Intellectuals in Action: The Origins of the New Left and Radical Liberalism, 1945-1970

Mattson, Kevin

ISBN 10: 027102206X / ISBN 13: 9780271022062

Editore: Penn State University Press, 2002

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Codice articolo WAL-G-0f-002326

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Intellectuals in Action: The Origins of the New Left and Radical Liberalism, 1945-1970
• Editore: Penn State University Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2002
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 027102206X
• ISBN 13: 9780271022062
• Rilegatura: Brossura
• Condizione: Very Good

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Born in 1966&; a generation removed from the counterculture&; Kevin Mattson came of political age in the conservative Reagan era. In an effort to understand contemporary political ambivalence and the plight of radicalism today&; Mattson looks back to the ideas that informed the protest&; social movements&; and activism of the 1960s.

To accomplish its historical reconstruction&; the book combines traditional intellectual biography&;including thorough archival research&;with social history to examine a group of intellectuals whose thinking was crucial in the formulation of New Left political theory. These include C. Wright Mills&; the popular radical sociologist; Paul Goodman&; a practicing Gestalt therapist and anarcho-pacifist; William Appleman Williams&; the historian and famed critic of "American empire"; Arnold Kaufman&; a "radical liberal" who deeply influenced the thinking of the SDS. The book discusses not only their ideas&; but also their practices&; from writing pamphlets and arranging television debates to forming left-leaning think tanks and organizing teach-ins protesting the Vietnam War. Mattson argues that it is this political engagement balanced with a commitment to truth-telling that is lacking in our own age of postmodern acquiescence.

Challenging the standard interpretation of the New Left as inherently in conflict with liberalis&; Mattson depicts their relationship as more complicated&; pointing to possibilities for a radical liberalism today. Intellectual and social historians&; as well as general readers either fascinated by the 1960s protest movements or actively seeking an alternative to our contemporary political malais&; will embrace Mattson&;s book and its promise to shed new light on a time period known for both its intriguing conflicts and its enduring consequences.

Informazioni sull?autore

Kevin Mattson is Associate Professor of American History at Ohio University. His previous book, Creating a Democratic Public: The Struggle for Urban Participatory Democracy During the Progressive Era (1998), is also available from Penn State Press.