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From social theorist and psychotherapist Rabbi Michael Lerner comes a strategy for a new socialism built on love, kindness, and compassion for one another. Revolutionary Love proposes a method to replace what Lerner terms the "capitalist globalization of selfishness" with a globalization of generosity, prophetic empathy, and environmental sanity.Lerner challenges liberal and progressive forces to move beyond often weak-kneed and visionless politics to build instead a movement that can reverse the environmental destructiveness and social injustice caused by the relentless pursuit of economic growth and profits. Revisiting the hidden injuries of class, Lerner shows that much of the suffering in our society-including most of its addictions and the growing embrace of right-wing nationalism and reactionary versions of fundamentalism-is driven by frustrated needs for community, love, respect, and connection to a higher purpose in life. Yet these needs are too often missing from liberal discourse. No matter that progressive programs are smartly constructed-they cannot be achieved unless they speak to the heart and address the pain so many people experience.Liberals and progressives need coherent alternatives to capitalism, but previous visions of socialism do not address the yearning for anything beyond material benefits. Inspired by Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm, and Carol Gilligan, Revolutionary Love offers a strategy to create the "Caring Society." Lerner details how a civilization infused with love could put an end to global poverty, homelessness, and hunger, while democratizing the economy, shifting to a twenty-eight-hour work week, and saving the life-support system of Earth. He asks that we develop the courage to stop listening to those who tell us that fundamental social transformation is "unrealistic."

Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Looking for the Figure in the Carpet -- Part 1. American Originals -- 2. The World through Ben's Bifocals -- 3. The Gospel according to the Apostle Ben -- 4. Jefferson's "Summary View" Reviewed, Yet Again -- 5. Lincoln: The Statesman as Outsider -- Part 2. Stories to Live By -- 6. Of Human Ends in Bacon's Essayes -- 7. Gibbon's "Jewish Problem" -- 8. Tocqueville's Burke, or Story as History -- Part 3. In Aid of Lost Souls -- 9. A Thread through Halevi's Maze -- 10. On First Looking into Maimonides' Guide -- Afterword -- Index

The Laurence and Lynne Brown Democracy Medal recognizes individuals, groups, and organizations that produce innovations to further democracy. The inaugural medal winner, the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP), is an innovative not-for-profit organization that promotes participatory budgeting, an inclusive process that empowers community members to make informed decisions about public spending. More than 46,000 people in communities across the United States have decided how to spend $45 million through programs that PBP helped spark over the last five years. This book provides a history of the organization's origins and its vision, highlighting its successes in fostering grassroots budgeting campaigns in such cities as New York, Boston, and Chicago

"The quasi-messianic expectations produced by the election of President Obama in 2008 (America's first African-American president)--followed by the diminution of these expectations--was a stark reminder that redemptive hope is seldom satisfactorily fulfilled. The struggle between idealism and realism currently playing out within the political arena reflects the history of intellectual debates over the role of hope narratives within liberal democratic society. This book begins by tracing the history of the tension between thinkers who have taken a theistic approach to hope by linking it to a transcendental signifier--usually God--versus those intellectuals who have striven to link hopes for redemption to our inter-subjective interactions with other human beings. This book argues that the best way to address the importance and challenge of redemptive narratives in a vibrant democracy is to draw on the best of both religious thought and secular liberal political philosophy. In the 21st century, secular liberal culture needs elements of religion to survive, and conversely religion cannot thrive without adopting insights from secular thought. This book contributes to the building of bridges between religious and liberal social thought by bringing together Richard Rorty, one of America's most profound and controversial neo-pragmatic philosophers of the late 20th century, with early 20th century modern Jewish thinkers, such as Martin Buber and Ernst Bloch. Bringing these different thinkers and traditions together allows for a better appreciate of the need to maintain, rather than overcome, the dialectical tensions between religious and liberal thought. An appreciation of these tensions can prepare the foundations for an alternative redemptive narrative for the 21st century"--

"Not only do we need more female leaders at the top, but we need more women at all levels of business, government, and nonprofits to step up--there's no time to waste. The problem, says Helene Lerner, isn't so much that women lack confidence but that they misunderstand what confidence really is. True confidence isn't fearlessness; it's having the courage to jump in even when your knees are shaking. Any woman who waits until she feels 100 percent confident before offering a big idea or asking for a raise or promotion will never get anywhere. Drawing on her own and other female leaders' experiences, as well as on her survey of over 500 working women, Lerner lays out practical strategies for beating this confidence myth and overcoming obstacles like gender bias. The book features dozens of Confidence Sparks, simple but powerful exercises and techniques that can catapult anyone's career to the next level"--Provided by publisher

Intro -- About Island Press -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface by Carol Coletta, Knight Foundation -- Foreword by Jan Gehl -- Introduction -- 24-Hour Shopkeepers in New York City -- The Old Cinema Novo -- Rescuing a River -- The Forbidden City -- Cali -- Do Nothing! Urgently -- Around the Clock, or The 24-Hour City -- Urban Kindness -- Musical Acupuncture -- Continuity is Life -- Street Sounds, Colors, and Scents -- Good Recycling -- People in the Streets -- Smart Car, Smart Bus -- Commitment to Solidarity -- Draw Your City -- Instructions for Performing Urban Acupuncture -- Creative Leisure vs. Industrious Mediocrity -- Self-Esteem Is Good Acupuncture -- Light Is Good Acupuncture -- Aqua-puncture -- The Mobility Card -- Eco-clock -- Arborescence -- Produced Memory -- Of Parks, Squares, and Monuments -- The One-Page Guide -- Urban Cholesterol -- Buildings with Dignity -- Acupuncture of Silence -- Ramblas and Galleries -- A Pinprick Doesn't Hurt -- Trompe L'oeil -- A Letter to Fellini -- How to Find Someone in a City -- The Presence of Genius -- Markets and Street Fairs -- The Bar Counter -- Love for the City -- Board of Directors.