|
| The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot | 
 enlarge | Author: Naomi Wolf
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.50
You Save: $6.45 (46%)
New (51) Used (21) from $7.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  180 reviews
Sales Rank: 266
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1933392797
Dewey Decimal Number: 323.490973
EAN: 9781933392790
ASIN: 1933392797
Publication Date: September 5, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 100% Brand New! - Ships Today! Identical to Amazon's book in every way. Flawless! Not a cheap Remainder or Book Club Copy! *We recommend Expedited Shipping option for much faster mail delivery
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Winner of the 2008 NAUTILUS SILVER AWARD in the category of Social Change/Activism In a stunning indictment of the Bush administration and Congress, best-selling author Naomi Wolf lays out her case for saving American democracy. In authoritative research and documentation Wolf explains how events of the last six years parallel steps taken in the early years of the 20th centurys worst dictatorships such as Germany, Russia, China, and Chile.
The book cuts across political parties and ideologies and speaks directly to those among us who are concerned about the ever-tightening noose being placed around our liberties.
In this timely call to arms, Naomi Wolf compels us to face the way our free America is under assault. She warns uswith the straight-to-fellow-citizens urgency of one of Thomas Paines revolutionary pamphletsthat we have little time to lose if our children are to live in real freedom.
Recent history has profound lessons for us in the U.S. today about how fascist, totalitarian, and other repressive leaders seize and maintain power, especially in what were once democracies. The secret is that these leaders all tend to take very similar, parallel steps. The Founders of this nation were so deeply familiar with tyranny and the habits and practices of tyrants that they set up our checks and balances precisely out of fear of what is unfolding today. We are seeing these same kinds of tactics now closing down freedoms in America, turning our nation into something that in the near future could be quite other than the open society in which we grew up and learned to love liberty, states Wolf.
Wolf is taking her message directly to the American people in the most accessible form and as part of a large national campaign to reach out to ordinary Americans about the dangers we face today. This includes a lecture and speaking tour, and being part of the nascent American Freedom Campaign, a grassroots efforts to ensure that presidential candidates pledge to uphold the constitution and protect our liberties from further erosion.
The End of America will shock, enrage, and motivatespurring us to act, as the Founders would have counted on us to do in a time such as this, as rebels and patriotsto save our liberty and defend our nation.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 175 more reviews...
 Informative, troubling message September 17, 2007
218 out of 248 found this review helpful
I was thoroughly frightened by the content of this book, and truly hope others are as well. The path we are headed down in this country should be concerning to both Democrats and Republicans. Loss of our liberties will, after all, affect all of us. I would urge anyone who reads this to keep an open mind, and not immediately discard the message she is conveying simply because it focuses on troubling things being done by the current administration. These things would be troubling no matter which party the president belonged to. Being able to take a step back from blind party allegiance to actually see when there is a problem is a key factor in maintaining a healthy democracy. No leader deserves our blind allegiance, regardless of their political party affiliation. Our elected leaders should be accountable to us, not the other way around.
Calling All Patriots September 13, 2007
168 out of 194 found this review helpful
Americans have sadly taken democracy for granted. The author of this book sends a necessary letter of warning to get Americans to realize that the continuation of democracy depends on the participation and action of citizens. Ms. Wolf's book identifies 10 steps that have historically been used to shut down open societies and how those steps are currently being taken in our nation today. If you are thinking that sounds harsh, this book will surprise you with its research, argument and facts. If you've been feeling in recent years that something is just not right, Ms. Wolf cites historical examples and recent newspaper articles to demonstrate why you are sensing an erosion of rights and justice. This is a brave book and I applaud Ms. Wolf for caring enough about our country to write it. The American people have now been warned that our democracy is more delicate than we think. Time will tell if collectively people care enough to respond in a way that prevents the "fascist shift" Wolf outlines in this shocking new book.
 The book is worth a read October 27, 2007
112 out of 118 found this review helpful
President Bush has carried on a century-long trend to its next step (which happens to be an horrendous one). My complaint about Naomi Wolfe is that she seems focused on President Bush, when really he is merely the latest figurehead in a generation-spanning agenda. Also, she ignores the complicity (and therefore the guilt) of Congress. Additionally, she claims that we are a democracy, and we are not: this is a constitutional republic. This is not merely semantics - a democracy does not have a rule book, just runs by the whims of the majority (in an ideal setting). A Constitutional Republic has a rule book, called the Constitution, and being a republic keeps the original rules somewhat intact unless a true majority is willing to work to change the rules (make amendments). On the other hand, she describes the realities of what happens to the relationship between the government and its people as a country or nation goes downhill. Those steps described were not made up by Ms. Wolfe. Many of those steps have been implemented in our country today. She is also inspiring to her listeners for she at least tells them that they can reverse this trend back toward freedom, which she is absolutely right when she says we are losing it faster than you can say "statism".
Enlightening and Accessible September 12, 2007
71 out of 83 found this review helpful
One of the classic findings of contemporary Psychology is the `hopelessness/helplessness' syndrome. The idea is that once a person has become conditioned to believe that no matter what they do, the outcome will be the same, they become overwhelmed with feelings of confusion, hopelessness, helplessness and apathy. Living in North America in the twenty first century is a study of this phenomenon. I experience this sense of helpless dread and its accompanying apathy every time I turn on the TV, listen to the radio or read the newspaper to hear yet again about our continuing loss of liberties and the tragedies that ensue as a result.
It was thus all the more refreshing to read Wolf's book "The End of America" and feel, much to my pleasant surprise, a rare sense of optimism at its conclusion. Using the same accessible and passionate voice that has made "The Beauty Myth" and "Misconceptions" bestsellers, Wolf eloquently argues that Americans are rapidly losing their liberties under the Bush regime and that the political tactics being used to implant these policies have historical parallels in other fascist dictatorships including Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. Using example after example spanning from personal accounts of young jailed bloggers and peace activists to the very public crackdowns on dissidents like the Dixie chicks, to curtailing academic freedom in universities across the country, Wolf illustrates how our open, democratic society is being systemically shut down by the Bush administration.
The beauty of this book, however, lies not so much in its thoroughly researched and clearly articulated thesis, but in its ability to offer an optimistic alternative to the apathy that is plaguing the young patriots that this book addresses. Reading "The End of America", although seemingly depressing at first, is enlightening in its ability to offer its own thesis as an antidote to the trajectory America is on. It is only awareness of our own history and a clear sense of what is currently happening around us that can dismantle the governmental authority that is so threatening to us now. As Wolf writes, "..the founders did not mean for powerful men and women far away from the citizens or people with their own agendas or for a class of professionals to perform the patriots' tasks, or to protect freedom. They meant for us to do it: you, me, the American who delivers your mail, the one who teaches your kids" (p.5).
Wolf could not be more accurate in her statement. Psychology has taught us that the only way out of the helplessness/hopelessness cycle is by asserting control and recognizing that we have the power to change and shape our environment. In an era where nihilism and despair predominate, "The End of America" is a refreshing, accessible, passionate, timely and engaging guidebook to help us on our way.
 Time to Panic Yet? October 12, 2007
70 out of 78 found this review helpful
Not quite yet, but perhaps we're close. Naomi Wolf has written a book that fills a significant need at this point in our history. She sounds the call to warn American citizens...warn us that we may be slowly metamorphosing into that which we despise most: a country that bullies its citizens and is unaccountable to any recognized authority.
While some will see this book as alarmist --and reasonable people could debate this-- one of her points is undoubtedly true. That is, the decent into a repressive regime is slow and quiet. It usually does not come as an overnight announcement of martial law or suspension of elections. Instead, it happens over the course of years, so quietly that most may never notice until it's a fait accompli. Only then will people ask "how did this happen?".
Wolf compares and contrasts recent events in American history with those in Communist Russia, fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. This will undoubtedly put some readers off as any one of these references is a hot button that, once pushed, inflames blinding emotion. However, if you can get past that, the parallels are disquieting...even when read with a skeptical eye.
I hope that when I re-read this review in two years that I will be able to say that my concerns about torture, secret prisons, warrantless eavesdropping, a cowed media, and all the rest have faded away. If not, I'll have to acknowledge the prescience of Wolf's thesis.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
