Revolution & Revenge: 1950s – Now with Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Starr

Thu Jan 22 2026 at 07:30 pm to 08:30 pm UTC-08:00

Manny's | San Francisco

Manny's
Publisher/HostManny's
Revolution & Revenge: 1950s \u2013 Now with Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Starr
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How did Americans come to elect Barack Obama—and then Donald Trump? Those choices capture what Paul Starr calls the American contradiction.
About this Event

America's Core Rift: A deep, ongoing contradiction between a changing people and a resisting nation, rooted in slavery, drives current conflicts over identity and power
Beyond Racial Grievance: The current “rage and revenge" extends beyond simple racism, fueled by a working-class catastrophe and a masculine revolt against cultural change
Backlash from Progress: Even successful progressive movements for civil rights and equality paradoxically sparked a powerful, decades-long conservative counter-movement
Judicial Overreach: The Supreme Court's conservative majority is aggressively rolling back liberal rights (e.g., abortion, voting) while expanding corporate and religious power, often disregarding public opinion
Trump: A Consequence, Not an Aberration: Trump's rise is a logical outcome of these deep-seated contradictions and the Republican Party's radicalization, offering "total revenge" to dispossessed Americans
Truth in Decline: Media fragmentation and partisan outlets have eroded shared reality and fueled culture wars, notably seen in the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic
You can check out his recent feature in The New Republic "Sleepwalking into Revenge: The Rise of a Politics of Retribution”

https://newrepublic.com/article/202187/trump-republican-party-rise-politics-revenge%20and%20CNN%20interview:%20https://next.frame.io/share/edf601d7-2f7a-4210-a581-7f1e5f26ba12/view/66785814-10be-47f5-838b-648f32bcd896
Paul Starr is professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and founding coeditor of the American Prospect magazine. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction and Bancroft Prize in American History for The Social Transformation of American Medicine. Over a half-century he has written essays and op‑eds for newspapers and magazines as well as books on America’s institutions, history, and politics.


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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Manny's, 3092 16th Street, San Francisco, United States

Tickets

USD 9.27 to USD 24.72

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