The Nile on eBay The Virtues of Liberalism by James Kloppenberg
This spirited analysis and defence of American liberalism demonstrates the complex and rich traditions of political, economic, and social discourse that have informed American democratic culture from the seventeenth century to the present. The Virtues of Liberalism provides a convincing response to critics right and left.
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This spirited analysis--and defense--of American liberalism demonstrates the complex and rich traditions of political, economic, and social discourse that have informed American democratic culture from the seventeenth century to the present. The Virtues of Liberalism provides a convincing response to critics both right and left. Against conservatives outside the academy who oppose liberalism because they equate it with license, James T. Kloppenberg uncoversample evidence of American republicans' and liberal democrats' commitments to ethical and religious ideals and their awareness of the difficult choices involved in promoting virtue in a culturally diversenation. Against radical academic critics who reject liberalism because they equate it with Enlightenment reason and individual property holding, Kloppenberg shows the historical roots of American liberals' dual commitments to diversity, manifested in institutions designed to facilitate deliberative democracy, and to government regulations of property and market exchange in accordance with the public good. In contrast to prevailing tendencies to simplify and distortAmerican liberalism, Kloppenberg shows how the multifaceted virtues of liberalism have inspired theorists and reformers from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison through Jane Addams and John Dewey to MartinLuther King, Jr., and then explains how these virtues persist in the work of some liberal democrats today. Endorsing the efforts of such neo-progressive and communitarian theorists and journalists as Michael Walzer, Jane Mansbridge, Michael Sandel, and E. J. Dionne, Kloppenberg also offers a more acute analysis of the historical development of American liberalism and of the complex reasons why it has been transformed and made more vulnerable in recent decades. Anintelligent, coherent, and persuasive canvas that stretches from the Enlightenment to the American Revolution, from Tocqueville's observations to the New Deal's social programs, and from the right to worshipfreely to the idea of ethical responsibility, this book is a valuable contribution to historical scholarship and to contemporary political and cultural debates.
Author Biography
James T. Kloppenberg is Charles Warren Professor of American History at Harvard University. He is co-editor, with Richard Wightman Fox, of A Companion to American Thought (1995), and author of Uncertain Victory: Social Democracy and Progressivism in European and American Thought, 1870-1920 (Oxford University Press, 1986), which was awarded the Merle Curti Prize in intellectual history by the Organization of Americam Historians.
Review
"An important book. With great learning, clarity, and passion, Kloppenberg has given us a fresh and richer understanding of the historical meanings of liberalism, and he has done so in a manner that exemplifies the very virtues he so effectively elucidates."--Thomas Bender, New York University"These essays on the history of political argument in the United States constitute both a scholarly contribution and a distinctive political intervention in contemporary discussions of liberalism. Kloppenberg's liberalism is much closer to European social democracy than to what is attacked or defended in most of today's disputes about the 'l-word.' Kloppenberg is one of the best historians now working on any aspect of the intellectual history of the UnitedStates."--David A. Hollinger, University of California at Berkeley"Everyone interested in the past, present, and potential of liberalism should read this passionate book. It sparkles."--Laura Kalman, University of California at Santa Barbara"This book is indispensable for lawyers, political theorists, and others who look to history to uncover cultural resources for reviving progressive politics. Kloppenberg's nuanced readings of the interrelationships of republican, religious, and liberal themes in American politics are never schematic; yet they are framed with an eye towards the future as well as the past. Subtle, thorough, engaged: this book offers a pragmatism more chastened than Dewey's butstill hopeful for the future."--Joan Williams, Washington College of Law, American University"James Kloppenberg has written a scholarly book at odds with the temper of the times...Kloppenberg has crafted his essays on American political thought in clear, self-contained, unpretentious prose...Kloppenberg, who does not hesitate to proclaim in the opening pages his devotion to a principled liberalism, a prudent progressivism, and a non-doctrinaire pragmatism, provides in their name an intelligent and learned overview of the conflicting elements andmultivalent ideas that, his book demonstrates, have constituted American political thought from before the birth of the republic...learned and thoughtful essays."--The Boston Review of Books"...[Kloppenberg's] vision of the possibilities of a historically grounded liberalism is broad, timely, and humane. Neighbors on both sides of the history and political theory divide will take profit from these learned and carefully drawn explorations across their common terrain."--Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Promotional
A spirited analysis--and defense--of American liberalism
Long Description
This spirited analysis--and defense--of American liberalism demonstrates the complex and rich traditions of political, economic, and social discourse that have informed American democratic culture from the seventeenth century to the present. The Virtues of Liberalism provides a convincing response to critics both right and left. Against conservatives outside the academy who oppose liberalism because they equate it with license, James T. Kloppenberg uncoversample evidence of American republicans' and liberal democrats' commitments to ethical and religious ideals and their awareness of the difficult choices involved in promoting virtue in a culturally diverse nation. Against radical academic critics who reject liberalism because they equate it with Enlightenmentreason and individual property holding, Kloppenberg shows the historical roots of American liberals' dual commitments to diversity, manifested in institutions designed to facilitate deliberative democracy, and to government regulations of property and market exchange in accordance with the public good. In contrast to prevailing tendencies to simplify and distort American liberalism, Kloppenberg shows how the multifaceted virtues of liberalism have inspired theorists andreformers from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison through Jane Addams and John Dewey to Martin Luther King, Jr., and then explains how these virtues persist in the work of some liberal democrats today. Endorsing the efforts of such neo-progressive and communitarian theorists and journalists as MichaelWalzer, Jane Mansbridge, Michael Sandel, and E. J. Dionne, Kloppenberg also offers a more acute analysis of the historical development of American liberalism and of the complex reasons why it has been transformed and made more vulnerable in recent decades. An intelligent, coherent, and persuasive canvas that stretches from the Enlightenment to the American Revolution, from Tocqueville's observations to the New Deal's social programs, and from the right to worship freelyto the idea of ethical responsibility, this book is a valuable contribution to historical scholarship and to contemporary political and cultural debates.
Review Text
"An important book. With great learning, clarity, and passion, Kloppenberg has given us a fresh and richer understanding of the historical meanings of liberalism, and he has done so in a manner that exemplifies the very virtues he so effectively elucidates."--Thomas Bender, New York University"These essays on the history of political argument in the United States constitute both a scholarly contribution and a distinctive political intervention in contemporary discussions of liberalism. Kloppenberg's liberalism is much closer to European social democracy than to what is attacked or defended in most of today's disputes about the 'l-word.' Kloppenberg is one of the best historians now working on any aspect of the intellectual history of the UnitedStates."--David A. Hollinger, University of California at Berkeley"Everyone interested in the past, present, and potential of liberalism should read this passionate book. It sparkles."--Laura Kalman, University of California at Santa Barbara"This book is indispensable for lawyers, political theorists, and others who look to history to uncover cultural resources for reviving progressive politics. Kloppenberg's nuanced readings of the interrelationships of republican, religious, and liberal themes in American politics are never schematic; yet they are framed with an eye towards the future as well as the past. Subtle, thorough, engaged: this book offers a pragmatism more chastened than Dewey's butstill hopeful for the future."--Joan Williams, Washington College of Law, American University"James Kloppenberg has written a scholarly book at odds with the temper of the times...Kloppenberg has crafted his essays on American political thought in clear, self-contained, unpretentious prose...Kloppenberg, who does not hesitate to proclaim in the opening pages his devotion to a principled liberalism, a prudent progressivism, and a non-doctrinaire pragmatism, provides in their name an intelligent and learned overview of the conflicting elements andmultivalent ideas that, his book demonstrates, have constituted American political thought from before the birth of the republic...learned and thoughtful essays."--The Boston Review of Books"...[Kloppenberg's] vision of the possibilities of a historically grounded liberalism is broad, timely, and humane. Neighbors on both sides of the history and political theory divide will take profit from these learned and carefully drawn explorations across their common terrain."--Journal of Interdisciplinary History"An important book. With great learning, clarity, and passion, Kloppenberg has given us a fresh and richer understanding of the historical meanings of liberalism, and he has done so in a manner that exemplifies the very virtues he so effectively elucidates."--Thomas Bender, New York University"These essays on the history of political argument in the United States constitute both a scholarly contribution and a distinctive political intervention in contemporary discussions of liberalism. Kloppenberg's liberalism is much closer to European social democracy than to what is attacked or defended in most of today's disputes about the 'l-word.' Kloppenberg is one of the best historians now working on any aspect of the intellectual history of the UnitedStates."--David A. Hollinger, University of California at Berkeley"Everyone interested in the past, present, and potential of liberalism should read this passionate book. It sparkles."--Laura Kalman, University of California at Santa Barbara"This book is indispensable for lawyers, political theorists, and others who look to history to uncover cultural resources for reviving progressive politics. Kloppenberg's nuanced readings of the interrelationships of republican, religious, and liberal themes in American politics are never schematic; yet they are framed with an eye towards the future as well as the past. Subtle, thorough, engaged: this book offers a pragmatism more chastened than Dewey's butstill hopeful for the future."--Joan Williams, Washington College of Law, American University"James Kloppenberg has written a scholarly book at odds with the temper of the times...Kloppenberg has crafted his essays on American political thought in clear, self-contained, unpretentious prose...Kloppenberg, who does not hesitate to proclaim in the opening pages his devotion to a principled liberalism, a prudent progressivism, and a non-doctrinaire pragmatism, provides in their name an intelligent and learned overview of the conflicting elements andmultivalent ideas that, his book demonstrates, have constituted American political thought from before the birth of the republic...learned and thoughtful essays."--The Boston Review of Books
Review Quote
"This book is indispensable for lawyers, political theorists, and otherswho look to history to uncover cultural resources for reviving progressivepolitics. Kloppenberg's nuanced readings of the interrelationships ofrepublican, religious, and liberal themes in American politics are neverschematic; yet they are framed with an eye towards the future as well as thepast. Subtle, thorough, engaged: this book offers a pragmatism more chastenedthan Dewey's but still hopeful for the future."--Joan Williams, WashingtonCollege of Law, American University
Feature
A spirited defense of American liberalism, an issue that will be in the spotlight during the upcoming Presidential election "Everyone interested in the past, present, and potential of liberalism should read this passionate book. It sparkles." --Laura Kalman, University of California at Santa Barbara Written by a leading historian, winner of the Merle Curti Prize in Intellectual History
Details ISBN0195121406 Short Title VIRTUES OF LIBERALISM Language English ISBN-10 0195121406 ISBN-13 9780195121407 Media Book Format Hardcover Year 1998 Illustrations black & white illustrations Imprint Oxford University Press Inc Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States UK Release Date 1998-08-20 AU Release Date 1998-08-20 NZ Release Date 1998-08-20 US Release Date 1998-08-20 Author James Kloppenberg Publisher Oxford University Press Inc Publication Date 1998-08-20 Alternative 9780195140569 DEWEY 320.510973 Audience Professional & Vocational Pages 256 We've got this
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