Overview

This work describes the drive for empire as part of a larger ideological whole, one both expressing and aggravating a crisis of democracy. This ideology is about far more than America's role in the world - it encompasses an elaborate view of human nature and society. The ideology sets forth its own notion of virtue. It sees in America not only a historically evolved and culturally distinctive society, but a regime based on universal principles that belong to all mankind. The text argues that America is shedding an older sense of the need for restraints on power, as checks provided by the US Constitution are greatly weakened. Influential policymakers and intellectuals want American leaders to have virtually unrestricted power in the world. It explains the ideological underpinnings of this quest for empire and subjects to in-depth analysis and criticism.

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-America the Virtuous diagnosed our contemporary maladies in both foreign policy and domestic life. . . . We Americans pretend we're a peace-loving people and that our wars have all been foisted upon us. But the United States, as Ryn explains, is an Enlightened or Ideological Republic that has slipped its constitutional moorings, and become a Fighting Faith.- --Walter A. McDougall, Huminatas

-America the Virtuous diagnosed our contemporary maladies in both foreign policy and domestic life. . . . We Americans pretend we're a peace-loving people and that our wars have all been foisted upon us. But the United States, as Ryn explains, is an Enlightened or Ideological Republic that has slipped its constitutional moorings, and become a Fighting Faith.- --Walter A. McDougall, Huminatas

<p> America the Virtuous diagnosed our contemporary maladies in both foreign policy and domestic life... We Americans pretend we're a peace-loving people and that our wars have all been foisted upon us. But the United States, as Ryn explains, is an Enlightened or Ideological Republic that has slipped its constitutional moorings, and become a Fighting Faith. <p> - Walter A. McDougall, Huminatas

Ryn (Catholic Univ.) does not like neoconservatives. He does not even like the term. Instead, he refers to the conservative intellectuals who have secured prominent positions in the media and in the Pentagon as the new Jacobins. Like the Jacobins of old, they possess a dangerous arrogance that will lead their nation to disaster... Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --R. A. Strong, Choice An important contribution for those interested in the intense post 9/11 debate on US foreign policy. --David C. Jordan, University of Virginia Claes Ryn paints a truly alarming portrait of the new Jacobinism that now constitutes a powerful ideological force among our nation's elites. . . . Ryn's splendid book is a warning of things to come if we fail to recognize the dangers. --George W. Carey, Georgetown University There is much wisdom in Ryn's book, and the moral realism he calls for and explicates commands respect. . . . Ryn is onto deep truths about the nature of politics. --David C. Henderickson, World Policy Journal

Author Information

Claes G. Ryn is professor of politics at the Catholic University of America where he was chairman of his department. He has taught also at the University of Virginia and Georgetown University. He is chairman of the National Humanities Institute and editor of the journal Humanitas. In 2000 he gave the Distinguished Foreign Scholar Lectures at Beijing University His many books include A Common Human Ground, Will, Imagination, and Reason (2nd., exp. ed. published by Transaction), and Democracy and the Ethical Life.

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