1/ A podcaster asked me what insight my last book #TheFieldOfBlood offers about politics now.
My answer:
* It shows how violence has been woven into even high politics for generations.
* It shows the power of emotion in moving political mountains, for better & worse.
My answer:
* It shows how violence has been woven into even high politics for generations.
* It shows the power of emotion in moving political mountains, for better & worse.
2/ * It shows what bullying can accomplish in politics: the power of threats in gaining submission
* It shows how people who fear defeat by demographics often grasp at violence to maintain power
*It shows how a nation can be torn in 2, how Americans learn to turn on each other
* It shows how people who fear defeat by demographics often grasp at violence to maintain power
*It shows how a nation can be torn in 2, how Americans learn to turn on each other
3/ * It shows what happens when one party / group plays by the rules & the other doesn't -- the imbalance of power.
* It shows how new technologies (the telegraph / social media) can dramatically change the workings of democracy, sometimes in dangerous ways.
* It shows how new technologies (the telegraph / social media) can dramatically change the workings of democracy, sometimes in dangerous ways.
4/ * It's a reminder of the power of contingency; a reminder that -- like people in the years before the Civil War -- we DON'T KNOW what comes next.
The death of democracy isn't inevitable.
But neither is its survival.
What people do during a moment of crisis matters.
The death of democracy isn't inevitable.
But neither is its survival.
What people do during a moment of crisis matters.
5/ My book -- The Field of Blood -- certainly shows more, but it's time for my Friday night martini.
So there my thread ends.
So there my thread ends.
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