The Point of No Return: American Democracy at the Crossroads
(eBook)

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    [year] => 2023
    [artist] => Thomas Byrne Edsall
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    [titleId] => 16806072
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    [language] => ENGLISH
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    [title] => The Point of No Return
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    [synopsis] => Thomas Byrne Edsall has written a weekly opinion column for the New York Times since 2011. Before joining the Times, he covered national politics for the Washington Post. He is the author of Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics (with Mary D. Edsall), a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction; The New Politics of Inequality; Building Red America; and The Age of Austerity. He teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 
	How Donald Trump laid waste to American politics, culture, and social order

After Donald Trump's rise to power, after the 2020 presidential election, after January 6, is American politics past the point of no return? New York Times columnist and political reporter Thomas Byrne Edsall fears that the country may be headed over a cliff, arguing that the election of Donald Trump was the most serious threat to the American political system since the Civil War. In this compelling and illuminating book, Edsall documents how the Trump years ravaged the nation's politics, culture, and social order. He explains the demographic shifts that helped make Trump's election possible, and describes the racial and ethnic conflict, culture wars, rural/urban divide, diverging economies of red and blue states, and the transformation of both the Republican and Democratic parties that have left our politics in a state of permanent hostility.

The Point of No Return brings together a series of Edsall's columns, bookended by a new introduction and conclusion, which show how we got to this dangerous point. These dispatches from our new political landscape chronicle the emergence of what Edsall calls "the not-so-silent white majority" and show how Trump deployed fears about race and immigration to appeal to voters. Edsall examines Trump's construction of an alternate reality, discusses why we don't always vote according to our own self-interest, and explores the Democrats' calibrated response. Considering the 2020 election and its violent aftermath, Edsall looks at the Capitol insurrection and warns that American democracy is under siege. The forces behind Trump's election, and the "stop the steal" true believers, have pushed the nation to the brink. "Wonky yet accessible, this is a valuable guide to America's political landscape." "One day, courses will be taught on how American democracy did, or did not, survive the political divisions of the early twenty-first century. Thomas Byrne Edsall's columns, gathered here, are the Cliff Notes for that course–clear summaries of the views of leading scholars and writers, together with Edsall's trenchant commentary."-Henry Aaron, Brookings Institution "Thomas Byrne Edsall is a master-mind. He explains complex economic and political trend in an understandable and engaging manner to both expert and nonexpert readers. His understated style is remarkably persuasive, and his extensive use of relevant academic literature makes reading his work a constant learning experience. Put all of that in a book that documents and explains the very worrisome trends in American democracy in real time and you have a masterpiece. I highly recommend it for all kinds of readers."-Carol Graham, author of The Power of Hope "Who are the people killing our democracy? Trump, of course. But not just him. Not just his forerunners or followers. But all those who contributed to the trends that made him possible. Edsall is a persistent literary detective, collecting all the evidence on all the culprits." -Garry Wills, Northwestern University
    [url] => https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/16806072
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    [subtitle] => American Democracy at the Crossroads
    [publisher] => Princeton University Press
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