Community and the Politics of Place

by Daniel Kemmis

Book Overview

Thomas Jefferson envisioned a nation of citizens deeply involved in public life. Today Americans are lamenting the erosion of his ideal. What happened in the intervening centuries? Daniel Kemmis argues that our loss of capacity for public life (which impedes our ability to resolve crucial issues) parallels our loss of a sense of place. A renewed sense of inhabitation, he maintains -of community rooted in place and of people dwelling in that place...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806124776
• ISBN13: 9780806124773
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Required Reading

Required reading for anyone who wonders how America came to be a divided, polarized nation. Kemmis traces the traditions of American political discourse and relates them to current civic debates. Another book that deals with the need for a sense of community is M. Scott Peck's "The Different Drum: Community-Making and Peace," 1987.

Democratization of community politics has arrived.

The book traces the citizens' involvement in government from the Founding Fathers to today's community meeting at the county courthouse. I enjoyed the coverage of Jefferson and Hamilton's debates and the exploration of the citizens' role in government. Through a historical understanding of the structure of our government (which is shown to discourage consensus and promote litigious solutions), the book espouses the benefits of grassroot community-based solutions to societal problems.