Why Bad Governments Happen To Good People

“With wit and clarity, Katch argues for social movements, political activism, and socialism as the alternatives we need to win the world we want” (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation). The election of Donald Trump has sent the United States and the world into uncharted waters, with a bigoted, petty man-child at the head of the planet’s most powerful empire. Danny Katch indicts the hollowness of the US political system which led to Trump’s rise and puts forward a vision for a real alternative, a democracy that works for the people. “In the tradition of Abbie Hoffman and George Carlin, Sarah Silverman and Dave Chappelle, Katch’s generous, embracing humor is deployed to uncover the deepest truths of our predicament. Don’t miss it.” —Bill Ayers, author of Demand the Impossible!: A Radical Manifesto “This is a moment when politics and laughter are both necessities for survival. Without them we would be lost. Now we have a book that gives us both.” —Dave Zirin, author of Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down “If you or your friends and family have been shocked and horrified since Election Day, Katch will calm you down, cheer you up, and get you ready to fight.” —Sarah Jaffe, podcast host and author of Necessary Trouble “It’s horrible, tragic, ridiculous, and full of suspense. But enough about the White House. This book will make you laugh out loud, learn something about our world, and get inspired to change it.” —Brian Jones, actor, educator, and activist

“Katch has done the impossible: he makes socialism sexy . . . eye-opening, inspiring, and funny . . . this book might turn you into a closet socialist” (Judah Friedlander, actor and comedian). Opinion polls show that many people in the United States prefer socialism to capitalism. But after being declared dead and buried for decades, socialism has come to mean little more than something vaguely less cruel and stupid than what we have now. That’s not exactly going to inspire millions to storm the barricades. Danny Katch brings together the two great Marxist traditions of Karl and Groucho to provide an entertaining and insightful introduction to what the socialist tradition has to say about democracy, economics, and the potential of human beings to be something more than being bomb-dropping, planet-destroying racist fools. “The most hilarious book about socialism since Karl Marx and his brother Harpo wrote their joke book.” —Hari Kondabolu, filmmaker and comedian “If The Communist Manifesto and America’s Funniest Home Videos had a baby, it would be Danny Katch’s new book. It’s a hilarious and fun way to think about what’s wrong with our world, how it could be different, and how we might get there. Keep an extra copy of Socialism . . . Seriously in your bag and hand it to the next person who asks you what socialism is all about; as long as that person is not your boss . . . seriously.” —Brian Jones, actor, educator, and activist “A lighthearted, easy read that packs an intro course on socialism into a short volume. With jokes that made me laugh out loud, and a lot of heart. Socialism is for lovers. Indeed.” —Sarah Jaffe, Belabored podcast host

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The inspirational classic from a renowned spiritual leader that "offers a moving and humane approach to understanding life’s windstorms” (Elisabeth Kübler-Ross). When Harold Kushner’s three-year-old son was diagnosed with a degenerative disease that meant the boy would only live until his early teens, he was faced with one of life’s most difficult questions: Why, God? Years later, Rabbi Kushner wrote this straightforward, elegant contemplation of the doubts and fears that arise when tragedy strikes. In these pages, Kushner shares his wisdom as a rabbi, a parent, a reader, and a human being. Often imitated but never superseded, When Bad Things Happen to Good People is a classic that offers clear thinking and consolation in times of sorrow.

The authors are: Billy Graham, Adrian Rogers, John A. Huffman, Jr., Thomas K. Tewell, James Kennedy, William Bouknight, Reverend Chuck Smith, Michael W. Foss, Robert Anthony Schuller, Robert H. Schuller, Dr. Roger Swearington. Why bad things happen to good people is a topic that has increasingly captured my attention-and for two principal reasons: First, the number of dedicated Christians and Jews to whom this question seems to remain quietly disturbing-in times of personal crisis, occasionally even evoking a desperate plea: Why, God? Second, the effect upon agnostics. This appears even more devastating and often more decisive: "If this is how Christianity or Judaism works in times of need; if this is how God operates, I'm not interested!" Such is not an uncommon agnostic's response. There are, no doubt, a number of other personal, historical, sociological, and family factors in play, which would more precisely define any given agnostic's reluctance to accept God or to join a church or synagogue. World Audience Publishers, New York www.worldaudience.org

A deep and thought-provoking examination of crisis politics and their implications for power and marginalization in the United States. From the climate crisis to the opioid crisis to the Coronavirus crisis, the language of crisis is everywhere around us and ubiquitous in contemporary American politics and policymaking. But for every problem that political actors describe as a crisis, there are myriad other equally serious ones that are not described in this way. Why has the term crisis been associated with some problems but not others? What has crisis come to mean, and what work does it do? In When Bad Things Happen to Privileged People, Dara Z. Strolovitch brings a critical eye to the taken-for-granted political vernacular of crisis. Using systematic analyses to trace the evolution of the use of the term crisis by both political elites and outsiders, Strolovitch unpacks the idea of “crisis” in contemporary politics and demonstrates that crisis is itself an operation of politics. She shows that racial justice activists innovated the language of crisis in an effort to transform racism from something understood as natural and intractable and to cast it instead as a policy problem that could be remedied. Dominant political actors later seized on the language of crisis to compel the use of state power, but often in ways that compounded rather than alleviated inequality and injustice. In this eye-opening and important book, Strolovitch demonstrates that understanding crisis politics is key to understanding the politics of racial, gender, and class inequalities in the early twenty-first century.

A humorous but passionate look at the criminal silliness of the US political system from the author who has “better comic bomb sights than John Stewart” (Mike Davis, author of The Monster at Our Door). In this raucous, irreverent book, Danny Katch diagnoses the various mental disorders peculiar to those who have way too much money and power—and the politicians who work for them. He shows how the very elections that are supposed to be our way of bringing about change have become a tool to get us to accept the insane status quo. “The funniest, smartest, and most dangerous political writer you never heard of is Danny Katch. You’ll laugh. You’ll get pissed off. You’ll disagree. And you’ll wonder how you read this terrific book in one sitting. A welcome antidote to what passes for political writing in an election year.” —Dave Zirin, author of Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down “From Cocoa Puffs to melting ice caps, Danny Katch’s America’s Got Democracy gets to the heart of how and why our political establishment creates economic, social, and environmental crapification, and he does it with a flair even the most disaffected café barista with a PhD will love. But if you enjoy reading dry, abstract political works in which the words go clopping across the page on little wooden feet, don’t read Katch’s book.” —Sherry Wolf, author of Sexuality and Socialism “Guess what? It’s even more boringer reading it than talking about it.” —Lila Katch, seven years old