Alan I. Abramowitz has emerged as a leading spokesman for the view that our current political divide is not confined to a small group of elites and activists but a key feature of the American social ...and cultural landscape. The polarization of the political and media elites, he argues, arose and persists because it accurately reflects the state of American society. Here, he goes further: the polarization is unique in modern U.S. history. Today's party divide reflects an unprecedented alignment of many different divides: racial and ethnic, religious, ideological, and geographic. Abramowitz shows how the partisan alignment arose out of the breakup of the old New Deal coalition; introduces the most important difference between our current era and past eras, the rise of "negative partisanship"; explains how this phenomenon paved the way for the Trump presidency; and examines why our polarization could even grow deeper. This statistically based analysis shows that racial anxiety is by far a better predictor of support for Donald Trump than any other factor, including economic discontent.
Revives the overlooked stories of pioneering women
aviators, who are also featured in the forthcoming documentary film
Coming Home: Fight for a Legacy
During World War II, all branches of the ...military had women's
auxiliaries. Only the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program,
however, was made up entirely of women who undertook dangerous
missions more commonly associated with and desired by men.
Within military hierarchies, the World War II pilot was perceived
as the most dashing and desirable of servicemen. "Flyboys" were the
daring elite of the United States military. More than the WACs
(Army), WAVES (Navy), SPARS (Coast Guard), or Women Marines, the
WASPs directly challenged these assumptions of male supremacy in
wartime culture. WASPs flew the fastest fighter planes and heaviest
bombers; they test-piloted experimental models and worked in the
development of weapons systems. Yet the WASPs were the only women's
auxiliary within the armed services of World War II that was not
militarized.
In Clipped Wings , Molly Merryman draws upon military
documents-many of which weren't declassified until the
1990s-congressional records, and interviews with the women who
served as WASPs during World War II to trace the history of the
over one thousand pilots who served their country as the first
women to fly military planes. She examines the social pressures
that culminated in their disbandment in 1944-even though a wartime
need for their services still existed-and documents their struggles
and eventual success, in 1977, to gain military status and receive
veterans' benefits.
In the preface to this reissued edition, Merryman reflects on the
changes in women's aviation in the past twenty years, as NASA's new
Artemis program promises to land the first female astronaut on the
moon and African American and lesbian women are among the newest
pilot recruits. Updating the story of the WASPs, Merryman reveals
that even in the past few years there have been more battles for
them to fight and more national recognition for them to receive. At
its heart, the story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots is not
about war or planes; it is a story about persistence and
extraordinary achievement. These accomplished women pilots did more
than break the barriers of flight; they established a model for
equality.
"Since the advent of the contemporary US national security apparatus in 1947, entrepreneurial public officials have tried to reorient the course of the nation's foreign policy. Acting inside the ...National Security Council system, some principals and high-ranking officials have worked tirelessly to generate policy change and innovation on the issues they care about. These entrepreneurs attempt to set the foreign policy agenda, frame policy problems and solutions, and orient the decision-making process to convince the president and other decision makers to choose the course they advocate. In National Security Entrepreneurs and the Making of American Foreign Policy, Vincent Boucher, Charles-Philippe David, and Karine Prémont develop a new concept to study entrepreneurial behaviour among foreign policy advisers and offer the first comprehensive framework of analysis to answer this crucial question: why do some entrepreneurs succeed in guaranteeing the adoption of novel policies while others fail? They explore case studies of attempts to reorient US foreign policy waged by National Security Council entrepreneurs, examining the key factors enabling success and the main forces preventing the adoption of a preferred option: the entrepreneur's profile, presidential leadership, major players involved in the policy formulation and decision-making processes, the national political context, and the presence or absence of significant opportunities. By carefully analyzing significant diplomatic and military decisions of the Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton administrations, and offering a preliminary account of contemporary national security entrepreneurship under presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, this book makes the case for an agent-based explanation of foreign policy change and continuity."--
A 2021 AESA Critics' Choice Award Winner A 2021 SPE Outstanding Book Award Winner This volume brings together leading scholars and practitioners to address the theory and practice of African-centered ...education. The contributors provide (1) perspectives on the history, methods, successes and challenges of African-centered education, (2) discussions of the efforts that are being made to counter the miseducation of Black children, and (3) prescriptions for--and analyses of--the way forward for Black children and Black communities. The authors argue that Black children need an education that moves them toward leading and taking agency within their own communities. They address several areas that capture the essence of what African-centered education is, how it works, and why it is a critical imperative at this moment. Those areas include historical analyses of African-centered education; parental perspectives; strategies for working with Black children; African-centered culture, science and STEM; culturally responsive curriculum and instruction; and culturally responsive resources for teachers and school leaders.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) measures the rates at which Americans are victims of crimes, including rape and sexual assault, but there is concern ...that rape and sexual assault are undercounted on this survey. BJS asked the National Research Council to investigate this issue and recommend best practices for measuring rape and sexual assault on their household surveys. Estimating the Incidence of Rape and Sexual Assault concludes that it is likely that the NCVS is undercounting rape and sexual assault. The most accurate counts of rape and sexual assault cannot be achieved without measuring them separately from other victimizations, the report says. It recommends that BJS develop a separate survey for measuring rape and sexual assault. The new survey should more precisely define ambiguous words such as "rape," give more privacy to respondents, and take other steps that would improve the accuracy of responses. Estimating the Incidence of Rape and Sexual Assault takes a fresh look at the problem of measuring incidents of rape and sexual assault from the criminal justice perspective. This report examines issues such as the legal definitions in use by the states for these crimes, best methods for representing the definitions in survey instruments so that their meaning is clear to respondents, and best methods for obtaining as complete reporting as possible of these crimes in surveys, including methods whereby respondents may report anonymously.
Rape and sexual assault are among the most injurious crimes a person can inflict on another. The effects are devastating, extending beyond the initial victimization to consequences such as unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, sleep and eating disorders, and other emotional and physical problems. Understanding the frequency and context under which rape and sexual assault are committed is vital in directing resources for law enforcement and support for victims. These data can influence public health and mental health policies and help identify interventions that will reduce the risk of future attacks. Sadly, accurate information about the extent of sexual assault and rape is difficult to obtain because most of these crimes go unreported to police. Estimating the Incidence of Rape and Sexual Assault focuses on methodology and vehicles used to measure rape and sexual assaults, reviews potential sources of error within the NCVS survey, and assesses the training and monitoring of interviewers in an effort to improve reporting of these crimes.
Overthrowing the Queen tackles perceptions of welfare recipients while proposing new approaches to the study of oral narrative that extends far beyond the study of welfare, poverty, and social ...justice.
Examines how the Irish American community, the American
public, and the American government played a crucial role in the
making of a sovereign independent Ireland
On Easter Day 1916, more than a ...thousand Irishmen stormed Dublin
city center, seizing the General Post Office building and reading
the Proclamation for an independent Irish Republic. The British
declared martial law shortly afterward, and the rebellion was
violently quashed by the military. In a ten-day period after the
event, fourteen leaders of the uprising were executed by firing
squad.
In New York, news of the uprising spread quickly among the
substantial Irish American population. Initially the media blamed
German interference, but eventually news of British-propagated
atrocities came to light, and Irish Americans were quick to
respond.
America and the Making of an Independent Ireland centres
on the diplomatic relationship between Ireland and the United
States at the time of Irish Independence and World War I. Beginning
with the Rising of 1916, Francis M. Carroll chronicles how Irish
Americans responded to the movement for Irish independence and
pressuring the US government to intervene on the side of Ireland.
Carroll's in-depth analysis demonstrates that Irish Americans after
World War I raised funds for the Dáil Éireann government and for
war relief, while shaping public opinion in favor of an independent
nation. The book illustrates how the US government was the first
power to extend diplomatic recognition to Ireland and welcome it
into the international community.
Overall, Carroll argues that the existence of the state of Ireland
is owed to considerable effort and intervention by Irish Americans
and the American public at large.
Major writers from Mexico weigh in on U.S. immigration policy, from harrowing migrant journeys to immigrant detention to the life beyond the wallDespite the extensive coverage in the U.S. media of ...the southern border and Donald Trump's proposed wall, most English speakers have had little access to the multitude of perspectives from Mexico on the ongoing crisis. Celebrated novelist Carmen Boullosa (author of Texas and Before) and Alberto Quintero redress this imbalance with this collection of essaystranslated into English for the first timedrawing on writing by journalists, novelists, and documentary-makers who are Mexican or based in Mexico. Contributors include the award-winning author Valeria Luiselli, whose Tell Me How It Ends is the go-to book on the child migrant crisis, and the novelist Yuri Herrera, author of the highly acclaimed Signs Preceding the End of the World.Let's Talk About Your Wall uses Trump's wall as a starting point to discuss important questions, including the history of U.S.-Mexican relations, and questions of sovereignty, citizenship, and borders. An essential resource for anyone seeking to form a well-grounded opinion on one of the central issues of our day, Let's Talk About Your Wall provides a fierce and compelling counterpoint to the racist bigotry and irrational fear that consumes the debate over immigration, and a powerful symbol of opposition to exclusion and hate.
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