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Site updated June 6, 2009

 

The latest Cultural Satires, updated June 6, 2009

Out in Fall 2008:
Die hintergründige Religion:
Der Einfluss des Evangelikalismus auf Gewissensfreiheit,
Pluralismus und die US-amerikanische Politik
[Religion Behind the Scenes: The influence of evangelicalism
on Freedom of Conscience, Pluralism and US politics]

Berlin University Press, 2008, 160 pages, ISBN 978-3-940432-30-8

by Marcia Pally

Though freedom of conscience and church-state separation are today considered children of the secular Enlightenment, these linchpins of democracy were first developed by ardent believers. Die Hintergründige Religion [Religion Behind the Scenes] traces the religious argument for these classic liberal institutions, first among the devout in Europe and then in the US, especially among evangelicals, who were at the vanguard of these issues since the colonial era. The book looks at the importance of this religious tradition to America’s robust ability to integrate immigrants, and to America’s vibrant economy and pluralism. Die Hintergründige Religion [Religion Behind the Scenes] turns to the case study of Muslim-Americans, who are the unintended beneficiaries of evangelical traditions. Relative to Europe, Muslims in the US experience greater participation in the US economy, politics, and society, even after the September 11th attacks.
Marcia Pally: Warnung vor dem freunde
Out in March, 2008:
"Warnung vor dem Freunde:
Tradition und Zukunft amerikanischer Aussenpolitik"
[The Religion, Values and Foreign Policy of the Country with the Biggest Guns]

Parthas Verlag, 2008, 272 pages, ISBN: 978-3-86601-601-9

by Marcia Pally

The first rule of elections is that it makes a difference who wins. We expect the next president to get us out of the hole Bush dug. He or she will return the country to its true self, meaning that Bush’s foreign policy is “untrue” and that some other approach is the American norm--the approach in postwar Europe, perhaps. Yet should the next US president return America to some pre-Bush policy, how much “better” it will be depends on how good it was in the first place. And it was exactly as good as America’s fundamental interests and approaches allowed it to be. Bush’s foreign policy unexceptionally falls within these interests and approaches. The wiggle room of any candidate is constrained by them as well. They would be a far better basis for our expectations than idealized pasts or campaign hoopla.

Warnung vor dem Freunde: Tradition und Zukunft amerikanischer Aussenpolitik investigates the deep structure of US foreign policy and the influence of evangelicalism on it, throughout US history, regardless of the president or party in power.

Purchase this book from Amazon.de

Out in March, 2005 New Paperback edition of:
Marcia Pally: "Lob der Kritik
Warum die Demokratie nicht auf ihren Kern verzichten darf"

A call to renew democracy by looking at how we think about it.

(Engl. title: "Critique Abandoned - The Cedeing of Democracy")

Purchase this book at Amazon.de

Read the review in Frankfurter Rundschau

"Berliner Zeitung" interview with Marcia Pally on Bush, war, and the state of democracy.

"And so US hospitals try to attract patients from countries whose economies are stronger than ours — like Greece and Turkey — with hotel-like services: Lost a leg? How about a pedicure for the other one?" --> cultural satires

"It is important that life be just. It is important that play be open." --> censorship & free speech

"If students are to study content in a sustained way, ESL/EFL teachers must aquire sufficient content-area expertise and find the classroom time to teach it." --> academic papers: esl and content based teaching

"Atom Egoyan wants to know what you know and when you knew it. The same questions have pressed through the plots of seven films in 14 years, since 'Next of Kin' made him an enfant terrible of the not-large group, epistemological filmmakers." --> on film

"Rather than accept our violent desires and greedy appetites, we terrify ourselves with the dastardly things the media do to us, knowing we run it. We win; 100 years after Nietzsche, we're God." --> essays

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© marcia pally, new york 2005