Conserving America? : essays on present discontents / Patrick J. Deneen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Deneen, Patrick J., 1964- author.

Series:

Dissident American thought today series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Conservatism--United States.

Conservatism.

United States.

Physical Description:

213 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

South Bend, Indiana : St. Augustines Press, [2016]

Summary:

"Opinions about America have taken a decisive turn in the early part of the 21st century. Some 70% of Americans believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction, and half the country thinks that its best days are behind it. Most believe that their children will be less prosperous and have fewer opportunities than previous generations. Evident to all is that the political system is broken and social fabric is fraying, particularly as a growing gap between wealthy haves and left-behind have-nots increases, a hostile divide widens between faithful and secular, and deep disagreement persists over America's role in the world. Wealthy Americans continue to build gated enclaves in and around select cities where they congregate, while growing numbers of Christians compare our times to those of the late Roman empire, and ponder a fundamental withdrawal from wider American society into updated forms of Benedictine monastic communities. The signs of the times suggest that much is wrong with America. This collection of thematic essays by Notre Dame political theorist and public intellectual Patrick Deneen addresses the questions, is there something worth conserving in America, and if so, is America capable of conservation? Can a nation founded in a revolutionary moment that led to the founding of the first liberal nation be thought capable of sustaining and passing on virtues and practices that ennoble? Or is America inherently a nation that idolizes the new over the old, license over ordered liberty, and hedonism over self-rule? Can America conserve what is worth keeping for it to remain--or even become--a Republic?"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

I Hope amid the Ruins

1 Patriotic Vision: Thoughts After 9/11 14

2 Ordinary Virtue 27

3 Citizenship as a Vocation 49

4 Awakening from the American Dream 70

II Thinking Conservatively

5 Why You Should Not Eat the Person Sitting Next to You 95

6 Progress and Memory: Making Whole Our Historical Sense 116

7 What Is Conservatism? 137

8 Is There a Conservative Tradition in America? 155

III American Twilight?

9 Community and Freedom OR Individualism and Statism 169

10 Choosing the Road to Serfdom 181

11 The Future of Democracy in America 187

12 After Liberalism 196.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781587319150

1587319152

OCLC:

949760184

Publisher Number:

40026637508