Hard America, Soft America

Hard America, Soft America

Author: Michael Barone

Publisher: Crown Forum

Published: 2005-05-24

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1400053242

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A peculiar feature of our country today, says Michael Barone, is that we seem to produce incompetent eighteen-year-olds but remarkably competent thirty-year-olds. Indeed, American students lag behind their peers in other nations, but America remains on the leading edge economically, scientifically, technologically, and militarily.


Soft Soap, Hard Sell

Soft Soap, Hard Sell

Author: Vincent Vinikas

Publisher: Iowa State Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13:

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Advertising was the mechanism responsible for Americans' sudden embrace of new standards of hygiene and grooming. By tracking the influence of advertising on changing habits of everyday life, Vincent Vinikas also traces the emergence of advertising as an agency of socialization in modern America. In Soft Soap, Hard Sell, Vinikas shows how advertising functions as a social institution, telling people who they are and how they fit in. He does this by exploring: how advertisers like Lambert Pharmacal created new consumer needs, convincing the public overnight to gargle with a product that previously had been used only to disinfect homes and hospitals; how a barrage of advertising for cosmetics led to a new look for women as Americans grappled with the emancipation of the New Woman of the 1920s; how managing consumer demand through public relations resulted in the birth of the modern beauty parlor; how soap manufacturers united to form the Cleanliness Institute to teach Americans the importance of using soap lavishly; and how popular magazines became the vehicle of both national advertising and national culture in the early twentieth century. Soft Soap, Hard Sell is for the reader interested in the history of social trends and American popular culture. It is a valuable supplementary study for courses in American social and business history, women's studies, and modern mass culture.


One Man's America

One Man's America

Author: George Will

Publisher: Forum Books

Published: 2009-11-17

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0307454363

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In his provocative and compelling new book, America’s most widely read and most influential commentator casts his gimlet eye on our singular nation. Moving far beyond the strict confines of politics, George F. Will offers a fascinating look at the people, stories, and events–often unheralded–that make the American drama so endlessly entertaining and instructive. With Will’s signature erudition and wry wit always on display, One Man’s America chronicles a spectacular, eclectic procession of figures who have shaped our cultural landscape–from Playboy founder Hugh Hefner to National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr., from Victorian poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, from cotton picker— turned—country singer Buck Owens to actor-turned-president Ronald Reagan. Will crisscrosses the country to illuminate what it is that makes America distinctive. He visits the USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor and ponders its enduring links to the present. He travels to Milwaukee to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of an iconic brand, Harley-Davidson. In Los Angeles he finds the inspiring future of education, while in New York he confronts the dispiriting didacticism of the avant-garde. He ventures to the Civil War battlefields of Virginia to explore what we risk when we efface our own history. And on the outskirts of Chicago he investigates one of the darkest chapters in American history, only to discover a shining example of resilience and grace–the best the country has to offer. Will’s wide lens takes in much more as well–everything from the “most emblematic novel of the 1930s” (and no, it is not about the Joads) to the cult of ESPN to Brooks Brothers and Ben & Jerry’s. And of course, One Man’s America would not be complete without the author’s insights on the national pastime, baseball–the icons and the cheats, the hapless and the greats. Finally, in a personal and reflective turn, Will writes movingly of his thirty-five-year-old son Jon, born with Down syndrome, and pays loving and poignant tribute to his mother, who died at the age of ninety-eight after a long struggle with dementia. The essays in One Man’s America, even when critiquing American culture, reflect Will’s deep affection and regard for our nation. After all, he notes, when America falls short, it does so only as compared to “the uniquely high standards it has set for itself.” In the end, this brilliantly informative and entertaining book reminds us of the enduring value of “the simple virtues and decencies that can make communities flourish and that have made America great and exemplary.”


Crisis of the Two Constitutions

Crisis of the Two Constitutions

Author: Charles R. Kesler

Publisher: Encounter Books

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1641771038

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American politics grows embittered because it is increasingly torn between two rival constitutions, two opposed cultures, two contrary ways of life. American conservatives rally around the founders’ Constitution, as amended and as grounded in the natural and divine rights and duties of the Declaration of Independence. American liberals herald their “living Constitution,” a term that implies that the original is dead or superseded, and that the fundamental political imperative is constant change or transformation (as President Obama called it) toward a more and more perfect social democracy ruled by a Woke elite. Crisis of the Two Constitutions details how we got to and what is at stake in our increasingly divided America. It takes controversial stands on matters political and scholarly, describing the political genius of America’s founders and their efforts to shape future generations through a constitutional culture that included immigration, citizenship, and educational policies. Then it turns to the attempted progressive refounding of America, tracing its accelerating radicalism from the New Deal to the 1960s’ New Left to today’s unhappy campus nihilists. Finally, the volume appraises American conservatives’ efforts, so far unavailing despite many famous victories, to revive the founders’ Constitution and moral common sense. From Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, what have conservatives learned and where should they go from here? Along the way, Charles R. Kesler argues with critics on the left and right, and refutes fashionable doctrines including relativism, multiculturalism, critical race theory, and radical traditionalism, providing in effect a one-volume guide to the increasingly influential Claremont school of conservative thought by one of its most engaged, and engaging, thinkers.


Culture Shift

Culture Shift

Author: Dr. R. Albert Mohler

Publisher: Multnomah

Published: 2011-08-16

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1601424140

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Are you prepared to address the most challenging cultural issues of your time? Mass media and technology are exploding. Popular entertainment relentlessly pushes the envelope. Biomedicine stretches ethical boundaries. Political issues shift with the polls. The world in which you live is in the midst of a major cultural transformation–one leading to a widespread lack of faith, an increase in moral relativism, and a rejection of absolute truth. How are we to remain faithful followers of Christ as we live in this ever-shifting culture? How should we think about–and respond to–the crucial moral questions of our day? How can we stand up for the truth? In Culture Shift, Dr. R. Albert Mohler–one of today’s leading Christian thinkers and spokespersons–addresses these tough topics clearly, biblically and passionately: •Christian faith and politics •The Supreme Court and religion •The truth about terrorism •Christian parents and public schools •The abortion debate •Christian response to global tragedies •And many more Here is trustworthy help for developing a comprehensive Christian worldview. It’s timely information powerfully connected to timeless truth that will equip you to stand strong and speak out.


Live Not by Lies

Live Not by Lies

Author: Rod Dreher

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2020-09-29

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0593087402

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The New York Times bestselling author of The Benedict Option draws on the wisdom of Christian survivors of Soviet persecution to warn American Christians of approaching dangers. For years, émigrés from the former Soviet bloc have been telling Rod Dreher they see telltale signs of "soft" totalitarianism cropping up in America--something more Brave New World than Nineteen Eighty-Four. Identity politics are beginning to encroach on every aspect of life. Civil liberties are increasingly seen as a threat to "safety". Progressives marginalize conservative, traditional Christians, and other dissenters. Technology and consumerism hasten the possibility of a corporate surveillance state. And the pandemic, having put millions out of work, leaves our country especially vulnerable to demagogic manipulation. In Live Not By Lies, Dreher amplifies the alarm sounded by the brave men and women who fought totalitarianism. He explains how the totalitarianism facing us today is based less on overt violence and more on psychological manipulation. He tells the stories of modern-day dissidents--clergy, laity, martyrs, and confessors from the Soviet Union and the captive nations of Europe--who offer practical advice for how to identify and resist totalitarianism in our time. Following the model offered by a prophetic World War II-era pastor who prepared believers in his Eastern European to endure the coming of communism, Live Not By Lies teaches American Christians a method for resistance: • SEE: Acknowledge the reality of the situation. • JUDGE: Assess reality in the light of what we as Christians know to be true. • ACT: Take action to protect truth. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said that one of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming totalitarianism can't happen in their country. Many American Christians are making that mistake today, sleepwalking through the erosion of our freedoms. Live Not By Lies will wake them and equip them for the long resistance.


Soft Power

Soft Power

Author: Joseph S Nye Jr

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2009-04-28

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 0786738960

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Joseph Nye coined the term "soft power" in the late 1980s. It is now used frequently—and often incorrectly—by political leaders, editorial writers, and academics around the world. So what is soft power? Soft power lies in the ability to attract and persuade. Whereas hard power—the ability to coerce—grows out of a country's military or economic might, soft power arises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals, and policies. Hard power remains crucial in a world of states trying to guard their independence and of non-state groups willing to turn to violence. It forms the core of the Bush administration's new national security strategy. But according to Nye, the neo-conservatives who advise the president are making a major miscalculation: They focus too heavily on using America's military power to force other nations to do our will, and they pay too little heed to our soft power. It is soft power that will help prevent terrorists from recruiting supporters from among the moderate majority. And it is soft power that will help us deal with critical global issues that require multilateral cooperation among states. That is why it is so essential that America better understands and applies our soft power. This book is our guide.


Hard Heads, Soft Hearts

Hard Heads, Soft Hearts

Author: Alan S Blinder

Publisher: Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Published: 1987-01-21

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13:

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Readers of Alan Blinder's regular Business Week column appreciate his concise, thought-provoking opinions and his eloquent prose. In Hard Heads, Soft Hearts he brings to life the inner workings of America's economy and in so doing explains what's wrong and how to fix it.