Kenneth S. Stern

In Simply Human, leading global hate studies experts join forces, guiding us to a better understanding of human hatred, what works to confront it, what doesn’t, and why. Edited by Kenneth Stern, a founder of the field of Hate Studies and the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, this book will change the way you think about how hate affects our lives and our politics. It’s "simply human" that we are too often pulled into the seductive comfort of "us versus them" thinking. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do better as individuals and societies. Simply Human will challenge readers look to at the world in a new light, take action against hate, and put meaning behind their words. This easy-to-read volume, co-created by experts in brain science, political science, social psychology, and philosophy, includes a checklist of key takeaways from each contributor that can be used as an educational tool in classrooms, workplaces, and beyond. Hate is too corrosive for our societies, and costs too much, both morally and economically, for us to continue shooting in the dark. This book provides enlightening perspectives on our relationships to hatred and can be considered a blueprint for sharper thinking and more effective action.

The Conflict over the Conflict chronicles one of the most divisive and toxic issues on today’s college and university campuses: Israel/Palestine. Some pro-Palestinian students call supporters of Israel's right to exist racist, and disrupt their events. Some pro-Israel students label pro-Palestinian students terrorists, and the Jews among them traitors. Lawsuits are filed. Legislation is proposed. Faculty members are blacklisted and receive death threats. Academic freedom is compromised and the entire academic enterprise is threatened. How did we get here and what can be done? In this passionate book, Kenneth S. Stern examines attempts from each side to censor the other at a time when some say students, rather than being challenged to wrestle with difficult issues and ideas, are being quarantined from them. He uniquely frames the examination: our ability to think rationally is inhibited when our identity is fiercely connected to an issue of perceived social justice or injustice, and our proclivity to see in-groups and out-groups – us versus them – is obvious. According to Stern, the campus is the best place to mine this conflict and our intense views about it to help future generations do what they are supposed to do: think. The Conflict over the Conflict shows how this is possible.

Loud Hawk: The United States versus the American Indian Movement is the story of a criminal case that began with the arrest of six members of the American Indian Movement in Portland, Oregon, in 1975. The case did not end until 1988, after thirteen years of pretrial litigaion. It stands as the longest pretrial case in U. S. history. This is a dramatic story of people and of government abuse of the legal system, of judicial courage and bone-chilling bigotry. It is an insider's view of the legal process and of the conditions in Indian country that led up to and followed Wounded Knee.