Paradoxes of Gender
Paradoxes of Gender

Author: Judith Lorber

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1994-01-01

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 9780300064971

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In this pathbreaking book, a well-known feminist and sociologist--who is also the Founding Editor of Gender & Society--challenges our most basic assumptions about gender. Judith Lorber views gender as wholly a product of socialization subject to human agency, organization, and interpretation. In her new paradigm, gender is an institution comparable to the economy, the family, and religion in its significance and consequences. Drawing on many schools of feminist scholarship and on research from anthropology, history, sociology, social psychology, sociolinguistics, and cultural studies, Lorber explores different paradoxes of gender: --why we speak of only two "opposite sexes" when there is such a variety of sexual behaviors and relationships; --why transvestites, transsexuals, and hermaphrodites do not affect the conceptualization of two genders and two sexes in Western societies; --why most of our cultural images of women are the way men see them and not the way women see themselves; --why all women in modern society are expected to have children and be the primary caretaker; --why domestic work is almost always the sole responsibility of wives, even when they earn more than half the family income; --why there are so few women in positions of authority, when women can be found in substantial numbers in many occupations and professions; --why women have not benefited from major social revolutions. Lorber argues that the whole point of the gender system today is to maintain structured gender inequality--to produce a subordinate class (women) that can be exploited as workers, sexual partners, childbearers, and emotional nurturers. Calling into question the inevitability and necessity of gender, she envisions a society structured for equality, where no gender, racial ethnic, or social class group is allowed to monopolize economic, educational, and cultural resources or the positions of power.

The Emerging Brave New World
The Emerging Brave New World

Author: Thomas Glessner

Publisher: Anomalos Pub Llc

Published: 2008-06

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 9780981495736

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In his classic novel Brave New World, English writer Aldous Huxley wrote of a future where human beings are manipulated, abused and even killed for the perceived good of society. Huxley envisioned a future where human life is cheapened and easily disposed of for the benefit of a controlling elite. Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis referred to such an elite as “men without chests.” Indeed, in such a “brave new world” humanity itself is redefined to allow for the elimination of those deemed inferior. Is Huxley’s ghoulish nightmare about to descend upon America? Will we lose control over our destiny to an elite comprised of “men without chests?” Thomas Glessner writes of the gradual dehumanization on human beings that has invaded American culture and has accelerated at a frightening pace since the 1973 Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade. The subsequent dehumanization of unborn human beings and the emergence of abortion-on-demand have opened the door to a culture where humanity is redefined and those deemed of insignificant value are eliminated. This book discusses the ongoing cultural battle between the traditional sanctity-of-life ethic, which has been the foundation of Western civilization and American culture for centuries and the modern quality-of-life ethic, which is increasingly gaining control in academia as well as the hearts and minds of the public. Glessner challenges the Christian church to respond to the current cultural decline by placing priority upon efforts to restore the sanctity-of-life ethic in our cultural institutions. Only through such monumental efforts will the emergence of a “brave new world” be defeated. With foreword by Senator Tom Coburn, United States Senate.

Tyranny Unmasked
Tyranny Unmasked

Author: John Taylor

Publisher:

Published: 1822

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13:

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John Taylor of Caroline (1753-1824) was one of the foremost philosophers of the States' rights Jeffersonians of the early national period. In keeping with his lifelong mission as a "minority man," John Taylor wrote "Tyranny Unmasked" not only to assault the protective tariff and the mercantilist policies of the times but also "to examine general principles in relation to commerce, political economy, and a free government." Originally published in 1822, it is the only major work of Taylor's that has never before been reprinted.As an early discussion of the principles of governmental power and their relationship to political economy and liberty, "Tyranny Unmasked" is an important primary source in the study of American history and political thought.F. Thornton Miller is Professor of History at Southwest Missouri State University.

American Creation
American Creation

Author: Joseph J. Ellis

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2007-10-30

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0307267741

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From the first shots fired at Lexington to the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, Joseph J. Ellis guides us through the decisive issues of the nation’s founding, and illuminates the emerging philosophies, shifting alliances, and personal and political foibles of our now iconic leaders–Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, and Adams. He casts an incisive eye on the founders’ achievements, arguing that the American Revolution was, paradoxically, an evolution–and that part of what made it so extraordinary was the gradual pace at which it occurred. He explains how the idea of a strong federal government was eventually embraced by the American people, and details the emergence of the two-party system, which stands as the founders’ most enduring legacy. Ellis is equally incisive about their failures, and he makes clear how their inability to abolish slavery and to reach a just settlement with the Native Americans has played an equally important role in shaping our national character. With eloquence and insight, Ellis strips the mythic veneer of the revolutionary generation to reveal men both human and inspired, possessed of both brilliance and blindness. American Creation is an audiobook that delineates an era of flawed greatness, at a time when understanding our origins is more important than ever.

The Great Triumvirate
The Great Triumvirate

Author: Merrill D. Peterson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1988-12-08

Total Pages: 600

ISBN-13: 0198020945

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Enormously powerful, intensely ambitious, the very personifications of their respective regions--Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun represented the foremost statemen of their age. In the decades preceding the Civil War, they dominated American congressional politics as no other figures have. Now Merrill D. Peterson, one of our most gifted historians, brilliantly re-creates the lives and times of these great men in this monumental collective biography. Arriving on the national scene at the onset of the War of 1812 and departing political life during the ordeal of the Union in 1850-52, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun opened--and closed--a new era in American politics. In outlook and style, they represented startling contrasts: Webster, the Federalist and staunch New England defender of the Union; Clay, the "war hawk" and National Rebublican leader from the West; Calhoun, the youthful nationalist who became the foremost spokesman of the South and slavery. They came together in the Senate for the first time in 1832, united in their opposition of Andrew Jackson, and thus gave birth to the idea of the "Great Triumvirate." Entering the history books, this idea survived the test of time because these men divided so much of American politics between them for so long. Peterson brings to life the great events in which the Triumvirate figured so prominently, including the debates on Clay's American System, the Missouri Compromise, the Webster-Hayne debate, the Bank War, the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, the annexation of Texas, and the Compromise of 1850. At once a sweeping narrative and a penetrating study of non-presidential leadership, this book offers an indelible picture of this conservative era in which statesmen viewed the preservation of the legacy of free government inherited from the Founding Fathers as their principal mission. In fascinating detail, Peterson demonstrates how precisely Webster, Clay, and Calhoun exemplify three facets of this national mind.