but hundreds of lesser-known gems. Alfred Kazin has written that Lincoln was "not just the greatest writer among our Presidents . . . but the most telling and unforgettable of all American 'public' writer-speakers," and it's never been cleaner than in this comprehensive edition.

Celebrated leadership expert and political scientist Gautam Mukunda provides a comprehensive, objective, and non-partisan method for answering the most important question in the world: is someone up to the job of president of the United States?

In Picking Presidents, Gautam Mukunda sets his sights on presidential candidates, proposing an objective and tested method to assess whether they will succeed or fail if they win the White House. Combining political science, psychology, organizational behavior, and economics, Picking Presidents will enable every American to cast an informed vote.

In his 2012 book Indispensable, which all but predicted the Trump presidency, Mukunda explained how both the very best and very worst leaders are "unfiltered"--outsiders who take power without the understanding or support of traditional elites. Picking Presidents provides deep analysis of filtered and unfiltered presidents alike, from failed haberdasher and skillful president Harry Truman, to the exceptionally well-qualified--and ultimately reviled--James Buchanan; from Andrew Johnson, who set civil rights back by a century, to Theodore Roosevelt, who evaded party opposition to transform American society. Picking Presidents lays out a clear framework that anyone can use to judge a candidate and answer the all-important question: are they up to the job?

The basic point of the secular in the modern West is to "liberate" certain pursuits--the state, the economy, science--from the authority of religion. This is also assumed to be the goal and meaning of "secular" in Islam. Sherman Jackson argues, however, that that assumption is wrong. In Islam the "secular" was neither outside "religion" nor a rival to it. "Religion," in Islam was not identical to Islam's "sacred law," or "shari'ah." Nor did classical Muslim jurists see shari'ah as the all-encompassing, exclusive means of determining what is "Islamic." In fact, while, as religion, Islam's jurisdiction was unlimited, shari'ah's jurisdiction, as a sacred law, was limited. In other words, while everything remained within the purview of the divine gaze of the God of Islam, not everything could be determined by shari'ah or on the basis of its revelatory sources. Various aspects of state-policy, the economy, science, and the like were "differentiated," from shari'ah and its revelatory sources, without becoming non-religious or un-Islamic. Given the asymmetry between the circumference of shari'ah and that of Islam as religion, not everything that fell outside the former fell outside the latter. In other words, an idea or action could be non-shar'i (not dictated by shari'ah) without being non-Islamic, let alone anti-Islam. The ideas and actions that fall into this category are what Jackson terms "the Islamic Secular."

Crucially, the Islamic Secular differs from the Western secular in that, while the whole point of the Western secular is to liberate various pursuits from religion, the Islamic Secular differentiates these disciplines not from religion but simply from shari'ah. Similarly, while both secularization and secularism play key roles in the Western secular, both of these concepts are alien to the Islamic Secular, as the Islamic Secular seeks neither to discipline nor to displace religion, nor expand to its own jurisdiction at religion's expense. The Islamic Secular is a complement to religion, in effect, a "religious secular." Nowhere are the practical implications of this more impactful than in Islam's relationship with the modern state. In this book, Jackson makes the case for the Islamic Secular on the basis of Islam's own pre-modern juristic tradition and shows how the Islamic Secular impacts the relationship between Islam and the modern state, including the Islamic State.

Drawing on the rich resources of the ten-volume series of The Oxford Handbooks of Political Science, this one-volume distillation provides a comprehensive overview of all the main branches of contemporary political science: political theory; political institutions; political behavior; comparative politics; international relations; political economy; law and politics; public policy; contextual political analysis; and political methodology. Sixty-seven of the top political scientists worldwide survey recent developments in those fields and provide penetrating introductions to exciting new fields of study. Following in the footsteps of the New Handbook of Political Science edited by Robert Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann a decade before, this Oxford Handbook of Political Science will become an indispensable guide to the scope and methods of political science as a whole. It will serve as the reference book of record for political scientists and for those following their work for years to come.

How do we move our country forward? Stacey Abrams has an answer in this bright and stirring biography, perfect for discussions of voting rights and how people working together can make a difference.

Stacey Abrams is the daughter of two civil-rights activists. She loved going into the voting booth with her parents on Election Day, knowing that their voices mattered. She loved school, even when she was the only Black student in her gifted classes. She loved her classmates at Spelman College -- a historically Black institution -- and worked hard to see they received the fair treatment they deserved.

And today, she brings all those experiences to her role as politician, author, and voting-rights advocate, helping to ensure that every person has a say and every vote gets counted. Stacey Abrams: Lift Every Voice follows Stacey's life from her girlhood to the present, but it also portrays the ordinary people that Stacey fights for -- the beautiful and diverse America that shows up to stand with one another. Backmatter includes a timeline of changes in US voting-rights law from the Constitution through the present day, demonstrating both how far the country has come and how far we have to go. With its spirited text and vivid illustrations, Stacey Abrams: Lift Every Voice will inspire readers to take their own steps forward.

Education Is Freedom is where humanity goes to school.

Education is Freedom explores the transformative power of education and its ability to liberate individuals and societies from the constraints of ignorance, inequality, and oppression. In this book, author James Keyes explores the ways education empowers people to take control of their lives, to pursue their dreams, and to contribute to the world in meaningful and fulfilling ways. He provides a roadmap to the "why," "what," and "how" of learning. The book outlines the importance of education for all mankind, the power of education to change our world, and the wisdom to unlock our personal freedom while preserving our democracy.

Where does humanity go to school?

Democracy across the world is at risk. With the polarization of today's society, the foundational right to freedom of speech is now being challenged from all sides. The truth is under siege as misinformation and hostility have replaced critical thinking and civil discourse. Our freedom of self-determination has a prerequisite: an informed electorate. If that electorate is armed with false information or is influenced by outside forces, their actions and reactions can put democracy in jeopardy.

Today, more than ever, we must nurture the education, knowledge and wisdom of individuals to discern right from wrong, truth from fiction, and success from failure. If learning is the key to success, then how can humanity advance its own cause? Our forefathers recognized that an educated populace was the very foundation of democracy. Education is a self-help guide for humanity that allows us to individually and collectively understand the roadmap to freedom.

For the individual, education is the one common denominator that separates those who are free from the ones trapped in their own reality. "Someone can take your money, your material things, your job...but they can't take away what you know. With knowledge you can replace anything lost, you can be free to explore the world, you are beholden to no one." Whatever challenges or adversity you face in life, embracing a learning mentality will empower you and set you free.

Humanity must indeed go back to school, because the future is in our hands!

What if you didn't have to read the 50 most important books on Politics to know the most important ideas?

This is the thinking person's guide to the big political texts from across the centuries, from the original pioneers to the contemporary. With insightful commentary for each of the 50 books, key quotes and biographical information on the authors and a guide to further reading, 50 Politics Classics gives a unique overview of the political writings that shaped history and are still shaping minds today.

From Abraham Lincoln to Nelson Mandela, and from Aristotle to George Orwell, 50 Politics Classics distils the essence of the books, pamphlets, and speeches of the major leaders and great thinkers that drive real-world change. Spanning 2, 500 years, left and right, thinkers and doers, Tom Butler-Bowdon covers activists, war strategists, visionary leaders, economists, philosophers of freedom, feminists, conservatives and environmentalists, right up to contemporary leaders and thought leaders such as Barack Obama, Isobel Wilkerson and Michael Pillsbury.

Whether you consider yourself to be conservative, liberal, socialist, or Marxist, this book gives you greater understanding of the key ideas that matter in our politically charged times.

A leading national security expert, who publicly predicted Vladimir Putin's intention to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine months before it took place, lays out the case for why China's Xi Jinping is preparing to conquer Taiwan in the coming years and the dire stakes for America and the whole world if he is not deterred.

In World on the Brink, security expert Dmitri Alperovitch makes the case that we are already in the midst of Cold War II, with China, and that Taiwan is the perilous strategic flashpoint of this new conflict that risks triggering a devastating war between major nuclear powers in a similar role that West Berlin nearly played during Cold War I.

Laying out the comprehensive strategy to deter war and maintain U.S. place as the world's leading superpower in the face of rising China, Alperovitch breaks down not only the significant weaknesses that can prevent China from surpassing the United States, but also the key policies that will enable America to maintain primacy even as China ramps up its efforts.

As Alperovitch explains, we must play to our strengths and address our weaknesses, using our leverage as the strongest nation on the planet to tactfully navigate the next Cold War. This sharp, timely book is the essential blueprint for doing just that.

An argument for the classical realist approach to world politics

An Unwritten Future offers a fresh reassessment of classical realism, an enduring approach to understanding crucial events in the international political arena. Jonathan Kirshner identifies the fundamental flaws of classical realism's would-be successors and shows how this older, more nuanced and sophisticated method for studying world politics better explains the formative events of the past. Kirshner also reveals how this approach is ideally equipped to comprehend the vital questions of the present--such as the implications of China's rise, the ways that social and economic change alter the balance of power and the nature of international conflict, and the consequences of the end of the US-led postwar order for the future of world politics.

Laying out realism's core principles, Kirshner discusses the contributions of the perspective's key thinkers, including Thucydides, Hans Morgenthau, and Raymond Aron, among others. He illustrates how a classical realist approach gives new insights into major upheavals of the twentieth century, such as Britain's appeasement of Nazi Germany and America's ruinous involvement in Vietnam. Kirshner also addresses realism's limits and explores contemporary issues, including the ascent of great power challengers, the political implications of globalization, and the diffusion of power in modern world politics.

A reexamination of the realist tradition, with a renewed emphasis on the crucial roles played by uncertainty, contingency, and contestation, An Unwritten Future demonstrates how a once-popular school of thought provides invaluable insights into pressing real-world problems.

How the Best Did It is an accessible and insightful explanation of how the most important leadership traits from America's eight greatest presidents can be implemented by today's leaders.

"A discerning examination of what all of us can learn from some of our most effective leaders who have held--and wielded--ultimate power at the highest level." --Jon Meacham

David O. Stewart (author of George Washington: The Political Rise of America's Founding Father) on the George Washington chapter:
"In How the Best Did It, Talmage Boston demonstrates rare gifts in sifting gold nuggets from the endless gravel beds of known facts about eight leading presidents, then delivering them concisely and persuasively. In his insightful study of George Washington, he finds the core of America's first great leader without exaggerating his talents, and makes him someone from whom we can learn and cherish."

Annette Gordon-Reed (Pulitzer-winning historian and coauthor of Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination) on the Thomas Jefferson chapter:
"Thomas Jefferson was one the most effective American leaders of his time, creating a political party that dominated American politics for more than a quarter of a century. With great insight and clear writing, Talmage Boston brings Jefferson to life as the talented leader who shaped the course of early American society."

Ronald C. White Jr. (author of A. Lincoln and three other notable books on Lincoln) on the Abraham Lincoln chapter:
"Talmage Boston offers a wise and wide-ranging understanding of Lincoln's leadership qualities. What makes Boston's chapter distinct is the personal questions that challenge the reader to apply Lincoln's values to their lives today."

A devastating investigation into the "corporate poverty complex"--the myriad businesses that profit from the poor

Poverty is big business in America. The federal government spends about $900 billion a year on programs that directly or disproportionately impact poor Americans, including anti-poverty programs such as the earned income tax credit, Medicaid, and affordable housing vouchers and subsidies. States and local governments spend tens of billions more. Ironically, these enormous sums fuel the "corporate poverty complex," a vast web of hidden industries and entrenched private sector interests that profit from the bureaucracies regulating the lives of the poor. From bail bondsmen to dialysis providers to towing companies, their business models depend on exploiting low-income Americans, and their political influence ensures a thriving set of industries where everyone profits except the poor, while U.S. taxpayers foot the bill.

In Poverty for Profit, veteran journalist Anne Kim investigates the multiple industries that infiltrate almost every aspect of the lives of the poor--health care, housing, criminal justice, and nutrition. She explains how these businesses are aided by public policies such as the wholesale privatization of government services and the political influence these industries wield over lawmakers and regulators.

Supported by original investigative reporting on the lesser-known players profiting from the anti-poverty industry, Poverty for Profit adds a crucial dimension to our understanding of how structural inequality and structural racism function today.

An award-winning scholar's account of an ancient city's descent into unprecedented communal violence--an event that would mark the end of the old Ottoman order and the beginning of the modern Middle East

On July 9, 1860, a violent mob swept through the Christian quarters of Damascus. For eight days, violence raged, leaving five thousand Christians dead, thousands of shops looted, and churches, houses, and monasteries razed. The sudden and ferocious outbreak shocked the world, leaving Syrian Christians vulnerable and fearing renewed violence.

Drawn from never-before-seen eyewitness accounts of the Damascus Events, eminent Middle East historian Eugene Rogan tells the story of how a peaceful multicultural city came to be engulfed in slaughter. He traces how rising tensions between Muslim and Christian communities led some to regard extermination as a reasonable solution. Rogan also narrates the wake of this disaster, and how the Ottoman government moved quickly to retake control of the city, end the violence, and reintegrate Christians into the community. These efforts to rebuild Damascus proved successful, preserving peace for the next 150 years until 2011.

The Damascus Events offers a vivid history, one that masterfully uncovers the outbreak of violence that unmade a great city and examines the possibility, even after searing conflict and unimaginable tragedy, of repair.

Inspirational and wise, a step by step guide for white Americans to combat racism in their communities.

Antiracism as Daily Practice illustrates the many ways white Americans--those newly waking to the crisis of racism in 2020 and those already aware--can choose behaviors in our everyday lives to grow racial justice. Full of real life stories, this book shows how vital it is for white people to engage in and with our families, through our social networks, in our neighborhoods, and at our jobs to make antiracism a daily living commitment. We have real power in our relationships with other white people--and not enough of us have used it. Dr. Harvey explains why we white people struggle with knowing what to do about racism, and explores the significance of emotions like grief and anger (as well as the harmful role of shame) in really reckoning with the transformation and change needed in our communities to become the partners in justice that Black communities and other communities of color need and deserve. Not only is such transformation vital to the well-being of U.S. democracy. It's vital to the freedom and wholeness of white people too.