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The trouble with freedom
Love, hate and America's future
Brief Description
An illuminating account of how Americans have been divided by the very value that unites them. America today is being torn apart by the struggle over a single concept, deeply rooted in the country's sense of self: freedom. Battered by wave after wave of crises, ordinary...
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The trouble with freedom
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In The trouble with freedom, Melissa Butcher explores America's divide over the concept of freedom, interviewing people across political, racial and cultural lines. She reveals how political conflict stems from personal experiences with cultural change and uncovers opportunities for empathy amid anger and distrust.
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Description
An illuminating account of how Americans have been divided by the very value that unites them.
America today is being torn apart by the struggle over a single concept, deeply rooted in the country's sense of self: freedom. Battered by wave after wave of crises, ordinary people of all political persuasions have come to feel that their freedom is under threat, and with it, nothing less than the soul of the nation.
In The trouble with freedom, journalist and researcher Melissa Butcher takes a trip into the ferociously polarised world of American politics, hoping to find out what's going on beneath the surface. Criss-crossing the country, she talks to a wide range of people: Democrat and Republican, gay and straight, urban and rural, immigrants, First Nations, Black, white, the incarcerated.
What she discovers is that political conflict is often the outcome of very personal experiences of managing cultural change. Exploring the different ways freedom has been used to define what it means to be American, Butcher encounters anger and distrust, but also untapped possibilities for empathy and care.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781526185419
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 20 January 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 21.0mm
Width: 156.0mm
Height: 234.0mm
Weight: 500g
Pages: 264
About the Author
Melissa Butcher is Education Programme Director at the social enterprise Cumberland Lodge and Professor Emeritus of Social and Cultural Geography at Birkbeck, University of London. A former journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, she is the author of two books, five edited collections and numerous pieces of journalism and travelogues.
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