Reconsidering American Liberalism: The Troubled Odyssey Of The Liberal Idea

by James P. Young

Book Overview

Forty years ago Louis Hartz surveyed American political thought in his classic The Liberal Tradition in America. He concluded that American politics was based on a broad liberal consensus made possible by a unique American historical experience, a thesis that seemed to minimize the role of political conflict.Today, with conflict on the rise and with much of liberalism in disarray, James P. Young revisits these questions to reevaluate Hartz's interpretation...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813306485
• ISBN13: 9780813306483
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 456 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.9" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

An extensive, intense, and superb treatise.

The book goes historically through American Political Thought, and I would be hard-pressed to think of anything too important that Young leaves out. He shows a remarkable intensity, his writing style is clear and concise, if a bit too technical for anyone who wants a _quick_ read on the topic (not that a quick read on this topic is possible in any case.) He is, however, not _so_ technical that mainstream audiences should be put off. Quite the contrary, the book is more accessible to mainstream audiences then it needs to be; Young could have gotten away with writing only as an academic, but, because he cares about our Republic as well as academia, he writes in a style accessible to both mainstream and academic audiences. The only flaws I can find are in Young's optomism in the final pages, and his treatment of race. He paints a bleak portrait of our republic, and then seems to cop out a little at the end. This is, however, minor. His treatment of race shows an uncharacteristic niavatee (is that the right spelling) and a far too willing embrace of race neutral solutions to the problem of race. This is something more then a minor quibble, but this problem, however blatant, does not detract from the excellence of the work as a totality. Brief summary: Young challanges various prevailing interpretations of American political thought, and argues that, while many other commentators have it partly right, they all miss the fact that the forces that drive U.S. politics stem from a plurality of sources. Namely, an individualistic tradition, a Protestent religious tradition, and a secular community-oriented tradition.