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In The Deconstitutionalization of America: The Forgotten Frailties
of Democratic Rule, Roger M. Barrus and his coauthors embark on a
discussion of American democracy from the nineteenth century to the
present day. The present paradox democracy finds itself in can be
summed up as "the best of times and the worst of times." Democracy,
at its best, has triumphed throughout the world. It is the authors
contention that this same success represents the potential for its
undoing: with all governments claiming to be democratic, modern
democrats-and this includes just about everyone-find it difficult
if not impossible to understand the nature and problems of
democracy. Since most everyone lives within a democratic horizon,
they have nothing to compare democracy to and no one to point out
its faults. In this way, they are hampered in dealing with their
social and political problems, some of which may be the result of
contradictions inherent in the democratic principle itself. The
solution to democracy's ills might not be, after all, more
democracy.
In The Deconstitutionalization of America: The Forgotten Frailties
of Democratic Rule, Roger M. Barrus and his coauthors embark on a
discussion of American democracy from the nineteenth century to the
present day. The present paradox democracy finds itself in can be
summed up as 'the best of times and the worst of times.' Democracy,
at its best, has triumphed throughout the world. It is the authors
contention that this same success represents the potential for its
undoing: with all governments claiming to be democratic, modern
democrats-and this includes just about everyone-find it difficult
if not impossible to understand the nature and problems of
democracy. Since most everyone lives within a democratic horizon,
they have nothing to compare democracy to and no one to point out
its faults. In this way, they are hampered in dealing with their
social and political problems, some of which may be the result of
contradictions inherent in the democratic principle itself. The
solution to democracy's ills might not be, after all, more
democracy.
Marilynne Robinson is arguably one of the most important writers of
our time. Her voice resonates across the richly imagined American
landscapes within which she grounds her stories of love and loss,
alienation and belonging, injustice and redemption. Robinson's
award-winning body of work -- including Gilead, winner of the 2005
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle
Award; Home, winner of the Orange Prize and the Los Angeles Times
Book Prize; and Lila, winner of the National Book Critics Circle
Award -- has cultivated admiration all over the world, offering
readers new and profound interpretations of the meanings of
transience, presence, convention, and resistance. In A Political
Companion to Marilynne Robinson, Shannon L. Mariotti and Joseph H.
Lane Jr. assemble both rising and established political theorists
to explore the juxtaposition of Robinson's nonfiction works and her
novels, and to examine their connections to contemporary political
issues. The collection analyzes Robinson's writings on American
democracy, community, and freedom, and it includes an engrossing
interview with the author specifically conducted for this volume.
From an exploration of the democratic potential in being a
"housekeeper of homelessness" to a study of models of action
against racial injustice, this volume provides fascinating new
insights into Robinson's work and how it reflects and reassesses
American political culture and theory.
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