Red Emma’s

In this day and age, perhaps the thing that binds Americans together most strongly is the fact we're afraid. But are we afraid of the right things? Ebola, a disease that killed only a handful of Americans, provoked widespread panic and reactionary  policies, but the flu- which kills tens of thousands each year- is hardly taken seriously as a fatal threat. In Jumping At Shadows, Sasha Abramsky sets his sights on America's most dangerous epidemic: irrational fear. Abramsky delivers an eye-opening analysis of our misconceptions about risk and threats, and how our brains interpret them, both at a neurological level and at a conscious one. What Emerges is a journey through a political and cultural landscape that is defined by our fears- fears that in many cases are a by-product of our deeply ingrained racism, classism, xenophobia, and susceptibility to the toxic messages of demagogues.