
Democracy and Solidarity
On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis
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Narrated by:
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Sean Patrick Hopkins
About this listen
The long-developing cultural divisions beneath our present political crisis.
Liberal democracy in America has always contained contradictions—most notably, a noble but abstract commitment to freedom, justice, and equality that, tragically, has seldom been realized in practice. While these contradictions have caused dissent and even violence, there was always an underlying and evolving solidarity drawn from the cultural resources of America’s “hybrid Enlightenment”.
James Davison Hunter, who introduced the concept of “culture wars” 30 years ago, tells us in this new book that those historic sources of national solidarity have now largely dissolved. While a deepening political polarization is the most obvious sign of this, the true problem is not polarization per se but the absence of cultural resources to work through what divides us. The destructive logic that has filled the void only makes bridging our differences more challenging. In the end, all political regimes require some level of unity. If it cannot be generated organically, it will be imposed by force.
Can America’s political crisis be fixed? Can an Enlightenment-era institution—liberal democracy—survive and thrive in a post-Enlightenment world? If, for some, salvaging the older sources of national solidarity is neither possible sociologically, nor desirable politically or ethically, what cultural resources will support liberal democracy in the future?
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Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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it's Nearly perfect
- By Kerry on 09-16-20
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Buddhism for Beginners
- By: Thubten Chodron, His Holiness the Dalai Lama - foreword
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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This user’s guide to Buddhist basics takes the most commonly asked questions - beginning with “What is the essence of the Buddha’s teachings?” - and provides simple answers in plain English. Thubten Chodron’s responses to the questions that always seem to arise among people approaching Buddhism make this an exceptionally complete and accessible introduction - as well as a manual for living a more peaceful, mindful, and satisfying Life.
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Amazing introduction to Buddhism
- By chad d on 07-02-15
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Eight Dates
- Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love
- By: John Gottman PhD, Julie Schwartz Gottman PhD, Doug Abrams, and others
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin, Julie McKay
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Navigating the challenges of long-term commitment takes effort - and it just got simpler, with this empowering, step-by-step guide to communicating about the things that matter most to you and your partner. Drawing on 40 years of research from their world-famous Love Lab, Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman invite couples on eight fun, easy, and profoundly rewarding dates, each one focused on a make-or-break issue: trust, conflict, sex, money, family, adventure, spirituality, and dreams.
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What the F. Robot-reader???!?!?!
- By Anonymous User on 01-21-20
By: John Gottman PhD, and others
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Caffeine
- How Caffeine Created the Modern World
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
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Michael Pollan, known for his best-selling nonfiction audio, including The Omnivores Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind, conceived and wrote Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World as an Audible Original. In this controversial and exciting listen, Pollan explores caffeine’s power as the most-used drug in the world - and the only one we give to children (in soda pop) as a treat.
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Leaves much to be desired
- By Melody H on 02-02-20
By: Michael Pollan
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This urgent and eye-opening book makes the case that protecting humanity's future is the central challenge of our time. If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Our species could survive for billions of years - enough time to end disease, poverty, and injustice, and to flourish in ways unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, where we face existential catastrophes - those from which we could never come back.
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The 80000hours website is better
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A Great Disorder
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A Great Disorder is a bold, urgent work that helps us make sense of today's culture wars through a brilliant reconsideration of America's foundational myths and their use in contemporary politics. Richard Slotkin identifies five myths, born of different eras, that have shaped our conception of what it means to be American: the myths of the Frontier, the Founding, the Civil War (which he breaks into two opposing camps, Emancipation and the Lost Cause), and the Good War, embodied by the multiethnic platoon fighting for freedom.
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Opinion masquerading as history
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Capitalist Realism
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It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. After 1989, capitalism has successfully presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system–a situation that the bank crisis of 2008, far from ending, actually compounded. The book analyses the development and principal features of this capitalist realism as a lived ideological framework.
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Mind-blowing
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By: Mark Fisher
What listeners say about Democracy and Solidarity
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- marc edge
- 11-20-24
Thought Provoking
This book by far has been the best book of read in 2024. While offering a “solution” to the divide that afflicts our nation. It does give great insights to how we have arrived at this point. He presents in a very unbiased way how the country has hit this great divide. Morals where do we gain them? How do we hang on to them? We need this book to be presented to everyone over how democracy works.
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- Frank
- 05-09-24
A History of How We Became Polarized
This is a fascinating intellectual and cultural history of democracy in the United States. Hunter argues that, until recently, Americans had enough in common that they could work through their differences. He says we are polarized today because we can no longer draw on common ways of thinking about reality, knowledge, human beings, ethics and purpose. Hunter says that the problem of polarization can’t be fixed just by changing the procedures of democracy; change must happen at the level of deep culture. Hunter does not offer a detailed plan for fixing democracy, although he does offer some hopeful ideas at the end of the book, especially about the need for new kinds of leaders. He does a great job of explaining how we got into our current trouble.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Steven Knowlton
- 08-24-24
repetitive
how many times and ways can a person say that our underlying cultural differences can no longer support a rational political order. or can it be fixed? yes. or no. it's hopeless. Or no it isn't. It's been bad before. But not this bad. We need better leadership. But that won't happen. Over and over and over for 14 hours.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-25-24
Anti-conservatives
The author starts with some interesting perspectives. He then blames conservatives and Republicans for what’s really wrong with politics in America, while giving a glancing acknowledgement to Democrat well meaning missteps, often only in reaction Republican malice. His conclusions are biased and intellectually lazy. I was hoping for a balanced assessment.
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