The time is always now : Black thought and the transformation of US Democracy / Nick Bromell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bromell, Nicholas Knowles, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Politics and government--Philosophy.

African Americans.

African American intellectuals--Political activity--History.

African American intellectuals.

Equality.

History.

Political participation.

African Americans--Politics and government.

Philosophy.

United States--Politics and government--Philosophy.

United States.

Politics and government.

Liberalism--United States--History.

Liberalism.

Equality--United States--History.

Political culture--United States--History.

Political culture.

Physical Description:

190 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, [2013]

Summary:

"Why," asks Nick Bromell, "should the political thought of white Americans remain the only theory to which Americans of all ethnicities turn when constructing and reconstructing their understanding of democracy?" His answer is that political theory should not be constrained in this way. In The Time Is Always Now, Bromell brings to light an underappreciated stream of democratic reflection by black writers and activists from David Walker to Malcolm X. Bromell argues that these thinkers urge Americans to fundamentally re-imagine the nature of democracy and recognize that indignation can be a powerful and productive democratic emotion; that dignity is just as important to democracy as equality and liberty; that national citizenship can be infused with a sense of responsibility to the world; and that faith can actually promote rather than threaten democratic pluralism. A literary critic and intellectual historian, Bromell draws on a wide range of fiction, essays, speeches, and oral histories, deftly synthesizing recent work in U.S. history, literary and cultural studies, and political theory. Like the figures he discusses, he puts this thought to work in the present moment, this "now." Black democratic insights, he shows, are strikingly relevant to the challenges facing US democracy today, and they provide the basis for a new, post-liberal public philosophy with which to turn back the rise of radical conservatism. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 From Indignation to Dignity: What Anger Does for Democracy 13

2 "This Is Personal": The Politics of Relationship in Jim Crow America 37

3 The Art of Citizenship: Nella Larsen, James Baldwin, and the Difficulty of Knowing Others 59

4 "A Greater, Broader Sense of Humanity and World Fellowship": Black Worldly Citizenship from Douglass to Malcolm X 79

5 "Religion in the Sense of Striving for the Infinite": Faith, Pluralism, and Democratic Action 102

6 "The Moment We're In": The Democratic Imagination of Barack Obama 129.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199973439

0199973431

OCLC:

840934550