"Fascist politics are running rampant in America today--and spreading around the world. A Yale philosopher identifies the ten pillars of fascist politics, and charts their horrifying rise and deep history." -- Amazon.com.

"For most of the 2,000-plus years since its foundation as a discipline by ancient Greek thinkers, rhetoric-the art of using language to persuade-was a keystone of a Western education. But in the early 20th century, studying rhetoric fell out of fashion. In The Ancient Art of Thinking for Yourself, Robin Reames, one of the world's leading scholars of rhetoric, argues that it's high time to bring it back. Drawing on examples ranging from the Sophist...

"A kaleidoscopic combination of deeply sourced, on-the-ground reporting and novelistic storytelling, detailing America at a crossroads as the battle between the right and left spills out from the dark corners of the internet into the real world"-- "This tour de force of investigative journalism--in the vein of The Next Civil War and Why We're Polarized--depicts the United States of America as a country at a crossroads with the battle between the...

"In the vein of On Tyranny and How Democracies Die, the bestselling author of Republic, Lost argues that our democracy no longer represents us and shows that reform is both necessary and possible"-- Lessig believes that along many dimensions, a single flaw-- unrepresentativeness-- has detached our government from the people. Our fractured partisanship and ignorance on critical issues drive our leaders to stake out ever more extreme positions. Here...

From journalist and historian Richard Kreitner, a "powerful revisionist account"of the most persistent idea in American history: these supposedly United States should be broken up (Eric Foner). The novel and fiery thesis of Break It Up is simple: the United States has never lived up to its name -- and never will. The disunionist impulse may have found its greatest expression in the Civil War, but as Break It Up shows, the seduction of secession wasn't...

"A Protestant minister and an atheist philosopher interact in a constructive and respectful dialogue about their differing views on life, stressing the importance of honesty, civility, and community engagement at a time of polarized politics. Unity in diversity (e pluribus unum) -- the quintessential American value-- is under assault today, and along with it, our sense of shared community. In this book, an atheist philosopher and a United Church of...

"One of America's finest reporters and essayists explores the powerful currents beneath the roiled waters of a nation coming apart. Across the country, men "of God" glorify materialism, a gluttony of the soul, while citing Scripture and preparing for civil war--a firestorm they long for as an absolution and exaltation. Lies, greed, and glorification of war boom through microphones at hipster megachurches that once upon a time might have preached peace...

"Why the people? Is democracy actually the best form of government? Does it ever work like it's supposed to? Join Lin and Julie as they wonder aloud how America can ever be a democracy when citizens seem to disagree about everything. With them, we are whisted through political history, journeying through different systems of power, including monarchy, theocracy, dictatorship, and oligarchy. From Beka Feathers and Ally Shwed comes a much-needed answer...

"After receiving a prestigious writing fellowship in Germany, the narrator of Red Pill arrives in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee and struggles to accomplish anything at all. Instead of working on the book he has proposed to write, he takes long walks and binge-watches "Blue Lives"--a violent cop show that becomes weirdly compelling in its bleak, Darwinian view of life--and soon begins to wonder if his writing has any value at all. Wannsee is a place...

"A best-selling author documents how facts--shared truths--have lost their power to hold us together as a community, as a country, globally, and how belief in 'alternative facts' and conspiracy theories have destroyed trust in institutions, leaders, and legitimate experts"--