Description

Since the kickoff of the 2016 presidential campaign, a climate of fear and intimidation has dominated national life in the United States to a degree rarely seen before, poisoning our politics and reaching into our very relationships with friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

Confronting Political Intimidation and Public Bullying is about how this came to be and what enabled the rise of authoritarian rule, and how we can find our way through it.

At the core of this political history is a larger US public culture of intimidation and bullying in the workplace, media, and political arena that has been building for thirty-five years. The current harsh environment is a direct challenge to citizens and residents, especially those seeking to engage in progressive activism and party politics now and in the years to come.

The book's hope is to provide a kind of clarity that helps us get a handle on events and diminish the terror of the current moment by providing some shared protective mental armor.

It offers a unique guide to the strategies and dynamics of contemporary political intimidation and public bullying: the dangers they present, the snares and traps that envelope their targets, and the lessons to be learned.

In the end, it's about shedding light on the dark side of contemporary national life in order to see beyond it.

For this new edition I have thoroughly revised and updated the original text and added 70% more material in the way of new research and many current examples including an entirely new chapter (Chapter Seven) on civilian and state-sponsored physical and armed violence. The first five chapters lay the groundwork for the lessons offered in Chapters Six and Seven and the Conclusion. As an appendix I have added, "A Political Glossary for the Trump Era and Beyond" that highlights the dramatic shifts in U.S. politics and the emergence of far-right groups and organizations in our national life.