Collection: Politics

A landmark work from the author of Orientalism that explores the long-overlooked connections between the Western imperial endeavor and the culture that both reflected and reinforced it.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as the Western powers built empires that stretched from Australia to the West Indies, Western artists created masterpieces ranging from Mansfield Park to Heart of Darkness and Aida. Yet most cultural critics continue to see these phenomena as separate. Edward Said looks at these works alongside those of such writers as W. B. Yeats, Chinua Achebe, and Salman Rushdie to show how subject peoples produced their own vigorous cultures of opposition and resistance. Vast in scope and stunning in its erudition, Culture and Imperialism reopens the dialogue between literature and the life of its time.

What exactly is critical race theory? This concise and accessible exploration demystifies a crucial framework for understanding and fighting racial injustice in the United States.

"A clear-eyed, expert field guide."--Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Thick

From renowned scholar Dr. Victor Ray, On Critical Race Theory explains the centrality of race in American history and politics, and how the often mischaracterized intellectual movement became a political necessity.

Ray draws upon the radical thinking of giants such as Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to clearly trace the foundations of critical race theory in the Black intellectual traditions of emancipation and the civil rights movement. From these foundations, Ray explores the many facets of our society that critical race theory interrogates, from deeply embedded structural racism to the historical connection between whiteness and property, ownership, and more.

In succinct, thoughtful essays, Ray presents, analyzes, and breaks down the scholarship and concepts that constitute this often misconstrued term. He explores how the conversation on critical race theory has expanded into the contemporary popular conscience, showing why critical race theory matters and why we should all care.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK - From a leading voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female that exposes how white America's love affair with "diversity" so often falls short of its ideals.

"Austin Channing Brown introduces herself as a master memoirist. This book will break open hearts and minds."--Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed

Austin Channing Brown's first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, "I had to learn what it means to love blackness," a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America's racial divide as a writer, speaker, and expert helping organizations practice genuine inclusion.

In a time when nearly every institution (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claims to value diversity in its mission statement, Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice. Her stories bear witness to the complexity of America's social fabric--from Black Cleveland neighborhoods to private schools in the middle-class suburbs, from prison walls to the boardrooms at majority-white organizations.

For readers who have engaged with America's legacy on race through the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Eric Dyson, I'm Still Here is an illuminating look at how white, middle-class, Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility, inviting the reader to confront apathy, recognize God's ongoing work in the world, and discover how blackness--if we let it--can save us all.

A trenchant look at contemporary capitalism's insatiable appetite--and a rallying cry for everyone who wants to stop it from devouring our world

Capital is currently cannibalizing every sphere of life-guzzling wealth from nature and racialized populations, sucking up our ability to care for each other, and gutting the practice of politics. In this tightly argued and urgent volume, leading Marxist feminist theorist Nancy Fraser charts the voracious appetite of capital, tracking it from crisis point to crisis point, from ecological devastation to the collapse of democracy, from racial violence to the devaluing of care work. These crisis points all come to a head in Covid-19, which Fraser argues can help us envision the resistance we need to end the feeding frenzy.

What we need, she argues, is a wide-ranging socialist movement that can recognize the rapaciousness of capital--and starve it to death.

The Western narrative of world history largely omits a whole civilization. Destiny Disrupted tells the history of the world from the Islamic point of view, and restores the centrality of the Muslim perspective, ignored for a thousand years.

In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as it looks from a new perspective: with the evolution of the Muslim community at the center. His story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history, imparting not only what happened but how it is understood from the Muslim perspective.

He clarifies why two great civilizations-Western and Muslim-grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe-a place it long perceived as primitive-had somehow hijacked destiny.

With storytelling brio, humor, and evenhanded sympathy to all sides of the story, Ansary illuminates a fascinating parallel to the world narrative usually heard in the West. Destiny Disrupted offers a vital perspective on world conflicts many now find so puzzling.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Eloquent Rage comes a powerful, groundbreaking picture book debut introducing young readers to ten revolutionary Black women -- both historical and contemporary -- who changed the world for the better, inspiring readers today to know their strength, to be brave, and to STAND UP!

"A breakthrough... this force of nature is becoming one of our fiercest voices in the new generation of African-American thinkers." -- Essence

Bestselling author Brittney Cooper is a leading Black feminist voice of our times. From her New York Times bestseller Eloquent Rage, selected by Emma Watson as an "Our Shared Shelf Book," to her frequent guest appearances on MSNBC, to her regular features on Cosmopolitan.com and Salon.com, and her TED Talk with over 800K views, there's no question Brittney Cooper is one of the most preeminent Black influencers of today. Now, this author, professor, activist, and cultural critic brings her immense talents to the children's space with a seven-title publishing deal at Scholastic, spanning from picture books to middle grade, and launching with this momentous picture book debut: Stand Up!

Stand Up! tells the story of ten historic female figures who changed the world by standing up for what's right, including legendary Civil Rights activists like Ruby Bridges and Rosa Parks and spanning to contemporary role models like Bree Newsome, who removed the confederate flag from the South Carolina state house grounds, and Mari Copeny, a youth activist who fought for clean water in Flint, Michigan. This inspirational biographical collection will live side by side with bestselling classics like Little Leaders and She Persisted yet offers a wholly original, powerful new voice and approach that make this story so singular, personal, and groundbreaking. Cooper's enlightening text depicts both famous and unsung Black women who took a stand and made the world a better place for future generations. Each heroic figure is interconnected by a united quest for equity, and offers young readers a stirring, inspirational call to action, reminding them that they are mighty too, and can be forces for change when they stand up!

THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL EDITION!

An utterly revelatory work. Unprecedented in scope, detail, and ambition.

In Lost Tribes and Promised Lands, celebrated historian and cultural critic Ronald Sanders offers a compelling and ideology-shattering history of racial prejudice and myth as shaped by political, religious, and economic forces from the 14th Century to the present day. Written with clear-eyed vigor, Sanders draws on a broad history of art, psychology, politics, and religion to inform his striking and soundly-reasoned assertions.

Lost Tribes and Promised Lands nimbly zig-zags through space and time, doggedly chipping away at the myopic history of discovery and righteous conquest that has been reiterated for decades by the same ideological forces responsible for centuries of mythological prejudice and racial strife. Placing 14th Century Spanish intolerance (specifically anti-Semitism) as the origins of American racism toward African and Native Americans, Sanders elegantly weaves complex threads of colonial economics, religious exceptionalism, and xenophobia into a heady and often-infuriating thesis on the history of racism.

Finally back in print in a complete and cost-accessible edition (when the book was out of print, demand for this important work was so intense that used copies sold for thousands of dollars). Find out why! Lost Tribes and Promised Lands is a gripping and hegemony-exploding treatise on the history of race in the New World.

A powerful account, by Israeli peace activist Miko Peled, of his transformation from a young man who'd grown up in the heart of Israel's elite and served proudly in its military into a fearless advocate of nonviolent struggle and equal rights for all Palestinians and Israelis. His journey is mirrored in many ways the transformation his father, a much-decorated Israeli general, had undergone three decades earlier. Alice Walker contributed a foreword to the first edition in which she wrote, "There are few books on the Israel/Palestine issue that seem as hopeful to me as this one." In the new Epilogue he takes readers to South Africa, East Asia, several European countries, and the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel itself.

"Those looking to move beyond performative allyship will find this an excellent resource." --Publishers Weekly

"Well-informed, hard-hitting advice for antiracists." --Kirkus Reviews

What if there were a set of rules to educate people against race-based social faux pas that damage relationships, perpetuate racist stereotypes, and harm people of color? This book provides just that in an effort to slow the malignant domino effect of race-based ignorance in American communities and workplaces to help address the vestiges of our nation's racist past.

Race Rules is an innovative, practical manual for white people of the unwritten rules relating to race, explaining the unvarnished truth about racist and offensive white behaviors. It offers a unique lens from Fatimah Gilliam, a light-skinned Black woman, and is informed by the revealing things white people say when they don't realize she's Black.

Presented as a series of race rules, this book has each chapter tackling a specific topic many people of color wish white people understood. Combining history and explanations with practical advice, it goes beyond the theoretical by focusing on what's implementable.

Gilliam addresses issues such as:

• Racial blinders and misperceptions
• White privilege
• Racial stereotypes
• Everyday choices and behaviors that cause racial harm

Introducing a straightforward universal three-step framework to unlearn racism and challenge misconceptions, this book offers readers a chance to change behaviors and shift mindsets to better navigate cross-racial interactions and relationships. Through its race etiquette guidelines, it teaches white people to become action-oriented racism disruptors instead of silent, complicit supporters of white supremacy.

Is There Hope for Afghans?
Everyone has heard of the Taliban, but how well do we know the Afghan people? The winds of change are blowing through Afghanistan, one of the hardest countries in the world in which to be a Christian. How can Afghans build trusting, vibrant communities of believers? What are the best practices in discipleship?
Afghan Mountain Faith explores relationships, justice, and beauty in God's unfolding kingdom. These never-before-recorded accounts show Jesus's followers in their unique Afghan context. Their stories extend worldwide as Afghan fellowships arise globally, even though there is not a single church building inside their country.
Miriam Adeney and Rashid Aalish delve into challenging issues of our time, including refugees, women's rights, US military missions of mercy, church planting, ethnic identity, suffering, lament, orality, and ethnodoxology. If you want stories, there are stories. If you want strategies, there are strategies. If you want to wrestle with systemic issues, that is here too. These reflections will provoke you to think and propel you to hope.

Before 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea.

Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring thirty-nine individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? How would he convince proud Prussians, Bavarians, and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France-all without destroying itself in the process?

In this unique study of five decades that changed the course of modern history, Katja Hoyer tells the story of the German Empire from its violent beginnings to its calamitous defeat in the First World War.

This often startling narrative is a dramatic tale of national self-discovery, social upheaval, and realpolitik that ended, as it started, in blood and iron.

Multi-award-winning author China Miéville captures the drama of the Russian Revolution in this "engaging retelling of the events that rocked the foundations of the twentieth century" (Village Voice)

In February of 1917 Russia was a backwards, autocratic monarchy, mired in an unpopular war; by October, after not one but two revolutions, it had become the world's first workers' state, straining to be at the vanguard of global revolution. How did this unimaginable transformation take place?

In a panoramic sweep, stretching from St. Petersburg and Moscow to the remotest villages of a sprawling empire, Miéville uncovers the catastrophes, intrigues and inspirations of 1917, in all their passion, drama and strangeness. Intervening in long-standing historical debates, but told with the reader new to the topic especially in mind, here is a breathtaking story of humanity at its greatest and most desperate; of a turning point for civilization that still resonates loudly today.

For nearly 20 years, Readings for Diversity and Social Justice has been the trusted, leading anthology to cover a wide range of social oppressions from a social justice standpoint. With full sections dedicated to racism, religious oppression, classism, ableism, youth and elder oppression, as well as an integrative section dedicated to sexism, heterosexism, and transgender oppression, this bestselling text goes far beyond the range of traditional readers. New essay selections in each section of this fourth edition have been carefully chosen to keep topic coverage timely and readings accessible and engaging for students. The interactions among these topics are highlighted throughout to stress the interconnections among oppressions in everyday life. A Table of Intersections leads you to selections not in the section dedicated to an issue.

Retaining the key features and organization that has made Readings for Diversity and Social Justice an indispensable text for teaching issues of social justice while simultaneously updating and expanding its coverage, this new edition features:

• Over 40 new selections considering current topics and events such as the Black Lives Matter movement, workplace immigration raids, gentrification, wealth inequality, the disability rights of prisoners and inmates, and the Keystone XL pipeline protests.
• An updated companion website with additional resources and short classroom-friendly videos that further complement the readings in each section.
• A holistic approach to sexism, gay, lesbian, trans and gender-queer oppression that challenges widely-held assumptions about the usual practice of separating analyses of sex and gender binaries.
• A more optimistic focus on the role of social justice at all levels of society, whether personal, institutional local, or global, and the intersections among them.

Offering over 140 selections from some of the foremost scholars in a wide range of fields, Readings for Diversity and Social Justice is the indispensable volume for every student, teacher, and social justice advocate.

Booklist Editors' Choice

WINNER of the Russell Freedman Award for Non-Fiction for a Better World

Knowledge is power. The secret is this. Knowledge, applied at the right time and place, is more than power. It's magic.

That's what the Black Panther Party did. They called up this magic and launched a revolution.

In the beginning, it was a story like any other. It could have been yours and it could have been mine. But once it got going, it became more than any one person could have imagined.

This is the story of Huey and Bobby. Eldridge and Kathleen. Elaine and Fred and Ericka.

This is the story of the committed party members. Their supporters and allies. The Free Breakfast Program and the Ten Point Program. It's about Black nationalism, Black radicalism, about Black people in America.

From the authors of the acclaimed book, Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party, and introducing new talent Jetta Grace Martin, comes the story of the Panthers for younger readers--meticulously researched, thrillingly told, and filled with incredible photographs throughout.

P R A I S E

★ "A passionate, honest, and intimate look into an important time in civil rights history."
--Booklist (starred)

★ "Impeccable writing and stellar design make this title highly recommended."
--School Library Journal (starred)

"Detailed, thoroughly researched...A valuable addition to the history of African American resistance."
--Kirkus

A moving meditation on recent geopolitical crises, viewed through the lens of ancient and modern tragedy

"Spare, elegant and poignant. . . . If there is a single contemporary book that should be pressed into the hands of those who decide issues of war and peace, this is it."--John Gray, New Statesman

"It is tragic that Robert D. Kaplan's luminous The Tragic Mind is so urgently needed."--George F. Will

Some books emerge from a lifetime of hard-won knowledge. Robert D. Kaplan has learned, from a career spent reporting on wars, revolutions, and international politics in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, that the essence of geopolitics is tragedy. In The Tragic Mind, he employs the works of ancient Greek dramatists, Shakespeare, German philosophers, and the modern classics to explore the central subjects of international politics: order, disorder, rebellion, ambition, loyalty to family and state, violence, and the mistakes of power.

The great dilemmas of international politics, he argues, are not posed by good versus evil--a clear and easy choice--but by contests of good versus good, where the choices are often searing, incompatible, and fraught with consequences. A deeply learned and deeply felt meditation on the importance of lived experience in conducting international relations, this is a book for everyone who wants a profound understanding of the tragic politics of our time.

'A radical antidote to the constraints of our current conceptualisation of mental health' Dazed

'Exposes the underlying truth that capitalism is fundamentally incompatible with our wellbeing, and teaches us how to transform the ways we understand madness, illness, and disability to build a better world' Beatrice Adler-Bolton, co-author of Health Communism

Mental health is a political issue, but we often discuss it as a personal one. How is the current mental health crisis connected to capitalism, racism and other social issues? In a different world, how might we transform the ways that we think about mental health, diagnosis and treatment?

These are some of the big questions Micha Frazer-Carroll asks as she reveals mental health to be an urgent political concern that needs deeper understanding beyond today's 'awareness-raising' campaigns.

Exploring the history of asylums and psychiatry; the relationship between disability justice, queer liberation and mental health; art and creativity; prisons and abolition; and alternative models of care; Mad World is a radical and hopeful antidote to pathologisation, gatekeeping and the policing of imagination.

Micha Frazer-Carroll is a columnist at the Independent. Micha has written for Vogue, HuffPost, Huck, gal-dem and Dazed. She was nominated for the Comment Awards' Fresh New Voice of the Year Award, and the Observer/Anthony Burgess Award for Arts Criticism.