The liberal persuasion : Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and the challenge of the American past / edited by John Patrick Diggins.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Diggins, John P., editor.

Series:

Princeton legacy library.

Princeton Legacy Library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Liberalism--United States--History--20th century.

Liberalism.

Historians--United States.

Historians.

United States--Historiography.

United States.

United States--Foreign relations--1945-1989.

United States--Foreign relations--1989-.

Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. (Arthur Meier), 1917-2007.

Schlesinger, Arthur M.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (333 pages) : illustrations, tables.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, [New Jersey] : Princeton University Press, 1997.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

For more than half a century, the celebrated historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., has been the guiding force of American liberalism, both intellectually and in practice. The author of many critically acclaimed books, Schlesinger vigorously defended FDR's New Deal policies in his earliest writings and later served as a close advisor to President John F. Kennedy. In this volume, twenty of today's most eminent historians join forces to explore Schlesinger's unique brand of liberalism--one that has steered clear of ideological extremism and social fragmentation, favoring instead pluralism and the pragmatic use of state power. By engaging the reader in various aspects of his career and intellectual pursuits, these essays offer an exhilarating journey through American political history, from the Jackson era to multiculturalism, while demonstrating historical writing at its best. The volume opens with essays on Schlesinger as a historian and a political participant, contributed by William E. Leuchtenburg, Hugh Thomas, George Kennan, John Kenneth Galbraith, and John Morton Blum. The influence of the Jackson era is explored by Robert Remini, Sean Wilentz, and Jean V. Matthews. In a section on modern liberalism and governance, such topics as the New Deal, the Great Society, and the fate of liberalism under the Carter administration are discussed by Alan Brinkley, Kathleen D. McCarthy, Fred Siegel, Leo P. Ribuffo, and Richard C. Wade. Betty Miller Unterberger and Ronald Steel comment on liberalism and the Cold War. Louis Menand and Eugene D. Genovese explore ideological controversies within liberalism, including pragmatic liberalism and relativism and multiculturalism. In the final section, George Cotkin, Neil Jumonville, and Sir Isaiah Berlin write on three figures whom Schlesinger greatly admired: William James, Henry Steel Commager, and Edmund Wilson.Originally published in 1997.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction. The Vital Historian / Diggins, John Patrick / Lind, Michael

Part One: History as a Vocation

1. The Historian and the Public Realm / Leuchthnburg, William E.

2. The Historian as Political Advisor / Thomas, Hugh

3. The Historian and the Cycles of History / Kennan, George F.

4. The Lessons of an Historian / Galbraith, John Kenneth

5. Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.: Tory Democrat / Blum, John Morton

Part Two: The Era of Andrew Jackson

6. The Age of Jackson and its Impact / Remini, Robert

7. Jacksonian Abolitionist: The Conversion of William Leggett / Wilentz, Sean

8. Race, Sex, and the Dimensions of Liberty in Antebellum America / Matthews, Jean V.

Part Three: Modern Liberalism and the Challenge of Governance

9. The Two World Wars and the Idea of the State / Brinkley, Alan

10. Women, Politics, Philanthropy: Some Historical Origins of the Welfare State / McCarthy, Kathleen D.

11. The New Left, the New Right, and the New Deal / Siegel, Fred

12."Malaise" Revisited: Jimmy Carter and the Crisis of Confidence / Ribuffo, Leo P.

13. Historical Analogies and Public Policy: The Black and Immigrant Experience in Urban America / Wade, Richard C.

Part Four: America and the World

14. Woodrow Wilson and the Cold War / Unterberger, Betty Miller

15. America after the Cold War: Global Order, Democracy, and Domestic Consent / Steel, Ronald

Part Five: Ideological Controversies

16. Christopher Lasch's Quarrel with Liberalism / Menand, Louis

17. Black Studies as Academic Discipline and Political Struggle / Genovese, Eugene D.

Part Six: Intellectual Heroes

18. William James and the Strenuous Responsibility of the Liberal Intellectual / Cotkin, George

19. Henry Steele Commager's Activist History / Jumonville, Neil

20. Edmund Wilson at Oxford / Berlin, Isaiah

Selected Bibliography of Works by Schlesinger

Contributors

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9780691654287

069165428X

9780691608617

069160861X

OCLC:

1016830923