Many books that purport to describe a new political philosophy seem only to provide small variations on liberalism, conservatism, socialism, or libertarianism. Mark Satin's Radical Middle is different. It argues that, in order to get beyond our present stalemate, we need to have the imagination (and moral courage) to listen to and learn from everyone. It shows how we might do that in 12 policy areas, from jobs to schooling to globalization. And it throws a spotlight on people and groups that have burst the bounds of dogmatic thinking to work for "win-win" solutions today. Many seeds for Radical Middle's overall perspective were planted by Satin's award-winning Washington, D.C.-based international political newsletter, New Options (1984-1992), which was often referred to as "post-liberal" or "post-socialist" in orientation. Many of Radical Middle's specific policy ideas were floated in Satin's later Washington-based political newsletter (also called Radical Middle) - and were refined though dialogue with readers from every walk of life. The result of this 20-year journey is a book that brings special strengths to the attempt to create an inclusive political perspective as an alternative to ideological single-vision: 
<ul>
<li>It is a popularization. It should be accessible, even enjoyable, to any caring person;</li>
<li>It is the first truly comprehensive introduction to the radical middle political persoective, showing how domestic, economic, human-potential, and global concerns can all be addressed under the rubric of four "Key Values";</li>
<li>It is the first introduction to the radical middle political movement, covering everything from doing "good work" in the professins, to collaborative approaches to community organizng, to radical middle approaches to national political reform. Over 50 organizastions are mentioned;</li>
<li>It is often quite personal in content and tone - as it should be, since radical middle politics comes from the heart as well as the head.</li>
</ul>Although Washington, D.C. seems awash in partisan bickering, most Americans are pragmatic, imaginative, and incredibly resourceful - and often, in their communities and organizastions, are working out the lineaments of an innovative, genuinely American, post-ideological political philosophy. Benjamin Franklin saw it coming. Afer reading Radical Middle, so will you. Radical Middle received the "Best Book Award" fot 2004 from the Section on Ecological and Transformational Politics (Section #26) of the American Political Science Asociation.

Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now

History

Mark Satin

Americas

Basic Books

New Age Politics is an attempt to articulate a new political philosophy, based on the movements that began to arise after the New Left faded away in the 1970s - especially the feminist, ecology, spiritual, decentralist, and world-order movements.  It is often recognized as the first book of its type.  For example, in his foreword to the German edition of New Age Politics, Fritjof Capra - co-author of Green Politics (1984) - writes, "[I]t was the first attempt to not only describe a new kind of political activity but also to provide a synthesis of the new political theory beyond left and right."  Some have called its outlook "anti-materialistic," "post-socialist," or "transformational."There are three distinct versions of New Age Politics.  The first, printed in 1976, is the most succinct (84 tightly-packed pages) and is aimed at a largely counter-cultural audience.  The author, Mark Satin, a 28-year-old American Vietnam War draft evader, wrote it partly in a free-love commune in Vancouver, Canada, and partly in a house trailer on Mayne Island, off the Vancouver coast, where on clear days he could see the U.S.  He designed, typeset, and printed the first edition himself, and took it to the first "World Symposium on Humanity," held in Vancouver in 1976 - where it promptty sold out and garnered the attention of the Toronto Star (which ran a long editoial about it) and New Age Journal in the U.S. (which serialized key parts of it).  Many printings followed.The second version of New Age Politics was published by Whitecap Books, in Canada, in 1978.  It is considerably longer than the first (240 pages) and aims at a broader audience.  It benefited from the editorial eye of Bonnie Kreps, a Canadian journalist and founder of Toronto New Feminists.  The cover art was contributed by Anne Koedt, co-founder of New York Radical Feminists.  After U.S. President Jimmy Carter pardoned the draft evaders, Satin embarked on a two-year speaking tour of the U.S., largely by Greyhound bus, with a big box of books always in tow.The third version of New Age Politics appeared in the U.S. in 1979.  It came about when a representative of Dell Publishing Co. discovered that Satin was, surreptitiously, selling dozens of copies of his book at a plant- and cat-bedecked booth at a national meeting of the American Sociological Association.  The third version is longer than the others (349 pages) and far more detailed.  It includes important new chapters on New Age economics, and a 22-page political platform offered as a "discussion document."  In addition, its tone is different.  It is the third version that is featured in University of Texas Professor Dana Cloud's chapter in Herbert W. Simons and Michael Billig, eds., After Postmodernism: Reconstructing Ideology Critique (1994).

New Age Politics: Healing Self and Society: The Emerging New Alternative to Marxism and Liberalism

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Whitecap Books / Fairweather Press

Heile Dich selbst und unsere Erde

Arbor-Verlag

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Books by Mark Satin