At a moment of crisis over our national identity, journalist Dan Rather reflects on what it means to be an American. He reminds us of the principles upon which the United States was founded. Looking at the freedoms that define us, from the vote to the press; the values that have transformed us, from empathy to inclusion to service; the institutions that sustain us, such as public education; and the traits that helped form our young country, such as...

The political theorist and author of After Progress examines the future of U.S. dominance on the world stage in this persuasive and provocative book. The decline and fall of America's global empire is the central feature of today's geopolitical landscape. How we respond to this reality will determine much of our future trajectory, with implications that reach far beyond the limits of one nation's borders. In Decline and Fall, John Michael Greer examines...

A journalist and author of The Influence of Soros examines the history of Jewish people in America and explores their ever-evolving relationship to the nation's culture and identity—and each other.

What does it mean to be a Bad Jew?

Many Jews use the term "Bad Jew" as a weapon against other members of the community or even against themselves. You can be called a Bad Jew if you don't keep kosher; if you only go

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This challenges the conventional wisdom about participatory democracy. Freedom Is an Endless Meeting offers vivid portraits of American experiments in participatory democracy throughout the twentieth century. Drawing on meticulous research and more than one hundred interviews with activists, Francesca Polletta upends the notion that participatory democracy is worthy in purpose but unworkable in practice. Instead, she shows that social movements have...

The year 2022 marks 2,500 years since Athens, the birthplace of democracy, fought off the mighty Persian Empire. This is the story of the three epic battles—Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis—that saved democracy, forever altering the history of Europe and the West.
In 2022 it will be 2,500 years since the final defeat of the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, the Persian king. This astonishing clash between East and West still has...

"One of BBC History Magazine's Best Books of 2020" David Stasavage is dean for the social sciences and Julius Silver Professor of Politics at New York University. His books include Taxing the Rich and States of Credit (both Princeton). Twitter @stasavage "One of the most important books on political regimes written in a generation."-Steven Levitsky, New York Times–bestselling author of How Democracies Die A new understanding of how and why early...

Jonathan Israel is professor of modern history at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is in the process of finishing a monumental three-volume history of the Radical Enlightenment, the first two volumes of which, Radical Enlightenment and Enlightenment Contested, have already been published. A leading historian reveals the radical origins of humanity's most cherished secular values Democracy, free thought and expression, religious...

What is it like to be a woman living through the transition from communism to democracy? What effect does this have on a woman's daily life, on her concept of herself, her family, and her community? This book presents the stories of women in Romania as they describe their experiences on the journey to democratic citizenship. In candid and revealing conversations, women between the ages of 24 and 83 explain how they negotiated their way through radical...

One of Latin America's leading sociologists, Manuel Antonio Garreton explores contemporary challenges to democratization in Latin America in this work originally published in Spanish in 1995. He pays particular attention to the example of Chile, analyzing the country's return to democracy and its hopes for continued prosperity following the 1973 coup that overthrew democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Garreton contends that the period...

DICEN QUE VIVIMOS EN UNA DEMOCRACIA. QUE SOMOS LIBRES Y DEBERÍAMOS ESTAR AGRADECIDOS. ¿Pero cuán "libres" somos? ¿Cuán democráticas son realmente nuestras denominadas "Democracias"? ¿Es suficiente con elegir a nuestros líderes y luego sentarnos, indefensos, mientras nos gobiernan como dictadores? ¿De qué sirve elegir a nuestros políticos, si no podemos controlar nuestros medios de comunicación, la policía o la milicia? Si debemos seguir...