The politics of petulance : America in an age of immaturity
(Book)
Author
Published
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Status
Westover - Adult Nonfiction
320.51 WOLFE
1 available
320.51 WOLFE
1 available
Copies
Location | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Westover - Adult Nonfiction | 320.51 WOLFE | Available |
Description
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More Details
Published
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Format
Book
Physical Desc
ix, 210 pages ; 24 cm
Language
English
Notes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description
How did we get into this mess? Every morning, many Americans ask this as, with a cringe, they pick up their phones and look to see what terrible thing President Trump has just said or done. Regardless of what he's complaining about or whom he's attacking, a second question comes hard on the heels of the first: How on earth do we get out of this? Alan Wolfe has an answer. In The Politics of Petulance he argues that the core of our problem isn't Trump himself--it's that we are mired in an age of political immaturity. That immaturity is not grounded in any one ideology, nor is it a function of age or education. It's in an abdication of valuing the character of would-be leaders; it's in a failure to acknowledge, even welcome the complexity of government and society; and it's in a loss of the ability to be skeptical without being suspicious. In 2016, many Americans were offered tantalizingly simple answers to complicated problems, and, like children being offered a lunch of Pop Rocks and Coke, they reflexively--and mindlessly--accepted. The good news, such as it is, is that we've been here before. Wolfe reminds us that we know how to grow up and face down Trump and other demagogues. Wolfe reinvigorates the tradition of public engagement exemplified by midcentury intellectuals such as Richard Hofstadter, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Lionel Trilling--and he draws lessons from their battles with McCarthyism and conspiratorial paranoia. Wolfe mounts a powerful case that we can learn from them to forge a new path for political intervention today. Wolfe has been thinking and writing about American life and politics for decades. He sees this moment as one of real risk. But he's not throwing up his hands; he's bracing us. We've faced demagogues before. We can find the intellectual maturity to fight back. Yes we can.
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Citations
APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)
Wolfe, A. (2018). The politics of petulance: America in an age of immaturity . The University of Chicago Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Wolfe, Alan, 1942-. 2018. The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity. The University of Chicago Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Wolfe, Alan, 1942-. The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)Wolfe, Alan. The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.
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