The politics of heaven : America in fearful times / Earl Shorris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shorris, Earl, 1936-2012.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pessimism--Political aspects.

Pessimism.

Death--Political aspects.

Death.

Fear--Political aspects.

Fear.

Fundamentalism--Political aspects.

Fundamentalism.

United States--Politics and government--2001-2009.

United States.

Politics and government.

Political culture--United States.

Political culture.

Fundamentalism--Political aspects--United States.

Christianity and politics--United States.

Christianity and politics.

Conservatism--United States.

Conservatism.

September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001--Influence.

September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001.

Fear--Political aspects--United States.

Death--Political aspects--United States.

Pessimism--Political aspects--United States.

National characteristics, American.

Physical Description:

ix, 371 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W.W. Norton & Co., [2007]

Summary:

In half a century America has gone from love of God and one's fellow man to fear of God and one's fellow man. A national political movement came to power in the United States in the 1930s. Its antecedents went back to the end of the nineteenth century. The movement, which took its name from a phrase used by Franklin Delano Roosevelt-the New Deal-was not limited to the actions of Roosevelt and his political party; it extended far deeper into the ethics, politics, religion, and aesthetics of the country.

The New Deal no longer exists. This book is about the movement that replaced it. The movement is not a cabal or a secret society. It has no code words or arcana. Every event that contributed to it, every aspect, has always been in plain sight. It is the most powerful one on earth, yet it has neither a name nor a leader. The intent of this book is to define the movement, locate its antecedents, place it in the human-and especially the American-context, estimate how long it can endure, and perhaps even suggest what could stand in its place.

The movement transcends political parties, has no formal structure, no acknowledged leaders, and no sworn loyalty except to God, whose will it interprets according to its fears and desires. Yet it is not an abstraction. It elects our presidents and legislatures and informs their decisions while in office.

The movement started at the end of World War II when nuclear weapons, the Holocaust, and then the Cold War led to the fear of mass death that infected American views of justice, ethics, and global politics. It gradually replaced the New Deal.

As conversations with religious and political leaders, churchgoers, and pollsters make clear, after 9/11 the nation became increasingly pessimistic. Americans more than ever embraced simplistic, self-serving solutions to questions of personal and national destiny. To regain the best in the American character, we must recognize the existence of a new national movement, define it, and learn how it grows. This book is a first step.

Contents:

1 Confluence 5

2 Death 17

3 Dinosaurs 32

4 Silence 48

5 Protestants 75

6 Sects 86

7 Apocalypse 102

8 Philosophers 139

9 Safety 167

10 Rivers 206

11 Pessimism 255

13 Americans 304

14 Optimism 325.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9780393059632

0393059634

OCLC:

122715312