The Miner's Canary

The Miner's Canary
Author: Lani GUINIER
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0674038037

Like the canaries that alerted miners to a poisonous atmosphere, issues of race point to underlying problems in society that ultimately affect everyone, not just minorities. Addressing these issues is essential. Ignoring racial differences--race blindness--has failed. Focusing on individual achievement has diverted us from tackling pervasive inequalities. Now, in a powerful and challenging book, Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres propose a radical new way to confront race in the twenty-first century. Given the complex relationship between race and power in America, engaging race means engaging standard winner-take-all hierarchies of power as well. Terming their concept political race, Guinier and Torres call for the building of grass-roots, cross-racial coalitions to remake those structures of power by fostering public participation in politics and reforming the process of democracy. Their illuminating and moving stories of political race in action include the coalition of Hispanic and black leaders who devised the Texas Ten Percent Plan to establish equitable state college admissions criteria, and the struggle of black workers in North Carolina for fair working conditions that drew on the strength and won the support of the entire local community. The aim of political race is not merely to remedy racial injustices, but to create truly participatory democracy, where people of all races feel empowered to effect changes that will improve conditions for everyone. In a book that is ultimately not only aspirational but inspirational, Guinier and Torres envision a social justice movement that could transform the nature of democracy in America.

The Miner's Canary

The Miner's Canary
Author: Niles Eldredge
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2022-02-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0691241848

Like the bird whose death signaled dangerous conditions in a mine, the demise of animals that once flourished should give humans pause. How is our fate linked to the earth's creatures, and the cycle of flourishing and extinction? Which are the simple workings of nature's order, and which are omens of ecological disaster? Does human activity accelerate extinction? What really causes it? In an illuminating and elegantly written account of the widespread reduction of the world's wildlife, renowned paleontologist Niles Eldredge poses these questions and examines humankind's role in the larger life cycles of the earth, composing a provocative general theory of extinction.

The Miner’s Canary

The Miner’s Canary
Author: Lani Guinier
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2003-04-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0674254236

Like the canaries that alerted miners to a poisonous atmosphere, issues of race point to underlying problems in society that ultimately affect everyone, not just minorities. Addressing these issues is essential. Ignoring racial differences--race blindness--has failed. Focusing on individual achievement has diverted us from tackling pervasive inequalities. Now, in a powerful and challenging book, Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres propose a radical new way to confront race in the twenty-first century. Given the complex relationship between race and power in America, engaging race means engaging standard winner-take-all hierarchies of power as well. Terming their concept "political race," Guinier and Torres call for the building of grass-roots, cross-racial coalitions to remake those structures of power by fostering public participation in politics and reforming the process of democracy. Their illuminating and moving stories of political race in action include the coalition of Hispanic and black leaders who devised the Texas Ten Percent Plan to establish equitable state college admissions criteria, and the struggle of black workers in North Carolina for fair working conditions that drew on the strength and won the support of the entire local community. The aim of political race is not merely to remedy racial injustices, but to create truly participatory democracy, where people of all races feel empowered to effect changes that will improve conditions for everyone. In a book that is ultimately not only aspirational but inspirational, Guinier and Torres envision a social justice movement that could transform the nature of democracy in America.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Native American History

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Native American History
Author: Walter C. Fleming
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2003
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780028644691

This book is a comprehensive overview of the history and culture of the peoples who are now known as the First Americans. Author Walter C. Fleming covers the many different tribes that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific, including compelling biographies of their greatest leaders. He examines the beliefs, customs, legends and the myriad contributions Native Americans have given to modern society, and details the often tragic history of their conquest by European invaders, their treatment-both historical and recent-under the U.S. government, and the harsh reality of life on today's reservations.

Race, Rights, and Redemption

Race, Rights, and Redemption
Author: Janet Dewart Bell
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2021-11-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1620977354

Leading legal lights weigh in on key issues of race and the law—collected in honor of one of the originators of critical race theory “Penetrating essays on race and social stratification within policing and the law, in honor of pioneering scholar Derrick Bell.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) When Derrick Bell, one of the originators of critical race theory, turned sixty-five, his wife founded a lecture series with leading scholars, including critical race theorists, many of them Bell’s former students. Now these lectures, given over the course of twenty-five years, are collected for the first time in a volume Library Journal calls “potent” and Kirkus Reviews, in a starred review, says “powerfully acknowledge[s] the persistence of structural racism.” “To what extent does equal protection protect?” asks Ian Haney López in a penetrating analysis of the gaps that remain in our civil rights legal codes. Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, describes the hypersegregation of our cities and the limits of the law’s ability to change deep-seated attitudes about race. Patricia J. Williams explores the legacy of slavery in the law’s current constructions of sanity. Anita Allen discusses competing privacy and accountability interests in the lives of African American celebrities. Chuck Lawrence interrogates the judicial backlash against affirmative action. And Michelle Alexander describes what caused her to break ranks with the civil rights community and take up the cause of those our legal system has labeled unworthy. Race, Rights, and Redemption (which was originally published in hardcover under the title Carving Out a Humanity) gathers some of our country’s brightest progressive legal stars in a volume that illuminates facets of the law that have continued to perpetuate racial inequality and to confound our nation at the start of a new millennium. With contributions by: Michelle Alexander Anita Allen Derrick Bell Stephen Bright Paul Butler John Calmore Devon W. Carbado William Carter Jr. Emma Coleman Jordan Richard Delgado Annette Gordon-Reed Jasmine Gonzales Rose Lani Guinier Cheryl I. Harris Ian Haney López Sherrilyn Ifill Charles Lawrence Kenneth W. Mack Mari Matsuda Charles Ogletree Angela Onwuachi-Willig Theodore M. Shaw Kendall Thomas Patricia J. Williams Robert A. Williams

Global Values 101

Global Values 101
Author: Ann S. Kim
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2006-02-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780807003053

Global Values 101 grew out of one of the most popular courses ever offered at Harvard University, in which some of the most original thinkers of our day sat down with students and explored how ideas have made them-and can make us-more engaged, involved, and compassionate citizens. In these engrossing, essay-length interviews, which address the topics of war, religion, the global economy, and social change, Amy Goodman, host of the popular radio program Democracy Now, speaks about the role of the independent media as gatekeeper and witness; Lani Guinier, author of Tyranny of the Majority, reveals that students' SAT scores more accurately describe the kind of car their parents drive than the grades they will earn in college and shows the way to a more equitable college admissions system; Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, explores the American Dream and exposes the myth of the "good war"; economist Juliet Schor, author of Born to Buy and The Overspent American, explains why Americans are willing to sacrifice quality of life to attain financial success; former "mall rat" Naomi Klein, author of No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, urges readers to go global while fighting global conglomerates; and Katha Pollitt, author of Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism, employs her incisive wit to explore what it really means to be a feminist in the Twenty First century. For anyone who has been moved by idealism and longed to become a more proactive citizen, this collection offers a range of stories on how progressive ethics can inform, inspire, and ultimately transform lives.

Increasing Multicultural Understanding

Increasing Multicultural Understanding
Author: Don C. Locke
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2013-09-17
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1483314219

Increasing Multicultural Understanding, Third Edition provides the necessary tools to foster positive and productive relationships among culturally diverse populations. Authors Don C. Locke and Deryl F. Bailey encourage readers to explore their own cultural background and identity, and in the process, begin to better understand others. A best-seller in the first and second editions, this revised and expanded third edition continues to present its classic framework for critical observation with at least 10 elements, including: the history of oppression, religious practices, family structure, degree of acculturation, poverty, language and the arts, racism and prejudice, sociopolitical factors, child-rearing practices, and values and attitudes.

Resisting Global Toxics

Resisting Global Toxics
Author: David Naguib Pellow
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2007-08-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262662019

Examines the export of hazardous wastes to poor communities of color around the world and charts the global social movements that challenge them. Every year, nations and corporations in the “global North” produce millions of tons of toxic waste. Too often this hazardous material—inked to high rates of illness and death and widespread ecosystem damage—is exported to poor communities of color around the world. In Resisting Global Toxics, David Naguib Pellow examines this practice and charts the emergence of transnational environmental justice movements to challenge and reverse it. Pellow argues that waste dumping across national boundaries from rich to poor communities is a form of transnational environmental inequality that reflects North/South divisions in a globalized world, and that it must be theorized in the context of race, class, nation, and environment. Building on environmental justice studies, environmental sociology, social movement theory, and race theory, and drawing on his own research, interviews, and participant observations, Pellow investigates the phenomenon of global environmental inequality and considers the work of activists, organizations, and networks resisting it. He traces the transnational waste trade from its beginnings in the 1980s to the present day, examining global garbage dumping, the toxic pesticides that are the legacy of the Green Revolution in agriculture, and today's scourge of dumping and remanufacturing high tech and electronics products. The rise of the transnational environmental movements described in Resisting Global Toxics charts a pragmatic path toward environmental justice, human rights, and sustainability.

The New Black

The New Black
Author: Kenneth Mack
Publisher: New Press, The
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2013-09-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1595586776

The election and reelection of Barack Obama ushered in a litany of controversial perspectives about the contemporary state of American race relations. In this incisive volume, some of the country’s most celebrated and original thinkers on race—historians, sociologists, writers, scholars, and cultural critics—reexamine the familiar framework of the civil rights movement with an eye to redirecting our understanding of the politics of race. Through provocative and insightful essays, The New Black challenges contemporary images of black families, offers a contentious critique of the relevance of presidential politics, transforms ideas about real and perceived political power, defies commonly accepted notions of "blackness," and generally attempts to sketch the new boundaries of debates over race in America. Bringing a wealth of novel ideas and fresh perspectives to the public discourse, The New Black represents a major effort to address both persistent inequalities and the changing landscape of race in the new century. With contributions by: Elizabeth Alexander Jeannine Bell Paul Butler Luis Fuentes-Rohwer Lani Guinier Jonathan Scott Holloway Taeku Lee Glenn C. Loury Angela Onwuachi-Willig Orlando Patterson Cristina M. Rodríguez Gerald Torres

The Handy Technology Answer Book

The Handy Technology Answer Book
Author: Naomi Balaban
Publisher: Visible Ink Press
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2015-12-21
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1578595940

Technology pervades our daily lives and modern society, and not just when it comes to computers and smart phones. Before there was the computer, there was the abacus. Before the smart phone, there was the telegraph and ball point pen. Electricity, penicillin, and the compass have all led to revolutionary changes in how we live. The Handy Technology Answer Book explains how technology has revolutionized the way people live, work, and play. It covers a broad range of fields, including medicine, mining, buildings, transportation, the military, and agriculture, and how they have been changed by technology. From the relationship between science and technology to nanotechnology, robots, and predictions for future technology, The Handy Technology Answer Book presents the latest and historical in an engaging and informative format. It brings well-researched answers to more than 1,100 common questions on technology, such as What are the major time periods of technology? Who is considered to be the first engineer? Which individual was granted the most U.S. patents? What is a Uniform Resource Locator, or URL? What products are made from recycled plastic? Can human beings be cloned? What is the future of wearable technology in health care?