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Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others

James Gilligan (New York University)

$36.95

Paperback

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English
Wiley
22 March 2013
Politicians and the political process, even in ostensibly democratic

countries, can be deadly. James Gilligan has discovered a devastating

truth that has been ""hiding in plain sight"" for the past century -

namely, that when America's conservative party, the Republicans, have

gained the presidency, the country has repeatedly suffered from

epidemics of violent death. Rates of both suicide and homicide have

sky-rocketed. The reasons are all too obvious: rates of every form of

social and economic distress, inequality and loss - unemployment,

recessions, poverty, bankruptcy, homelessness also ballooned to epidemic

proportions. When that has happened, those in the population who were

most vulnerable have ""snapped"", with tragic consequences for everyone.

These epidemics of lethal violence have then remained at epidemic levels

until the more liberal party, the Democrats, regained the White House

and dramatically reduced the amount of deadly violence by diminishing

the magnitude of the economic distress that had been causing it.

This pattern has been documented since 1900, when the US government

first began compiling vital statistics on a yearly basis, and yet it has

not been noticed by anyone until now except with regard to suicide in

the UK and Australia, where a similar pattern has been described.

This

book is a path-breaking account of a phenomenon that has implications

for every country that presumes to call itself democratic, civilized and

humane, and for all those citizens, voters and political thinkers who

would like to help their country move in that direction.
By:  
Imprint:   Wiley
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 211mm,  Width: 142mm,  Spine: 17mm
Weight:   304g
ISBN:   9780745649825
ISBN 10:   0745649823
Pages:   180
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Acknowledgements viii Introduction: Murder Mysteries 1 1 A Matter of Life and Death 11 2 What Kind of a Man Are You? 39 3 Nothing Succeeds Like Failure 51 4 The Shame of It All 97 5 Who Wants To Be Redundant? 117 6 Red States, Blue States: Honor vs. Guilt 123 Conclusion: The Mystery Solved: What Is To Be Done? 155 Appendices How Accurate and Complete Are the Data? 195 Figures and tables 205 Bibliography 210 Index 219

James Gilligan is collegiate professor and MD at New York University.

Reviews for Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others

A quirky book that deserves to be taken seriously ... Gilligan's inferences are standing up. New York Review of Books Gilligan offers far more than a statistical argument. In Republican ideology, dependence is associated with dishonour and shame. Gilligan offers a compelling model of how this ethic triggers intolerable feelings of being discounted, disrespected, or 'dissed' that issue in violence. Times Literary Supplement Amazingly, until this book appeared nobody had spotted this trend. The Diplomat By fusing together the scientific rigour of evidence-based medicine with a wealth of theoretical insights from the social sciences, Gilligan's book (provides) new and exciting ways of understanding the social and economic determinants of health and well-being. LSE Politics Blog Gilligan's book deserves a wide audience. It is inspiring to find a social/behavioral study that may turn out to be of great importance, and one that may also prove useful in furthering investigation of the emotion of shame. Contemporary Psychology Irrefutable evidence that the politics of the right can actually kill you. Morning Star If you believe politicians can make a difference then these statistics will confirm your beliefs. Sydney Morning Herald The Republicans and Conservatives are bad for your health. They should come with the same warning that took years to become emblazoned on cigarette packets. This book goes a long way in working towards that. Tribune For everyone interested in American politics, this book is a must. It will change the way you think about our two major political parties. George Soros James Gilligan has given us a new formula for thinking about American politics: smoking is to cancer as republicans are to suicides and homicides. His findings are not guesswork or political wishful thinking, but based on old-fashioned digging through thousands of pages about data. Gilligan is telling us, in essence, that how we vote is a life or death decision. Seymour M. Hersh A hugely important book, which needs to be widely known - not simply for its impact on voting, but also to make politicians more aware of the consequences of their actions and the non-voting public more aware of the importance of politics. Richard Wilkinson, author of The Spirit Level


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