Richard Hofstadter
Paperback | Pages: 434 pages Rating: 4.15 | 2379 Users | 243 Reviews
Particularize About Books Anti-Intellectualism in American Life
| Title | : | Anti-Intellectualism in American Life |
| Author | : | Richard Hofstadter |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 434 pages |
| Published | : | 1964 by Vintage (first published February 12th 1963) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Politics. Philosophy. Sociology. North American Hi.... American History. Education |
Narration Toward Books Anti-Intellectualism in American Life
Anti-intellectualism in American Life was awarded the 1964 Pulitzer Prize in Non-Fiction. It is a book which throws light on many features of the American character. Its concern is not merely to portray the scorners of intellect in American life, but to say something about what the intellectual is, and can be, as a force in a democratic society.Hofstadter set out to trace the social movements that altered the role of intellect in American society from a virtue to a vice. In so doing, he explored questions regarding the purpose of education and whether the democratization of education altered that purpose and reshaped its form.
In considering the historic tension between access to education and excellence in education, Hofstadter argued that both anti-intellectualism and utilitarianism were consequences, in part, of the democratization of knowledge.
Moreover, he saw these themes as historically embedded in America's national fabric, an outcome of her colonial European and evangelical Protestant heritage. Anti-intellectualism and utilitarianism were functions of American cultural heritage, not necessarily of democracy.
Details Books Concering Anti-Intellectualism in American Life
| Original Title: | Anti-Intellectualism in American Life |
| ISBN: | 0394703170 (ISBN13: 9780394703176) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (1964), National Book Award Finalist for History and Biography (1964) |
Rating About Books Anti-Intellectualism in American Life
Ratings: 4.15 From 2379 Users | 243 ReviewsJudgment About Books Anti-Intellectualism in American Life
I first read this book in my Intellectual History of the United States class when I was in college a hundred years ago and I've felt the need to revisit it about every decade. In light of the level of what constitutes political, social, and cultural discourse in the United States today and out of total frustration with my college students who have emerged from schools that want them to "feel good about themselves" and have both lowered expectations and inflated grades, it was time to pull it offApparently we've been here before. Many times. Fascinating read that perhaps should have been two books (the last section on education may have been better served as its own volume) - a history of America's distrust and occasional appreciation of 'experts' and the 'elite', from its colonial days through the Eisenhower/McCarthy years. Just think: Hofstadter wrote this in the 60s, and he's saying the same things that people are saying in the media now. Ugh.
This was my second go-round on this book and in 2014, Hofstadter's treatment of American disdain for intellectuals, in particular, and for ideas, more generally, reads like a warning, a jeremiad, even, regarding the downward slide of our political and aesthetic culture. When it was first published, in the early 1960s, it called on America to close the door on McCarthyism and for the Republican Party to open its collective mind to an awareness of where it was dragging American society and
This is an exceptional book. First published in 1964, it is still very much worth reading as a primer on how America got to where it is today, with the President, his party, and almost half the country having enthusiastically embraced anti-intellectual dumbassedness. If there is any hopefulness to be found, it is that this is not a new condition. All the way back to the colonial days, before the Revolution, anti-intellectualism was already playing a large part in religious and political life,
Written in the early 1960's this book has shaped my thinking like few others. Goes a long way to explain the history of intellectual life in America, examining religion, formal education, business, and politics. If we wonder why Americans seem "dumber" than ever, this book offers an argument that stands up well today. One of my all-time favorites.
I read Hofstadter's "The American Political Tradition" in high school, and I'm kind of surprised in retrospect that an author as critical of (honest about?) America was allowed into the halls of that stodgy institution. But, good news, dear reader: everyone was either too sleepy or disaffected (or high) to do the readings, so we never got at any true criticism. I think it would have been harder to avoid had we read this book.It started off great, accounting for the suspicion of the learned that
So the question isn't where did the current anti-intellectualism come from. It's: where did it go for a few decades?Hofstadter's mission is to explain how we ended up here:One reason why the political intelligence of our time is so incredulous and uncomprehending in the presence of the right-wing mind is that it does not reckon fully with the essentially theological concern that underlies right-wing views of the world. Characteristically, the political intelligence, if it is to operate at all as
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