
Town Meeting
Practicing Democracy in Rural New England
University of Massachusetts Press
Will be published approx. on 30. January 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
344 pages
978-1-55849-855-6 (ISBN)
Description
At Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln described government by the people as the great task remaining before us. Many citizens of modern America, frustrated and disheartened, are tempted to despair of realizing that ideal. Yet, it is a project still alive in parts of New England. This book traces the origins of town-meeting democracy in Ashfield, a community of just under 2,000 people in the foothills of the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. Donald Robinson begins by recounting several crises at the town's founding in the eighteenth century that helped to shape its character. He shows how the town has changed since then and examines how democratic self-government functions in the modern context. The picture is not pretty. Self-government carries no guarantees, and Ashfield is no utopia. Human failings are abundantly on display. Leaders mislead. Citizens don't pay attention and they forget hard-earned lessons. But in this candid account of the operation of democracy in one New England town, Robinson demonstrates that for better and for worse, Ashfield governs itself democratically. Citizens control the actions of their government. Not everyone participates, but all may, and everyone who lives in the town must accept and obey what town meeting decides.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Massachusetts
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
sewn/stitched
Illustrations
24 illustrations, 6 maps
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
444 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-55849-855-6 (9781558498556)
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
Person
DONALD L. ROBINSON is professor emeritus of government and American studies at Smith College and the author of numerous books on American politics and history. He served on the select board of Ashfield during the 1990s.
Author/originator