To shape a new world : essays on the political philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. / edited by Tommie Shelby and Brandon M. Terry.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Shelby, Tommie, 1967- editor.

Terry, Brandon M., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968--Knowledge and learning--Political science.

King, Martin Luther.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968.

Political science.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968--Influence.

Political science--United States--Philosophy.

Racism--United States--Philosophy.

Racism.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Political science--Philosophy.

Racism--Philosophy.

Philosophy.

United States.

Local Subjects:

Political science--United States--Philosophy.

Physical Description:

x, 449 pages ; 25 cm

Other Title:

Essays on the political philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Martin Luther King, Jr., may be America's most revered political figure, commemorated in statues, celebrations, and streets names around the world. On the fiftieth anniversary of King's assassination, the man and his activism are as close to public consciousness as ever. But despite his stature, the significance of King's writings and political thought remains underappreciated. In To Shape a New World, Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry write that the marginalization of King's ideas reflects a romantic, consensus history that renders the civil rights movement inherently conservative--an effort not at radical reform but at "living up to" enduring ideals laid down by the nation's founders. On this view, King marshaled lofty rhetoric to help redeem the ideas of universal (white) heroes, but produced little original thought. This failure to engage deeply and honestly with King's writings allows him to be conscripted into political projects he would not endorse, including the pernicious form of "color blindness" that insists, amid glaring race-based injustice, that racism has been overcome. Cornel West, Danielle Allen, Martha Nussbaum, Robert Gooding-Williams, and other authors join Shelby and Terry in careful, critical engagement with King's understudied writings on labor and welfare rights, voting rights, racism, civil disobedience, nonviolence, economic inequality, poverty, love, just-war theory, virtue ethics, political theology, imperialism, nationalism, reparations, and social justice. In King's exciting and learned work, the authors find an array of compelling challenges to some of the most pressing political dilemmas of our present, and rethink the legacy of this towering figure.-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Martin Luther King, Jr., and political philosophy / Brandon M. Terry and Tommie Shelby

Part I. Traditions: The Du Bois-Washington debate and the idea of dignity / Robert Gooding-Williams

Moral perfectionism / Paul C. Taylor

The roots of civil disobedience in republicanism and slavery / Bernard R. Boxill

Showdown for nonviolence: the theory and practice of nonviolent politics / Karuna mantena

Part II. Ideals: From anger to love: self-purification and political resistance / Martha C. Nussbaum

The prophetic tension between race consciousness and the ideal of colorblindness / Ronald Sundstrom

Integration, freedom, and the affirmation of life / Danielle Allen

A vindication of voting rights / Derrick Darby

Part III. Justice: Prisons of the forgotten: ghettos and economic injustice / Tommie Shelby

Gender trouble: manhood, inclusion, and justice / Shatema Threadcraft and Brandon M. Terry

Living "in the red": time, debt, and justice / Lawrie Balfour

The costs of violence: militarism, geopolitics, and accountability / Lionel McPherson

Part IV. Conscience: The path of conscientious citizenship / Michele Moody-Adams

Requiem for a dream: the problem-space of black power / Brandon M. Terry

Hope and despair: past and present / Cornel West

Afterword: a sense of somebodiness: dignity as a weapon of love / Jonathan L. Walton.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674980754

0674980751

OCLC:

1002834997