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Recently there has been a renewed interest in moral inquiry among American scholars in a variety of disciplines. This collection of accessible essays by scholars in philosophy, political theory, psychology, history, literary studies, sociology, religious studies, anthropology, and legal studies affords a view of the current state of moral inquiry in the American academy, and it offers fresh departures for ethically informed, interdisciplinary scholarship. Seeking neither to reduce values to facts nor facts to values, these essays aim to foster discussion about inquiry and moral judgment, and demonstrate that moral inquiry need not be either dispassionate and value-free or moralistic and preachy.
Recently there has been a renewed interest in moral inquiry among American scholars in a variety of disciplines. This collection of accessible essays by scholars in philosophy, political theory, psychology, history, literary studies, sociology, religious studies, anthropology, and legal studies affords a view of the current state of moral inquiry in the American academy, and it offers fresh departures for ethically informed, interdisciplinary scholarship. Seeking neither to reduce values to facts nor facts to values, these essays aim to foster discussion about inquiry and moral judgment, and demonstrate that moral inquiry need not be either dispassionate and value-free or moralistic and preachy.
In a stunning feat of scholarship, insight, and engaging prose, Lincoln's Body explores how a president ungainly in body and downright "ugly" of aspect came to mean so much to us. The very roughness of Lincoln's appearance made him seem all the more common, one of us-as did his sense of humor about his own awkward physical nature. Nineteenth-century African Americans felt deep affection for their "liberator" as a "homely" man who did not hold himself apart. During Reconstruction, Southerners felt a nostalgia for the humility of Lincoln, whom they envisioned as a "conciliator." Later, teachers glorified Lincoln as a symbol of nationhood that would appeal to poor immigrants. Monument makers focused not only on the man's gigantic body but also on his nationalist efforts to save the Union, downplaying his emancipation of the slaves. Among both black and white liberals in the 1960s and 1970s, Lincoln was derided or fell out of fashion. More recently, Lincoln has once again been embodied (as both idealist and pragmatist, unafraid of conflict and transcending it) by outstanding historians, by self-identified Lincolnian president Barack Obama, and by actor Daniel Day-Lewis-all keeping Lincoln alive in a body of memory that speaks volumes about our nation.
The nation's leading minister stands accused of adultery. He
vehemently denies the charge but confesses to being on "the ragged
edge of despair." His alleged lover is a woman of mystical faith,
nearly "Catholic" in her piety. Her husband, a famous writer, sues
the minister for damages. A six-month trial ends inconclusively,
but it holds the nation in thrall. It produces gripping drama,
scathing cartoons, and soul-searching editorials. "Trials of
Intimacy" is the story of a scandal that shook American culture to
the core in the 1870s because the key players were such vaunted
moral leaders. In that respect there has never been another case
like it--except "The Scarlet Letter," to which it was constantly
compared.
"We are in the midst of a dramatic shift in sensibility, and
'cultural' history is the rubric under which a massive doubting and
refiguring of our most cherished historical assumptions is being
conducted. Many historians are coming to suspect that the idea of
culture has the power to restore order to the study of the past.
Whatever its potency as an organizing theme, there is no doubt
about the power of the term 'culture' to evoke and stand for the
depth of the re-examination not taking place. At a time of deep
intellectual disarray, 'culture' offers a provisional, nominalist
version of coherence: whatever the fragmentation of knowledge,
however centrifugal the spinning of the scholarly wheel,
'culture'2;which (even etymologically) conveys a sense of safe
nurture, warm growth, budding or ever-present wholeness2;will
shelter us. The PC buttons on historians' chests today stand not
for 'politically correct' but 'positively cultural.'2;from the
Introduction
"We are in the midst of a dramatic shift in sensibility, and
'cultural' history is the rubric under which a massive doubting and
refiguring of our most cherished historical assumptions is being
conducted. Many historians are coming to suspect that the idea of
culture has the power to restore order to the study of the past.
Whatever its potency as an organizing theme, there is no doubt
about the power of the term 'culture' to evoke and stand for the
depth of the re-examination not taking place. At a time of deep
intellectual disarray, 'culture' offers a provisional, nominalist
version of coherence: whatever the fragmentation of knowledge,
however centrifugal the spinning of the scholarly wheel,
'culture'--which (even etymologically) conveys a sense of safe
nurture, warm growth, budding or ever-present wholeness--will
shelter us. The PC buttons on historians' chests today stand not
for 'politically correct' but 'positively cultural.'--from the
Introduction
Abraham Lincoln remains America's most beloved leader. The fact that he was lampooned in his day as "ugly and grotesque" only made Lincoln more endearing to millions. In Lincoln's Body, acclaimed cultural historian Richard Wightman Fox explores how deeply, and how differently, Americans-black and white, male and female, Northern and Southern-have valued our sixteenth president, from his own lifetime to the Hollywood biopics about him. Lincoln continues to survive in a body of memory that speaks volumes about our nation.
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