Now widely regarded as the best available guide to the study of the
Founding, the first edition of Interpreting the Founding provided
summaries and analyses of the leading interpretive frameworks that
have guided the study of the Founding since the publication of
Charles Beard's An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution in
1913. For this new edition, Gibson has revised and updated his
study, including his comprehensive bibliography, and also added a
new concluding chapter on the "Unionist Paradigm" or "Federalist
Interpretation" of the Constitution.
As in the original work, Gibson argues in the new edition that
scholarship on the Founding is no longer steered by a single
dominant approach or even by a set of questions that control its
direction. He features insightful extended discussions of
pioneering works by leading scholars of the Founding--including
Louis Hartz, Bernard Bailyn, Gordon Wood, and Garry Wills--that
best exemplify different schools of interpretation. He focuses on
six approaches that have dominated the modern study of the
Founding-Progressive, Lockean/liberal, Republican, Scottish
Enlightenment, multicultural, and multiple traditions
approaches--before concluding with the Unionist or Federalist
paradigm. For each approach, Gibson traces its fundamental
assumptions, revealing deeper ideological and methodological
differences between schools of thought that, on the surface, seem
to differ only about the interpretation of historical facts.
While previous accounts have treated the study of the Founding
as the sequential replacement of one paradigm by another, Gibson
argues that all of these interpretations survive as alternative and
still viable approaches. By examining the strengths and weaknesses
of each approach and showing how each has simultaneously
illuminated and masked core truths about the American Founding, he
renders a balanced account of the continuing and very vigorous
debate over the origins and foundations of the American
republic.
Brimming with intellectual vigor and a based on both a wide and
deep reading in the voluminous literature on the subject, Gibson's
new edition is sure to reinforce this remarkable book's reputation
while winning new converts to his argument.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
