A powerful look at the real America, dominated by America's "forgotten majority"-white working-class men and women who make up 55 percent of the voting population

America's Forgotten Majority: Why The White Working Class Still Matters

Politics & Social Sciences

Joel Rogers

Ruy Teixeira

Social Sciences

Basic Books

The acute desire to close American borders to new arrivals, mostly persons of color from developing countries, has surfaced in school board gatherings, town hall meetings, gubernatorial races, even presidential elections. . . . Does America still see itself as the 'land of immigrants'? Why not . . . invest in the survival and progress of all immigrants?--Edwidge Danticat, from the Foreword In this timely book, Owen Fiss examines the paradox of new immigrants being stripped of their rights within a democracy committed to equality. Arguing that it is in the interest of all of us-citizens and citizens-to-be-to live up to the promise of our Constitution, Fiss challenges the courts to invoke the courage they once brought to landmark civil rights cases and to apply it now to preserve a community of equals. Distinguished scholars and activists respond and debate the implications of Fiss's argument. The New Democracy Forum is a series of short paperback originals exploring creative solutions to our most urgent national concerns.

A Community of Equals (New Democracy Forum)

Literature & Fiction

Joshua Cohen

Fiss, Owen

Short Stories & Anthologies

Beacon Press

Somewhere. . . there is a place of sanity where education is intense and substantive. . . . It's in that place that Deborah Meier has been working all these years. Her voice conveys a life of struggle in the front lines-victories and losses, hopes and disappointments. . . . It's a voice our nation needs to hear. --Jonathan Kozol, from the Foreword Acclaimed educator Deborah Meier offers a fresh take on standardized tests. While others have criticized standards and what they measure, Meier rejects the very idea of a centralized authority that dictates how and what teachers teach. Standardization, she argues, prevents citizens-including teachers-from emerging as thoughtful, responsible adults, seriously engaged with shaping their own schools, classrooms, and communities. As a result, young people can't learn from them how to be thoughtful, responsible adults and good citizens, the primary goal of public education in a democracy. 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

Will Standards Save Public Education

Education & Teaching

Meier, Deborah

Schools & Teaching

Juliet Schor breaks a taboo by exposing Americans' shopping habits to moral society. Schor disapproves of unfettered private consumption, not only because we already use up so much, but also because overspending to bolster a sense of self does not lead to happiness. Along with her critique, Schor suggests intriguing ideas for making 'status' goods accessible for all--for example, imposing high taxes on expensive items to subsidize lines of affordable 'luxury' goods. A firestorm of responses follow from economist Robert Frank and others. 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

Do Americans Shop Too Much? (New Democracy Forum)

Business & Money

Schor, Juliet

Economics

A bold commitment to experiments and new ways of thinking about how we might save this earth is long overdue. If you care about the environment, you need to be in on this debate.--Hunter Lovins and Amory Lovins, from the Foreword When we think of environmental action, we draw upon images from the disaster of Love Canal or from A Civil Action-stories of lone activists fighting the government or some corporation against all odds. In their provocative essay, Sabel, Fung, and Karkkainen demonstrate that an effective alternative is emerging. Before environmental disasters occur, citizen groups are collaborating with experts, business leaders, and local and federal governments to figure out what is best for their own neighborhoods. These examples point to more than successful environmental action; they represent a model of grassroots democracy that can be applied to the needs of any community. 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

Beyond Backyard Environmentalism (New Democracy Forum)

Science & Math

FUNG, Archon

Sabel, Charles

Karkkainen, Bradley

Biological Sciences

In this election year, health care again proves to be one of our nation's most urgent issues. Daniels, Kennedy, and Kawachi shift the focus of the debate, forcing us to take a closer look at how our health is affected by social injustice and inequality. Arguing that it isn't enough to increase access to doctors, they call for improving social conditions-such as poverty, lack of education and affordable housing, and harmful work environments-that damage our health. By urging us to work toward equality of opportunity for all, the authors situate health care reform among the larger social problems we must face. The authors' argument for reform in early childhood development, nutrition, work environment, and distribution of income is certain to spark debate. The editor of The New England Journal of Medicine and World Health Organization officials 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

Is Inequality Bad For Our Health? (New Democracy Forum)

Daniels, Norman

Kennedy, Bruce

Ichiro Kawachi

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

Can Working Families Ever Win?

Heymann, Jody

Tracey Meares and Dan Kahan have performed a great public service....[They have] opened up a major debate on a promising idea about how to keep streets safe without throwing out essential legal safeguards. If you live where I live, you know that's a life-and-death issue. --The Reverend Eugene F. Rivers, 3d, from the Foreword Through a searching examination of the constitutional and moral issues of community policing, Tracey Meares and Dan Kahan challenge us to reconsider our ideas about how to fight urban crime and about the role of rights in a democracy. Activists and legal scholars-including Alan Dershowitz and Jean Bethke Elshtain-offer spirited responses. "The New Democracy Forum series is a civic treasure....A truly good idea, carried out with intelligence and panache." --Robert Pinsky The New Democracy Forum is a series of short paperback originals exploring creative solutions to our most urgent national concerns.

Urgent Times: Policing and Rights in Inner-City Communities (New Democracy Forum)

Tracey L. Meares

Dan M. Kahan

Now let us use our heads and deal appropriately, as they say in Washington, with a corporate ruling class that has hijacked the nation, and in so doing eliminate at least one glaring contradiction: that ours is a government of, by, and for the many when it is so notoriously the exclusive preserve of the few.--Gore Vidal, from the Foreword In recent years, many voters have wondered whose voices are actually heard by our elected representatives. As the cost of running competitive political campaigns escalates and politicians appeal increasingly to wealthy interests to finance election bids, voters in many states have passed, or are primed to vote on, campaign finance initiatives. In Money and Politics, David Donnelly, Janice Fine, and Ellen S. Miller argue that only full public funding of campaigns can ensure democratic elections. Often contentious, the responses to Donnelly, Fine, and Miller are penned by activists, politicians, and scholars who have been vocal in the debates over campaign finance reform, including Senator Russell Feingold, who offers a reflection on the status of the landmark McCain-Feingold Act.

Money and Politics (New Democracy Forum)

Donnelly, David

Janice Fine

Ellen S. Miller

A lively dialogue on the power of electoral reform to strengthen our democratic institutions Scholars, critics, reformers, politicians, and activists have for years asked why Americans are so uninvolved in the political process. Minority underrepresentation, the marginalization of progressive voices, the exclusion of the poor-these and other serious problems appear everywhere, from the pages of national newspapers to MTV. Robert Richie and Steven Hill offer a powerful solution, one currently in practice in many parts of the world, including places in the U.S.: proportional representation. They demonstrate that unlike the winner-takes-all system, which always leaves the losers completely unrepresented, proportional representation gives all points of view a political voice; it works by giving citizens multiple votes or the right to vote for more than one candidate, or by giving political parties power according to percentages of votes received. Esteemed thinkers-Cynthia McKinney, John Ferejohn, E. Joshua Rosenkrantz, Gary W. Cox, Daniel Cantor, Ross Mirkarimi, Anthony Thig penn, and Pamela S. Karlan-respond in essays discussing the forms proportional representation could take to operate best in the U.S. Their contributions underscore the concept at the heart of this book: the more people invested in the political process, the more democratic-and reflective of all of us-our system becomes. NEW DEMOCRACY FORUM: A series of short paperback originals exploring creative solutions to our most urgent national concerns. The series editors (for Boston Review), Joshua Cohen and Joel Rogers, aim to foster politically engaged, intellectually honest, and morally serious debate about fundamental issues-both on and off the agenda of conventional politics.

Reflecting All of Us: The Case for Proportional Representation (New Democracy Forum)

Robert Richie

Steven Hill

Politics & Government

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Books by Joel Rogers