Some of the resources on this page were recommended by Professor Joe Scanlon and MCC Librarians in association with the MCC event "The Divided States of America: Political Divisiveness in American Politics," presented by Professors Joe Scanlon, Louis Andolino, and Nayda Pares-Kane on February 26, 2020; the information is still relevant today.
The Marketplace of Democracy: Electoral Competition and American Politics
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Since 1998, U.S. House incumbents have won a staggering 98 percent of their reelection races. Electoral competition is also low and in decline in most state and primary elections. The Marketplace of Democracy combines the resources of two eminent research organizations-the Brookings Institution and the Cato Institute-to address the startling lack of competition in our democratic system.
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism
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Evangelical Christians are perhaps the most polarizing-and least understood-people living in America today. In his seminal new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, journalist Tim Alberta, himself a practicing Christian and the son of an evangelical preacher, paints an expansive and profoundly troubling portrait of the American evangelical movement. Through the eyes of televangelists and small-town preachers, celebrity revivalists and everyday churchgoers, Alberta tells the story of a faith cheapened by ephemeral fear, a promise corrupted by partisan subterfuge, and a reputation stained by perpetual scandal.
Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
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We are living in a time of deep divisions. Americans are sorting themselves along racial, religious, and cultural lines, leading to a level of polarization that the country hasn't seen since the Civil War. Pundits and politicians are calling for us to come together and find common purpose. But how, exactly, can this be done? In Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg suggests a way forward. He believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, childcare centers, churches, and parks where crucial connections are formed. Interweaving his own research with examples from around the globe, Klinenberg shows how "social infrastructure" is helping to solve some of our most pressing societal challenges. Richly reported and ultimately uplifting, Palaces for the People offers a blueprint for bridging our seemingly unbridgeable divides.
Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics
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This tour de force of investigative journalism--in the vein of The Next Civil War and Why We're Polarized--reveals how the battle between the right and left is spilling out from the darkest corners of the internet into the real world with often tragic consequences. With a sharp eye for detail and a dash of dark humor, Reeve explains the origins of this shocking sweep of political violence. Drawing on countless interviews with sources in the white nationalist movement as well as hundreds of as-yet-unseen documents, she takes us on a surreal journey from the darkest corners of the internet to the most significant and chilling scenes of real-world political violence in generations. A stranger-than-fiction odyssey into the dark heart of what American politics has become, Black Pill is necessary reading for any supporter of democracy.
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
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Do not obey in advance -- Defend institutions -- Beware the one-party state -- Take responsibility for the face of the world -- Remember professional ethics -- Be wary of paramilitaries -- Be reflective if you must be armed -- Stand out -- Be kind to our language -- Believe in truth -- Investigate -- Make eye contact and small talk -- Practice corporeal politics -- Establish a private life -- Contribute to good causes -- Learn from peers in other countries -- Listen for dangerous words -- Be calm when the unthinkable arrives -- Be a patriot -- Be as courageous as you can.
Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from Our Culture of Contempt
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In Love Your Enemies, social scientist and author Arthur C. Brooks’ prescriptions are unconventional. To bring America together, we shouldn’t try to agree more. There is no need for mushy moderation, because disagreement is the secret to excellence. Civility and tolerance shouldn’t be our goals, because they are hopelessly low standards. And our feelings toward our foes are irrelevant; what matters is how we choose to act.
Truth-Seeking in an Age of (Mis)Information Overload
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Offers a thorough, multidisciplinary picture of the informational challenges of our media ecosystem, as well as collaborative strategies for addressing them. The unprecedented spread of false and misleading information is the flip side of the Internet's promise of universal access and information democratization. This volume features original contributions from scholars working on the challenge of misinformation across a wide range of STEM, humanities, and art disciplines. Modeling a collaborative, multidisciplinary "convergence approach," Truth-Seeking in an Age of (Mis)Information Overload is structured in three parts. Part 1, "Misinformation and Artificial Intelligence," confronts the danger of outsourcing judgement and decision-making to AI instruments in key areas of public life, from the processing of loan applications to school funding, policing, and criminal sentencing. Part 2, "Science Communication," foregrounds the need to rethink how scientific findings are communicated to the public, calling on scientists to cooperate with colleagues in other disciplines and community representatives to help minimize the negative effects of mis/disinformation in such vital areas as climate change science and public health. Part 3, "Building Trust," further advocates for and explores instances of trust-building initiatives as a necessary precondition of both community-oriented scholarly activity and effective intervention strategies in high impact areas such as public health. This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to the generous support of the Humanities Institute at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. It can also be found in the SUNY Open Access Repository.
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