Achieving Our Country : Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America Summary and Reviews

Achieving Our Country : Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America
by Richard Rorty

Achieving Our Country : Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America
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Book Summary Information

Author: Richard Rorty
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1998-04-15
ISBN: 067400311X
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Harvard University Press

Book Reviews of Achieving Our Country : Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America

Book Review: Informative and Inspiring Essays on Renewing "the Left"
Summary: 4 Stars

In this collection, which includes his three Massey lectures delivered in 1997 and two related essays from 1995, Richard Rorty argues that the once vital "left," to which America is deeply indebted, has sadly rendered itself irrelevant. Rorty critiques members of the (post)modern left who, embittered by pervasive injustice, have eschewed meaningful campaigns for political change in favor of too-abstract theory, too-utopian "movements" and too-pessimistic contempt for those who would work "within the system" for necessary reform. The American Left, Rorty argues, has become "spectatorial" rather than "participatory," able to comment upon the nation's descent into oligarchy but stymied by view that our nation's sins are so ingrained as to place us beyond redemption.

Drawing on figures such as Walt Whitman, John Dewey, Abraham Lincoln, Irving Howe, Herbert Croly, and Harold Bloom, Rorty conjures an inspiring vision of a left that reconciles economic and cultural progressivism and becomes once again a participatry, progressive, and relevant force in American politics.

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