The Great Exception
The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics
Published on 18. April 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-691-17573-7 (ISBN)
Description
Where does the New Deal fit in the big picture of American history? What does it mean for us today? What happened to the economic equality it once engendered? In The Great Exception, Jefferson Cowie provides new answers to these important questions. In the period between the Great Depression and the 1970s, he argues, the United States government achieved a unique level of equality, using its considerable resources on behalf of working Americans in ways that it had not before and has not since. If there is to be a comparable battle for collective economic rights today, Cowie argues, it needs to build on an understanding of the unique political foundation for the New Deal. Anyone who wants to come to terms with the politics of inequality in the United States will need to read The Great Exception.
Reviews / Votes
"Cowie--like the best work of the mid-century historian Richard Hofstadter, whom he frequently cites--has written not so much a work of American history as a brilliant meditation about a central dilemma of American history."--In These Times "Jefferson Cowie offers a grand interpretation of the road blocks to change... A rich survey, studded with insights culled from a generation of scholarship."--Michael Kazin, Bookforum "Cowie sings the achievements of the New Deal in a tragic register, emphasizing its transformative power while lingering on its compromises... Cowie's vision is coherent and arresting, and helps to make sense of recurring puzzles in American political experience. As a literary-intellectual posture, moreover, his fatalism is downright infectious."--Democracy "Important."--Harold Meyerson, American Prospect "One of the year's most important political books."--E.J. Dione Jr., Washington Post "Engaging and highly readable, Cowie's book provides an excellent, thought-provoking introduction to American economic and political history."--ChoiceMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
10 halftones. 3 line illus.
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
336 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-17573-7 (9780691175737)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2019
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€18.49
Available for download
Person
Jefferson Cowie is the James G. Stahlman Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class. His work has also appeared in such publications as the New York Times, the New Republic, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Content
PROLOGUE Philadelphia, 1936 1 INTRODUCTION Rethinking the New Deal in American History 9 CHAPTER 1 The Question of Democracy in the Age of Incorporation 35 CHAPTER 2 Kaleidoscope of Reform 63 CHAPTER 3 Working-Class Interregnum 91 CHAPTER 4 Constraints and Fractures in the New Liberalism 123 CHAPTER 5 The Great Exception in Action 153 CHAPTER 6 Toward a New Gilded Age 179 CHAPTER 7 The Era of Big Government Is Not Over (But the New Deal Probably Is) 209 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 231 NOTES 235 INDEX 263