Movement Science

This addition to Oxford's Very Short Introductions series traces how Americans have addressed the issues and events of their time and place, whether it is the Civil War, the Great Depression, or the culture wars of today.

Gretchen Sorin recovers a forgotten history of black motorists, and recounts their creation of a parallel, unseen world of travel guides, black only hotels, and informal communications networks that kept black drivers safe. At the heart of this story is Victor and Alma Green's famous Green Book, begun in 1936, which made possible that most basic American right, the family vacation, and encouraged a new method of resisting oppression.

Martin Luther King Jr. may be America's most revered political figure, commemorated in statues, celebrations, and street names around the world. But despite his stature, the significance of King's writings and political thought remains underappreciated. In To Shape a New World, Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry state that the marginalization of King's ideas reflects a romantic consensus history that renders the civil rights movement inherently conservative - an effort not at radical reform but at "living up to" enduring ideals laid down by the nation's founders.

A global exploration of the Internet meme as an agent of pop culture, politics, protest, and propaganda on and offline and how they will save or destroy us all. Using social media-driven movements as her guide, technologist and digital media scholar An Xiao Mina unpacks the mechanics of memes and how they operate to reinforce, amplify, and shape today's politics.

In the 1790s an extraordinary group of friends changed the world. Disappointed by the French Revolution's rapid collapse into tyranny, what they wanted was nothing less than a revolution of the mind. The rulers of Europe had ordered their peoples how to think and act for too long. Based in the small German town of Jena, through poetry, drama, philosophy and science, they transformed the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. They were the first Romantics.

Marcus Aurelius was both philosopher and emperor of the Roman Empire. As emperor he was forced to defend his borders against enemies. How can you keep your calm and balance in times of war? A truly timeless classic.

On any given night, there are over 643,000 homeless people residing in shelters and on the streets across America. What can we do to help? Listen for more.

The American women’s movement has been shrouded in myths, argue three leading scholars in this bold and revisionist history. Eschewing the conventional wisdom that places the origins of the American women’s movement in the nostalgic glow of the late 1960s, Feminism Unfinished traces the beginnings of this seminal American social movement to the 1920s, in the process creating an expanded, historical narrative that dramatically rewrites a century of American women’s history.

Take a drive through the Mississippi Delta today and you'll find a landscape dotted with memorials to major figures and events from the civil rights movement. Perhaps the most chilling are those devoted to the murder of Emmett Till, a tragedy of hate and injustice that became a beacon in the fight for racial equality. In Remembering Emmett Till, Dave Tell gives us five accounts of the commemoration of this infamous crime.

Western Society is in confusion, the industrial world is teetering on collapse, and it looks like things could get worse. Agrarian blogger, historian, and "plain" preacher Michael Bunker has been living off of the grid for many years, and he has some advice for those living in the industrial/consumerist economy... living an off off-grid life is achievable. It has been done for thousands of years, and it can be done today...

Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year reporting on the ground, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Baltimore, Maryland; and then back to Ferguson to uncover life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise neglected, corners of America today.

Democritus. Bring the Stranger, bring the Stranger. Let us see how he is put together. I smell one goodish ingredient, but the compound is newfangled, yes {sniffing), and ill mixed. Alcihiades. You can’t possibly scent him at this distance. Not even a dog could. For a Christian he is rather well washed. Democritus. Before you contradict an old man, my fair friend, you should endeavor to understand him. The Stranger might be as clean as a river-god, who cannot live out of running water, and I should not be prevented from discerning the odor of his thoughts.

Socrates' admonition that "the unexamined life is not worth living" still resonates with many people, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Philosophy is a great introduction to that mental exercise. In this audiobook, listeners will find a fully comprehensive guide to the essential philosophers and their philosophies, both ancient and modern, from East to West. The content has been expanded to include the relationship of systems theory to philosophy today and includes explanations of the latest thinking in 20th- and 21st-century philosophical thought.

Some of baseball's rebels are widely recognized, but most of them are either little known or known primarily for their baseball achievements—not their political views and activism. Many players, owners, reporters, and other activists challenged both the baseball establishment and society's status quo. Baseball Rebels tells stories of baseball's reformers and radicals who were influenced by, and in turn influenced, America's broader political and social protest movements, making the game—and society—better along the way.

Buried for decades, the Up Stairs Lounge tragedy has only recently emerged as a catalyzing event of the gay liberation movement. In revelatory detail, Robert W. Fieseler chronicles the tragic event that claimed the lives of 31 men and one woman on June 24, 1973, at a New Orleans bar, the largest mass murder of gays until 2016. Relying on unprecedented access to survivors and archives, Fieseler creates an indelible portrait of a closeted, blue-collar gay world that flourished before an arsonist ignited an inferno that destroyed an entire community.

"WHAT DO THEY BELIEVE?" is a concise, yet comprehensive, look at seventeen major religious movements that are "out of step" with basic Biblical teaching, yet claim to incorporate Christian doctrine in their philosophies. Written for "the man in the street", this Manual examines each movement briefly under nine doctrinal headings, and includes each one's "speciality" and history. The Manual also briefly reviews basic Christian doctrine and shows you how to "test" teaching according to Biblical standards. Highly recommended for Bible Studies and teaching sessions, this is a "must-have" for ...

Countless times throughout our lives, we're presented with a choice to help another soul. Rescuing Ladybugs highlights the true stories of remarkable people who didn't look away from seemingly impossible-to-change situations and instead worked to save animals. Prepare to be transported to Borneo to release orangutans, Brazil to protect jaguars, Africa to connect with chimpanzees and elephants, the Maldives to free mantas, and Indonesia, the only place where dragons still exist in the wild.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) was the forerunner of the post-Kantian idealists and remains one of the most important figures in German philosophy. Throughout his career, Fichte published, in addition to his systematic or "scientific" treatises, the best known of which is the "Foundation of the Entire Wissenchaftslehre (1794-5), a series of works directed at the general public.

Recognising Black British experience within the Black Lives Matter movement, 19 prominent Black figures explain why Black lives should be celebrated when too often they are undervalued. Drawing from personal experience, they stress how Black British people have unique perspectives and experiences that enrich British society and the world; how Black lives are far more interesting and important than the forces that try to limit it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson has been famous as a major leader in the New Thought movement, establishing transcendentalism as a new paradigm. He wrote a massive amount of life-changing material in his life. His lectures and essays became the hallmark of the transcendentalist ideas and principles echoed today by many contemporary best sellers. Concepts proven to be timeless inspirational messages apply to today’s challenges.