Viable Utopian Ideas

Viable Utopian Ideas PDF Author: Art Shostak
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317452682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Utopias - whether philosophical, literary, or actual experiments - are attempts to solve all social problems. In the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center, unfolding corporate scandals, and other devastating shocks, it is natural to search for practical lessons in utopian literature. In this collection noted sociologists renew the call to develop an altruistic social order. They address a wide variety of topics as they look for viable utopian ideas that can be applied to today's society. Written in an engaging, jargon-free style, and directed to introductory sociology students as well as anyone concerned with social problems, the book provides both visionary ideals and insights for pragmatic decision-making as we venture into an uncertain future.

Viable Utopian Ideas

Viable Utopian Ideas PDF Author: Art Shostak
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317452682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book Here

Book Description
Utopias - whether philosophical, literary, or actual experiments - are attempts to solve all social problems. In the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center, unfolding corporate scandals, and other devastating shocks, it is natural to search for practical lessons in utopian literature. In this collection noted sociologists renew the call to develop an altruistic social order. They address a wide variety of topics as they look for viable utopian ideas that can be applied to today's society. Written in an engaging, jargon-free style, and directed to introductory sociology students as well as anyone concerned with social problems, the book provides both visionary ideals and insights for pragmatic decision-making as we venture into an uncertain future.

Utopian Movements and Ideas of the Great Depression

Utopian Movements and Ideas of the Great Depression PDF Author: Donald W. Whisenhunt
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739181335
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
In the 1930s, the United States was beset with an economic crisis so serious that it threatened the future of the nation. On the national level, Franklin Roosevelt initiated and developed a variety of reforms and experiments as part of the New Deal. Some Americans looking for change believed Roosevelt was going in the wrong direction, while others believed he was too timid in his reforms. Still others thought he had not broken free of the restraints placed on him by the financial interests of the country. Many Americans had their own ideas about how to address the financial crisis and took matters into their own hands. In Utopian Movements and Ideas of the Great Depression, Donald W. Whisenhunt explores several lesser-known movements for change and reform in the Great Depression Era including communal societies, proposals for reform, and analyses of several books that propose solutions to the nation's economic ills. Arguably, America has been a Utopian experiment from its beginning; the movements and ideas of the 1930s were simply the latest manifestations of that experiment. Though not well known, the people and events studied represent the thinking of some of the most articulate and driven Americans during the economic crisis. Despite their lack of obvious success, they represent an important American idea—that an average person can devise solutions to society's problems. These movements and ideas embody the American belief in progress and the power of the individual.

Political Ideas of the Utopian Socialists

Political Ideas of the Utopian Socialists PDF Author: Keith Taylor
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135165629
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
First Published in 1982. In this book, Taylor has selected for special attention the work of Saint-Simon and his disciples (the SaintSimonians), Owen, Fourier, Cabet, and Weitling - those thinkers who made the most important contributions to the development of early socialist theory. The author discusses the designation of 'utopian' which entered into the conventional vocabulary of the history of ideas, and is now used almost without question. This title argues that these thinkers were certainly utopian in the sense that they sought to describe the structure of an ideal future society.

Race and Utopian Desire in American Literature and Society

Race and Utopian Desire in American Literature and Society PDF Author: Patricia Ventura
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030194701
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
Bringing together a variety of scholarly voices, this book argues for the necessity of understanding the important role literature plays in crystallizing the ideologies of the oppressed, while exploring the necessarily racialized character of utopian thought in American culture and society. Utopia in everyday usage designates an idealized fantasy place, but within the interdisciplinary field of utopian studies, the term often describes the worldviews of non-dominant groups when they challenge the ruling order. In a time when white supremacy is reasserting itself in the US and around the world, there is a growing need to understand the vital relationship between race and utopia as a resource for resistance. Utopian literature opens up that relationship by envisioning and negotiating the prospect of a better future while acknowledging the brutal past. The collection fills a critical gap in both literary studies, which has largely ignored the issue of race and utopia, and utopian studies, which has said too little about race.

Mourning the Unborn Dead

Mourning the Unborn Dead PDF Author: Jeff Wilson
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0195371933
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
This book discusses the surprising story of how Asian immigrants, convert Buddhists, pro-life and pro-choice activists, and ordinary women have imported Japanese rituals in order to deal with one of the most divisive public issues in American society: abortion. Wilson analyzes the implications of these varied appropriations for the Americanization of Buddhism.

Stealth Altruism

Stealth Altruism PDF Author: Arthur B. Shostak
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351627775
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Though it has been nearly seventy years since the Holocaust, the human capacity for evil displayed by its perpetrators is still shocking and haunting. But the story of the Nazi attempt to annihilate European Jewry is not all we should remember. Stealth Altruism tells of secret, non-militant, high-risk efforts by “Carers,” those victims who tried to reduce suffering and improve everyone’s chances of survival. Their empowering acts of altruism remind us of our inherent longing to do good even in situations of extraordinary brutality. Arthur B. Shostak explores forbidden acts of kindness, such as sharing scarce clothing and food rations, holding up weakened fellow prisoners during roll call, secretly replacing an ailing friend in an exhausting work detail, and much more. He explores the motivation behind this dangerous behavior, how it differed when in or out of sight, who provided or undermined forbidden care, the differing experiences of men and women, how and why gentiles provided aid, and, most importantly, how might the costly obscurity of stealth altruism soon be corrected. To date, memorialization has emphasized what was done to victims and sidelined what victims tried to do for one another. “Carers” provide an inspiring model and their perilous efforts should be recognized and taught alongside the horrors of the Holocaust. Humanity needs such inspiration.

The Black Utopians

The Black Utopians PDF Author: Aaron Robertson
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374604991
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
A Washington Post most anticipated fall book | One of Literary Hub's most anticipated books of 2024 A lyrical meditation on how Black Americans have envisioned utopia—and sought to transform their lives. How do the disillusioned, the forgotten, and the persecuted not merely hold on to life but expand its possibilities and preserve its beauty? What, in other words, does utopia look like in black? These questions animate Aaron Robertson’s exploration of Black Americans' efforts to remake the conditions of their lives. Writing in the tradition of Saidiya Hartman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robertson makes his way from his ancestral hometown of Promise Land, Tennessee, to Detroit—the city where he was born, and where one of the country’s most remarkable Black utopian experiments got its start. Founded by the brilliant preacher Albert Cleage Jr., the Shrine of the Black Madonna combined Afrocentric Christian practice with radical social projects to transform the self-conception of its members. Central to this endeavor was the Shrine’s chancel mural of a Black Virgin and child, the icon of a nationwide liberation movement that would come to be known as Black Christian Nationalism. The Shrine’s members opened bookstores and co-ops, created a self-defense force, and raised their children communally, eventually working to establish the country’s largest Black-owned farm, where attempts to create an earthly paradise for Black people continues today. Alongside the Shrine’s story, Robertson reflects on a diverse array of Black utopian visions, from the Reconstruction era through the countercultural fervor of the 1960s and 1970s and into the present day. By doing so, Robertson showcases the enduring quest of collectives and individuals for a world beyond the constraints of systemic racism. The Black Utopians offers a nuanced portrait of the struggle for spaces—both ideological and physical—where Black dignity, protection, and nourishment are paramount. This book is the story of a movement and of a world still in the making—one that points the way toward radical alternatives for the future.

Turning Point

Turning Point PDF Author: Facts On File, Incorporated
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438124678
Category : Current events
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
Thirteen original essays analyze the progress the has been made since the official end of the Iraq War.

Utopias and Utopians

Utopias and Utopians PDF Author: Richard C.S. Trahair
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135947732
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
Utopian ventures are worth close attention, to help us understand why some succeed and others fail, for they offer hope for an improved life on earth. Utopias and Utopians is a comprehensive guide to utopian communities and their founders. Some works look at literary utopias or political utopias, etc., and others examine the utopias of only one country: this work examines utopias from antiquity to the present and surveys utopian efforts around the world. Of more than 600 alphabetically arranged entries roughly half are descriptions of utopian ventures; the other half are biographies of those who were involved. Entries are followed by a list of sources and a general bibliography concludes the volume.

Anticipate the School You Want

Anticipate the School You Want PDF Author: Arthur B. Shostak
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1578868548
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
The year is 1943. American GIs are pouring into England, bringing with them romance and heartache. An American army unit has set up base outside a small Hampshire town in preparation for the D-Day landings. Lieutenant Jack Webster is focused on preparing his men for battle and has no intention of getting involved with a woman while there is a war to fight. But then he meets Samantha Mitchell, a beautiful English nurse whose life has already been shattered by four long years of war, and almost at once his resolve begins to weaken... Set against the backdrop of the Second World War and its aftermath, A Nightingale Sang is a heart-warming story that celebrates the triumph of love over the separation of war.