{"product_id":"achieving-our-country-leftist-thought-in-twentieth-century-america-9780674003125","title":"Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America","description":"\u003cp\u003eMust the sins of America's past poison its hope for the future? Lately the American Left, withdrawing into the ivied halls of academe to rue the nation's shame, has answered yes in both word and deed. In \u003ci\u003eAchieving Our Country\u003c\/i\u003e, one of America's foremost philosophers challenges this lost generation of the Left to understand the role it might play in the great tradition of democratic intellectual labor that started with writers like Walt Whitman and John Dewey. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHow have national pride and American patriotism come to seem an endorsement of atrocities--from slavery to the slaughter of Native Americans, from the rape of ancient forests to the Vietnam War? \u003ci\u003eAchieving Our Country\u003c\/i\u003e traces the sources of this debilitating mentality of shame in the Left, as well as the harm it does to its proponents and to the country. At the center of this history is the conflict between the Old Left and the New that arose during the Vietnam War era. Richard Rorty describes how the paradoxical victory of the antiwar movement, ushering in the Nixon years, encouraged a disillusioned generation of intellectuals to pursue \"High Theory\" at the expense of considering the place of ideas in our common life. In this turn to theory, Rorty sees a retreat from the secularism and pragmatism championed by Dewey and Whitman, and he decries the tendency of the heirs of the New Left to theorize about the United States from a distance instead of participating in the civic work of shaping our national future. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the absence of a vibrant, active Left, the views of intellectuals on the American Right have come to dominate the public sphere. This galvanizing book, adapted from Rorty's Massey Lectures of 1997, takes the first step toward redressing the imbalance in American cultural life by rallying those on the Left to the civic engagement and inspiration needed for \"achieving our country.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Richard Rorty\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/1999\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.10h x 5.30w x 0.50d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674003125\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/30\/2000 pg. 24\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRorty, Richard:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Richard Rorty (1931-2007) authored several landmark books and essay collections, including \u003ci\u003ePhilosophy and the Mirror of Nature\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eConsequences of Pragmatism\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eContingency, Irony, and Solidarity\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eAchieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America\u003c\/i\u003e. He taught at Wellesley College, Princeton University, the University of Virginia, and Stanford University.","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Richard Rorty \/ Paperback \/ English","offer_id":47659073405085,"sku":"9780674003125","price":37.71,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_f5014290-6a88-41d3-81c1-061ce92a1c3a.jpg?v=1771349774","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/achieving-our-country-leftist-thought-in-twentieth-century-america-9780674003125","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}