America on the Edge Henry Giroux on Politics, Culture, and Education

by Giroux, Henry A.

• ISBN13: 9781403971593
• ISBN10: 1403971595
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-04-01
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

For more than 20 years Henry Giroux has challenged readers to address the political exploitation and manipulation of American youth. Now, this compelling new book offers a comprehensive selection of Girouxs best works. From his most influential classics to new, never before published essays, America on the Edge offers an overview of Giroux's philosophies throughout his career. From his classic subjects, such as education and democracy and media and youth culture, to revolutionary new views on terrorism, globalization, and morality, this book is essential for all Giroux fans and educators alike. Henry Giroux provides a series of brilliant and provocative essays on the rise of authoritarianism in America, the rise of religious fundamentalism, the crisis of youth, the militarizing of public space, the politics of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the rise of the corporate university, the rise of Orwellian newspeak in the media, the emergence of a hard-boiled masculinity in popular culture, and what it means to reclaim hope in dark times. These essays combine important social issues with an accessible and clear language of historical understanding, critique, and possibility. Giroux argues that the United States is in the midst of a political crisis that is slowly undermining the foundation of democratic politics, culture, and education. He also argues that the crisis of politics is matched by a crisis of imagination and that if democracy is going to survive it is imperative to both rethink the nature of democracy while refashioning a new political language and cultural politics capable of both stopping the current turn toward authoritarianism and reclaiming the possibilities of a substantive democracy.

Author Biography

Henry A. Giroux holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University. His previous books with Palgrave include The Abandoned Generation: Democracy Beyond the Culture of Fear and Take Back Higher Education (with Susan Giroux).

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction
Henry Giroux on Critical Pedagogy and the Responsibilities of the Public Intellectual	3	(20)
Part I America Under Siege: Authoritarianism and Democracy
The Conservative Assault on America: Cultural Politics, Education, and the New Authoritarianism	23	(20)
Democracy and the Crisis of Public Education: Co-Authored with Susan Searls Giroux	43	(10)
From Auschwitz to Abu Ghraib: Rethinking Representation as Public Pedagogy	53	(18)
Part II Against Fundamentalism: Resisting Religious Extremism and Market Orthodoxy
Rapture Politics and the Passion of the Religious Right	71	(18)
Academic Entrepreneurs: The Corporate Takeover of Higher Education	89	(12)
Part III Media Pedagogy: Rethinking Political and Cultural Literacy
Roll Over George Orwell: Representations of Newspeak in Bush's America	101	(16)
Breaking into the Movies: Film as Cultural Politics	117	(12)
Nymphet Fantasies: Child Beauty Pageants and the Politics of Innocence	129	(22)
Part IV Race, Surveillance, and Social Justice
Racial Politics, Individualism, and the Collapse of the Social	151	(24)
Disposable Youth, Racism, and the Politics of Zero Tolerance	175	(16)
Part V Militarization, Masculinity, and the Spectre of Fascism
Waging War On Democracy: The Militarizing of Public Space	191	(14)
Private Satisfactions and Public Disorder: Fight Club, Patriarchy, and the Politics of Masculine Violence	205	(24)
Part VI Youth, Pedagogy, and the Politics of Hope
The Abandoned Generation: The Urban Debate League and the Politics of Possibility	229	(8)
Putting Youth Back into Politics: Reclaiming Education and Hope in Dark Times	237	(16)
Translating the Future: Speaking to Graduating Youth	253	(4)
Index	257