An argument that humanists have the tools--and the responsibility--to mobilize political power to tackle climate change

As climate catastrophes intensify, why do literary and cultural studies scholars so often remain committed to the separation of aesthetic study from the nitty-gritty of political change? In this thought-provoking book, Caroline Levine makes the case for an alternative view, arguing that humanists have the tools to mobilize political power--and the responsibility to use those tools to avert the worst impacts of global warming. Building on the theory developed in her award-winning book, Forms, Levine shows how formalist methods can be used in the fight for climate justice.

Countering scholars in the environmental humanities who embrace only modest gestures of care--and who seem to have moved directly to mourning our inevitable environmental losses--Levine argues that large-scale, practical environmental activism should be integral to humanists' work. She identifies three major infrastructural forms crucial to sustaining collective life: routines, pathways, and enclosures. Crisscrossing between art works and public works--from urban transportation to television series and from food security programs to rhyming couplets--she considers which forms might support stability and predictability in the face of growing precarity. Finally, bridging the gap between academic and practical work, Levine offers a series of questions and exercises intended to guide readers into political action. The Activist Humanist provides an essential handbook for prospective activist-scholars.

The New York Times bestselling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran returns with a guide to the power of literature in turbulent times, arming readers with a resistance reading list, ranging from James Baldwin to Zora Neale Hurston to Margaret Atwood.

[A] stunning look at the power of reading. ... Provokes and inspires at every turn. --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Remarkable. ... Audacious. --The Progressive

Stunningly beautiful and perceptive. --Los Angeles Review of Books

What is the role of literature in an era when one political party wages continual war on writers and the press? What is the connection between political strife in our daily lives, and the way we meet our enemies on the page in fiction? How can literature, through its free exchange, affect politics?

In this galvanizing guide to literature as resistance, Nafisi seeks to answer these questions. Drawing on her experiences as a woman and voracious reader living in the Islamic Republic of Iran, her life as an immigrant in the United States, and her role as literature professor in both countries, she crafts an argument for why, in a genuine democracy, we must engage with the enemy, and how literature can be a vehicle for doing so.

Structured as a series of letters to her father, who taught her as a child about how literature can rescue us in times of trauma, Nafisi explores the most probing questions of our time through the works of Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, and more.

For John Freeman--literary critic, essayist, editor, poet, one of the preeminent book people of our time (Dave Eggers)--it is the rare moment when words are not enough. But in the wake of the election of 2016, words felt useless, even indulgent. Action was the only reasonable response. He took to the streets in protest, and the sense of community and collective conviction felt right. But the assaults continued--on citizens' rights and long-held compacts, on the core principles of our culture and civilization, and on our language itself. Words seemed to be losing the meanings they once had and Freeman was compelled to return to their defense. The result is his Dictionary of the Undoing.

From A to Z, Agitate to Zygote, Freeman assembled the words that felt most essential, most potent, and began to build a case for their renewed power and authority, each word building on the last. The message that emerged was not to retreat behind books, but to emphatically engage in the public sphere, to redefine what it means to be a literary citizen.

With an afterword by Valeria Luiselli, Dictionary of the Undoing is a necessary, resounding cri de coeur in defense of language, meaning, and our ability to imagine, describe, and build a better world.

I Am Scarred, VERY Scarred is a personal story of the emotions I went through as I watched major TV networks about what was going on with the future of this great Nation. I feel a compelling reason, deep in my heart, to express these emotions after observing the democratic form of government on the verge of extinction as we face a new presidential election for America's Leader. I was scared because I perceived whether America would remain a beacon on the hill or whether America that I know, adore, and have adopted as my new home would fall from the height of her realm of glory into a despicable bottomless pit. I felt VERY SCARRED of an existential end to democracy. However, as the Democratic National Convention (DNC) proceeded, I felt a certain form of relief. Ask me how I spell that relief. KAMALA HARRIS FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA COME NOVEMBER 5, 2025; AND GOVERNOR WALT AS HER VICE PRESIDENT.

It is an irony of our age that a man who rarely reads has unleashed an onslaught of books about his tenure and his time. Dissections of the white working class. Manifestos of political resistance. Works on identity, gender, and migration. Memoirs on race and protest. Revelations of White House mayhem. Warnings over the future of conservatism, progressivism, and of American democracy itself.

As a book critic for The Washington Post, Carlos Lozada has read just about all of them. In What Were We Thinking, he draws on some 150 recent volumes to explore how we understand ourselves in the Trump era. Lozada's characters are not the president, his advisers, or his antagonists but the political and cultural ideas at play--and at stake--in America.

Just as Trump's election upended the country's political establishment, it shocked its intellectual class. Though some of the books of the Trump era skillfully illuminate the challenges and transformations the nation faces, too many works are more defensive than incisive, more righteous than right. Lozada offers a provocative argument: Whether written by liberals or conservatives, activists or academics, true believers or harsh critics, the books of Trump's America are vulnerable to the same failures of imagination that gave us this presidency in the first place.

In What Were We Thinking, Lozada's selections range from bestselling titles to little-known works, from thoroughly reported accounts of the administration to partisan polemics, from meditations on the fate of truth to memoirs about enduring--or enabling--the Trump presidency. He also identifies books that challenge entrenched assumptions and shift our vantage points, the books that best help us make sense of this era.

The result is an elegant yet lacerating (The Guardian) intellectual history of our time, a work that transcends daily headlines to discern how we got here and how we thought here. What Were We Thinking will help today's readers understand America, and will help tomorrow's readers look back and understand us.

Although Peterson has an almost cult-like following, and arouses strong passions, both for and against, there has been very little focused, objective criticism of his provocative views on a wide variety of topics: the role of religion, the alleged need for more value and meaning in the modern world, the way young people should conduct their lives, the history of Marxism and postmodernism, male-female relations; the interpretation of Bible stories, the inevitability of hierarchy and inequality, and the application of Jungian archetypes.
Jordan Peterson: Critical Responses brings together new and searching criticisms of various specific aspects of Peterson's ideas. Though on balance decidedly critical, the authors represent a range of different backgrounds and philosophical assumptions, and the criticisms are fair and temperate, eschewing the personal attacks which have marred many of the pronouncements of Peterson's opponents.

In these 15 moving essays, LA Times bestselling author Greg Olear explores how the literary wisdom of George Orwell, Charles Dickens, Milan Kundera, Dorothy Thompson, and other poets, novelists, screenwriters, journalists, critics, and historians can help us live through the Trump Redux, without sacrificing joy or losing hope.

Radio Active tells the story of Joe's decades of activism, from his childhood in a segregated neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio, to interviewing Barack Obama in the Oval Office. It's a delightful tale, a call to action and an eye-opening commentary on the racial divide that persists in America today.

I Am Scared, VERY Scared is a personal story of the emotions I went through as I watched major TV networks about what was going on with the future of this great Nation. I feel a compelling reason, deep in my heart, to express these emotions after observing the democratic form of government on the verge of extinction as we face a new presidential election for America's Leader. I was scared because I perceived whether America would remain a beacon on the hill or whether America that I know, adore, and have adopted as my new home would fall from the height of her realm of glory into a despicable bottomless pit. I felt VERY SCARRED of an existential end to democracy. However, as the Democratic National Convention (DNC) proceeded, I felt a certain form of relief. Ask me how I spell that relief. KAMALA HARRIS FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA COME NOVEMBER 5, 2025; AND GOVERNOR WALT AS HER VICE PRESIDENT.

The book explores the complexities and challenges of teaching in contemporary society, particularly in the context of political and social issues. It reflects on the experiences of educators and the impact of their work on students, emphasizing the importance of truth, free speech, and integrity in education.

Key themes include:

The Role of Educators: The book highlights the significant influence teachers have on their students and the moral responsibilities they bear. It discusses how educators can model critical thinking and ethical behavior, contrasting this with instances where they may fail to uphold these values.

Political and Social Commentary: The author draws parallels between historical figures and contemporary political leaders, particularly focusing on the dangers of authoritarianism and the importance of democracy. There are references to figures like Trump and Hitler, discussing their impact on society and the responsibilities of educators to address these issues in the classroom.

Personal Narratives: The book includes personal stories of teachers, such as Scott Beigel, who heroically protected his students during a school shooting, illustrating the profound challenges and risks educators face. It also touches on troubling incidents involving teachers, such as inappropriate relationships with students, highlighting the need for accountability and legal obligations in such situations.

Educational Philosophy: The author advocates for a more honest and open educational system that prepares students to be informed citizens. There is a critique of educational policies that distort historical truths, such as the portrayal of slavery in the curriculum, and a call for educators to resist teaching false narratives.

Hope for the Future: Ultimately, the book expresses a desire for a better educational system that values all students and fosters an environment of learning based on truth and respect. The author hopes to inspire educators and administrators to embrace free speech and create classrooms that empower students to engage with significant societal issues. Overall, the book serves as both a reflection on the current state of education and a call to action for teachers to uphold their ethical responsibilities while navigating the complexities of modern teaching.

Ayn Rand's complicated notoriety as popular writer, leader of a political and philosophical cult, reviled intellectual, and ostentatious public figure endured beyond her death in 1982. In the twenty-first century, she has been resurrected as a serious reference point for mainstream figures, especially those on the political right from Paul Ryan to Donald Trump. Mean Girl follows Rand's trail through the twentieth century from the Russian Revolution to the Cold War and traces her posthumous appeal and the influence of her novels via her cruel, surly, sexy heroes. Outlining the impact of Rand's philosophy of selfishness, Mean Girl illuminates the Randian shape of our neoliberal, contemporary culture of greed and the dilemmas we face in our political present.

In this groundbreaking exploration, delve into the emerging field of exopolitics, which examines the political, social, and ethical implications of extraterrestrial life and interstellar relations. From defining exopolitics and its historical evolution to the importance of extraterrestrial diplomacy and the impact of UFO disclosure movements, this book provides a comprehensive framework for understanding humanity's potential interactions with intelligent life beyond Earth.

Discover the proactive measures necessary for peaceful coexistence, the ethical considerations of contact scenarios, and the role of media in shaping public perception. Through historical accounts and contemporary case studies, Beyond Earth offers invaluable insights into the complexities of interstellar engagement and the critical decisions that lie ahead in our quest to navigate the cosmos.

Prepare to embark on a journey that challenges our understanding of international relations and invites us to envision a future where humanity engages with the cosmos as allies in the shared pursuit of knowledge and understanding.

This book is based on the Authors opinion, claims, strong claims, facts, evidence, research, knowledge, experience, and gathered information. I would recommend to my readers that you research all of the information in my book. A lot of the information in my book will be released to the public very soon. Awaken Beautiful Souls! I Love You, & Thank you for seeking Knowledge for Yourself, and The Truth! PEACE, LOVE & LIGHT FAMILY

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Works do not have meanings, they soak up meanings: a work is a machine for libidinal investments (including the political kind). It is a process that sorts incommensurabilities and registers contradictions (which is not the same as solving them!) The inevitable and welcome conflict of interpretations - a discursive, ideological struggle - therefore needs to be supplemented by an account of this simultaneous processing of multiple meanings, rather than an abandonment to liberal pluralisms and tolerant (or intolerant) relativisms.

This is not a book about method, but it does propose a dialectic capable of holding together in one breath the heterogeneities that reflect our biological individualities, our submersion in collective history and class struggle, and our alienation to a disembodied new world of information and abstraction. Eschewing the arid secularities of philosophy, Walter Benjamin once recommended the alternative of the rich figurality of an older theology; in that spirit we here return to the antiquated Ptolemaic systems of ancient allegory and its multiple levels (a proposal first sketched out in The Political Unconscious); it is tested against the epic complexities of the overtly allegorical works of Dante, Spenser and the Goethe of Faust II, as well as symphonic form in music, and the structure of the novel, postmodern as well as Third-World: about which a notorious essay on National Allegory is here reprinted with a theoretical commentary; and an allegorical history of emotion is meanwhile rehearsed from its contemporary, geopolitical context.