Synopses & Reviews
Thom Hartmann is the nation's number one progressive radio host and a bestselling author, but he's also a one-time ad man, psychotherapist, private detective, and herbalist. The Thom Hartmann Reader will amaze even his millions of loyal listners and readers with the breadth of his knowledge.
Hartmann is perhaps best known for his fierce commitment to Jeffersonian democracy and his steadfast opposition to the corporatization of America. But in these pages you'll also discover his Older and Younger Cultures hypothesis, which identifies the root cause of so many of our social and environmental ills. You'll hear from Hartmann on how to keep our schools from treating children like assembly line products, why attention deficit disorder is not an affliction, what cloudy Germany can teach us about solar energy, and much more.
Fascinating as these essays are, they're ultimately meant to inspire you to action. As Hartmann says at the end of every radio program, "Get out there, get active! Tag, you're it!"
Review
Praise for The Thom Hartmann Reader
“Thom Hartmann is a literary descendent of Ben Franklin and Tom Paine. His unflinching observations and deep passion inspire us to explore contemporary culture, politics, and economics; challenge us to face the facts of the societies we are creating; and empower us to demand a better world for our children and grandchildren.”
-John Perkins, author of the New York Times bestselling book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
“Thom Hartmann channels the best of the American Founders with voice and pen. His deep attachment to a democratic civil society is just the medicine America needs. “
-Tom Hayden, author of The Long Sixties and director, Peace and Justice Resource Center.
“Thom Hartmann seeks out interesting subjects from such disparate outposts of curiosity that you have to wonder whether or not he uncovered them or they selected him.”
-Leonardo DiCaprio, actor, producer, and environmental activist
“Never one to shy away from the truth, Thom Hartmann’s collected works are inspiring, wise, and compelling. His work lights the way to a better America.”
-Van Jones, cofounder of RebuildTheDream.com and author of The Green Collar Economy
“Thom is a national treasure. Read him, embrace him, learn from him, and follow him as we all work for social change.”
-Robert Greenwald, political activist and founder and president of Brave New Films
“Right through the worst of the Bush years and into the present, Thom Hartmann has been one of the very few voices constantly willing to tell the truth. Rank him up there with Jon Stewart, Bill Moyers, and Paul Krugman for having the sheer persistent courage of his convictions.”
-Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth
“With the ever-growing influence of corporate CEOs and their right-wing allies in all aspects of American life, Hartmann’s work is more relevant than ever. Throughout his career, Hartmann has spoken compellingly about the value of people-centered democracy and the challenges that millions of ordinary Americans face today as a result of a dogma dedicated to putting profit above all else. This collection is a rousing call for Americans to work together and put people first again.”
-Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO
“Through compelling personal stories, Hartmann presents a dramatic and deeply disturbing picture of humans as a profoundly troubled species. Hope lies in his inspiring vision of our enormous unrealized potential and his description of the path to its realization.”
-David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy, The Great Turning, and When Corporations Rule the World
“Thom Hartmann is a creative thinker and committed small-d democrat. He has dealt with a wide range of topics throughout his life, and this book provides an excellent cross section. The Thom Hartmann Reader will make people both angry and motivated to act.”
-Dean Baker, economist and author of Plunder and Blunder, False Profits, and Taking Economics Seriously
“In an age rife with media-inspired confusion and political cowardice, we yearn for a decent, caring, deeply human soul whose grasp of the problems confronting us provides a light by which we can make our way through the quagmire of lies, distortions, pandering, and hollow self-puffery that strips the American Dream of its promise. How lucky we are, then, to have access to the wit, wisdom, and willingness of Thom Hartmann, who shares with us here that very light, grown out of his own life experience.”
-Mike Farrell, actor, political activist, and author of Just Call Me Mike and Of Mule and Man
Synopsis
Connecting the dots... Whether he is writing about presidential power or children with learning disabilities, Thom Hartmann is uniquely able to see the patterns and the root causes of our problems as a people. This book has been compiled from fourteen previously published sources in a completely new and original way. More than thirty different contributions have been included. Subjects include the environmental crisis, lost jobs, media control, sexism, healing democracy, the lessons of ADD, corporate power, the nature of community, and much more. With an introduction that pulls it all together, updates on Thom’s thinking throughout, and interesting editorial asides, this new volume makes for an amazing compilation of Thom’s best writing.
Synopsis
Hartmann is perhaps best known for his fierce commitment to Jeffersonian democracy and his steadfast opposition to the corporatization of America. But in these pages you'll also discover his Older and Younger Cultures hypothesis, which identifies the root cause of so many of our social and environmental ills. You'll hear from Hartmann on how to keep our schools from treating children like assembly line products, why attention deficit disorder is not an affliction, what cloudy Germany can teach us about solar energy, and much more.
Fascinating as these essays are, they're ultimately meant to inspire you to action. As Hartmann says at the end of every radio program, "Get out there, get active Tag, you're it
Synopsis
It’s hard to pigeonhole Thom Hartmann. He has a unique synthesis of qualities not often found in one person: a scholar’s love of history, a scientist’s zeal for facts, a visionary’s seeking after truth, an explorer’s appetite for adventure and novelty. In addition to being the nation’s number one progressive radio host, he’s been an ad man, a psychotherapist, a private detective, and a homeopath. His writings encompass politics, history, ecology, psychology, and spirituality, among other subjects.
Even Hartmann’s millions of loyal listeners and readers will be amazed at the breadth of his thought as evidenced by The Thom Hartmann Reader. Editor Tai Moses has pulled together Hartmann’s writings from a dozen books and other sources to present a comprehensive picture of where Hartmann’s wide-ranging intellect has led him over the past thirty years.
Hartmann is perhaps best known as a political thinker, and essays throughout this book express—in his characteristic impassioned and lucid style—his fierce commitment to Jeffersonian democracy and his virulent opposition to the corporatization of America. But you’ll also discover his Older and Younger Cultures hypothesis, which identifies the root cause of so many of our social and environmental ills and points the way to a solution. You’ll hear from Hartmann on how to keep our schools from treating children like assembly line products, why attention deficit disorder is not an affliction, and what cloudy Germany can teach us about solar energy. You’ll meet the remarkable Gottfried Müller, Hartmann’s mentor and the founder of the humanitarian organization Salem International. You’ll join Hartmann on fact-finding trips to Uganda, Russia, and four-thousand-year-old ruins in Peru.
As fascinating as these and other topics in The Hartmann Reader are, Hartmann’s deepest aspiration has always been that his audience do more than just listen or read, that they become active, awakened agents of change. These essays are meant to inspire and motivate, to spur you to take some kind of action. As Hartmann says at the end of every radio program, “Get out there, get active! Tag, you’re it!”
About the Author
Thom Hartmann is the nation’s leading progressive talk radio host, heard on over a hundred stations, as well as on XM and Sirius radio, and seen on live nationwide television via the Free Speech TV network. He is also a four-time Project Censored-award-winning and bestselling author of twenty one books, including Unequal Protection, Threshold, Screwed, Cracking the Code, and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. In addition, Hartmann is an entrepreneur, an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and economics. The former executive director of a residential treatment program for emotionally disturbed and abused children, he has helped set up hospitals, schools, famine relief programs, and communities for orphaned or blind children throughout the world.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part I: Breaking Points
Part II: Democracy and Community
Part III: Visions and Visionaries
Part IV: Fighting the Corporatocracy
Part V: Earth and Edges
Part VI: Journeys
Part VII: Knowledge and Knowing