LJDC November Book and Movie Recommendations

How Democracies Die
by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
Crown, January 16, 2018 ) 320 pages
Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one.  More

Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right
by Anne Nelson
Bloomsbury Publishing (October 29, 2019) 416 Pages
In 1981, emboldened by Ronald Reagan’s election, a group of some fifty Republican operatives, evangelicals, oil barons, and gun lobbyists met in a Washington suburb to coordinate their attack on civil liberties and the social safety net. These men and women called their coalition the Council for National Policy. Over four decades, this elite club has become a strategic nerve center for channeling money and mobilizing votes behind the scenes. Its secretive membership rolls represent a high-powered roster of fundamentalists, oligarchs, and their allies, from Oliver North, Ed Meese, and Tim LaHaye in the Council’s early days to Kellyanne Conway, Ralph Reed, Tony Perkins, and the DeVos and Mercer families today. More

Kiss The Ground
Documentary film directed and produced by Josh and Rebecca Tickell
Now streaming on Netflix.
A cure for climate change starts with a simple solution right under our feet.
Taking care of the soil leads to healthy vegetation, which enables the ground to sequester carbon from the air and retain it. By growing healthy plants through natural means, you create resilient farming practices and abundant food supply. The result – stabilize the earth’s climate, restore ecosystems, and prevent an agricultural collapse. More