Friends and Citizens

Reviews / Votes

For those of us who know Carey McWilliams, these artfully written essays are a richly deserved tribute to one of our nation's most important voices. As exceptionalism defines America, so too does Carey McWilliams define the exceptional teacher and political theorist. His breadth of understanding about American public life is exceeded only by the degree to which he has inspired generations of students to a larger understanding of their native land. Friendship and citizenship stand at the center of Carey's teaching and writing and those themes are wonderfully echoed in the essays in this extraordinary book. -- Henry Plotkin, Executive Director, New Jersey State Employment & Training Commission Friends and Citizens amplifies the distinctive themes that have marked Carey McWilliams's career. United by their admiration for Carey, political theorists of widely varying approaches and persuasions supply rich fare for examining friendship and citizenship from the Bible and the Greeks to major and lesser known figures in the American political tradition. In McWilliams's spirit, these are essays that pursue the deepest and most mysterious realms of democratic experience. -- Bruce L. Miroff, University of Albany The essays are almost uniformly of high quality, readable, interesting. * Claremont Review of Books * Friends and Citizens is a model festschrift. Particularly recommended are the cluster of essays on friendships and politics. Though it cannot be said successfully to bring order to the "dazzling eccentricities" of Wilson Carey McWiliams' teachings, it does illustrate their capacity to stimulate. * American Political Science Review * For four decades, Wilson Carey McWilliams has been informing and challenging colleagues and students with his insightful and provocative studies of American political thought. This fine collection of essays, tracing themes of friendship and citizenship from classical to contemporary times, and through a broad cross-section of American thinkers, is a testimony to his inspiring influence, and a reminder of the richness of American political theory. -- Michael Lienesch, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill