The Origins of Woke

Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics

De: Richard Hanania

Narrado por: Timothy Andrés Pabon

Richard Hanania has emerged as one of the most talked-about writers in the nation, and in this book, he puts forward a stunning new theory about the culture war that could turn our debates upside down.

Richard Hanania has come out of nowhere to become one of the best-known writers in the nation in the last few years. In this book, he directs his attention to the culture war that has driven society apart and presents a stunning new theory about what is going on.

In a nation nearly-evenly split between conservatives and liberals, the left dominates nearly all major institutions, including universities, the government, and corporate America. Hanania argues that this is as much a legal requirement as it is an issue of one side triumphing in the marketplace of ideas. Culture has its own independent force, but the state has, since the 1960s, been putting its thumb on the scale.

This book answers many of the puzzling questions about modern society, such as:

• Why does more and more of life seem like a competition to see who is the most oppressed?

• Who is really behind the sudden proliferation of woke ideas?

• How did ideas that seem so intellectually bankrupt achieve hegemony over elite culture?

• Which laws and regulations have helped the left rise to power everywhere?

• How did workplaces come to be the main enforcers of political ideology?

• When and how did Pakistanis, Samoans, and Koreans all become the same ""race"" (AAPI)?

• Why did America become so obsessed with inequalities based on race but not religion?

For those angry about wokeness and what it has done to American institutions, this book offers concrete suggestions regarding policies that can move us back to being a country that emphasizes merit, individual liberty, and color-blind governance.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook

Concise, best political outline of woke politics read to date.

Anyone, Right, Center, even Liberal (not Left can’t handle) must read! He identifies the problem and provides a suggested solution that is plausible and doable!

New view of Civil Rights law

This book is a unique, politically conservative view of how the widely popular Civil Rights Act of 1964 morphed into a behemoth that affects contemporary Americans' constitutional freedoms.

very informative

richard hanania sheds elucidating light to help explain the current chaotic socio-political environment we americans find ourselves in.

Informative but incomplete

Good coverage of the legal history and corporate response. Doesn’t cover at all the academic origins and doesn’t address how such a wildly internally conflicted and destructive set of principles became mainstream.

Great book overall

My favorite part of the book was when Richard Hanania explained how the system essentially subsidizes itself through the large volume of lawsuits and settlements that major corporations face each year. He illustrates how this cycle enables lawyers, consultants, and bureaucrats to sustain the implementation of policies that, in turn, keep the financing system running. This self-perpetuating dynamic ensures that these professionals benefit from maintaining the status quo, rather than reforming or streamlining the system. It’s a fascinating critique of how legal and regulatory frameworks can inadvertently reinforce the very inefficiencies they are designed to address.

repetitive

try something else, this is repetitive. initially ok, but quickly became "red man bad". I didn't buy this for polemics.