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OverviewHow do American intellectuals try to achieve their political and social goals? By what means do they articulate their hopes for change? John McGowan seeks to identify the goals and strategies of contemporary humanistic intellectuals who strive to shape the politics and culture of their time. In a lively mix of personal reflection and shrewd analysis, McGowan visits the sites of intellectual activity (scholarly publications, professional conferences, the classroom, and the university) and considers the hazards of working within such institutional contexts to effect change outside the academy. Democracy's Children considers the historical trajectory that produced current intellectual practices. McGowan links the growing prestige of ""culture"" since 1800 to the growth of democracy and the obsession with modernity and explores how intellectuals became both custodians and creators of culture. Caught between fears of culture's irrelevance and dreams of its omnipotence, intellectuals pursue a cultural politics that aims for wide-ranging social transformations. For better or worse, McGowan says, the humanities are now tied to culture and to the university. The opportunities and frustrations attendant on this partnership resonate with the larger successes and failures of contemporary democratic societies. His purpose in this collection of essays is to illuminate the conditions under which intellectuals in a democracy work and at the same time to promote intellectual activities that further democratic ideals. Full Product DetailsAuthor: John McGowanPublisher: Cornell University Press Imprint: Cornell University Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.454kg ISBN: 9781501728075ISBN 10: 1501728075 Pages: 262 Publication Date: 15 August 2018 Recommended Age: From 18 years Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsDemocracy's Children is one of the more distinguished recent examples of that curious academic genre, the book of linked essays. It is also one of the most consistently provocative and contrarian academic books I have yet come across. --Susan Read Baker South Atlantic Review Democracy's Children is a meditation on how intellectuals might try to achieve their political and social goals in the early twenty-first century. --William G. Tierney Academe Democracy's Children is one of the more distinguished recent examples of that curious academic genre, the book of linked essays. It is also one of the most consistently provocative and contrarian academic books I have yet come across. -- Susan Read Baker * South Atlantic Review * Democracy's Children is a meditation on how intellectuals might try to achieve their political and social goals in the early twenty-first century. -- William G. Tierney * Academe * Democracy's Children is a meditation on how intellectuals might try to achieve their political and social goals in the early twenty-first century. -- William G. Tierney * Academe * Democracy's Children is one of the more distinguished recent examples of that curious academic genre, the book of linked essays. It is also one of the most consistently provocative and contrarian academic books I have yet come across. -- Susan Read Baker * South Atlantic Review * Author InformationJohn McGowan is John W. and Anna H. Hanes Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of Postmodernism and its Critics, also from Cornell University Press, and Representation and Revelation: Victorian Realism from Carlyle to Yeats. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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