A lifetime of scholarship provides a cautionary perspective on the current state of politics.
The scholar, psychiatrist, and National Book Award–winning author draws on his previous work to put the America of Donald Trump into perspective.
Lifton (The Climate Swerve: Reflections on Mind, Hope, and Survival, 2017, etc.), who has decades of his own research from which to draw, shows how his thinking on cults and “ideological totalism” has changed. He previously made a sharp distinction between the communal isolationism of the former, which protected its own version of reality as hermetically sealed, and the mass movements of the latter, spurred by demagoguery. Now, he believes that “ideological totalism and cultlike behavior not only blend with each other but tend to be part of a single entity….That is, totalistic movements are cultlike and cults are totalistic.” From this fresh perspective, the author revisits and excerpts his work, originally published in 1961, on “Chinese Communist Thought Reform,” which showed the strong psychological pull of being part of something bigger than oneself amid the radical reimagining of a return to a purer state, one in which contaminants have been excised—“an apocalyptic cleansing of all the past—a psychological apocalypticism in which all prior products of the human mind had to give way to a new collective mindset that was pure, perfect, and eternal.” Examining the “psychology of genocide,” he connects the dots between such totalitarian thought reform and the Nazi idea of racial purification. Past scholarship provides the prologue to contemporary analysis as Lifton describes Donald Trump as “a special kind of cultist” who projects “an apocalyptic aura” amid “something close to a worldwide epidemic of fundamentalism.” The author insists that we must “bear witness to malignant normality and expose it” and nurture “our capacity for openness and truth-telling as alternatives to the closed world of cultism.”
A lifetime of scholarship provides a cautionary perspective on the current state of politics.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62097-499-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: The New Press
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
IN THE NEWS
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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