Description
Book SynopsisA complex, intellectually jarring, and valuable book, one which reveals how early America became her true self as we now know her. Kirkus Reviews
The United States is currently experiencing a crisis of citizenship and democracy. For many of us, there is a sense of forlornness caused by losing sight of human connectedness and the bonds of community. Originally published in 1973, and long out of print, The Idea of Fraternity in America is a resonant call to reclaim and restore the communal bonds of democracy by one of the most important political theorists of the twentieth century, Wilson Carey McWilliams.
This sprawling and majestic book offers a comprehensive and original interpretation of the whole range of American historical and political thought, from seventeenth-century White Puritanism to twentieth-century Black American political thought. In one sense, it is a long and sustained reflection on the American political tradition, with side glances
Trade Review
“A treasure of political and cultural reflection awaits the reader in the form of this splendid new edition of Wilson Carey McWilliams’s The Idea of Fraternity in America. This is political theory with a soul that speaks to reflective citizens as such.” —Daniel J. Mahoney, author of The Statesman as Thinker
"Wilson Carey McWilliams remains the great modern critic of American liberalism, while also recognizing its crucial virtues. As Susan McWilliams Barndt says in her insightful and moving introduction, 'fraternity is a critical part of the American inheritance, providing ballast and inspiration against the prevailing trajectory of things.'” —Marc Landy, author of American Government
"The reissue of Wilson Carey McWilliams’s The Idea of Fraternity in America is a welcome opportunity for a new generation of readers to discover McWilliams’s unique gifts. No one was better at understanding the uniquely difficult role that literary genius plays in a democratic regime—the 'second voice' in the conversation about the meaning and the possibility of American democracy." —Dennis Hale, author of The Jury in America
"One of the most impressive published dissertations of the twentieth century. The fiftieth-anniversary edition from the University of Notre Dame Press is well worth the long read." —Law & Liberty
Table of ContentsPreface
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Clan, Tribe, and City
2. Fraternity and the Myths of Identity
3. Fraternity and Modern Politics
4. The Ambiguous Ideal: Fraternity in America
5. Puritanism: The Covenants of Fraternity
6. John Winthrop: The Statesman
7. The Fruits of the Earth: Cain in New England
8. The American Enlightenment
9. The Jeffersonians
10. The Divided House
11. Emerson and Thoreau: The All and the One
12. Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Citizen
13. Herman Melville: The Pilgrim
14. The Gilded Age
15. Whitman and Bellamy: Nations of Lovers
16. Mark Twain: The Teacher
17. Old Americans and New
18. Generations of the Lost
19. Fearlessness and Fear: The New Deal and After
20. Native Sons
Epilogue: A Note on Generation and Regeneration
Bibliographic Notes
Index
