On Democracy

[Belsnickel]

Has anyone else every read this book? It is a text book, of sorts. Written by Robert Dahl, who was really an excellent scholar. He is seen by many as the expert on this sort of thing. Anyway, I've started reading this book for a research project and have found some interesting stuff just a short ways in. I was curious if anyone else knew of this book and had read it, or not.

If not, and you are really interested in the democratic process, I highly recommend it.

Edit: Would anyone else be interested in making this a thread just to talk about books about politics and what not? I know there will likely be a lot of different views on what is good and not, but it could be fun. I just wasn't sure how many other readers are in our midst.

[Millhouse]

I would have been all over this about 20 years ago, as I majored in Poli Sci at Ohio State, one of the top departments in the country at the time.

But since then after countless times hops and resin wrecked my brain cells, I barely remember any of those books I had to read

[Belsnickel]

(03-29-2018, 04:10 PM)Millhouse Wrote: I would have been all over this about 20 years ago, as I majored in Poli Sci at Ohio State, one of the top departments in the country at the time.

But since then after countless times hops and resin wrecked my brain cells, I barely remember any of those books I had to read

The sad thing is there have been some fantastic ones that have come out since then, as well. My Amazon wish list is filled with them.

[*michaelsean*]

Sounds like a good thread, but I would not be a participant. I just can’t get through most of those books.

[Belsnickel]

(03-29-2018, 09:31 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Sounds like a good thread, but I would not be a participant. I just can’t get through most of those books.

I have a feeling that is the case for most people. Right now I have three books going:

A Traitor To His Class - a biography on FDR focusing on his favoring the middle and lower classes over his peers.

The New Jim Crow - a look at mass incarceration and its role replacing Jim Crow laws from the pre-civil rights era.

On Democracy - well, I've already described this one.

All three of those would be fun to talk about in here. I'm also reading I Can't Breathe for the class I am taking. But I know most people aren't like this and would have a hard time with any of those three books I'm reading jsut for myself, really. While I'm using one for research, my project was guided so that I could use it as an excuse to buy that book.

[Dill]

(03-29-2018, 03:36 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Has anyone else every read this book? It is a text book, of sorts. Written by Robert Dahl, who was really an excellent scholar. He is seen by many as the expert on this sort of thing. Anyway, I've started reading this book for a research project and have found some interesting stuff just a short ways in. I was curious if anyone else knew of this book and had read it, or not.

If not, and you are really interested in the democratic process, I highly recommend it.

Edit: Would anyone else be interested in making this a thread just to talk about books about politics and what not? I know there will likely be a lot of different views on what is good and not, but it could be fun. I just wasn't sure how many other readers are in our midst.

I'm fine with that.  Here are a couple of items I have in the pipe right now. Discussion might ramp up the pace of my reading.

Camp, Jordan t. and Chrstina Heatherton eds. Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter. Verso, 2016.

Cottom, Tressie McMillan. Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy. The New Press, 2017.

DeNardis, Laura. The Global War for Internet Governance. Yale UP, 2014.

Neiwert, David. Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump. Verso, 2017.

Selfa, Lane. ed US Politics in an Age of Uncertainty: Essays on a New Reality. Haymarket Books, 2017.

In a separate category, I also have

Darwall, Rupert. Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex. Encounter Books, 2017. 

Recently read a book Bels suggested a while back--Why Democracies Fail, by Kapstein and Converse. Saw them discussing it on C-span too. Also American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What made America Prosper, by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson.  I think I have The New Jim Crow, but at home so I can't check at the moment.

Some of these buys were actually motivated by discussion in this forum (like DeNardis). 

[Belsnickel]

(03-30-2018, 02:48 PM)Dill Wrote: Cottom, Tressie McMillan. Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy. The New Press, 2017.

I've actually spent some time with Tressie. We've been in some seminars together and she has interviewed me about my experiences with for-profit education (my accounting degree comes from such an institution).

[Dill]

(03-30-2018, 02:57 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I've actually spent some time with Tressie. We've been in some seminars together and she has interviewed me about my experiences with for-profit education (my accounting degree comes from such an institution).

I saw her at a conference last year, where there was a session on her book. Didn't speak to her though, and couldn't attend the session. 

The for-profit scam really bothers me though. They prey on people who don't know much about college, and often are military who have Tuition Assistance available.  Phoenix, DeVrys et al. are just machines for harvesting that tuition.

They target victims by asking why pay all those other student fees? In some cases they minimize "electives" so students can concentrate on what they supposedly need for the job.  The appeal is a vocational conception of education as job training. 

Some public institutions have adopted the for-profit model as well, to the great disadvantage of military students abroad.

Anyway, those concerns led me to buy the book last year.  Still haven't read it yet, LOL.

[Belsnickel]

(03-30-2018, 03:23 PM)Dill Wrote: I saw her at a conference last year, where there was a session on her book. Didn't speak to her though, and couldn't attend the session. 

The for-profit scam really bothers me though. They prey on people who don't know much about college, and often are military who have Tuition Assistance available.  Phoenix, DeVrys et al. are just machines for harvesting that tuition.

They target victims by asking why pay all those other student fees? In some cases they minimize "electives" so students can concentrate on what they supposedly need for the job.  The appeal is a vocational conception of education as job training. 

Some public institutions have adopted the for-profit model as well, to the great disadvantage of military students abroad.

Anyway, those concerns led me to buy the book last year.  Still haven't read it yet, LOL.

Yup. I was younger and dumber. I can still become a licensed CPA if I so choose with the degree, and I learned what I need to do the job. But it set me back in other ways.

[fredtoast]

Some one PM Shady to get involved in this thread.

[Belsnickel]

Unfortunately, most of my book reading takes a trip to the back burner during this time of the year. It's research time!



Those are mostly academic articles on felony disenfranchisement, with some popular articles thrown in. It's a good time.

[Dill]

By the way, here is another book I (partially) read in February.

Ira Shapiro's Broken: Can the Senate Save Itself and the Country?
https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Senate-Save-Itself-Country/dp/1538105829

Most interesting--he convinced me that modern presidential/parliamentary democracies need a functioning conservative party to survive, using Germany's CDU/CSU coalition as an example or model we can learn from.

Some of the history brought back jolting memories of liberals and conservatives working together back in the 70's and 80's.

[Belsnickel]

(04-02-2018, 04:25 PM)Dill Wrote: By the way, here is another book I (partially) read in February.

Ira Shapiro's Broken: Can the Senate Save Itself and the Country?
https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Senate-Save-Itself-Country/dp/1538105829

Most interesting--he convinced me that modern presidential/parliamentary democracies need a functioning conservative party to survive, using Germany's CDU/CSU coalition as an example or model we can learn from.

Some of the history brought back jolting memories of liberals and conservatives working together back in the 70's and 80's.

I could've told you that. Probably not as convincingly, but it is something I agree with and have believed for a long time.