The Public in Peril: Trump and the Menace of American Authoritarianism(Critical Interventions)

This is one of the first books to thoroughly critique the rise of Trumpism and its potential impact, nationally and globally. One of the world’s leading social critics, Giroux offers new critiques of Trump and his early Cabinet choices in the context of longer term trends, including the rise of right-wing populism, the threat of planetary peril, anti-intellectual fervor, the war on youth, a narrowing political discourse, deepening inequality and disposability, authoritarianism, the crisis of civic culture, the rise of the mass incarceration state, and more. Giroux dissects the diverse forces that led to Trump’s rise and points to pathways for resisting his authoritarian instincts. Offering a new language of hope and possibility, Giroux’s optimism is rooted especially in the resurgence of progressive politics among youth. Giroux reclaims the centrality of education to politics and boldly articulates a vision in which the radical imagination merges with civic courage as part of a broad-based struggle for a radical democracy. Deep inquiries into fast-changing and pressing issues of our time makes this book 'the essential Giroux' that citizens and students must read, debate, and act upon.

Table of Contents:
Dedication Acknowledgment INTRODUCTION: Militant Hope in the Age of American Authoritarianism I. RETHINKING POLITICS AND THE POST RACIAL Chapter 1: Anti-Politics and the Torturing of Democracy (co-authored with with Debaditya Bhattacharya) Chapter 2: White Supremacy and Racial Cleansing Under the Regime of Donald Trump Chapter 3: Authoritarianism in the Age of Manufactured Illiteracy II. YOUTH, CRISIS, AND THE POLITICS OF DOMESTIC TERRORISM Chapter 4: Terrorizing School Children in the American Police State Chapter 5: Domestic Terrorism, Youth, and the Politics of Disposability Chapter 6: Lyrical Fascism and Thinking Dangerously in a Time of Weaponized Ignorance III. Beyond Neoliberal Education Chapter 7: Defending Educators and the Struggle for Democratic Renewal Chapter 8: Towards a Politics of Courage in Dark Times IV. RESISTING NEOLIBERALISM’S DYSTOPIAN FUTURE Chapter 9: Isolation and Loss in in Trump’s Dystopia Chapter 10: Reclaiming the Radical Imagination under Neoliberal Authoritarianism Chapter 11: Rethinking Resistance in the Second Gilded Age V. EPILOGUE

About the Author :
Henry A. Giroux is currently the McMaster University Professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest and the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy. His most recent books include Dangerous Thinking in the Age of the New Authoritarianism (2015), co-authored with Brad Evans, Disposable Futures: The Seduction of Violence in the Age of Spectacle (2015), and America at War with Itself (2017).

Review :
"Henry Giroux is one of America’s most important intellectuals. His latest book works brilliantly to inform, inspire, and energize. The Public in Peril may be one of his best books. Not only does Giroux make education central to politics, he also offers a new vision for those ready to engage in the struggle for a radical democracy. Everyone should read this book, especially those hoping to overcoming the growing threat to humanity and the planet posed by neoliberalism and authoritarianism." - Julian Casablancas "This courageous and timely book is the first and best book on Trump's neo-fascism in the making. Henry Giroux is a towering public intellectual unafraid to tell unpopular truths and unintimidated in the commitment to justice for poor and working people here and abroad. His work and witness are signs of hope in our bleak time!" - Cornel West "What we have long feared is finally here, at the center of American politics: an authoritarian regime with contempt for truth and human rights. Henry Giroux teaches us how to fight this fascism with a new activism that combines pedagogical and political acts. His analyses are cogent and his proposals reasonable. If you want to save democracy, read this book." - John Carlos Rowe, University of Southern California "In this book, Henry Giroux shows once again why he is among the world’s most outstanding social scientists. No one better explicates the multiple pathologies that now characterize the United States and most other advanced capitalist societies. Yet, he maintains a deep and abiding optimism, and bravely tells us of the pressing need for radically critical education in every element of every movement, combined with a politics of disobedience, and the creation of alternative public spaces, from which a new, radically democratic and egalitarian society can be built, from the ground up." - Michael D. Yates, Editorial Director of Monthly Review Press and author of The Great Inequality (Routledge 2016) "This courageous and timely book is the first and best book on Trump's neo-fascism in the making. Henry Giroux is a towering public intellectual unafraid to tell unpopular truths and unintimidated in the commitment to justice for poor and working people here and abroad. His work and witness are signs of hope in our bleak time!" - Cornel West "What we have long feared is finally here, at the center of American politics: an authoritarian regime with contempt for truth and human rights. Henry Giroux teaches us how to fight this fascism with a new activism that combines pedagogical and political acts. His analyses are cogent and his proposals reasonable. If you want to save democracy, read this book." - John Carlos Rowe, University of Southern California