There has been much popular and scientific concern over the past few decades about a possible decline in American civil and social life.  We don’t participate in groups or have as many friends as we used to.  This decline has been blamed on television, social media and the internet, and the increases in women’s labor force participation.  More recently there has been debate and concern about the role of social media in coarsening and polarizing political attitudes.  Finally, we look at the growing role of “Big Data” collected from the internet by Google and others and used to help us and to influence us.   We will look at the various sides of these debates

The novellas covered in our SDG are "a sublime reading experience," in the words of Junot Díaz. "These novels testify to the extraordinary range, profound intelligence, and indefatigable weirdness of '50s American science fiction." Jonathan Lethem adds, "Here's the heart of the heart of where those who take American science fiction would want to begin--the genre's equivalent of Hollywood's classical period, and the books [that] subsequent creators like Thomas Pynchon and Stanley Kubrick used to bend their brains . . ."

 In Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human (1953), for example, a group of damaged individuals finds a strange new fulfillment in what may be the next stage of evolution. One of the first women to make her mark as a science fiction novelist, Leigh Brackett in The Long Tomorrow (1955) pits anti-urban technophobes against the remnants of a civilization that destroyed itself through nuclear war. 

We include one ringer: a dazzling novella by Rachel Ingalls from the 1980s that changed the B.E.M. [bug-eyed monster] paradigm. 

Earlier film S/DG focused mostly on American, Japanese and European films.  There is much impressive talent outside of Hollywood, and in particular, coming from Latin America.  For the past fifteen years the region has been producing exciting and marvelous work, and these filmmakers are on the vanguard of great cinema.  

Overall, Latin American film offers us new societal and cultural areas for film enjoyment and rich discussions.  For example, the Fall 2018 release of the critically-acclaimed film Roma, written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, re-emphasizes the quality of Latin American film. One critique:   "Roma finds writer-director Alfonso Cuarón in complete, enthralling command of his visual craft – and telling the most powerfully personal story of his career."  

Exciting films such as The Secret In Their Eyes, Like Water For Chocolate, City of God and Pan's Labyrinth have come out of Latin America.  Overall, these films challenge the traditional notions of politics, culture, identity and even mass entertainment.  Join us to watch and discuss the films of phenomenally talented directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Lucrecia Martel, Pedro Almodóvar and Alfonso Cuarón, among others, who have created new and engaging narratives and cinematic styles. Other fine Latin American films may be found at the annual Latin American Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film nominations.

Our core book by Isabel Maurer Queipo, Directory of World Cinema: Latin America (IB - Directory of World Cinema) addresses traditional and contemporary Latin American films for our consideration.    

Scope

We will view at home, and then discuss during the SDG sessions, fourteen selected films from Latin America.  Given the usual S/DG time constraints, this S/DG will take a broad—rather than a deep—look at selected films which critics and reviewers have identified as “important” or “influential”.  The desired outcome is to understand better these major Latin films, and their influences—within both film appreciation and film studies contexts.

Some Recommended Areas and Topics for Discussions (As taken from past film SDGs)

Remember that our Latin American films are much more than just the plot and storyline, the back stories on the production, or the cast members.

1. The Basics:

    — Year of Release

    — Producer, Director, Screenwriter(s), Cinematographer, Music/Composer, Editor 

    — The Cast

    — Awards

2. Place within Latin American film, and place within the overall “world of film.”  (viz., Does this film “stand up” over time? Was it a product of its time and fashion, or a unique work of art?)

3. Setting of the film and Plot summary (Brief descriptions)

4. This film’s unique characteristics, techniques or breakthroughs

5. Director's own commentary on the film—Summary

6. Various critics’ reviews and commentaries—Summaries

7. Discussion about the film’s:

    — Key themes, Symbology and Imagery

    — Influences:  Societal, Stylistic, Political, Philosophical, Religious or Market audiences

    — Interpretative frameworks (e.g., Auteur theory, Realism, Feminist film theory, etc.)

    — Messages, or political or social commentary

    — Screenplay/Screenwriting (Quality, uniqueness, …)

    — Establishment of Time and Place

    — Main and Supporting Characters (and were the roles well- or mis-cast?)

    — Mise-en-scène (composition, sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting)

    — Cinematography

    — Montage (Assembly, Editing, Juxtapositioning or Special sequencing of shots)

    — Music/score

    — Special Effects

    — Ending, “loose ends”, ambiguities, disconnects, surprises, etc.

8. Selected Important/Interesting scenes to view in class (Limited to < 15 minutes total so we’re not just re-watching the movie).

It has been almost nine years since Plato has offered a Churchill S/DG.  During that time another fine load of Churchill books has occurred on all phases of his life, including the recent one-volume biography by Andrew Roberts.  Churchill is truly walking through destiny and history.  We will use Roberts' book, recognized by British reviewers as one of the finest one-volume texts on this statesman, for our core book.

After giving a retreat session, "Are You a Churchillian Yet?, I realized there is still so much we don't know about this giant on the world stage.  Some writers and historians think that Churchill helped to save Western Civilization.  Certainly, after his failures in World War I, it would be impossible for most statesmen to come back and lead a nation through the Blitz, convince America to support England, help plan the greatest invasion on the continent of Europe, and handle the conferences at Casablanca, Tehran, and Yalta.

As I listened at the last Churchill International Society in Williamsburg, Virginia, I realized there is much more to this man and his ideas than most people realize.  The event commemorated the Armistice Celebration of World War I.  Think about how you might have felt as Churchill with the loss of Gallipoli and the loss of your position as Lord of the Admiralty.  You might have also experienced Churchill's dark sorrow and his onset of depression.  Would you have taken up painting to soothe your nerves?

Many of us have already seen the recently released films, Churchill and Darkest Hour.  Those films depicted the strength, character, and the power of words for Parliament, the English nation, and the world.  Think of the service of this man with eight government posts in the span of 30 years.  Winston served as prime minister twice.

We need to get to know the boy and the man.  Imagine a man fighting in Malakind in Afghanistan, the Sudan (River War), and the Boer War in South Africa.  Some of you have told me about reading the exploits of Winston and his being captured as a correspondent by the Boers.  Churchill ran as one of the youngest MP in his English/Scottish district.  Later Churchill won a Nobel Peace Prize for Literature for his biographies of Lord Marlborough and his father, Randolph, his exploits in numerous wars, and the ground-breaking volumes on History of the Second World War.  In this S/DG we will try to answer the question:  What in Churchill's background made him such a world leader and his ability to manage numerous crises?

It is time to learn even more about Churchill.  Winston affected history, and he wrote lucidly about history and the 19th and 20th centuries.  We will not disappoint with our S/DG delving into everything from Winston being turned down for the cavalry at Sandhurst to his budding and lifelong love of Clementine.  It is a story for the ages, because we will not readily see the likes of Winston Churchill on this earth again.  He was the man at the right time to save Britain and the world as it existed.  

      Although the novel Frankenstein was published two hundred years ago, in 1818, it is simultaneously very old and very new.  As the first work of science fiction, it has been a powerful vehicle for cultural history. As its rich film history suggests, this novel has offered a powerful and still resonant exploration of the impact of modern science on traditional values, institutions, and relationships.

      Today Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818) is the most often taught novel in the US. The eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley here single-handedly created a myth that resonates powerfully with contemporary science - the story of a scientist who produces a monster capable of destroying him and all he loves. “You are my maker; but I am your master – obey!” says the Creature to Victor Frankenstein.This myth is so culturally well-known and so powerful that the National Geographic Society has designated Mary Shelley as its next "genius," following its programs on Einstein and Pablo Picasso.

      Shelley's myth has two separate dimensions. On the one hand, it is a story of parental abandonment, of a scientist who fails to take responsibility for the predictable consequences of his work. It is the story of a man who tries to have a baby without a woman, of a father who fails to "mother" his new-born baby. On the other hand, it is the story of human arrogance and presumption, of a (male) scientist who tries to become "god," to create life out of death.  

      In this SDG, we will explore both dimensions of Shelley's myth. We will look first at  the origins of the novel in Shelley's biography, in the radical climate change that occurred in June, 1816 (the summer she conceived of her novel), and in the scientific, literary, political and social cultures in which she lived. We will examine in detail the ways in which the novel comments on the 18th century scientific revolution initiated by Francis Bacon; on Romanticism and the poetry of Byron and Percy Shelley; on the revolutionary politics of the French Revolution; on the feminist debates concerning the rights of women set in motion by her mother Mary Wollstonecraft; on motherhood and the education of children; on gender, sexuality, race and disability; and on the philosophical discussions of nature (ontology) and perception (epistemology) of her day.  We will then look at the after-life of the novel, first on the stage and then on the screen, where the novel’s rich and varied film history has had the greatest impact upon the popular (mis)understanding of Shelley’s creation. We will end with an examination of the most recent scientific developments in genetic engineering and artificial intelligence to discover whether Dr. Frankenstein is "alive and working" today. 

 

 

Douglass, born a slave, would become the most important African American of the nineteenth century.and one of the great writers of his era.  He first made his reputation as the most celebrated orator of the abolitionist movement.  Drawing from his personal experience, he developed a genius with words and held audiences spellbound for hours.  This former slave met with Lincoln at the White House and rejoiced in the victory of emancipation.  He would become a loyal Republican for the rest of his life, steadfast in his commitment even when challenged by younger men who accused him of blind allegiance to his party.  He saw the promise of Reconstruction dashed by the resistance of former slaveholders, and he fought this betrayal ferociously.  As a lecturer, he likely reached more listeners than any American in the century, as he moved around the country by train, a marathon traveler for the abolitionist cause.  The activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton saw him at Boston's Faneuil Hall and spoke for many white women when she wrote, "He stood there like an African prince, conscious of his dignity and power, grand in his physical proportions, majestic in his wrath, as with keen wit, satire, and indignation he portrayed the bitterness of slavery."  Douglass's private life was complicated.  His children were financially dependent on him even as adults. His second marriage to a white woman scandalized even some of his supporters. 

Blight's well written tome of more than 750 pages is full of richness on the life of this towering figure in nineteenth-century American history.

Antisemitism is one of the most powerful, recurring hate ideologies in world history.  It appears even in countries with few Jewish citizens (e. g. Japan).  Although the term is modern, the phenomenon is ancient.  Antisemitism has assumed many and contradictory forms.  Whenever countries enter into a period of social ennui, economic stagnation, and popular anxiety, antisemitism increases.  It comes in both organized and unorganized forms.  The purpose of this s/dg is to study the history of antisemitism and try to understand its roots and staying power within the context of Jewish history.  Its malleability reflects a persistent societal need to identify the Jew as the Other, even though Jews were not prevented from living amidst their non-Jewish neighbors.  This "double gesture" helps explain both the extraordinary persistence of antisemitism and the equally extraordinary survival of the Jews. 

David N Myers, distinguished Professor Jewish History at UCLA provides the Jewish history, Walter Laqueur, the doyen of the history of hate-groups in Western societies, provides an interpretation of antisemitism through the centuries, and Deborah Lipstadt, an authority on the Holocaust (see Denial, the movie about her clash with Holocaust-denier David Irving), offers an analysis of the current situation.

Winchester, a New York Times best-selling author, describes the essential contribution of precision to the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age.  It all began with the originators in nineteenth century England.  Their discoveries were exported to the fledgling United States by Thomas Jefferson, setting the nation on the path of industrialization. 

Precision tools and methods were essential to the development of many elements of modern life, such as guns, glass, mirrors, lenses, cameras, and ultimately to gene splicing, microchips and the Hadron Collider.

The fundamental questions posed are these:  Why is precision important?  What are the different tools we use to measure it?  Who has invented and perfected it?  Has the pursuit of the ultraprecise blinded us to other things of value, such as an appreciation of craftsmanship, art and high culture?  As we learn of the evolution of the technology, we will also consider these important questions facing our modern, technology-driven society.

    The premise of our title is that the present wealth of Arabia's rulers derives from the need to maintain the American national, political, commercial and strategic interests in the Middle East's extremely rich oil production.  You will find out how, in order to achieve and preserve this complex and dynamic relation, our government began with FDR's agreement to protect King Saud; provided great military help to defeat the Nazi invasion; supported the establishment of Israel;  organized clandestine searches for oil fields;  negotiated with Egyptian nationalist, Gamal Nasser;  interfered in the  frequent Middle East wars; forged numerous flexible Major Power alliances;  assisted or survived terrorist conspiracies; and much more geographical and historical knowledge. 

      After the fall of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, Great Britain sought to establish itself as the dominant imperial power in the Middle East.  Yet its regional empire did not endure the hard fought battles, over-expansion and vast expenses of the Second World War.  We usually assume that Arab Nationalism brought about the end of British designs in the Middle East. 

      In this fascinating SDG, based on the recently published Lords of the Desert by British historian James Barr, we will learn a fresh story which arrives at vastly different conclusions. Drawing on our research and newly declassified archives we bring to life little-known episodes of secret diplomacy and daring spycraft which contend convincingly that the USA was the driving force behind the British exit.

      Though the two nations were strong allies America was drawn to the region for reasons of commerce and ideology.  So it quickly found itself at odds with the British over many significant issues, from who should control Saudi Arabia's oil to who should supervise the Suez Canal.  Exploiting and encouraging widespread  opposition to the UK , the US intrigued it way to power.  Consequently, it very soon was forced to  face the same sort of determined local resistance and animosities, that had entangled and weakened its predecessor. 

      Essentially, this absorbing and deeply researched history will lead us to understand the roots of America's current immersion and costly investment,  in the modern version of the age-old battle, for supremacy in this crucial part of the world. 

The backgrounds and experiences of the first two women to sit on the Supreme court, Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, were for the most part totally different. In addition to looking at their disparate background and experiences, this SDG will focus on whether they also differed on the hot-button legal issues that came before the Court. By examining their decisions, we will consider their views on such issues as legislative classifications on the basis of sex, the height of the wall separating church and state,  a woman's right to control her reproductive function,voting rights and the limitations on gerrymandering, and Bush v. Gore. Our catalogue of issues will also include the extent to which governments and educational institutions can take race into account, the standards to determine whether actionable sexual harassment occurred, and the relative powers of the states and the federal government in our constitutional system. As we go through these cases, we will consider their fundamental views of the Constitution and decision making.

The core book published in 2008 lists a number of science based questions which at the time, or even now, do not have a satisfying answer. Since the publication of the book, some of the problems (questions) have been "solved", but some of the answers seem unsatisfactory to a number of scientists. The core book describes the thirteen different topics that intrigued the Author. However, in some cases the amount of research in these areas have exploded, while some new ones, almost as intriguing have arisen and will be given more emphasis. In order to make this SD/G more relevant some additional topics have been added and some deleted. Some topics are based on hard science, but others are more philosophical. For example: Does AI have Free Will or What is Life, biologically speaking? This is one of those SD/Gs that will end with more questions than answers because we just don't know.

This SD/G designed for those not only with a science background, and is based on what you can find in the newspapers (what are those?), cinema, TV or in simple computer searches. 

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) was one of the founders of modernist poetry.  Born in St. Louis and educated at Harvard, he spent his adult years in the United Kingdom, working as a bank clerk, literary critic, and editor at Faber and Faber, while writing several of the great poems of the century.  He also wrote several highly regarded plays and a number of literary essays. Eliot marked out a new path for poetry in the post-World War I period.  Melding a revolutionary technique with classical content, he sought to revitalize what he termed the moral imagination and find a way out of the disordered and disoriented (secular) world in which he lived, and prepare the ground for a world based on the principles of his religious beliefs.  (He was a devout Roman Catholic.)  We will read the major poems (The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Wasteland, and The Four Quartets) and one of the plays (Murder in the Cathedral).

The ten plays, each representing a decade of the 20th Century.  Week 1, biographical information about August Wilson and the Black writers who preceded him. Weeks 2-11, a play each week. Week 12, look at the future of Black writers for theater in the United States.

Why study the Crusades?  Although not the first clash between East and West, of Christianity and Islam, it was the first originated by a call to arms by the Pope himself.  It has left behind a heritage of brutality and fanaticism.  To understand the legacy of this series of events (the first four Crusades), and why religion was not the only driving force behind them, we will examine the calls to arms by four popes, the motivations of those who joined, the impact on Jews who lived along the crusading route, the effect of Western Christian militarism on Eastern Christianity, the occupation of the Holy Land by foreign forces, and the successful counterattack of the Muslims.  Our core book is by Jonathan Phillips, a highly respected British scholar, who has made the Crusades the main subject of his recent research.

 

Of all the Bible’s diverse figures, the one who is portrayed most graphically and who has enjoyed a vibrant post biblical afterlife, is King David.

In the ancient Near East ,where kings were thought of as deities or almost deities, whose lives are described in the most glowing terms, King David is the exception.

David, the founder of the Davidic dynasty that lasted for about four hundred years, is described as a flawed human being.  Yet both Christians and Jews believe that the Messiah was or will be a descendant of the House of David.

In this SDG, we will discuss the depiction of David in the Books of Samuel as well as Wolpe’s Analysis of the David story. Moreover, we will also discuss King Saul and the reason the editor(s) of the Books of Samuel chose to depict the personalities in the book as they did. We will not discuss the historicity of the stories.

The Guns of August is Barbara Tuchman’s iconic work on the period starting in the first decade of the 20^thcentury that led to the outbreak and critical first month of World War I.   After August and September 1914 and their inability to outflank one another as they raced to the sea, the combatants settled into what became a war of attrition that was only resolved by America’s entry into the war.  While much has been written about the cause of the “Great War”, the lessons on how wars start and are fought bear repetition and re-examination.  Moreover, while we don’t currently have a “hot” Cold War, we continue to live in times in which the making and deferral of political decisions as well as missteps in communications by political leaders and other public figures can have chilling consequences.  This problem is heightened in the 21st Century as the number of media sources (which includes social media) has increased exponentially when compared with historical experience, but the quality of communicated information has, with notable exception, deteriorated.  Our primary goal will be to use Ms. Tuchman’s book and occasionally other sources, to examine her period of focus.   Using lessons from the core book and other sources, we will also discuss how channels of communication employed today can affect the development of consequential world events.

Note:  This is an updated SDG originally given in 2015 coordinated by Marilyn Slater and Bob Moore-Stewart. 

The immune system stands between us and a world of attackers who would otherwise kill us in short order.  What is it? – and how does it do its job?  All multicellular organisms such as sponges (Porifera) exhibit immune responses and mechanisms for discriminating self from non-self.  A long history of host-pathogen co-evolution (from sponges to humans) has brought about a variety of diseases and immune strategies. 

This SDG will focus on immunity in vertebrates with emphasis on mammals and the human immune response to disease. The selected core book by Lauren Sompayrac (5th edition, 2016) provides an excellent introduction for the non-scientist and non-professional healthcare professional PLATO member.

 How do immune cells distinguish between self and non-self?  Complexity and effectiveness are hallmarks of the immune system.  It is able to identify and dispatch most pathogens and yet spare our own tissues. It exhibits both innate and adaptive immunity, allowing immune cells to respond immediately to foreign invaders and then follow up the defense with fine-tuned warriors who search out specific pathogens in order to kill and devour them.  The fine-tuning is regulated by a complex series of chemical signals.  The detailed mechanisms of the immune response are only now becoming understood through state-of-the-art techniques in biochemistry and molecular biology. 

Diseases have many causes -- viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi, mutations, allergens – to name some of the most common.  We will study the way in which the immune system provides surveillance and fights back in various diseases. Vaccines offer a way to train the immune system to fight disease more effectively.  In some cases, the immune system has harmful, even fatal, effects.  In autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and multiple sclerosis, immune cells attack the body that gave rise to them.  The greatest challenge to organ transplantation is attacks by the recipient’s immune system. We will explore emerging revelations about cancer immunotherapy, the human genome and microbiome, progress in AIDS therapy, and autoimmune treatments that impact millions of lives.

This SDG will enlighten and enable an enhanced understanding of the extraordinary immune system as "an elegant defense."

              The Marshall Plan has assumed a mythical status in the American consciousness.  It was proposed in 1947 and implemented 1948-52, despite opposition in Congress and European skepticism.  It is generally thought to be represent America at its best, exemplifying American altruism and innovation, championing democracy against the impending Communist challenge, bringing the European economy and institutions back to life after the devastation of World War II and helping the Europeans move toward the concepts of the EU.  Are each of these elements of self-congratulation warranted?  Was the Plan really just American self-interest cloaked as generosity?  Was it, perversely, a factor contributing to the Cold War?  Was it actually a substantial factor in European recovery?  In short how should we now view the Marshall Plan and its legacy? 

This SDG will deal with (1) the origins of the Plan, the importance of George Marshall, the contributions of President Truman and other officials crucial to adoption and implementation of the Plan, the attitudes of the European countries (2) all of the questions raised above and (3) evaluation of the short-term and long-term effects of the Plan viewed after the passage of more than 65 years.

From modest textile merchants to one of the most powerful families in Europe, the Medici family was one of ambition, power and money. The Medici were enormously wealthy. Through their wealth and character they were able to rule Florence, control the papacy and influence the entire continent. They produced popes and queens, saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, revolutionized the banking system, sponsored art and architecture and spurred the birth of the Renaissance. In this SD/G we shall explore the dramatic rise and fall of this remarkable family, as well as the politics and intrigues of the times. We’ll follow the lives of great Renaissance artists like Michelangelo and da Vinci and scientists like Galileo. And we’ll look into the political influences and intrigues of such men as Savonarola, Machiavelli and Sforza.

 Our core book, Paul Strathern’s The Medici, is a dazzling history of a modest family that rose to become one of the most powerful in Europe. Against the background of an age that saw enormous changes, Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance which they did so much to sponsor and encourage.

John Quincy Adams was, arguably, the greatest public servant in the history of the United States. Over his 50 year public career he served, consecutively, as Minister to the Netherlands, US Senator, Minister to Russia, negotiator of the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812 and Minister to Great Britain.  He was a two-term Secretary of State and, in 1825, became the sixth President of the United States.  Two years after his 1828 defeat by Andrew Jackson, Adams won his seat in the House of Representatives.  Here he served for the next 18 years, until suffering a stroke on the House floor in 1848.

Adams benefited uniquely from his father’s insistence upon a first-hand education for him in the courts of Europe – at no little risk at a time when international travel was a daunting proposition. He also imbibed from his father a dedication to principle which transcended political considerations. His personality was austere and distant, and he never pandered to public opinion. He never received the public recognition or sustained popularity of Jefferson, Jackson, Monroe, Madison or others among America’s early political leaders, but his legacy is as enduring, if not greater, than any of his contemporaries.

Adams knew Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Lafayette, Madison, Monroe as well as Jackson, Calhoun, Clay, Van Buren and Webster.  He was the last president with a direct link to The Founders and viewed politics as gentleman’s club.  In 1828, he lost to Andrew Jackson who used a sophisticated party machine to reach the broad masses.  “The politics of our time really began at this moment – a combination of parties directed by political professionals, vigorous, even raucous, campaigns, legions of voters demanding attention and candidates striving to connect with those same voters.”

This SDG, using as our guide, William Cooper’s The Lost Founding Father John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics, will view John Quincy Adams in the context of the his time and the great political and social changes from the birth of our nation to the eve of civil war.  

Computers and software impact our lives, our economy, even international relations and war, deeply, often without our thinking about it. "Artificial Intelligence" has brought attention to advances in computer technology in a particular way, with warnings AI will let computers at least take most jobs if not become our master. 

The core book takes the position that AI is part of a long-term trend in the development of "computer intelligence," a broader view of computer capabilities than AI. This view allows a better understanding of what role AI will play, what led up to AI, and what to expect of future evolution of computer intelligence. What will it do for us, and what will it do to us?

The book is directed at a layman audience and does not require a technical background.

Political polarization is not limited to the United Sates. Britain politics are also polarized. In both countries, as extreme left and extreme right political movements gain strength, one of the key demographics is the white working class, who, feeling alienated from the political process, has abandoned the political center.This SDG will consider both countries, looking for underlying causes for white working class alienation. We will see how, in both countries, the decreased political center makes it difficult to build centrist coalitions, that, in previous periods, account for well-functioning governments. This SDG will raise critical questions about how political beliefs and future elections will change the fate of immigrants and minorities in terms of their relationship with the rest of the UK and/or US.We will use two core books to explore this subject.  The first, The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration and Inequality by Justin Gest, looks at both Youngstown, Ohio and Dagenham, England to present a nuanced understanding of white working class politics and values. The second core book, White Backlash: Immigration, Race and American Politics by Marissa Abrajano and Zoltan Hajnal, won the American Political Science Association's Ralph J. Bunche Award.  It is focused on the US, and we will use it as a case study.