When Empire appeared in 2000, it defined the political and economic challenges of the era of globalization and, thrillingly, found in them possibilities for new and more democratic forms of social organization. Now, with Commonwealth, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri conclude the trilogy begun with Empire and continued in Multitude, proposing an ethics of freedom for living in our common world and articulating a possible constitution for our common wealth. Drawing on scenarios from around the globe and elucidating the themes that unite them, Hardt and Negri focus on the logic of institutions and the models of governance adequate to our understanding of a global commonwealth. They argue for the idea of the “common” to replace the opposition of private and public and the politics predicated on that opposition. Ultimately, they articulate the theoretical bases for what they call “governing the revolution.” Though this book functions as an extension and a completion of a sustained line of Hardt and Negri’s thought, it also stands alone and is entirely accessible to readers who are not familiar with the previous works. It is certain to appeal to, challenge, and enrich the thinking of anyone interested in questions of politics and globalization.

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is Virginia's largest urban university with an enrollment of nearly 30,000 students on two campuses in Richmond and partnerships in Northern Virginia and Doha, Qatar. The university's history is rooted in two institutions: the Medical College of Virginia, founded in 1838, and the Richmond Professional Institute, which began in 1917. As told in this book, MCV and RPI each have an intricate and detailed history, and each has undergone several incarnations since it began. The two schools merged in 1968 to form Virginia Commonwealth University, setting off a period of unprecedented growth and change. VCU continues to expand its programs and facilities to meet the demands of the city of Richmond and the Commonwealth of Virginia under the leadership of Pres. Eugene P. Trani.

Founded in Richmond in 1968, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) began with a mission to build a university to serve a city emerging from the era of urban crisis--desegregation, white flight, political conflict, and economic decline. The product of the merger of the Medical College of Virginia and the Richmond Professional Institute combined into one, state-mandated institution, the two were able to embrace their mission and work together productively. In Fulfilling the Promise, John Kneebone and Eugene Trani tell the intriguing story of VCU and the context in which the university was forged and eventually thrived. Although VCU's history is necessarily unique, Kneebone and Trani show how the issues shaping it are common to many urban institutions, from engaging with two-party politics in Virginia and African American political leadership in Richmond, to fraught neighborhood relations, the complexities of providing public health care at an academic health center, and an increasingly diverse student body. As a result, Fulfilling the Promise offers far more than a stale institutional saga. Rather, this definitive history of one urban state university illuminates the past and future of American public higher education in the post-1960s era.

In the past decade, states across the nation have cut higher education spending per student by more than 15 percent. Kentucky has experienced some of the largest cuts in the country, leading many to claim that higher education is in a state of crisis. In spite of this turmoil, however, Kentucky's remarkable institutions of higher education stand more capable than ever to prepare new generations for the challenges and opportunities of their time. College for the Commonwealth: A Case for Higher Education in American Democracy illustrates how colleges and universities are the sustaining lifeblood of civil society and that when these vital institutions are underfunded, both the community and economy suffer. Michael T. Benson and Hal R. Boyd examine the historical origins of higher education in America and analyze the benefits of postsecondary education through the lens of Kentucky. Presented as a practical yet persuasive look at why America needs thoughtful reinvestment in its colleges and universities, this study details how helping students can help sustain a healthy, democratic social fabric while bolstering the modern economy. Gathering examples and offering solutions for postsecondary institutions, this work serves as a call to action and a roadmap for educators, administrators, and government officials.

This book explores the changes and developments which have affected education within the Commonwealth over the years. As the Secretary-General notes: 'The Commonwealth has a strong record and tradition of co-operation in education, encompassing articulation of values, exchange of ideas and direct learning from each other, This book is a reminder of that record and tradition and offers a refreshing kaleidoscope of Commonwealth educational action.'

A Pulitzer Prize Finalist, this powerful elegy for our disappearing coast “captures nature with precise words that almost amount to poetry” (The New York Times). Hailed as “the book on climate change and sea levels that was missing” (Chicago Tribune), Rising is both a highly original work of lyric reportage and a haunting meditation on how to let go of the places we love. With every record-breaking hurricane, it grows clearer that climate change is neither imagined nor distant—and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways. In Rising, Elizabeth Rush guides readers through these dramatic changes, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and from New York City to the Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places, the options are stark: retreat or perish. Rush sheds light on the unfolding crises through firsthand testimonials—a Staten Islander who lost her father during Sandy, the remaining holdouts of a Native American community on a drowning Isle de Jean Charles, a neighborhood in Pensacola settled by escaped slaves hundreds of years ago—woven together with profiles of wildlife biologists, activists, and other members of these vulnerable communities. A Guardian, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal Best Book Of 2018 Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award A Chicago Tribune Top Ten Book of 2018

Commonwealth College was the longest-lived and most notorious of the resident labor colleges that operated during the 1920s and 1930s. Founded in 1923 at NewLlano Cooperative Colony in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, the school was modeled on the self-maintenance characteristics of Florida's abortive prewar experiment in social education: Ruskin College. Disputes over priorities with NewLlano Colony forced the College to relocate to rural Polk County, Arkansas, in 1924 where it took up permanent residence in the dense "piney woods" at the foot of Rich Mountain. Commonwealth's early leaders were dedicated Debsian Socialists who were convinced that a different type of education for the new industrial class would result in a series of massive social changes that would transform American capitalism into the utopian cooperative commonwealth of their dreams. The regional and national publicity that resulted from the allegations that the College was a Moscow-driven "red cell" became a self-fulfilling prophecy from the mid- to late 1930s. Commonwealth endured spectacular attacks by the American Legion in 1926, from a Communist "student strike" in 1933, from investigations by the Arkansas General Assembly in 1935 and 1937, and through its association with the Southern Tenant Farmer's Union. By 1938 the school had exhausted the patience of the people it had been founded to educate-the industrial workers. Finally, without any friends in the non-Communist left, Commonwealth attempted to become the southern campus of the New Theatre League, but strident local opposition brought a court action that forced the College to close in September 1940. William H. Cobb illuminates the history of the extraordinary group of students and staff of Commonwealth College and the rich intellectual life produced on the self-sustaining communal farm in the Arkansas forest. Although Cobb did not have access to Commonwealth College papers, which disappeared after being impounded by the county court, he reconstructs the history of the school through a rich assortment of primary documents from various university and state archives. Scholars and students interested in union, labor, and southern history will welcome this book.