Author: Henry A. Giroux File Type: pdf For more than 20 years Henry Giroux has challenged readers to address the political exploitation and manipulation of American youth. Now, this compelling new book offers a comprehensive selection of Girouxs best works. From his most influential classics to new, never before published essays, America on the Edge offers an overview of Girouxs philosophies throughout his career. From his classic subjects, such as education and democracy and media and youth culture, to revolutionary new views on terrorism, globalization, and morality, this book is essential for all Giroux fans and educators alike.Henry Giroux provides a series of brilliant and provocative essays on the rise of authoritarianism in America, the rise of religious fundamentalism, the crisis of youth, the militarizing of public space, the politics of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the rise of the corporate university, the rise of Orwellian newspeak in the media, the emergence of a hard-boiled masculinity in popular culture, and what it means to reclaim hope in dark times. These essays combine important social issues with an accessible and clear language of historical understanding, critique, and possibility. Giroux argues that the United States is in the midst of a political crisis that is slowly undermining the foundation of democratic politics, culture, and education. He also argues that the crisis of politics is matched by a crisis of imagination and that if democracy is going to survive it is imperative to both rethink the nature of democracy while refashioning a new political language and cultural politics capable of both stopping the current turn toward authoritarianism and reclaiming the possibilities of a substantive democracy.ReviewAmerica on the Edge is an enormously important book--perhaps Girouxs most comprehensive and hard-hitting analysis of the juggernaut of cultural repression that distorts our lives as citizens and renders many of our children socially expendable. Written with a potent mix of shrewd analysis and passionate morality, this dynamic and sophisticated work should stir a social outcry, particularly in the threatened realm of academia. I hope its widely read.--Jonathan Kozol These essays are Giroux at his best, analyzing and criticizing the changing organizations of power in the United States and their effects on the larger world, and calling out to anyone who will listen that that world is possible.--Lawrence Grossberg, author of Caught in the Crossfire Kids, Politics and Americas FutureHere Henry Giroux is at his most lucid, stripping the veil of illusion to reveal the multiple hypocrisies at the core of contemporary American society. His solutions to this devastating moment rest in a deep commitment to education, critical thinking, and the potential to revitalize democracy within an energized public sphere.--Carol Becker, Dean of Faculty, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, author of Surpassing the Spectacle Global Transformations and the Changing Politics of ArtGiroux has, with great force and insight, enabled us to see how catastrophic for us all have been the consequences of the emergence to power of this unrestrained right-wing coalition of political, economic, and religious interests. --Teachers College RecordAbout the AuthorHenry A. Giroux holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University. His previous books with Palgrave include The Abandoned Generation Democracy Beyond the Culture of Fear and Take Back Higher Education (with Susan Giroux). For more than 20 years Henry Giroux has challenged readers to address the political exploitation and manipulation of American youth. Now, this compelling new book offers a comprehensive selection of Girouxs best works. From his most influential classics to new, never before published essays, America on the Edge offers an overview of Girouxs philosophies throughout his career. From his classic subjects, such as education and democracy and media and youth culture, to revolutionary new views on terrorism, globalization, and morality, this book is essential for all Giroux fans and educators alike.Henry Giroux provides a series of brilliant and provocative essays on the rise of authoritarianism in America, the rise of religious fundamentalism, the crisis of youth, the militarizing of public space, the politics of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the rise of the corporate university, the rise of Orwellian newspeak in the media, the emergence of a hard-boiled masculinity in popular culture, and what it means to reclaim hope in dark times. These essays combine important social issues with an accessible and clear language of historical understanding, critique, and possibility. Giroux argues that the United States is in the midst of a political crisis that is slowly undermining the foundation of democratic politics, culture, and education. He also argues that the crisis of politics is matched by a crisis of imagination and that if democracy is going to survive it is imperative to both rethink the nature of democracy while refashioning a new political language and cultural politics capable of both stopping the current turn toward authoritarianism and reclaiming the possibilities of a substantive democracy.

Author: Thomas Johnson File Type: pdf The authors of Culture, Conflict and Counterinsurgency contend that an enduring victory can still be achieved in Afghanistan. However, to secure it we must better understand the cultural foundations of the continuing conflicts that rage across Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, and shift our strategy from an attritional engagement to a smarter war plan that embraces these cultural dimensions. They examine the nexus of culture, conflict, and strategic intervention, and attempt to establish if culture is important in a national security and foreign policy context, and to explore how cultural phenomena and information can best be used by the military. In the process they address just how intimate cultural knowledge needs to be to counter an insurgency effectively. Finally, they establish exactly how good weve been at building and utilizing cultural understanding in Afghanistan, what the operational impact of that understanding has been, and where we must improve to maximize our use of cultural knowledge in preparing for and engaging in future conflicts. **