Social Society

This Audiobook is not a blueprint for the future, but a philosophical exploration of the crisis of the present. It argues that capitalism, once animated by the promise of profit and endless growth, is now eroding from within. Profit has lost its legitimacy, work its meaning, and growth its aura of inevitability. Meanwhile, the historical alternatives—socialism, communism, anarchism—have been exhausted or discredited, leaving us in a void where the old is collapsing but the new has not yet emerged.

In four decades, bookended by the Pope’s visits to Ireland in September 1979 and August 2018, Ireland has become one of the wealthiest and most progressive nations in the world. Characteristically brilliant and timely, Renaissance Nation is a thrilling account of Ireland’s vertiginous rise and a timely exploration of its conflicted present, where stark decisions await the next generation of would-be revolutionaries.

This 50th anniversary edition of Men, Machines, and Modern Times, though ultimately concerned with a positive alternative to an Orwellian 1984, offers an entertaining series of historical accounts taken from the 19th century to highlight a main theme: the nature of technological change, the fission brought about in society by such change, and society's reaction to that change.

Maintenance is what keeps everything going. It’s what keeps life going. Yet it’s also easy to shirk or defer—until the thing breaks, the system falters, and everything stops. The apparent paradox is profound: Maintenance is absolutely necessary and maintenance is optional. The first in a multi-volume work, Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One offers a comprehensive overview of the civilizational importance of maintenance. The book begins with a dramatic contest of maintenance styles under life-critical conditions:

Along with Stoicism and Epicureanism, Skepticism is one of the three major schools of ancient Greek philosophy that claim to offer a way of living as well as thinking. How to Keep an Open Mind provides an unmatched introduction to skepticism by presenting a fresh, modern translation of key passages from the writings of Sextus Empiricus, the only Greek skeptic whose works have survived.

Cuteness has taken the planet by storm. Global sensations Hello Kitty and Pokémon, the works of artists Takashi Murakami and Jeff Koons, Heidi the cross-eyed opossum and E.T. - all reflect its gathering power. But what does “cute” mean, as a sensibility and style? Why is it so pervasive? Is it all infantile fluff, or is there something more uncanny and even menacing going on - in a lighthearted way? In The Power of Cute, Simon May provides nuanced and surprising answers.

Morris Berman hace la analogía con el Imperio Romano del "pan y circo", sólo que en el caso de Estados Unidos, la estulticia se encarna en la glorificación de los valores corporativos, en el consumismo y entretenimiento masivos, en pocas palabras, en todo lo que proyecta la llamada cultura "McWorld".

This is the second book by Pastor Omar Fisher as he details the far-reaching consequences of prison on our society. This writing investigates the lives of those recently released from prison and the corresponding experiences of Pastor Omar as he visited and interacted with those who were incarcerated and their families and their communities.

A book designed to help women and girls deal with rape and sexual attacks and lay out a path to increase the percentage of successful prosecutions above the meager 1.50% at present.

Reputation touches almost everything, guiding our behavior and choices in countless ways. But it is also shrouded in mystery. Why is it so powerful when the criteria by which people and things are defined as good or bad often appear to be arbitrary? Why do we care so much about how others see us that we may even do irrational and harmful things to try to influence their opinion? In this engaging book, Gloria Origgi draws on philosophy, social psychology, sociology, economics, and more to offer an illuminating account of an important yet oddly neglected subject.

The United States is an exceptionally violent country, increasingly unable or unwilling to stem violence in its many forms. A growing corporate crime wave has gone unprosecuted and unpunished. Meanwhile, the country has doubled down on pursuing people accused of street and drug crimes and immigration offenses. Corporate impunity, the financialization of the economy, militarized policing, the burgeoning carceral state, and the forever wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere all have fostered corporate, economic, and state violence in America.

Pedofilia, nekrofilia, kazirodztwo, flagelacja, sadyzm, brutalne gwałty, a także czarnoksięstwo, profanacja trupów, miłosne napoje – to tylko niektóre wątki bulwersującej książki Elwiry Watały. Chronologiczne ramy Wielkich zboczeńców są szerokie: od Egiptu faraonów po Rosję Putina. Autorka obnaża różne dewiacje seksualne władców i wielkich tego świata, także tych, których zwykliśmy uważać za wzór cnót. Nie osądza swych bohaterów, nie wnika w motywy ich postepowania, nie piętnuje i nie usprawiedliwia. Z porażającą brutalnością ukazuje perwersyjne oblicze ludzkiej natury.

N’en déplaise aux adeptes du développement personnel, « être l’auteur de sa vie » n’est pas chose aisée car s’affranchir des déterminismes qui font notre histoire est un long - mais pas impossible ! - chemin vers la liberté. " Être l’auteur de sa vie " est un leitmotiv des ouvrages de développement personnel. La maxime de Pindare, " deviens qui tu es ", se décline partout : titres d’essais, slogans publicitaires, mantras sur les réseaux sociaux.

In this powerful book, Dr. K. Edwin Bryant confronts difficult conversations to help non-Blacks reinterpret public responses to oppression imposed on and experienced by the Black community. Dr. Bryant offers a real-life characterization of how justice disrupts the organization of power along racial lines and the final analysis needed to pull Black people apart from reliance on the "double consciousness".

Why are so many of the superhero myths tied up with loss, often violent, of parents or parental figures? What is the significance of the dual identity? What makes some superhuman figures “good” and others “evil”? Why are so many of the prime superheroes white and male? How has the superhero evolved over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries? All these topics, and more, are covered in this lively and original exploration of the reasons why the superhero—in comic books, films, and TV—is such a potent myth for our times and culture.

"L’homme ne peut devenir homme que par l’éducation. (...) L’éducation doit donc discipliner les hommes. La discipliner, c’est chercher à empêcher que ce qu’il y a d’animal en eux n’étouffe ce qu’il y a d’humain, aussi bien dans l’homme individuel que dans l’homme social. La discipline consiste donc simplement à les dépouiller de leur sauvagerie" E. Kant

In Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils, the award-winning author David Farrier explores the traces we will leave for the very distant future. Modern civilization has created objects and landscapes with the potential to endure through deep time, whether it is plastic polluting the oceans and nuclear waste sealed within the earth or the 30 million miles of roads spanning the planet.

This book looks at American life during a pivotal time (1950-2024) in American history: the Turn. It covers the postwar booms, social movements, the Reagan revolution, the Gulf wars, the war on terror as well as counterculture, protest movements, and the election of two unique presidents.

Armed authorities watch from a military-grade surveillance tower as lines of people stream toward the security checkpoint, tickets in hand, anxious and excited to get through the gate. Few seem to notice or care that the US Border Patrol is monitoring the Super Bowl, as they have for years, one of the many ways that forces created to police the borders are now being used, in an increasingly militarized fashion, to survey and monitor the whole of American society. In fast-paced prose, Todd Miller sounds an alarm as he chronicles the changing landscape.

We used to know how to know. We got our answers from books or experts. We'd nail down the facts and move on. But in the Internet age, knowledge has moved onto networks. There's more knowledge than ever, of course, but it's different. Topics have no boundaries, and nobody agrees on anything.Yet this is the greatest time in history to be a knowledge seeker - if you know how.