Homeschooler's book reviewed
Cindy White
Today's Review From
Christian Science Monitor
Being America: Liberty, Commerce, and Violence in an American World by
Jedediah Purdy
<<>
Read today's review in HTML at:
http://www.powells.com/csm/review/2003_03_31
<>>
Superpower values
A review by Merle Rubin
Asked what he thought of Western Civilization, India's great leader
Mohandas Gandhi reportedly replied that he thought it would be a good
idea. In Being America, Jedediah Purdy seems to be making a similar
point: Democracy, freedom, tolerance are indeed good ideas, but it
should concern us that sometimes they seem more honored in the breach
than in the observance.
A West Virginian who was schooled at home before going on to Harvard
University and Yale Law School, Purdy made his debut as a social
commentator four years ago with For Common Things, a thoughtful critique
of the chronic irony and disaffection that seem to pervade so much of
American life, undermining our ability to engage in meaningful political
discourse.
Being America reflects similar concerns. It invites us to examine our
assumptions about terms like "capitalism," "globalism," "liberalism,"
"nationalism," and "fundamentalism." It offers a penetrating look at
Adam Smith, James Madison, Edmund Burke, and Alexis de Tocqueville. And
it describes Purdy's travels all over the globe trying to get a fix on
attitudes from Egypt to India to Indonesia. But with so much territory
to cover, Purdy's argument becomes less focused
-- and less original -- than in his earlier book.
Being America is, among other things, an attempt to understand how
America is perceived in the rest of the world, particularly in Asia and
Africa. How is it that we are simultaneously loved and hated, seen as a
model to be emulated ready and a dominating power to be attacked? Much
of what Purdy says is not new, but bears reiteration: People who feel
oppressed by their own corrupt governments may turn their anger against
America, especially if we have supported those regimes. Resentment may
also be fueled by policies that cause economic hardship, as when the
International Monetary Fund pressures debt-ridden countries to slash
social services while protecting the investments of foreign speculators.
Yet even those who resent America, Purdy believes, still have
a desire for the democratic values America symbolizes. In essence, he
argues that we should do a better job of acting in accordance with our
own ideals. But he tends to overlook the fact that people have different
opinions as to which actions best serve those ideals. As a democracy,
ought we to support the rights, say, of a fundamentalist majority to
impose religious law on all its citizens, when this conflicts with other
American principles, such as minority rights and the separation of
church and state?
Then, there's the problem that some people (Americans included) admire
the wrong American values. Sadly, Purdy finds, many an ambitious young
Egyptian, Chinese, or Indonesian wants to emulate American-style
material success without embracing racial and religious tolerance,
separation of church and state, or other principles of liberal
democracy.
While many of Purdy's general conclusions seem reasonable, when he comes
down to specifics, his judgments are more questionable. Looking around
for an example of "illiberal" actions by the current administration, he
makes no mention of its regressive economic policies, pointing instead
to Condoleezza Rice's appeal to the networks in the wake of 9/11 to
refrain from broadcasting material that might endanger national
security.
Curiously, while Purdy's previous book took issue with the assumption
that politics should stand aside and let the marketplace work its magic,
in this book he seems more impressed by the power of commerce to instill
tolerance, openness, and other humane values. In his penultimate
chapter, Purdy muses: "In a 100 years, if economic progress continues
and population growth stabilizes" (he doesn't cite any evidence for
these assumptions) "it is imaginable that there will be...no more
countries where people are willing to work on nearly any terms the
owners and bosses offer. There would still be great inequality, but the
balance of power would have shifted in favor of the workers." Comparing
the squalid condition of the 19th-century London poor with the
prosperous London of today, he implies that if it happened in London, it
can happen in Calcutta.
But he doesn't trouble to note how this change was accomplished. To
imply that economic, social, and political progress is an automatic
byproduct of an "evolving" marketplace is to slight the tireless efforts
of politicians, reformers, preachers, journalists, teachers, labor
unions, sanitary commissions, social workers, enlightened employers,
philanthropic institutions, workman's education programs, labor and
healthcare legislation.
A laudable attempt to provide Americans with a sense of direction in a
bewildering era, Being America is nonetheless a book that's all over the
place in more ways than one.
Merle Rubin reviews books for the Monitor and The Wall Street
Journal....
Read the entire review at: http://www.powells.com/csm/review/2003_03_31
COPIES NOW AVAILABLE*
Hardcover (New) $24.00
http://www.powells.com/csm/cgi-bin/product?isbn=0375413073
*Please note that copies are limited to on-hand quantity; used copies,
in particular, may be available in extremely limited supply.
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Christian Science Monitor
Being America: Liberty, Commerce, and Violence in an American World by
Jedediah Purdy
<<>
Read today's review in HTML at:
http://www.powells.com/csm/review/2003_03_31
<>>
Superpower values
A review by Merle Rubin
Asked what he thought of Western Civilization, India's great leader
Mohandas Gandhi reportedly replied that he thought it would be a good
idea. In Being America, Jedediah Purdy seems to be making a similar
point: Democracy, freedom, tolerance are indeed good ideas, but it
should concern us that sometimes they seem more honored in the breach
than in the observance.
A West Virginian who was schooled at home before going on to Harvard
University and Yale Law School, Purdy made his debut as a social
commentator four years ago with For Common Things, a thoughtful critique
of the chronic irony and disaffection that seem to pervade so much of
American life, undermining our ability to engage in meaningful political
discourse.
Being America reflects similar concerns. It invites us to examine our
assumptions about terms like "capitalism," "globalism," "liberalism,"
"nationalism," and "fundamentalism." It offers a penetrating look at
Adam Smith, James Madison, Edmund Burke, and Alexis de Tocqueville. And
it describes Purdy's travels all over the globe trying to get a fix on
attitudes from Egypt to India to Indonesia. But with so much territory
to cover, Purdy's argument becomes less focused
-- and less original -- than in his earlier book.
Being America is, among other things, an attempt to understand how
America is perceived in the rest of the world, particularly in Asia and
Africa. How is it that we are simultaneously loved and hated, seen as a
model to be emulated ready and a dominating power to be attacked? Much
of what Purdy says is not new, but bears reiteration: People who feel
oppressed by their own corrupt governments may turn their anger against
America, especially if we have supported those regimes. Resentment may
also be fueled by policies that cause economic hardship, as when the
International Monetary Fund pressures debt-ridden countries to slash
social services while protecting the investments of foreign speculators.
Yet even those who resent America, Purdy believes, still have
a desire for the democratic values America symbolizes. In essence, he
argues that we should do a better job of acting in accordance with our
own ideals. But he tends to overlook the fact that people have different
opinions as to which actions best serve those ideals. As a democracy,
ought we to support the rights, say, of a fundamentalist majority to
impose religious law on all its citizens, when this conflicts with other
American principles, such as minority rights and the separation of
church and state?
Then, there's the problem that some people (Americans included) admire
the wrong American values. Sadly, Purdy finds, many an ambitious young
Egyptian, Chinese, or Indonesian wants to emulate American-style
material success without embracing racial and religious tolerance,
separation of church and state, or other principles of liberal
democracy.
While many of Purdy's general conclusions seem reasonable, when he comes
down to specifics, his judgments are more questionable. Looking around
for an example of "illiberal" actions by the current administration, he
makes no mention of its regressive economic policies, pointing instead
to Condoleezza Rice's appeal to the networks in the wake of 9/11 to
refrain from broadcasting material that might endanger national
security.
Curiously, while Purdy's previous book took issue with the assumption
that politics should stand aside and let the marketplace work its magic,
in this book he seems more impressed by the power of commerce to instill
tolerance, openness, and other humane values. In his penultimate
chapter, Purdy muses: "In a 100 years, if economic progress continues
and population growth stabilizes" (he doesn't cite any evidence for
these assumptions) "it is imaginable that there will be...no more
countries where people are willing to work on nearly any terms the
owners and bosses offer. There would still be great inequality, but the
balance of power would have shifted in favor of the workers." Comparing
the squalid condition of the 19th-century London poor with the
prosperous London of today, he implies that if it happened in London, it
can happen in Calcutta.
But he doesn't trouble to note how this change was accomplished. To
imply that economic, social, and political progress is an automatic
byproduct of an "evolving" marketplace is to slight the tireless efforts
of politicians, reformers, preachers, journalists, teachers, labor
unions, sanitary commissions, social workers, enlightened employers,
philanthropic institutions, workman's education programs, labor and
healthcare legislation.
A laudable attempt to provide Americans with a sense of direction in a
bewildering era, Being America is nonetheless a book that's all over the
place in more ways than one.
Merle Rubin reviews books for the Monitor and The Wall Street
Journal....
Read the entire review at: http://www.powells.com/csm/review/2003_03_31
COPIES NOW AVAILABLE*
Hardcover (New) $24.00
http://www.powells.com/csm/cgi-bin/product?isbn=0375413073
*Please note that copies are limited to on-hand quantity; used copies,
in particular, may be available in extremely limited supply.
<<><><>>
Browse reviews from the past five days:
http://www.powells.com/csm/review
<>
Visit Christian Science Monitor at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/
<>
You are currently subscribed to review-a-day as: jwwjr@...
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or send an email with the word "REMOVE" in the subject to
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