Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy
About this audiobook
Natan Sharansky believes that the challenge of the twenty-first century is to assert our cultural, ethnic, or religious identities, a struggle that has never been more important than now.
Who is better prepared to defend principles in a volatile world? Is it those with strong national, religious, ethnic, or tribal identities who accept democracy, or democrats who view identity as a divisive prejudice? Sharansky argues that valueless cosmopolitanism is dangerous, even in democracies. Together, identity and democracy assert a powerful and benign sense of purpose, but when at odds, they beget fundamentalism and rootlessness.
About the author
Natan Sharansky, writer, former Soviet dissident, and former deputy prime minister of Israel, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1986 for his struggles against tyranny. He is a distinguished fellow at the Shalem Center, heading its strategic studies institute, and is president of Beit Hatefutsot, the Jewish diaspora museum.
Shira Wolosky is professor of English and American literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; previously, she was associate professor of English at Yale University. She received her PhD in comparative literature from Princeton University in 1980 and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001. Wolosky is the author of a number of books and articles, including Emily Dickinson: A Voice of War, Language Mysticism: The Negative Way of Language in Eliot, Beckett, and Celan, The Art of Poetry, Major Voices: Nineteenth Century American Women’s Poetry, and many others.
Ron Dermer, a native of Florida, worked in Israel as a political consultant and as a columnist for the Jerusalem Post. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and son.
Emily Janice Rankin is an actor, writer, and singer from North Carolina, now residing in Los Angeles. In addition to being a narrator, she has directed numerous audiobooks, including the 2007 Audie and Earphones Award winner Legacy of Ashes by Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Weiner, and Them by Nathan McCall. Her own audiobook narration has won her four Earphones Awards.
Stefan Rudnicki is an award winning audiobook narrator, director and producer. He was born in Poland and now resides in Studio City, California. He has narrated more than three hundred audiobooks and has participated in over a thousand as a writer, producer, or director. He is a recipient of multiple Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as a Grammy Award, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Ray Bradbury Award. He received AudioFile’s award for 2008 Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Along with a cast of other narrators, Rudnicki has read a number of Orson Scott Card's best-selling science fiction novels. He worked extensively with many other science fiction authors, including David Weber and Ben Bova. In reviewing the twentieth anniversary edition audiobook of Card’s Ender's Game, Publishers Weekly stated, "Rudnicki, with his lulling, sonorous voice, does a fine job articulating Ender's inner struggle between the kind, peaceful boy he wants to be and the savage, violent actions he is frequently forced to take." Rudnicki is also a stage actor and director.
