Public Affairs

[close] Interested in strategic communications, public diplomacy, or just out-and-out information competition? How about futurism or politics? These are just a few of the topic pools in which The Rendon Group (TRG) swims. In our long experience, we have read quite a few books, and we would like to share our recommended reading with everyone. Feel free to join, comment on our reviews, or suggest books we should be reading. The free exchange of knowledge is critical to an open society. So get exchanging!

[close] Jacques Ellul cracks open political and sociological commonplaces, destructively and wittily demonstrating how our unthinking acceptance of them encourages hypocrisy, smugness, and mental inertia. Among the stereotypes of thought and speech thus exploded are such phrases as "You can't act without getting your hands dirty," "Work is freedom" and "We must follow the current of history". A certain number of these old saws preside over our daily life. They permit us to understand one another and to swim in the ordinary current of society. They are accepted as so certain that we almost never question them. They serve at once as sufficient explanations for everything and as "clinchers" in too many arguments. Ellul explores the ways in which such clichés mislead us and prevent us from having independent thoughts--and in fact keep us from facing the problems to which they are theoretically addressed. They are our "commonplaces." Just as the nineteenth century brought forth many such commonplaces so our century has been busy creating its own. What Ellul has done is to stand still long enough to look at them carefully, attack them with cool reason, and leave them nakedly exposed. His remarkable caustic fearlessness is at the service of truths that often are cruel, but always are lucid and impassioned. He represents the voice of intelligence, and while doing so is often hilarious and always therapeutic about matters of first importance.

[close] A place for Mainers (and those who love Maine) to share their love of books. Reviews, suggestions, updates on books you're reading...this should capture the voice you would otherwise have at your local book club.

[close] This is a group inspired by the book Reputation Strategy by Yasen Guev