TONY
MCALEER
"In Healing from Hate, Michael Kimmel, a foremost authority on manhood, takes us into the barren emotional worlds of “failed men” as many from the ranks of the KKK, neo-Nazi’s and Jihadism, feel themselves to inhabit. Based on interviews across the world -- - the US, Canada, Sweden and Germany - - Kimmel superbly interprets the violent “brotherhoods” they later sought to escape. Highly insightful, empathic and wise, this is a must read book for our time."—Arlie Hochschild, author of Strangers in Their Own Land: Mourning and Anger on the American Right, finalist for the National Book Award
War for kindness
Empathy is in short supply. We struggle to understand people who aren’t like us, but find it easy to hate them. Studies show that we are less caring than we were even thirty years ago. In 2006, Barack Obama said that the United States was suffering from an “empathy deficit.” Since then, things seem to have only gotten worse.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In this groundbreaking book, Jamil Zaki shares cutting-edge research, including experiments from his own lab, showing that empathy is not a fixed trait—something we’re born with or not—but rather a skill that can be strengthened through effort. He also tells the stories of people who embody this new perspective, fighting for kindness in the most difficult of circumstances. We meet a former neo-Nazi who is now helping to extract people from hate groups, ex-prisoners discussing novels with the judge who sentenced them, Washington police officers changing their culture to decrease violence among their ranks, and NICU nurses fine-tuning their empathy so that they don’t succumb to burnout.
Written with clarity and passion, The War for Kindness is an inspiring call to action. The future may depend on whether we accept the challenge.