Bøker utgitt av Beacon Press

Exposing the inadequacies of old conceptions of static cultures and detached observers, the book argues instead for social science to acknowledge and celebrate diversity, narrative, emotion, and subjectivity.

Jody Heymann takes on the American belief that creating a better life for your children is simply a matter of working hard. She argues that poor parents don't have a fair chance. Because our nation fails to provide essential supports, it is virtually impossible for these individuals to succeed at work while caring well for their children. Because of the twin demands of work and family that poor parents face, the health and education of their children suffer. These kids often lack adequate preschool childcare or school-age care, which reduces their own potential to succeed. Heymann shows how intergenerational poverty is perpetuated by outdated labor policies and suggests what must be done to help families. A wide range of thinkers respond. The New Democracy Forum is a series of short paperback originals exploring creative solutions to our most urgent national concerns. "A civic treasure. . . . A truly good idea, carried out with intelligence and panache." --Robert Pinsky

A landmark study that reveals how we become committed to the common good and sustain such commitments in a changing world. View the discussion guide for UU communities: HTML or PDF "A perceptive, groundbreaking analysis of inspired lives. . . . This is a guidebook for the soul."--Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence "A truly refreshing book! In a day when the political and spiritual air has grown stale with cynicism, discouragement, and indirection, this beautifully written, penetrating study could not be more welcome or valuable. No teacher, parent, or civic leader who cares about nurturing social commitment can fail to be informed and inspired by this remarkable and surprisingly practical book."--Robert Kegan, author of In Over Our Heads "Eloquent and profound, Common Fire addresses what Americans everywhere long for: a sense of the common good, an emphasis on community and compassion in everyday life, a values-based politics in the public sphere. A compelling, encouraging work."--Jim Wallis, author of The Soul of Politics "A profound exposition and penetrating commentary on some of life's most important issues."--Clarence G. Newsome, dean, Howard Divinity School "A compelling portrait of people who choose to make a difference and thus inspire us all."--Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of World Class: Thriving Locally in the Global Economy

Esteemed historians of education David Tyack, Carl Kaestle, Diane Ravitch, James Anderson, and Larry Cuban journey through history and across the nation to recapture the idealism of our education pioneers, Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann. We learn how, in the first quarter of the twentieth century, massive immigration, child labor laws, and the explosive growth of cities fueled school attendance and transformed public education, and how in the 1950s public schools became a major battleground in the fight for equality for minorities and women. The debate rages on: Do today's reforms challenge our forebears' notion of a common school for all Americans? Or are they our only recourse today? This lavishly illustrated companion book to the acclaimed PBS documentary, School, is essential reading for anyone who cares about public education.

A former People magazine editor reveals how our cult of celebrity has shaped our politics, our culture, and our personal lives—for better or worseFrom the writer and editor who coined the term “baby boomer” comes Celebrity Nation, an exploration into how and why fame no longer stems only from heroic achievements but from the number of “likes” and shares—and what this change means for American culture. Landon Jones—who spent decades in “celebrityland” only to emerge, like Alice, blinking in the sunlight—brings a personal and first-person perspective on fame and its dark underbelly, complicated even further by the arrival of the internet and social media. Jones draws on his experience as the former managing editor of People magazine to bolster his account with profiles of celebrities he knew personally, ranging from Malcolm X to Princess Diana, as well as observations about contemporary social media stars like Kim Kardashian and computer-generated macro-influencer Miquela, a self-proclaimed “19-year-old Robot living in LA.” In analyzing the stories of over 75 celebrities, spanning decades and industries, Jones shows how celebrity has been wielded as a weapon of mass distraction to spawn narcissism, harm, and loneliness. And yet, in these stories we also see a path forward. Jones highlights luminaries like Nobel Peace prize winner Maria Ressa and lauded environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who have effected meaningful change not by glorifying themselves but by turning to their communities for action. A lively analysis of celebrity culture’s impact on nearly every facet of our lives, Celebrity Nation helps us to recognize how the apparatus of fame operates.

"From leaders on the frontlines of the battle for academic freedom, a first-of-its-kind response to the far right's insidious attacks on the right to learn"--

In 55 poems, Migration Letters straddles the personal and public with particular, photorealistic detail to identify what, over time, creating a home creates in ourselves. Drawn from her experiences of being born in Philadelphia into a Black family and a Black culture transported from the American South by the Great Migration, M. Nzadi Keita's poetry sparks a profoundly hybrid gaze of the visual and the sensory.

"For readers of Caste, the coming-of-age story of a Dalit individual that illuminates systemic injustice in India and its growing impact on U.S. society"--

A chorus of Black student voices that renders a new story of US education—one where racial barriers and violence are confronted by freedom dreaming and resistanceBlack students were forced to live and learn on the Black side of the color line for centuries, through the time of slavery, Emancipation, and the Jim Crow era. And for just as long—even through to today—Black students have been seen as a problem and a seemingly troubled population in America’s public imagination.Through over one hundred firsthand accounts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Professor Jarvis Givens offers a powerful counter-narrative in School Clothes to challenge such dated and prejudiced storylines. He details the educational lives of writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Ralph Ellison; political leaders like Mary McLeod Bethune, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis; and Black students whose names are largely unknown but who left their marks nonetheless. Givens blends this multitude of individual voices into a single narrative, a collective memoir, to reveal a through line shared across time and circumstance: a story of African American youth learning to battle the violent condemnation of Black life and imposed miseducation meant to quell their resistance.School Clothes elevates a legacy in which Black students are more than the sum of their suffering. By peeling back the layers of history, Givens unveils in high relief a distinct student body: Black learners shaped not only by their shared vulnerability but also their triumphs, fortitude, and collective strivings.

Originally published in 1977, "White Rat is a collection of twelve provocative tales that explore the emotional and mental terrain of a diverse cast of characters, from the innocent to the insane, which will inspire new debate and dialogue among general readers and academics alike. In each, Gayl Jones displays her unflinching ability to delve into the most treacherous of psyches and circumstances: The title story examines the identity and relationship conundrums of a black man who can pass for white, earning him the name "White Rat" as an infant; "The Women" follows a girl whose mother brings a succession of female lovers to live in their home; "Jevata" details eighteen-year-old Freddy's relationship with the fifty-year-old title character from the perspective of her old friend Floyd; "The Coke Factory" tracks the thoughts of a mentally handicapped adolescent abandoned by his mother; and "Asylum" focuses on a woman experiencing a nervous breakdown, trying to protect her dignity and her private parts as she enters an institution. In uncompromising prose, and dialect that veers from Northern, educated tongues to down-home Southern colloquialisms, Jones limns lives that society readily ignores, moving them to center stage. Her words and ideas will linger for years to come.

"An on-the-ground look at the rise of parent activism in response to the far-right attacks on public school education"--

"An unflinching look at the challenges and misunderstandings mixed-race people face in family spaces and intimate relationships across their varying cultural backgrounds"--

"A groundbreaking study of the journalism startups that are challenging status quos across the country, from an activist video feed in Minneapolis to a watchdog news site in Memphis. A must-read for activists, entrepreneurs, and journalists who want to start local news outlets in their communities"--

A field guide to the memorials, museums, and practices that commemorate white supremacy in the United States—and how to reimagine a more deeply shared cultural infrastructure for the futureCultural infrastructure has been designed to maintain structures of inequality, and while it doesn’t seem to be explicitly about race, it often is. Blunt Instruments helps readers identify, contextualize, and name elements of our everyday landscapes and cultural practices that are designed to seem benign or natural but which, in fact, work tirelessly to tell us vital stories about who we are, how we came to be, and who belongs.Examining landmark moments such as the erection of the first American museum and Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling pledge of allegiance, historian Kristin Hass explores the complicated histories of sites of cultural infrastructure, such as:· the American Museum of Natural History· the Bridge to Freedom in Selma· the Washington Monument· Mount Auburn Cemetery· Kehinde Wiley’s 2019 sculpture Rumors of War· the Victory Highway· the Alamo CenotaphWith sharp analysis and a broad lens, Hass makes the undeniable case that understanding what cultural infrastructure is, and the deep and broad impact that it has, is essential to understanding how structures of inequity are maintained and how they might be dismantled.

"ON REPENTANCE applies an ancient framework of repentance and repair to our personal lives today, to the contemporary public square, to institutions, and to national policy in ways that could transform our society and our culture"--

With faith, hope, and compassion, acclaimed religion scholar Timothy Beal shows us how to navigate the inevitabilities of the climate crisis and the very real—and very near—possibility of human extinctionWhat if it’s too late to save ourselves from climate crisis? When Time is Short is a meditation for what may be a finite human future that asks how we got here to help us imagine a different relationship to the natural world.Modern capitalism, as it emerged, drew heavily upon the Christian belief in human exceptionalism and dominion over the planet, and these ideas still undergird our largely secular society. They justified the pillaging and eradication of indigenous communities and plundering the Earth’s resources in pursuit of capital and lands.But these aren’t the only models available to us—and they aren’t even the only models to be found in biblical tradition. Beal re-reads key texts to anchor us in other ways of being—in humbler conceptions of humans as earth creatures, bound in ecological interdependence with the world, subjected to its larger reality. Acknowledging that any real hope must first face and grieve the realities of climate crisis, Beal makes space for us to imagine new possibilities and rediscover ancient ones. What matters most when time becomes short, he reminds us, is always what matters most.

From the former faith adviser to President Obama comes an inspirational guide for those who seek to promote positive social change and build a more diverse and just democracyThe goal of social change work is not a more ferocious revolution; it is a more beautiful social order. It is harder to organize a fair trial than it is to fire up a crowd, more challenging to build a good school than it is to tell others they are doing education all wrong. But every decent society requires fair trials and good schools, and that’s just the beginning of the list of institutions and structures that need to be efficiently created and effectively run in large-scale diverse democracy.  We Need to Build is a call to create those institutions and a guide for how to run them well.   In his youth, Eboo Patel was inspired by love-based activists like John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., Badshah Khan, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Thich Nhat Hanh. Their example, and a timely challenge to build the change he wanted to see, led to a life engaged in the particulars of building, nourishing, and sustaining an institution that seeks to promote positive social change—Interfaith America. Now, drawing on his twenty years of experience, Patel tells the stories of what he’s learned and how, in the process, he came to construct as much as critique and collaborate more than oppose.   His challenge to us is clear: those of us committed to refounding America as a just and inclusive democracy need to defeat the things we don’t like by building the things we do.

"An urgent exposition of the pervasive human trafficking that lies just beneath the surface of the US economy-from the stories of its survivors"--

Your parents are so amazing for adopting you! You should be grateful that you were adopted. Angela Tucker is a Black woman, adopted from foster care by white parents. She has heard this microaggression her entire life, usually from well-intentioned strangers who view her adoptive parents as noble saviors. She is grateful for many aspects of her life, but being transracially adopted involves layers of rejection, loss, and complexity that cannot be summed up so easily. In You Should Be Grateful, Tucker centers the experiences of adoptees to share deeply personal stories, well-researched history, and engrossing anecdotes from mentorship sessions with adopted youth. These perspectives challenge the fairy-tale narrative of adoption, giving way to a fuller story that explores the impacts of racism, classism, family, love, and belonging.

Political upheaval and social turmoil have peeled back the layers of capitalism to reveal an uncomfortable truth: historically, businesses have sourced materials from remote corners of the globe and moved millions of people and tons of cargo around the clock, all in the name of profit. Yet many of today's startups are rewriting the rules of business: how it's done, by whom, and, most importantly, for what purpose. Journalist Esha Chhabra explores not only the feel good, do good factors of these restorative enterprises but also the nuanced realities and promise of regenerative business operations. Working to Restore examines revolutionary approaches in nine areas: agriculture, waste, supply chain, inclusivity for the collective good, women in the workforce, travel, health, energy, and finance. The companies profiled are solving global issues: promoting responsible production and consumption, creating opportunities for all, encouraging climate action, and more. Chhabra highlights how their work moves beyond the greenwashed idea of sustainability into a new era of regeneration and restoration. Working to Restore highlights our most innovative entrepreneurs yet, whose efforts of restoration and regeneration should be used as a model for other forward-thinking enterprises. Inspiring and engaging, this book shows it is possible for a business to thrive while living its mission and how the rules can be rewritten to put both the planet and its global citizens at the center.