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Author:   James T. Kloppenberg (Charles Warren Professor of American History, Charles Warren Professor of American History, Harvard University)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 20.80cm , Height: 4.80cm , Length: 14.20cm
Weight:   1.043kg
ISBN:  

9780190056711

ISBN 10:   0190056711
Pages:   912
Publication Date:   12 December 2019
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Preface Introduction: The Paradoxes of Democracy in History Part One: Roots and Branches 1. Born in Bloodshed: The Origins Democracy 2. Voices in the Wilderness: Democracies in North America 3. Democracy Deferred: The English Civil War 4. Coup d'Etat: 1688 in England and America Part Two: Trial and Error 5. Sympathy, Will, and Democracy in the Enlightenments of Europe 6. Enlightenment, Faith, and Resistance in America 7. Democracy and American Independence 8. Constituting American Democracy 9. Ratification and Reciprocity Part Three: Failure in Success 10. Delusions of Unity and Collisions with Tradition in France 11. Virtue and Violence in the French Revolution 12. Democracy in the Wake of Terror 13. Diagnosing Cultures of Democracy in America and Europe 14. The Tragic Irony of Democracy Notes

Reviews

"""In exploring the variety of democratic forms that arose in the Atlantic world, Kloppenberg reminds readers that popular self-government was not preordained by modernity nor brought into the world at a single heroic moment.""--Foreign Affairs ""The book dazzles through its range and sweep, offering new interpretations of familiar texts and drawing attention to unfamiliar ones.""--Kunal M. Parker, The Journal of American History ""This ambitious book is much more than a description of successive democratic ideals. Kloppenberg identifies a specific set of principles that characterize democracy and another set of conditions of possibility for a democratic order...The historical narrative illuminates the history of democratic thought and simultaneously advances an argument for specific institutional features of modern democracy.""--James Livesey, American Historical Review ""James T. Kloppenberg's thoughtful and ambitious intellectual history of democracy is most welcome. Toward Democracy: The Struggle for Self-Rule in European and American Thought is learned, well-written, and jargon-free. Its scope is immense...With Toward Democracy, James Kloppenberg has written a strikingly thoughtful work on the democratic experiment. He is an eloquent partisan who writes seriously about self-limitation and the moral foundations of democracy.""--Daniel J. Mahoney, Claremont Review of Books ""An original discussion of how the idea of democracy took root and has been transformed in the West...As [Kloppenberg] observes, the ability of people to govern themselves without an entrenched class of overseers has long been a matter of controversy, though the argument has a chicken-and-egg quality to it . . . Surveying the subsequent political landscape, Kloppenberg allows that the debate has found plenty of room to continue to rage. Elsewhere, he writes of the idea that the people have not just the right, but also the duty to resist 'tyrants who flout divine law,' as well as the idea that the source of authority truly lies in the consent of the governed and 'the conscience of individual citizens.' . . . A book to read, profitably, alongside Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies."" -Kirkus Reviews ""This is intellectual history on a monumental scale. In a time when democracy again seems tragically fragile, James Kloppenberg has given us a sweeping, searching and enormously timely account of its development in European and American thought. Starting with Michel de Montaigne reflecting upon savage religious violence in France, and concluding with Abraham Lincoln trying to bind up America's wounds at the end of the Civil War, Kloppenberg's account is framed by bloodshed, underlining his central argument about just how difficult the struggle has been for democratic ideals to prevail."" -David A. Bell, Lapidus Professor, Department of History, Princeton University ""James Kloppenberg has spent years thinking fruitfully and writing wisely about both the moral underpinnings of democracy and the interaction between American and European thought. Toward Democracy is his magnum opus, and what an extraordinary contribution it is. Our democracies would work better if, as Kloppenberg suggests, we followed St. Paul's injunction to see through each other's eyes and think through each other's minds."" -E. J. Dionne, Jr., author of Why the Right Went Wrong and Our Divided Political Heart ""Learned and magisterial, James Kloppenberg's important history of democracy in modern European and American thought is not just a political story but a moral one, of democracy as an elusive ethical ideal requiring self-restraint and reciprocity."" -Caroline Winterer, Director and Anthony P. Meier Family Professor in the Humanities, Stanford Humanities Center ""This impressive work, a monument to the author's lifetime of historical scholarship, provides a lucid, richly informed narrative about the struggle for democracy across the centuries. . . . Kloppenberg's focus is on the ideas of great thinkers: His book demonstrates the recovery of intellectual history after years of neglect."" -Daniel Walker Howe, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 ""Toward Democracy will surely become a vital guide as citizens try to recalibrate the balance of freedom and equality for our own time."" -Commonweal Magazine ""Kloppenberg braids minor key notes into his symphony of world-altering achievements."" -Shepherd Express ""Let there be no doubt: Toward Democracy makes a major contribution to both scholarship and citizenship in America."" -Harvard Magazine ""With Toward Democracy, James T. Kloppenberg has undertaken nothing less than the story of democracy 'as it was imagined, understood, and practiced' from its origins in ancient Greece to its modern emergence in the 18th and 19th centuries. . . . In a series of finely crafted summaries of European thinkers and their American interpreters (including Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin), he shows how the genius of democracy took shape in the American mind and then asserted itself in independence and in the ratification of the Constitution."" -The Wall Street Journal"

In exploring the variety of democratic forms that arose in the Atlantic world, Kloppenberg reminds readers that popular self-government was not preordained by modernity nor brought into the world at a single heroic moment. --Foreign Affairs The book dazzles through its range and sweep, offering new interpretations of familiar texts and drawing attention to unfamiliar ones. --Kunal M. Parker, The Journal of American History This ambitious book is much more than a description of successive democratic ideals. Kloppenberg identifies a specific set of principles that characterize democracy and another set of conditions of possibility for a democratic order...The historical narrative illuminates the history of democratic thought and simultaneously advances an argument for specific institutional features of modern democracy. --James Livesey, American Historical Review James T. Kloppenberg's thoughtful and ambitious intellectual history of democracy is most welcome. Toward Democracy: The Struggle for Self-Rule in European and American Thought is learned, well-written, and jargon-free. Its scope is immense...With Toward Democracy, James Kloppenberg has written a strikingly thoughtful work on the democratic experiment. He is an eloquent partisan who writes seriously about self-limitation and the moral foundations of democracy. --Daniel J. Mahoney, Claremont Review of Books An original discussion of how the idea of democracy took root and has been transformed in the West...As [Kloppenberg] observes, the ability of people to govern themselves without an entrenched class of overseers has long been a matter of controversy, though the argument has a chicken-and-egg quality to it . . . Surveying the subsequent political landscape, Kloppenberg allows that the debate has found plenty of room to continue to rage. Elsewhere, he writes of the idea that the people have not just the right, but also the duty to resist 'tyrants who flout divine law,' as well as the idea that the source of authority truly lies in the consent of the governed and 'the conscience of individual citizens.' . . . A book to read, profitably, alongside Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies. -Kirkus Reviews This is intellectual history on a monumental scale. In a time when democracy again seems tragically fragile, James Kloppenberg has given us a sweeping, searching and enormously timely account of its development in European and American thought. Starting with Michel de Montaigne reflecting upon savage religious violence in France, and concluding with Abraham Lincoln trying to bind up America's wounds at the end of the Civil War, Kloppenberg's account is framed by bloodshed, underlining his central argument about just how difficult the struggle has been for democratic ideals to prevail. -David A. Bell, Lapidus Professor, Department of History, Princeton University James Kloppenberg has spent years thinking fruitfully and writing wisely about both the moral underpinnings of democracy and the interaction between American and European thought. Toward Democracy is his magnum opus, and what an extraordinary contribution it is. Our democracies would work better if, as Kloppenberg suggests, we followed St. Paul's injunction to see through each other's eyes and think through each other's minds. -E. J. Dionne, Jr., author of Why the Right Went Wrong and Our Divided Political Heart Learned and magisterial, James Kloppenberg's important history of democracy in modern European and American thought is not just a political story but a moral one, of democracy as an elusive ethical ideal requiring self-restraint and reciprocity. -Caroline Winterer, Director and Anthony P. Meier Family Professor in the Humanities, Stanford Humanities Center This impressive work, a monument to the author's lifetime of historical scholarship, provides a lucid, richly informed narrative about the struggle for democracy across the centuries. . . . Kloppenberg's focus is on the ideas of great thinkers: His book demonstrates the recovery of intellectual history after years of neglect. -Daniel Walker Howe, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 Toward Democracy will surely become a vital guide as citizens try to recalibrate the balance of freedom and equality for our own time. -Commonweal Magazine Kloppenberg braids minor key notes into his symphony of world-altering achievements. -Shepherd Express Let there be no doubt: Toward Democracy makes a major contribution to both scholarship and citizenship in America. -Harvard Magazine With Toward Democracy, James T. Kloppenberg has undertaken nothing less than the story of democracy 'as it was imagined, understood, and practiced' from its origins in ancient Greece to its modern emergence in the 18th and 19th centuries. . . . In a series of finely crafted summaries of European thinkers and their American interpreters (including Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin), he shows how the genius of democracy took shape in the American mind and then asserted itself in independence and in the ratification of the Constitution. -The Wall Street Journal

With Toward Democracy, James T. Kloppenberg has undertaken nothing less than the story of democracy 'as it was imagined, understood, and practiced' from its origins in ancient Greece to its modern emergence in the 18th and 19th centuries. . . . In a series of finely crafted summaries of European thinkers and their American interpreters (including Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin), he shows how the genius of democracy took shape in the American mind and then asserted itself in independence and in the ratification of the Constitution. -The Wall Street Journal Let there be no doubt: Toward Democracy makes a major contribution to both scholarship and citizenship in America. -Harvard Magazine Kloppenberg braids minor key notes into his symphony of world-altering achievements. -Shepherd Express Toward Democracy will surely become a vital guide as citizens try to recalibrate the balance of freedom and equality for our own time. -Commonweal Magazine This impressive work, a monument to the author's lifetime of historical scholarship, provides a lucid, richly informed narrative about the struggle for democracy across the centuries. . . . Kloppenberg's focus is on the ideas of great thinkers: His book demonstrates the recovery of intellectual history after years of neglect. -Daniel Walker Howe, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 Learned and magisterial, James Kloppenberg's important history of democracy in modern European and American thought is not just a political story but a moral one, of democracy as an elusive ethical ideal requiring self-restraint and reciprocity. -Caroline Winterer, Director and Anthony P. Meier Family Professor in the Humanities, Stanford Humanities Center James Kloppenberg has spent years thinking fruitfully and writing wisely about both the moral underpinnings of democracy and the interaction between American and European thought. Toward Democracy is his magnum opus, and what an extraordinary contribution it is. Our democracies would work better if, as Kloppenberg suggests, we followed St. Paul's injunction to see through each other's eyes and think through each other's minds. -E. J. Dionne, Jr., author of Why the Right Went Wrong and Our Divided Political Heart This is intellectual history on a monumental scale. In a time when democracy again seems tragically fragile, James Kloppenberg has given us a sweeping, searching and enormously timely account of its development in European and American thought. Starting with Michel de Montaigne reflecting upon savage religious violence in France, and concluding with Abraham Lincoln trying to bind up America's wounds at the end of the Civil War, Kloppenberg's account is framed by bloodshed, underlining his central argument about just how difficult the struggle has been for democratic ideals to prevail. -David A. Bell, Lapidus Professor, Department of History, Princeton University An original discussion of how the idea of democracy took root and has been transformed in the West...As [Kloppenberg] observes, the ability of people to govern themselves without an entrenched class of overseers has long been a matter of controversy, though the argument has a chicken-and-egg quality to it . . . Surveying the subsequent political landscape, Kloppenberg allows that the debate has found plenty of room to continue to rage. Elsewhere, he writes of the idea that the people have not just the right, but also the duty to resist 'tyrants who flout divine law,' as well as the idea that the source of authority truly lies in the consent of the governed and 'the conscience of individual citizens.' . . . A book to read, profitably, alongside Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies. -Kirkus Reviews James T. Kloppenberg's thoughtful and ambitious intellectual history of democracy is most welcome. Toward Democracy: The Struggle for Self-Rule in European and American Thought is learned, well-written, and jargon-free. Its scope is immense...With Toward Democracy, James Kloppenberg has written a strikingly thoughtful work on the democratic experiment. He is an eloquent partisan who writes seriously about self-limitation and the moral foundations of democracy. * Daniel J. Mahoney, Claremont Review of Books * This ambitious book is much more than a description of successive democratic ideals. Kloppenberg identifies a specific set of principles that characterize democracy and another set of conditions of possibility for a democratic order...The historical narrative illuminates the history of democratic thought and simultaneously advances an argument for specific institutional features of modern democracy. * James Livesey, American Historical Review * The book dazzles through its range and sweep, offering new interpretations of familiar texts and drawing attention to unfamiliar ones. * Kunal M. Parker, The Journal of American History * In exploring the variety of democratic forms that arose in the Atlantic world, Kloppenberg reminds readers that popular self-government was not preordained by modernity nor brought into the world at a single heroic moment. * Foreign Affairs *

Author Information

James T. Kloppenberg is Charles Warren Professor of American History at Harvard, where he teaches European and American intellectual history. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Executive Board of the Organization of American Historians, has served as Pitt Professor at the University of Cambridge and as a visiting professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and has held fellowships from the ACLS, NEH, and the Guggenheim, Whiting, and Danforth foundations.

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