With essays on U.S. history ranging from the American Revolution
to the dawn of the twenty-first century, "Contested Democracy"
illuminates struggles waged over freedom and citizenship throughout
the American past. Guided by a commitment to democratic citizenship
and responsible scholarship, the contributors to this volume insist
that rigorous engagement with history is essential to a vital
democracy, particularly amid the current erosion of human rights
and civil liberties within the United States and abroad.
Emphasizing the contradictory ways in which freedom has developed
within the United States and in the exercise of American power
abroad, these essays probe challenges to American democracy through
conflicts shaped by race, slavery, gender, citizenship, political
economy, immigration, law, empire, and the idea of the nation
state.
In this volume, writers demonstrate how opposition to the
expansion of democracy has shaped the American tradition as much as
movements for social and political change. By foregrounding those
who have been marginalized in U.S society as well as the powerful,
these historians and scholars argue for an alternative vision of
American freedom that confronts the limitations, failings, and
contradictions of U.S. power. Their work provides crucial insight
into the role of the United States in this latest age of American
empire and the importance of different and oppositional visions of
American democracy and freedom.
At a time of intense disillusionment with U.S. politics and of
increasing awareness of the costs of empire, these contributors
argue that responsible historical scholarship can challenge the
blatant manipulation of discourses on freedom. They call for
careful and conscientious scholarship not only to illuminate
contemporary problems but also to act as a bulwark against
mythmaking in the service of cynical political ends.
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