Political Advocacy Audiobooks | Politics

A World Divided: The Global Struggle for Human Rights in the Age of Nation-States

A global history of human rights in a world of nation-states that grant rights to some while denying them to others Once dominated by vast empires, the world is now divided into close to 200 independent countries with laws and constitutions proclaiming human rights-a transformation that suggests that nations and human rights inevitably developed together. But the reality is far more problematic, as Eric Weitz shows in this compelling global history of the fate of human rights in a world of nation-states. Through vivid histories drawn from virtually every continent, A World Divided describes how, since the eighteenth century, nationalists have struggled to establish their own states that grant human rights to some people. At the same time, they have excluded others through forced assimilation, ethnic cleansing, or even genocide. From Greek rebels, American settlers, and Brazilian abolitionists in the nineteenth century to anticolonial Africans and Zionists in the twentieth, nationalists have confronted a crucial question: Who has the 'right to have rights?' A World Divided tells these stories in colorful accounts focusing on people who were at the center of events. And it shows that rights are dynamic. Proclaimed originally for propertied white men, rights were quickly demanded by others, including women, American Indians, and black slaves. A World Divided also explains the origins of many of today's crises, from the existence of more than 65 million refugees and migrants worldwide to the growth of right-wing nationalism. The book argues that only the continual advance of international human rights will move us beyond the quandary of a world divided between those who have rights and those who don't.

Eric D. Weitz (Author), Robert G. Slade, Robert Slade (Narrator)

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Defending Israel: The Story of My Relationship with My Most Challenging Client

This program includes an introduction read by the author. World-renowned lawyer Alan Dershowitz recounts stories from his many years of defending the state of Israel. Alan Dershowitz has spent years advocating for his 'most challenging client'-the state of Israel-both publicly and in private meetings with high level international figures, including every US president and Israeli leader of the past 40 years. Replete with personal insights and unreported details, Defending Israel offers a comprehensive history of modern Israel from the perspective of one of the country's most important supporters. Listeners are given a rare front row seat to the high profile controversies and debates that Dershowitz was involved in over the years, even as the political tides shifted and the liberal community became increasingly critical of Israeli policies. Beyond documenting America's changing attitude toward the country, Defending Israel serves as an updated defense of the Jewish homeland on numerous points-though it also includes Dershowitz's criticisms of Israeli decisions and policies that he believes to be unwise. At a time when Jewish Americans as a whole are increasingly uncertain as to who supports Israel and who doesn't, there is no better audiobook to turn to for answers-and a pragmatic look toward the future.

Alan M. Dershowitz (Author), Alan M. Dershowitz, Fred Berman (Narrator)

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A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Non-fiction 2003 A shattering history of the last hundred years of genocidal war that itemises in authoritative, persuasive manner exactly what the West knew and when, and what it chose to do, and what not to do, with that knowledge. Winner of the US National Book Critics Circle Award 'The United States has never in its history intervened to stop genocide and has in fact rarely even made a point of condemning it as it occurred.' In this convincing and definitive interrogation of the last century of American history and foreign policy, Samantha Power draws upon declassified documents, private papers, unprecedented interviews and her own reporting from the modern killing fields to tell the story of American indifference and American courage in the face of man's inhumanity to man. Tackling the argument that successive US leaders were unaware of genocidal horrors as they were occurring - against Armenians, Jews, Cambodians, Kurds, Rwandans, Bosnians - Samantha Power seeks to establish precisely how much was known and when, and claims that much human misery and tragedy could readily have been averted. It is clear that the failure to intervene was usually caused not by ignorance or impotence, but by considered political inaction. Several heroic figures did work to oppose and expose ethnic cleansing as it took place, but the majority of American politicians chose always to do nothing, as did the American public: Power notes that 'no US president has ever suffered politically for his indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that genocide rages on.' This riveting book makes a powerful case for why America, as both sole superpower and global citizen, must make such indifference a thing of the past.

Samantha Power (Author), Laurel Lefkow (Narrator)

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Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution

The basis of the PBS American Experience documentary Stonewall Uprising In 1969, a series of riots over police action against The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, changed the longtime landscape of the homosexual in society literally overnight. Since then the event itself has become the stuff of legend, with relatively little hard information available on the riots themselves. Now, based on hundreds of interviews, an exhaustive search of public and previously sealed files, and over a decade of intensive research into the history and the topic, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution brings one of history's most singular events to vivid life.

David Carter (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

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The Education of an Idealist

'One of our foremost thinkers on foreign policy.' Barack Obama What can one person do? At a time of division and upheaval, Samantha Power offers an urgent response to this question - and calls for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives. The Education of an Idealist combines powerful storytelling, vividly drawn characters and deep political insight. It traces Power's journey from childhood growing up in a pub in Ireland to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official. In 2005, her critiques of US foreign policy caught the eye of newly elected Senator Barack Obama, who invited her to work with him on Capitol Hill and then on his presidential campaign. After Obama was elected president, Power went from being an activist outsider to a government insider, navigating the halls of power while trying to put her ideals into practice. She served for four years as Obama's human rights adviser, and in 2013 took one of the world's most powerful diplomatic positions, becoming the youngest ever US Ambassador to the United Nations. A Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Power transports us from her childhood in Dublin to the streets of war-torn Bosnia to the White House Situation Room and the world of high-stakes diplomacy. With frank insight and humour, The Education of an Idealist lays bare the searing battles and defining moments of her life and shows how she juggled the demands of a 24/7 national security job with the challenge of raising two young children. Along the way, she illuminates the intricacies of politics and geopolitics, and reminds that in the face of great challenges there is always something each of us can do to advance the cause of human dignity. Honest, inspiring and evocatively written, Power's memoir is an unforgettable account of the world-changing power of idealism - and of one person's fierce determination to make a difference.

Samantha Power (Author), Samantha Power (Narrator)

Audiobook

El gran retroceso

A raíz de la crisis financiera y la creciente migración a la UE nos encontramos frente a acontecimientos acelerados y preocupantes: el ascenso de los partidos nacionalistas, ejemplificado por el Frente Nacional francés; la demagogia encarnada por Donald Trump; las tendencias autoritarias en Europa Central y Europa del Este; una nueva ola de xenofobia y crímenes de odio; una brutalización del discurso público; llamadas a la construcción de muros y la vuelta a una desglobalización. Este libro analiza las razones de esta 'Gran Regresión' o 'Gran Retroceso', las pone en un contexto histórico, reflexiona sobre posibles escenarios para los próximos años y discute estrategias para contrarrestar estas tendencias. Una antología que quiere ser un foro para que académicos e intelectuales de numerosos países y diferentes disciplinas ofrezcan su punto de vista e iniciar así un debate internacional, a la vez que sirva como herramienta para los lectores de todas las edades y condiciones. Grabado en español ibérico (España).

Aa.Vv. (Author), José María Larrú (Narrator)

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America Is Better Than This: Trump's War Against Migrant Families

An exposé and cry of outrage at the cruelty and chaos the Trump administration has wrought at the border with child separations, border blockades, and a massive gulag of child prisons housing thousands. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} Jeff Merkley couldn't believe his eyes. He never dreamed the United States could treat vulnerable young families with such calculated brutality. Few had witnessed what Merkley discovered just by showing up at the border and demanding to see what was going on behind closed doors.Contrary to the official stories and soothing videos, he found mothers and children, newborn babies and infants, stranded for days on border bridges in blistering heat or locked up in ice-cold holding pens. There were nearly 1,500 boys jammed into a former Walmart, a child tent prison in the desert with almost 3,000 boys and girls, and children struggling to survive in gang-filled Mexican border towns after they were blocked from seeking asylum in the United States.Worst of all, there were the children ripped out of their parents' arms and sorted into cages in some profoundly warped attempt to discourage migration. This was how the Trump administration treated the child victims of unspeakable violence that had driven them from their homes: as pawns in a power play rather than as humans worthy of respect and dignity.It was Merkley's visits -- captured live on viral video -- that triggered worldwide outrage at the forced separation of children from their parents. Just by taking an interest -- by caring about the people legally claiming asylum at America's borders -- Merkley helped expose the Trump administration's war on migrant families. Along the way, he helped turn the tide against some of its worst excesses.AMERICA IS BETTER THAN THIS tells the inside story of how one senator, with no background as an immigration activist, became a leading advocate for reform of the brutal policies that have created a humanitarian crisis on the southern U.S. border. It represents the heartfelt and candid voice of a concerned American who believes his country stands for something far bigger and better.

Jeff Merkley (Author), Jeff Merkley (Narrator)

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Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65

From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch, the second part of his epic trilogy on the American Civil Rights Movement. In the second volume of his three-part history, a monumental trilogy that began with Parting the Waters, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, Taylor Branch portrays the Civil Rights Movement at its zenith, recounting the climactic struggles as they commanded the national stage.

Taylor Branch (Author), Janina Edwards, Prentice Onayemi (Narrator)

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The Case Against Free Speech: The First Amendment, Fascism, and the Future of Dissent

A hard-hitting expose that shines a light on the powerful conservative forces that have waged a multi-decade battle to hijack the meaning of free speech--and how we can reclaim it. There's a critical debate taking place over one of our most treasured rights: free speech. We argue about whether it's at risk, whether college students fear it, whether neo-Nazis deserve it, and whether the government is adequately upholding it. But as P. E. Moskowitz provocatively shows in The Case Against Free Speech, the term has been defined and redefined to suit those in power, and in recent years, it has been captured by the Right to push their agenda. What's more, our investment in the First Amendment obscures an uncomfortable truth: free speech is impossible in an unequal society where a few corporations and the ultra-wealthy bankroll political movements, millions of voters are disenfranchised, and our government routinely silences critics of racism and capitalism. Weaving together history and reporting from Charlottesville, Skokie, Standing Rock, and the college campuses where student protests made national headlines, Moskowitz argues that these flash points reveal more about the state of our democracy than they do about who is allowed to say what. Our current definition of free speech replicates power while dissuading dissent, but a new ideal is emerging. In this forcefully argued, necessary corrective, Moskowitz makes the case for speech as a tool--for exposing the truth, demanding equality, and fighting for all our civil liberties.

P. E. Moskowitz, Pe Moskowitz (Author), Robin Eller (Narrator)

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En el principio era el cuerpo

'Ucrania no es un burdel' fue el grito de guerra de las Femen cuando los mandarines del fútbol viajaban al este para celebrar un campeonato y las destrezas copulativas de las jóvenes locales. Inna, Sasha, Oksana y Anna han ido construyendo un feminismo espectacular que rebasa los límites de la moral masculina para arrojar también sus maldiciones sobre la pobreza, la explotación, el despotismo o las iglesias. Ese activismo les ha valido palos, encierros y censuras, pero las chicas de Femen siempre han contado con el escudo de una formidable cobertura mediática. Aunque no les falta ingenuidad, han descubierto con lucidez que la bomba más atómica es el espectáculo, y en particular, el de sus glándulas mamarias. En este libro explican cómo y por qué han llegado a una conclusión tan desnuda. Grabado en español ibérico (España).

Femen (Author), Gloria Tarridas (Narrator)

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The Levant Express: The Arab Uprisings, Human Rights, and the Future of the Middle East

The enormous sense of optimism unleashed by the Arab Spring in 2011 soon gave way to widespread suffering and despair. Of the many popular uprisings against autocratic regimes, Tunisia's now stands alone as a beacon of hope for sustainable human rights progress. Libya is a failed state; Egypt returned to military dictatorship; the Gulf States suppressed popular protests and tightened control; and Syria and Yemen are ravaged by civil war. Challenging the widely shared pessimism among regional experts, Micheline Ishay charts bold and realistic pathways for human rights in a region beset by political repression, economic distress, sectarian conflict, a refugee crisis, and violence against women. With due attention to how patterns of revolution and counterrevolution play out in different societies and historical contexts, Ishay reveals the progressive potential of subterranean human rights forces and offers strategies for transforming current realities in the Middle East.

Micheline R. Ishay (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

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La mala reputación. ¿Izquierda para existir o para ganar?

Este texto es un mero ejercicio de observación de los acontecimientos políticos y sociales que en los años recientes han sucedido en regiones de Europa, Estados Unidos y América Latina, pero en clave colombiana. No es un texto de memorias, pero he leído algunas en las que el memorialista, que en su tiempo ocupó altas responsabilidades en una organización de la izquierda legal o armada, trata de salvar su reputación mediante el vil señalamiento de los demás o haciendo creer que nunca avaló las decisiones que llevaron a la bancarrota al proyecto político del que formó parte. He sido un hombre de mi época y no pienso lavarme las manos con estas anotaciones. No es mi deseo, por otra parte, escribir un inventario de los yerros de los revolucionarios colombianos, más aún cuando se cuentan por millares las mujeres y los hombres pertenecientes a todo el espectro de la izquierda del país asesinados por sus ideales. Luchadores que no dudo en llamar 'héroes' y 'mártires'. Son héroes los que perecen luchando por las buenas causas y son mártires los que van derecho hasta la piedra del sacrificio por un mero ideal.

Yezid Arteta Dávila (Author), David Allende (Narrator)

Audiobook

Political Advocacy Audiobooks in Politics