| Author and professor Barbara F. Walter explains how civil wars start and how we can stop them | |
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| Thread's must-read | | Most of my Thread must-read recommendations are designed to entice you to the pleasures of a new novel or the revelations of a compelling biography or memoir. But I believe that the book political scientist Barbara F. Walter has published is required reading for all of us. Walter is an internationalist and a member of the CIA’s task force on political instability. She both observes and researches the forces that subvert democracies and support authoritarianism outside of American borders. Walter has studied the devastating civil war in Syria, written about the rise of ethnic nationalism in Sri Lanka and Serbia and and she has watched strongmen come to power in Poland, Hungary and Egypt. But what she saw unfold in America’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has convinced her that we are swerving closer to our own civil war than most of us would believe. “We picture officers on horseback and blue and gray-clad infantrymen charging each other on enormous battlefields," Walter writes. “We think of muddy embankments and cannons. A civil war like this, we conclude, could not happen again.” And yet, the deep factionalization, the rise of conspiracy-driven and well-armed militias, the authoritarianism of the Republican Party, and the introduction of laws to suppress voting are all mileposts on the way to what Walter calls "anocracy" — somewhere between democracy and an authoritarian form of government. “For a decaying democracy,” Walter writes, “the risk of civil war increases almost the moment it becomes less democratic.” Fortunately, Walter’s book doesn’t end with the ominous warnings. Her last chapter prescribes practical solutions about how to prevent a civil war. You can hear more about that in our interview this week on MPR News. — Kerri Miller | MPR News |
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| | The psychology of sticking to your goals | | "Get it Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation" by Ayelet Fishbach |
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Every January, the gym fills up with eager new fitness enthusiasts, closets get emptied, kitchens get rearranged and most people commit to improving themselves or their lives in the new year. And while the commitment is admirable, how do we stick to it and do the work to make healthy change? Host Angela Davis spoke with author Ayelet Fishbach and two other experts about the psychology of sticking to your goals. | |
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| | An 86-year-old organist who fled the Nazis writes his story for the first time | | "Gerrit’s Notes" by Gerrit Lamain |
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Gerrit Lamain is an 86-year-old Dutch immigrant in Rosemount, Minn., who is sharing his stories — some of them for the first time — in a collection of essays about his life. Lamain reflected on fleeing his hometown Rotterdam when the Nazis were bombing the city, coming to the U.S. in 1947, teaching at the Red School House in St. Paul and playing music at venues around Europe. | |
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| | The story of marriage equality is more complicated — and costly — than you remember | | "The Engagement" by Sasha Issenberg |
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Public opinion on same-sex marraige swung so swiftly and decisively that one might easily assume the march toward marriage equality was a neat, steady progression. But it was in fact a decadeslong project that moved in fits and starts. And, as with other political movements, copious amounts of money provided a lot of the momentum. All of that is recounted in “The Engagement,” journalist Sasha Issenberg's exhaustive, engrossing account of the fight for marriage equality. | |
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| | The global supply chain is amazingly efficient. So why did it break down? | | "Arriving Today" by Christopher Mims |
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"Americans went on a shopping spree as soon as lockdown started, and we haven't really stopped," journalist Christopher Mims says. Mims' new book, “Arriving Today,” takes a close look at the global supply chain, following a hypothetical USB charger from a Vietnamese factory where it's made to its delivery to a home in Connecticut. | |
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| | After his son's suicide and the Jan. 6 attack, Rep. Jamie Raskin is not giving up | | "Unthinkable" by Jamie Raskin |
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On New Year's Eve 2020, Raskin's son Tommy, 25, died by suicide after years of fighting mental illness. Then, on Jan. 6, 2021, just a day after Tommy's funeral, Raskin was at work in the U.S. Capitol with his daughter and son-in-law when a violent mob stormed the building. In his new memoir, “Unthinkable,” Raskin reflects on his continuing efforts to understand those two traumatic events. | |
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