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The virus had the potential to kill, but the real threat to life
came from us. In this global overview of different countries'
responses to the pandemic of 2020, we see that the key factors that
determined success or failure were not to do with geography,
preparedness or vaccines. They were social: how much we trust each
other and our government; whether we value the collective or the
individual; whose lives matter to us and who we're willing to leave
in harm's way. Drawing on research conducted across multiple
continents, Klinenberg shows how leaders in London and Washington
made the crisis so much more lethal than was necessary, while
scientists, citizens and policy makers in Australia, Japan and
Taiwan worked together to save lives. He explains why and how
countries as various as South Korea, Germany and Brazil took their
own particular paths. Interwoven throughout is an intimate account
of seven lives - including a school principal, a bar manager, a
transport worker and a political aide - in the global epicentre of
the pandemic, New York, which shows how decisions taken at the top
played out in people's lives. As this book shows, the pandemic
brought devastation but it also brought clarity, revealing for
better and worse who we really are and a set of principles for how
we might approach the next catastrophe differently.
The virus had the potential to kill, but the real threat to life
came from us. In this global overview of different countries'
responses to the pandemic of 2020, we see that the key factors that
determined success or failure were not to do with geography,
preparedness or vaccines. They were social: how much we trust each
other and our government; whether we value the collective or the
individual; whose lives matter to us and who we're willing to leave
in harm's way. Through a deeply reported, character-driven account
of seven lives - including a school principal, a bar manager, a
transport worker and a political aide - in the global epicentre of
the pandemic, New York, we see how different communities and
sectors of society were affected by the decisions taken by
governments and politicians. We see why some heeded the call for
mask-wearing and social distancing while others rejected it, and
how crucial factors such as race and age determined fates.
Surrounding them is the panoramic overview: Klinenberg shows how
leaders in London and Washington made the crisis so much more
lethal than was necessary, while scientists, citizens and policy
makers in Australia, Japan and Taiwan worked together to save
lives, and how countries as various as South Korea, Germany and
Brazil took their own particular paths. This book is both mirror
and roadmap: a reflection of who we are at this crucial moment in
world history, and a set of principles for how we might approach
the next catastrophe differently.
On Thursday, July 13, 1995, Chicagoans awoke to a blistering day on
which the temperature would eventually climb to 106 degrees. It was
the start of an unprecedented heat wave that would last a full week
- and leave more than seven hundred people dead. Rather than view
these deaths as the inevitable consequence of natural disaster,
sociologist Eric Klinenberg decided to figure out why so many
people - and, specifically, so many elderly, poor, and isolated
people - died, and to identify the social and political failures
that together made the heat wave so deadly. Published to coincide
with the twentieth anniversary of the heat wave, this new edition
of Klinenberg's groundbreaking book includes a new foreword by the
author that reveals what we've learned in the years since its
initial publication in 2002, and how in coming decades the effects
of climate change will intensify the social and environmental
pressures in urban areas around the world.
We live in the age of extremes, a period punctuated by significant
disasters that have changed the way we understand risk,
vulnerability, and the future of communities. Violent ecological
events such as Superstorm Sandy attest to the urgent need to
analyze what cities around the world are doing to reduce carbon
emissions, develop new energy systems, and build structures to
enhance preparedness for catastrophe. The essays in this issue
illustrate that the best techniques for safeguarding cities and
critical infrastructure systems from threats related to climate
change have multiple benefits, strengthening networks that promote
health and prosperity during ordinary times as well as mitigating
damage during disasters. The contributors provide a truly global
perspective on topics such as the toxic effects of fracking, water
rights in the Los Angeles region, wind energy in southern Mexico,
and water scarcity from Brazil to the Arabian Peninsula.
Contributors: Nina Berman, Dominic Boyer, Daniel Aldana Cohen,
Goekce Gunel, Cymene Howe, Colin Jerolmack, Eric Klinenberg, Liz
Koslov, Andrew Lakoff, Valeria Procupez, Jerome Whitington, Austin
Zeiderman
In 1950, only 22% of adults were single. Today, more than 50% of
adults are. Though conventional wisdom tells us that living by
oneself leads to loneliness and isolation, most solo dwellers,
compared with their married counterparts, are more likely to eat
out and exercise, sign up for art and music classes, attend public
events and lectures, and volunteer. Drawing on over three hundred
in-depth interviews with men and women of all ages and every class,
Eric Klinenberg reaches some startling conclusions about the
seismic impact solo living is having on our culture, business and
politics.
On Election Day in 2016, it seemed unthinkable to many Americans
that Donald Trump could become president of the United States. But
the victories of the Obama administration hid from view fundamental
problems deeply rooted in American social institutions and history.
The election's consequences drastically changed how Americans
experience their country, especially for those threatened by the
public outburst of bigotry and repression. Amid the deluge of
tweets and breaking news stories that turn each day into a
political soap opera, it can be difficult to take a step back and
see the big picture. To confront the threats we face, we must
recognize that the Trump presidency is a symptom, not the malady.
Antidemocracy in America is a collective effort to understand how
we got to this point and what can be done about it. Assembled by
the sociologist Eric Klinenberg as well as the editors of the
online magazine Public Books, Caitlin Zaloom and Sharon Marcus, it
offers essays from many of the nation's leading scholars, experts
on topics including race, religion, gender, civil liberties,
protest, inequality, immigration, climate change, national
security, and the role of the media. Antidemocracy in America
places our present in international and historical context,
considering the worldwide turn toward authoritarianism and its
varied precursors. Each essay seeks to inform our understanding of
the fragility of American democracy and suggests how to protect it
from the buried contradictions that Trump's victory brought into
public view.
How can we bring people together? Sociologist and best-selling
author Eric Klinenberg introduces a transformative and powerfully
uplifting new idea for health, happiness, safety and healing our
divided, unequal society. 'This wonderful book shows us how
democracies thrive' Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, authors
of How Democracies Die Too often we take for granted and neglect
our libraries, parks, markets, schools, playgrounds, gardens and
communal spaces, but decades of research now shows that these
places can have an extraordinary effect on our personal and
collective wellbeing. Why? Because wherever people cross paths and
linger, wherever we gather informally, strike up a conversation and
get to know one another, relationships blossom and communities
emerge - and where communities are strong, people are safer and
healthier, crime drops and commerce thrives, and peace, tolerance
and stability take root. Through uplifting human stories and an
illuminating tour through the science of social connection, Palaces
for the People shows that properly designing and maintaining this
'social infrastructure' might be our single best strategy for a
more equal and united society.
An "admirably researched and lucidly written" investigation of the
corporate takeover of the media--and what it means for Americans
--that "should serve as a wake-up call" (Daniel Schorr, NPR) For
the residents of Minot, North Dakota, Clear Channel Communications
is synonymous with disaster. When a train derailment sent a cloud
of poisonous gas drifting toward the small town, Minot's fire and
rescue departments attempted to use local radio to warn residents
of the approaching threat. But in the age of canned programming,
there was no one at the six local non-religious commercial
stations, all owned by Clear Channel, to take the call. The result
for the people of Minot: one death and more than a thousand
injuries.
Opening with the story of the Minot tragedy, "Fighting for Air
"takes us into the world of preprogrammed radio shows, empty
television news stations, and copycat newspapers to show how
expanding conglomerate ownership of all media has harmed American
political and cultural life--and how malign neglect by the federal
government allowed it to happen. In a call for action, "Fighting
for Air "also reveals a rising generation of activists and citizen
journalists who are insisting on the local coverage we need and
deserve.
On Election Day in 2016, it seemed unthinkable to many Americans
that Donald Trump could become president of the United States. But
the victories of the Obama administration hid from view fundamental
problems deeply rooted in American social institutions and history.
The election's consequences drastically changed how Americans
experience their country, especially for those threatened by the
public outburst of bigotry and repression. Amid the deluge of
tweets and breaking news stories that turn each day into a
political soap opera, it can be difficult to take a step back and
see the big picture. To confront the threats we face, we must
recognize that the Trump presidency is a symptom, not the malady.
Antidemocracy in America is a collective effort to understand how
we got to this point and what can be done about it. Assembled by
the sociologist Eric Klinenberg as well as the editors of the
online magazine Public Books, Caitlin Zaloom and Sharon Marcus, it
offers essays from many of the nation's leading scholars, experts
on topics including race, religion, gender, civil liberties,
protest, inequality, immigration, climate change, national
security, and the role of the media. Antidemocracy in America
places our present in international and historical context,
considering the worldwide turn toward authoritarianism and its
varied precursors. Each essay seeks to inform our understanding of
the fragility of American democracy and suggests how to protect it
from the buried contradictions that Trump's victory brought into
public view.
Bringing together new articles and essays from the controversial
Berkeley conference of the same name, "The Making and Unmaking of
Whiteness" presents a fascinating range of inquiry into the nature
of whiteness. Representing academics, independent scholars,
community organizers, and antiracist activists, the contributors
are all leaders in the "second wave" of whiteness studies who
collectively aim to combat the historical legacies of white
supremacy and to inform those who seek to understand the changing
nature of white identity, both in the United States and
abroad.
With essays devoted to theories of racial domination, comparative
global racisms, and transnational white identity, the geographical
reach of the volume is significant and broad. Dalton Conley writes
on "How I Learned to Be White." Allan Berube discusses the
intersection of gay identity and whiteness, and Mab Segrest
describes the spiritual price white people pay for living in a
system of white supremacy. Other pieces examine the utility of
whiteness as a critical term for social analysis and contextualize
different attempts at antiracist activism. In a razor-sharp
introduction, the editors not only raise provocative questions
about the intellectual, social, and political goals of those
interested in the study of whiteness but assess several of the
topic's major recurrent themes: the visibility of whiteness (or the
lack thereof); the "emptiness" of whiteness as a category of
identification; and conceptions of whiteness as a structural
privilege, a harbinger of violence, or an institutionalization of
European imperialism.
"Contributors." William Aal, Allan Berube, Birgit Brander
Rasmussen, Dalton Conley, Troy Duster, Ruth Frankenberg, John
Hartigan Jr., Eric Klinenberg, Eric Lott, Irene J. Nexica, Michael
Omi, Jasbir Kaur Puar, Mab Segrest, Vron Ware, Howard Winant, Matt
Wray
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