The Torment of Secrecy
The Background and Consequences of American Secruity Policies
1st Edition
Published on 1. February 1996
259 pages
978-1-4617-2060-7 (ISBN)
Description
Edward Shils's The Torment of Secrecy is one of the few minor classics to emerge from the cold war years of anticommunism and McCarthyism in the United States. Mr. Shils's "torment" is not only that of the individual caught up in loyalty and security procedures; it is also the torment of the accuser and judge. This essay in sociological analysis and political philosophy considers the cold war preoccupation with espionage, sabotage, and subversion at home, assessing the magnitude of such threats and contrasting it to the agitation-by lawmakers, investigators, and administrators-so wildly directed against the "enemy." Mr. Shils's examination of a recurring American characteristic is as timely as ever. "Brief...lucid... brilliant."-American Political Science Review. "A fine, sophisticated analysis of American social metabolism."-New Republic. "An excitingly lucid and intelligent work on a subject of staggering importance...the social preconditions of political democracy."-Social Forces.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-1-4617-2060-7 (9781461720607)
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
Book
02/1996
Ivan R Dee, Inc
€25.20
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Person
Edward A. Shils was distinguished service professor of sociology at the University of Chicago until his death in 1995. He founded the journal Minerva and co-founded the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and was widely regarded as one of the world's most influential social thinkers.
Content
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Foreword
- Part I. Secbecy: Restriction and Overflow
- 1. Publicity, Privacy and Secrecy: Their Equilibrium and its Disruption
- I. The Public and the Private
- II. The Fascination of Secrecy
- III. Secrecy and Publicity
- 2. Two Patterns of Publicity, Privacy, and Secrecy: The United States and Great Britain
- I. Introductory Remarks
- II. The American Pattern: Luxuriating Publicity
- III. Hyperpatriotism and the Fear of Conspiracy
- IV. The British Pattern: The Bulwark of Privacy
- Part II. The Background of Excess
- 3. The Changing World
- I. Introductory Remarks
- II. Insolubility
- III. Dreams of Peace and Harmony: Disillusionment
- IV. The Atomic Bomb and the Secret
- V. The Danger of Subversion by Infiltration: Czechoslovakia and Miss Bentley
- VI. The Insecurity of the Secret and its Intractability
- 4. The Deeper Sources
- I. Hyperpatriotism
- II. Xenophobia
- III. Isolationism
- IV. Fundamentalism
- V. The Fear of Revolution
- VI. Populism
- 5. The Strain of Politics
- I. The Situation of the Legislator
- II. Politician vs. Bureaucrat
- III. Politicians and lntellectuals
- IV. The Alienated Intelligentsia
- V. The Embitterment of Opposition
- VI. The Burden of the Politician: The Vociferous Minority
- VII. The Temptation of the Politician: Populism and Publicity
- VIII. Concluding Remarks
- Part III. Consequences
- 6. The Deformation of Civility
- I. The Pluralistic Society: The Separation and Co-operation of the Spheres
- II. The Rule of Law: The Separation of Powers
- 7. The Autonomy of Science
- I. The Tradition
- II. Science, Politics, and Security
- III. The Impact on Science
- 8. Political Discourse and the Sense of Affinity
- 9. The Private Sphere
- 10. The Protection of Security
- I. Secrecy and Pluralism
- II. The Control of Subversion and Espionage
- III. Maximum Loyalty and Security
- IV. Loyalty
- V. The Benefit of Secrecy
- Part IV. Pluralism against Extremism
- 11. Pluralistic Politics
- 12. Ideological Politics
- 13. A New Alliance
