American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony
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Book Overview
This stunningly persuasive book examines the persistent, radical gap between the promise of American ideals and the performance of American politics. Samuel P. Huntington shows how Americans, throughout their history as a nation, have been united by the democratic creed of liberty, equality, and hostility to authority. At the same time he reveals how, inevitably, these ideals have been perennially frustrated through the institutions and hierarchies required to carry on the essential functions of governing a democratic society.
From this antagonism between the ideals of democracy and the realities of power have risen four great political upheavals in American history. Every third generation, Huntington argues, Americans have tried to reconstruct their institutions to make them more truly reflect deeply rooted national ideals. Moving from the clenched fists and mass demonstrations of the 1960s, to the moral outrage of the Progressive and Jacksonian Eras, back to the creative ideological fervor of the American Revolution, he incisively analyzes the dissenters' objectives. All, he pungently writes, sought to remove the fundamental disharmony between the reality of government in America and the ideals on which the American nation was founded. Huntington predicts that the tension between ideals and institutions is likely to increase in this country in the future. And he reminds us that the fate of liberty and democracy abroad is intrinsically linked to the strength of our power in world affairs. This brilliant and controversial analysis deserves to rank alongside the works of Tocqueville, Bryce, and Hofstadter and will become a classic commentary on the meaning of America.Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0674030214
ISBN13:9780674030213
Release Date:February 2004
Publisher:Belknap Press
Length:320 Pages
Weight:1.07 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 6.5" x 9.3"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
One of my favorite books dealing with US politics....
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
In this book, Samuel Huntington, who, whether one likes him or hates him has been one of the most commented upon political scientists of the last generation takes on American politics: their realities versus their illusions, promise versus practicalities. And on the whole, he is successful at raising issues: although the book is almost twenty years old, it has managed to stay surprisingly current and valid and still remains though provoking. I'd reccomend this book to anyone interested in US politics or current affairs but especially to people on the liberal/Huntington-hating typically side of the spectrum, because after reading this book, one might become much more pro- this author. It's striking at times how much he seems like Howard Zinn, etc. in this particular book.....
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