Contested Truths
Keywords in American Politics since Independence
Published on 1. March 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
270 pages
978-0-674-16711-7 (ISBN)
Description
Contention, argument, and power have always been the tradition in American political talk. Any country that began in a revolution was bound to have this history. But the language of argument uses particular words with particular, sometimes shifting, meanings and to know what they are and what they meant over time is a critical contribution to political history. It is true that politicians may act as though they are part of no particular ideological tradition, but history shows that, more often than not, they use an understood meaning to enhance their actions. As Daniel T. Rodgers shows in this book, rhetoric has consequences.
Reviews / Votes
A witty, erudite, and original synthesis, which in spite of its brevity gives density and connectedness to two centuries of American political thought. -- John Higham, The Johns Hopkins University Daniel Rodgers offers a vivid retelling of the American political experience as a contest of words and a contest for ideas by a people to whom language had become an indispensable tool of revolution and statecraft. -- Benjamin Barber, Rutgers University An absolutely first-rate intellectual treat. I cannot remember when I so enjoyed a book about ideas, history, and politics. A must-read for anyone interested in how and why Americans have used and transformed the language of politics for 200 years. -- Isaac Kramnick, Cornell University Contested Truths is the best synthesis and interpretation of American political ideas since the work of [Richard] Hofstadter... Rodgers has made a major contribution to intellectual history. -- Tom BenderMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 133 mm
Weight
331 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-674-16711-7 (9780674167117)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Daniel T. Rodgers is Henry Charles Lea Professor of History at Princeton University.
Content
PROLOGUE Words and Acts Tools and Paradigms Keywords UTILITY The Puzzling Failure of Jeremy Bentham Antimetaphysics Influence Quicksands of Expediency The Frame of Political Argument NATURAL RIGHTS Declarations A State of Nature Delimiting Rights Certain Political Rituals Revival THE PEOPLE Mechanics and Majorities Popular Sovereignty Revolutionary Assemblies The Identity of the People GOVERNMENT The Rhetoric of Counterrevolution A Christian Party In Politics Property Reconsidered Human Rights and Sacred Obligations The People Deposed THE STATE Professional Political Science Constitutional Law The Grammar of a Profession Webs of Contradiction The Uses of an Abstraction INTERESTS Highbrow and Lowbrow The Common Good Utilitarianism Redivivus Empirical Political Science The Disappearing Public The Rhetoric of Realism EPILOGUE The Conflations of Freedom Rights without Retrospection Public Talk Notes Guide To Further Reading Index