Global Issues Book Group
The Global Issues Book Group, reads and discusses books on the vital Political, Economic, Environmental and Social issues that challenge humankind in the 21st Century.
June 2018
Age of Anger
How can we explain the origins of the great wave of paranoid hatreds that seem inescapable in our close-knit world--from American shooters to ISIS and Donald Trump, from a rise in vengeful nationalism across the world to the proliferation of racism and misogyny on social media?
In the Age of Anger, Pankaj Mishra answers our bewilderment by casting his gaze back to the eighteenth century, delivering a history of our present predicament unlike any other. He shows that as the world became modern, those who were unable to enjoy its promises--or who were left, or pushed, behind--reacted in horrifying similar ways: with intense hatred of invented enemies, attempts to re-create an imaginary golden age, and self-empowerment through spectacular violence. Today, just as then, the wide embrace of mass politics and technology and the pursuit of wealth and individualism have cast billions adrift, uprooted from tradition but still far from modernity--with the same terrible results. John Gray in the Literary Review calls it, "Richly learned and usefully subversive."
Tuesday, June 12th at 6:30 PM
July 2018
Utopia for Realists
This revolutionary guide focuses on three core concepts--a universal basic income, a fifteen-hour workweek, and open borders across the globe--and explores each of them through lively anecdotes, studies, and success stories. From a Canadian city that once eradicated poverty to Richard Nixon's near implementation of a national basic income, Bregman takes us on a journey through history, and beyond traditional left-right divides, as he points us toward a wholly attainable new social order. His book is a bracing reminder that every progressive milestone--be it the end of slavery or the beginning of democracy--was considered a utopian fantasy.
Tuesday, July 10th at 6:30 PM
August 2018
A Fine Mess
The U.S. tax code is a total write-off. Crammed with loopholes and special interest provisions, it works for no one except tax lawyers, accountants, and corporations. Not for the first time, we have to tear it up and start over. But what should be in this new tax code? Can we make the U.S. tax system simpler, fairer, and more efficient? Yes, yes and yes. Can we cut tax rates and still bring in more revenue? Yes.
In A Fine Mess, T.R. Reid crisscrosses the globe in search of the exact solutions to these urgent problems. With an uncanny knack for making a complex subject not just accessible but gripping, he investigates what makes good taxation (no, that's not an oxymoron) and brings that knowledge home where it is needed most. Doing our taxes will never be America's favorite pastime, but it can and should be so much easier and fairer.
Tuesday, August 14th at 6:30 PM
September 2018
The Color of Law
Heralded as a "masterful" (Washington Post) and "essential" (Slate) history of the modern American metropolis. The Color of Law is as groundbreaking investigation into how U.S. governments in the Twentieth century deliberately imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide. With painstaking research, The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past.
Tuesday, September 11th at 6:30 PM
