Download or read book Third Party Blues written by Scot Schraufnagel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-04-23 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than many areas of American politics research, studies of minor party competition and success are often overly driven by normative concerns that do not hold up to empirical scrutiny. This concise book presents a concerted effort to analyze the barriers in election law, such as ballot access restrictions and single member districts with a plurality rule, that prevent third parties from gaining a durable hold in American politics. Rather than trudge through yet another history of third parties in America or polemical arguments for minor party inclusion, Schraufnagel provides empirical grounding for the claims of third party backers. This thoughtful analysis demonstrates that the inclusion of third parties improves electoral participation rates and that third party involvement in the legislative process is linked to landmark legislative productivity. In the end, the work provides thoughtful suggestions on the types of reforms that would lead to greater third party success in American elections.

Download or read book Urban Blues written by Charles Keil and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-12-10 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Keil examines the expressive role of blues bands and performers and stresses the intense interaction between performer and audience. Profiling bluesmen Bobby Bland and B. B. King, Keil argues that they are symbols for the black community, embodying important attitudes and roles—success, strong egos, and close ties to the community. While writing Urban Blues in the mid-1960s, Keil optimistically saw this cultural expression as contributing to the rising tide of raised political consciousness in Afro-America. His new Afterword examines black music in the context of capitalism and black culture in the context of worldwide trends toward diversification. "Enlightening. . . . [Keil] has given a provocative indication of the role of the blues singer as a focal point of ghetto community expression."—John S. Wilson, New York Times Book Review"A terribly valuable book and a powerful one. . . . Keil is an original thinker and . . . has offered us a major breakthrough."—Studs Terkel, Chicago Tribune "[Urban Blues] expresses authentic concern for people who are coming to realize that their past was . . . the source of meaningful cultural values."—Atlantic "An achievement of the first magnitude. . . . He opens our eyes and introduces a world of amazingly complex musical happening."—Robert Farris Thompson, Ethnomusicology "[Keil's] vigorous, aggressive scholarship, lucid style and sparkling analysis stimulate the challenge. Valuable insights come from treating urban blues as artistic communication."—James A. Bonar, Boston Herald

Download or read book Empowering Progressive Third Parties in the United States written by Jonathan H. Martin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ground-breaking collection of writings explores how progressive third parties in the U.S. can become more electorally successful and politically influential. It is the only recently published book that focuses exclusively on how such parties may advance. Their rise may be essential to countering the powerful, growing sway of wealth within the two major American parties, and to creating a more just, democratic United States. Contributors include key participants in and observers of the U.S. left third party movement. Nearly all have previously authored books or articles on progressive politics. Many have led effective left third party efforts, and some have held elected office on behalf of a progressive third party. Together the writers reflect on a wide range of relevant parties—including the Green Party, the Vermont Progressive Party, the Labor Party, the Working Families Party, Socialist Alternative, and potential new parties on the American left. The authors highlight a variety of strategies and conditions that may facilitate electoral breakthroughs by such parties and their candidates. Overall, the collection suggests that U.S. progressive third parties may make more headway if they thoughtfully combine their idealism and sense of urgency with a flexible, pragmatic approach to gaining power.

Download or read book The Demise and Rebirth of American Third Parties written by Bernard Tamas and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtually all academic books on American third parties in the last half-century assume that they have largely disappeared. This book challenges that orthodoxy by explaining the (temporary) decline of third parties, demonstrating through the latest evidence that they are enjoying a resurgence, and arguing that they are likely to once again play a significant role in American politics. The book is based on a wealth of data, including district-level results from US House of Representatives elections, state-level election laws after the Civil War, and recent district-level election results from Australia, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom.

Download or read book Party Politics in America written by Marjorie Randon Hershey and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-02-17 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The seventeenth edition of Party Politics in America continues the comprehensive and authoritative coverage of political parties for which it is known while expanding and updating the treatment of key related topics including interest groups and elections. Marjorie Hershey builds on the book’s three-pronged coverage of party organization, party in the electorate, and party in government and integrates contemporary examples—such as campaign finance reform, party polarization, and social media—to bring to life the fascinating story of how parties shape our political system. New to the 17th Edition Fully updated through the 2016 election, including changes in virtually all of the boxed materials, the chapter openings, and the data presented. Explores increasing partisan hostility, the status of voter ID laws and other efforts to affect voter turnout, young voters' attitudes and participation, and the role of big givers such as the energy billionaire Koch brothers in the 2016 campaigns. Critically examines the idea that Super PACs are replacing, or can replace, the party organizations in running campaigns. New and expanded online Instructor's Resources, including author-written test banks, essay questions, relevant websites with correlated sample assignments, the book’s appendix, and links to a collection of course syllabi.

Download or read book Play Pretty Blues written by Snowden Wright and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Wright's fervent, musical prose captures the very essence of the blues.Play Pretty Blues is a work of extraordinary imagination and soul."--Will Allison, author ofLong Drive Home The mysteries of blues legend Robert Johnson's life and death long ago became myth. Part researched reconstruction, part vivid imagination, this lyrical novel brings Johnson alive through the voices of his six wives, revealing the husband and son inside the legend. Snowden Wright was born and raised in Mississippi. His work has been published atSalon, theAtlantic Online,Esquire Online, and theNew York Daily News. He lives in New York.

Download or read book Red State Blues written by Martha Bayne and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2018-06-01 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much has been made of the 2016 electoral flip of traditionally Democratic states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio to tip Donald Trump into the presidency. Countless think pieces have explored this newfound exotic constituency of blue voters who swung red. But what about those who remain true blue? Red State Blues speaks to the lived experience of progressives, activists, and ordinary Democrats pushing back against simplistic narratives of the Midwest as "Trump Country." They've been there all along, and as the essays in this collection demonstrate, they're not leaving anytime soon. With contributions by journalist and scholar Sarah Kendzior, Kenyon College president Sean Decatur, Pittsburgh city councilman Dan Gilman, and more.

Download or read book Memphis Rent Party written by Robert Gordon and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Blues, being the wellspring of all American music for over a century, is always worth studying. Robert does it right." --Keith Richards "An emotional map of musical Memphis. If you don't know these characters, let Robert Gordon introduce you." --Elvis Costello "Robert Gordon's book is proof that Southern heritage is American heritage, and all sorts of people--black and white, familiar and strange, dead and alive--are what it is." --Greil Marcus Profiles and stories of Southern music from the acclaimed author of Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. The fabled city of Memphis has been essential to American music--home of the blues, the birthplace of rock and roll, a soul music capital. We know the greatest hits, but celebrated author Robert Gordon takes us to the people and places history has yet to record. A Memphis native, he whiles away time in a crumbling duplex with blues legend Furry Lewis, stays up late with barrelhouse piano player Mose Vinson, and sips homemade whiskey at Junior Kimbrough's churning house parties. A passionate listener, he hears modern times deep in the grooves of old records by Lead Belly and Robert Johnson. The interconnected profiles and stories in Memphis Rent Party convey more than a region. Like mint seeping into bourbon, Gordon gets into the wider world. He beholds the beauty of mistakes with producer Jim Dickinson (Replacements, Rolling Stones), charts the stars with Alex Chilton (Box Tops, Big Star), and mulls the tragedy of Jeff Buckley's fatal swim. Gordon's Memphis inspires Cat Power, attracts Townes Van Zandt, and finds James Carr always singing at the dark end of the street. A rent party is when friends come together to hear music, dance, and help a pal through hard times; it's a celebration in the face of looming tragedy, an optimism when the wolf is at the door. Robert Gordon finds mystery in the mundane, inspiration in the bleakness, and revels in the individualism that connects these diverse encounters.

Download or read book The Sky Blues written by Robbie Couch and published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sky’s small town turns absolutely claustrophobic when his secret promposal plans get leaked to the entire school in this witty, heartfelt, and ultimately hopeful debut novel for fans of What if it’s Us? and I Wish You All the Best. Sky Baker may be openly gay, but in his small, insular town, making sure he was invisible has always been easier than being himself. Determined not to let anything ruin his senior year, Sky decides to make a splash at his high school’s annual beach bum party by asking his crush, Ali, to prom—and he has thirty days to do it. What better way to start living loud and proud than by pulling off the gayest promposal Rock Ledge, Michigan, has ever seen? Then, Sky’s plans are leaked by an anonymous hacker in a deeply homophobic e-blast that quickly goes viral. He’s fully prepared to drop out and skip town altogether—until his classmates give him a reason to fight back by turning his thirty-day promposal countdown into a school-wide hunt to expose the e-blast perpetrator. But what happens at the end of the thirty days? Will Sky get to keep his hard-won visibility? Or will his small-town blues stop him from being his true self?

Download or read book Benzo Blues written by Edward H. Drummond and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1998-11-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Valium. Atvian. Xanax. These benzodiapezines or "benzos" are among the most routinely prescribed medications in our society, used to treat chronic anxiety in millions of people. But these drugs can actually prolong and aggravate anxiety, causing individuals to postpone dealing with core problems and to increasingly rely on addictive medication with extremely debilitating effects. Of the more than 30 million people who take these drugs, more than four million are addicted.Dr. Edward H. Drummond offers hope with a revolutionary program for overcoming chronic anxiety without the use of tranquilizers. His approach flies in the face of established practices, particularly at a time when health care programs offer dwindling support for psychotherapy, preferring the cheaper course of having patients medicate themselves.Certain to inspire controversy, Benzo Blues is the work of a visionary author out to challenge the medical establishment. Its publication will be greeted with enormous interest by the millions of people affected by these powerful drugs, all of whom will find a new way of dealing with a lifelong problem.

Download or read book Roots and Blues written by Arnold Adoff and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2011-01-03 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through poems and poetic prose pieces, acclaimed children's author Arnold Adoff celebrates that uniquely American form of music called the blues. In his signature “shaped speech” style, he creates a narrative of moments and joyous music, from the drums of the ancestors, the red dirt of the plantations, the current of the mighty Mississippi, and the shackles, blood, and tears of slavery. Each chop of the ax is a beat, each lash of the whip fashions another line on the musical staff. But each sound also creates the chords and harmonies that preserve the ancestors and their stories, and sustain life, faith, and hope into our own times.

Download or read book American Government written by Cal Jillson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-24 with total page 670 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Features of this Innovative TextThe 8th edition of this well-respected text features the 2014 midterm Congressional elections, the latest on Obama's presidency, important Supreme Court decisions, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and other timely updates. An increased attention to media in politics runs through the book. Key learning objectives at the beginning of every chapter focus students on central points to watch for.""The Constitution Today"" chapter opening vignettes illustrate the importance of conflicting views on constitutional principles. Key terms defined in the margi.

Download or read book Why Don t Americans Vote written by Bridgett A. King and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-07-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book provides a thought-provoking discussion of issues that influence voter registration and turnout in contemporary America. Elections not only determine who will fill an office; they have a lot to say about how the democratic process works—or doesn't work—in 21st-century America. This fascinating book sheds light on that question by focusing on factors that currently shape elections and political participation in the United States. It covers issues that are consistently in the media, such as gerrymandering; voter ID; and rules pertaining to when, where, and how Americans register and vote. But it also goes beyond the obvious to consider issues that are often overlooked—civic education and engagement, citizen apathy, and political alienation, for example. The volume begins with an introduction to elections that includes a discussion of the history of voting in the United States. Each subsequent chapter covers a different topic relative to registration and voting. It addresses matters of education as well as socialization, mobilization, and the legal and political structures that shape U.S. political participation. Ideal for readers who may be considering such concerns for the first time, the work will foster an understanding of why political participation is important and of the causes and consequences of non-voting.

Download or read book Is This Any Way to Run a Democratic Election Fifth Edition written by Stephen J. Wayne and published by CQ Press. This book was released on 2013-07-15 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2012 election is over, but the debate over the fairness and accuracy of our electoral system continues. The courts are dealing with the alleged discriminatory impact of voter ID requirements on minority voters; privacy and vote manipulation are concerns as political campaigns utilize new technology to target voters; the news media are contending with harsh public criticism of their elections coverage; the campaign finance floodgates were opened with vast resources spent on negative advertising; and the Electoral College continues to undermine a national, democratic electoral system—Is this any way to run a democratic election? This fully updated fifth edition of Is This Any Way to Run a Democratic Election? by Stephen J. Wayne answers that important question by looking at both recent events and recent scholarship focused on the democratic electoral process, including new data and timely illustrations from the 2012 elections.

Download or read book American Government written by Calvin C. Jillson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 663 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An introductory American government textbook should do more than simply tell students that politics is relevant today, that it will affect their lives in meaningful ways. Students are best prepared to recognize this basic fact when they understand the bigger picture of how the system works, how it got that way, and what are the possibilities for change. Cal Jillson's American Government: Political Development and Institutional Change shows students how the nation's past is present in all aspects of contemporary politics, using the dynamics of change as a tool to understand how politics works and how institutions, systems, avenues of participation, and policies have evolved over time to produce today's political environment in the United States. Going one step further, Jillson identifies the critical question of how American democracy might evolve further, focusing in every chapter on reform and change into the future"--

Download or read book Born Confused written by Tanuja Desai Hidier and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2010-02-01 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tanuja Desai Hidier's fantastically acclaimed cross-cultural debut comes to PUSH!Dimple Lala doesn't know what to think. Her parents are from India, and she's spent her whole life resisting their traditions. Then suddenly she gets to high school and everything Indian is trendy. To make matters worse, her parents arrange for her to meet a "suitable boy." Of course it doesn't go well -- until Dimple goes to a club and finds him spinning a magical web . Suddenly the suitable boy is suitable because of his sheer unsuitability. Complications ensue. This is a funny, thoughtful story about finding your heart, finding your culture, and finding your place in America.Author BioTanuja Desai Hidier is the critically acclaimed author of the groundbreaking novels Bombay Blues and Born Confused, which was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and hailed by Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone as one of the best YA novels of all time. Born and raised in the USA, Tanuja is a writer/singer-songwriter now based in London. For more about Born Confused and Bombay Blues, as well as her "booktrack" albums of original songs to accompany them, please visit www.ThisIsTanuja.com.

Download or read book The Middle child Blues written by Kristyn Crow and published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clever, bluesy riff on middle-kid angst Lee has the low-down, big-frown, sulkin?-all-aroundtown blues. His older brother gets all the big-kid privileges, and no one expects his little sister to do anything but be cute. And sometimes his family even leaves him behind! But when Lee breaks out his guitar and finally makes his voice be heard, he draws a big crowd. It turns out lots and lots of people share his middle-kid pain'and he loves how being stuck in the middle is making him the center of attention.