Books with category 🏛 Politics
Displaying 3 books

A Promised Land

2020

by Barack Obama

A Promised Land is an intimate and powerful account of history in the making, from the president who inspired us to believe in democracy. Barack Obama narrates his journey from a young man searching for his identity to becoming the leader of the free world, offering personal insights into both his political education and the significant moments of his first presidential term.

From his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory, and the historic election night on November 4, 2008, Obama's memoir is a deeply personal exploration of the reach and limits of presidential power, U.S. partisan politics, and international diplomacy. He takes readers inside the Oval Office, the White House Situation Room, and across the globe, sharing his thoughts on assembling his cabinet, handling the global financial crisis, confronting Vladimir Putin, and authorizing the mission that led to the death of Osama bin Laden.

With candor, Obama discusses the challenges of running for office as a Black American, the impact of the presidency on his family, and never loses faith in the progress possible within the American experiment. A Promised Land is a testament to democracy, founded on empathy and common understanding, built together day by day.

The Once and Future Witches

2020

by Alix E. Harrow

In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in this powerful novel of magic, family, and the suffragette movement. In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters—James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna—join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote—and perhaps not even to live—the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive. There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.

An homage to the indomitable power and persistence of women, The Once and Future Witches reimagines stories of revolution, motherhood, and women's suffrage—the lost ways are calling.

Caste

Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.

Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. 

She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

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