In the fourth title in the Dissident American Thought Today Series, Chilton Williamson takes on liberalism and reveals the 'faith' of the present Democratic Party as its own cultivated version of absurdity. This 'advanced liberalism' is not the liberalism of Mill, and it certainly no longer is the thinking man's party. If it were once true that conservatism is unimaginative and reactionary, the contrary is the picture of our times. Liberalism now asserts that human nature can and must be perfected, but without reference to nature. The age of the expert has been thrust upon the United States with the urgency of technique to be applied to coerce the vision of a perfect society and perfect human beings.  Williamson observes that this liberalism to nevertheless be collapsing, given the obvious opposition to the idea that it is essential to modernity. Liberalism is ironically a kind of unyielding control, "a relativist persuasion that discourages and resists fixed beliefs and certainties and the idea of truth itself." Williamson offers commentary on the present state of liberal ideas and their crimes against better judgment, and vindicates conservatism from being labeled reactionary. Liberalism is exposed as a faith we cannot accept, for it contains nothing to be believed and what it says about the order of things is pure fiction. 

Since Americans have long taken price in universal suffrage and the secret ballot as foundations of democracy, it is surprising that one of its growth and reform. Mr. Williamson, focusing on the period from the Revolution to the Civil War, provides a state-by-state analysis of the growth of suffrage in its relation to partisan politics, the intellectual currents of the time, and such crises as war and rumors of war. Originally published in 1960. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Since Americans have long taken price in universal suffrage and the secret ballot as foundations of democracy, it is surprising that one of its growth and reform. Mr. Williamson, focusing on the period from the Revolution to the Civil War, provides a state-by-state analysis of the growth of suffrage in its relation to partisan politics, the intellectual currents of the time, and such crises as war and rumors of war. Originally published in 1960. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Hector Villa, a direct descendant of Pancho Villa, and his family have lived in the town of Belen, New Mexico, on the Rio Grande since they were guided across the inter- national border 20 years ago by coyotes. He has his own business as a computer repairman and con- siders himself a patriotic American and a proud supporter of President George W. Bush. Hector believes in American values and the Republi- can Party, and he can't understand why everyone doesn't, including his best friend, Jesus "Eddie" Juarez. He still thinks of America as the Promised Land, but things begin to go wrong in his life, especially after he is drafted to run as the GOP can- didate for the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives from his district, begin- ning a series of misadventures that perplex and trouble him and his wife, AveMaria. The result is a kind of crisis of faith from which Hector emerges as a sadder but wiser man. The Education of Hector Villa is a novel on a highly contemporary subject, a work that combines satire and comedy with deep sympathy and pathos.

Hector Villa, a direct descendant of Pancho Villa, and his family have lived in the town of Belen, New Mexico, on the Rio Grande since they were guided across the inter- national border 20 years ago by coyotes. He has his own business as a computer repairman and con- siders himself a patriotic American and a proud supporter of President George W. Bush. Hector believes in American values and the Republi- can Party, and he can't understand why everyone doesn't, including his best friend, Jesus "Eddie" Juarez. He still thinks of America as the Promised Land, but things begin to go wrong in his life, especially after he is drafted to run as the GOP can- didate for the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives from his district, begin- ning a series of misadventures that perplex and trouble him and his wife, AveMaria. The result is a kind of crisis of faith from which Hector emerges as a sadder but wiser man. The Education of Hector Villa is a novel on a highly contemporary subject, a work that combines satire and comedy with deep sympathy and pathos.

When retired U.S. Customs Bureau inspector Samuel Adams White (to his ex-wife, "the most boring human being") is abducted south of the border by Mexican drug smugglers, he is given the chance to flee for his life. Desperately trying to reach the border, he is pursued across the deserts of rural Mexico. Through a series of hair-raising adventures, the inspector discovers self-reliance, resourcefulness, the reality of the natural world-and of romance. The reader discovers the profound differences, as well as their origins and implications, between Mexican culture and that of El Norte, her neighbor across the Rio Grande. The tale is suffused with Williamson's understanding of and sympathy for a people among whom he is well traveled.

"Can immigration be expected to change America for better, or for worse? If we accept at face value President George W. Bush's claim that terrorism represents the gravest threat to America, as indeed it may, then we must ask ourselves whether terrorism, by itself, is capable either of obliterating the United States as-say-Rome eradicated Carthage from the map of North Africa, or of destroying it by effectively replacing the existing nation on what historically has been American soil with another and different nation. If the answer is 'No, ' then we must agree that the terrorist threat is in fact a subset of the immigration one-and that mass immigration is a greater threat to the survival of our country than any terrorist campaign possibly could be. Which, it seems to me, is saying a very great deal about the dangers posed to the United States by mass immigration." -From the Foreword, by Chilton Williamson, Jr., author of The Immigration Mystique: America's False Conscience