The Lost History of LiberalismThe Lost History of Liberalism
From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century
Title rated 0 out of 5 stars, based on 0 ratings(0 ratings)
eBook, 2018
Current format, eBook, 2018, , Available.Book
Also offered as Book, Available now. Available now
"One of Foreign Affairs' Picks for Best of Books 2018" "One of Isthmus' Most Important Books of 2018 (Dave Cieslewicz)" Helena Rosenblatt is professor of history at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her many books include Liberal Values: Benjamin Constant and the Politics of Religion and Thinking with Rousseau: From Machiavelli to Schmitt. She lives in New York City.
The changing face of the liberal creed from the ancient world to today
The Lost History of Liberalism challenges our most basic assumptions about a political creed that has become a rallying cry-and a term of derision-in today's increasingly divided public square. Taking readers from ancient Rome to today, Helena Rosenblatt traces the evolution of the words "liberal" and "liberalism," revealing the heated debates that have taken place over their meaning.
In this timely and provocative book, Rosenblatt debunks the popular myth of liberalism as a uniquely Anglo-American tradition centered on individual rights. She shows that it was the French Revolution that gave birth to liberalism and Germans who transformed it. Only in the mid-twentieth century did the concept become widely known in the United States-and then, as now, its meaning was hotly debated. Liberals were originally moralists at heart. They believed in the power of religion to reform society, emphasized the sanctity of the family, and never spoke of rights without speaking of duties. It was only during the Cold War and America's growing world hegemony that liberalism was refashioned into an American ideology focused so strongly on individual freedoms.
Today, we still can't seem to agree on liberalism's meaning. In the United States, a "liberal" is someone who advocates big government, while in France, big government is contrary to "liberalism." Political debates become befuddled because of semantic and conceptual confusion. The Lost History of Liberalism sets the record straight on a core tenet of today's political conversation and lays the foundations for a more constructive discussion about the future of liberal democracy. "Enlightening." "Rosenblatt has meticulously researched the word's history, unearthing forgotten meanings. She moves from liberalism's roots in 19th century France and Germany to its growing association with the United States in the 20th century. Gradually, an idea that began as moralistic - and warned against the dangers of selfishness - underwent a transformation. After World War II, conservatives associated liberalism with the kind of grand social schemes they believed led to totalitarianism. Liberals retreated to a position that emphasized individual rights but not necessarily generosity toward others. Rosenblatt invites a return to this broader, Wisconsin-style view."---M.J. Andersen, Boston Globe "Lively and penetrating. . . . Rosenblatt shows that liberalism has survived thanks to its appeal as a moral ideal, a vision of political community that is based not just on interests but also on values: respect, tolerance, and justice."---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs "[Rosenblatt] presents liberals as moralists and debunks the notion of liberalism as so exclusively an Anglo-American phenomenon."---Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution "In writing another beautifully balanced, intellectually vibrant synthesis of thinkers and themes she knows incredibly well in a very readable style, Rosenblatt offers a simple reminder that there was nothing natural about the evolution of Anglo-American liberalism into liberal democracy and that, because of this, it certainly need not be our modern fate."---Duncan Kelly, Literary Review "A dispassionate overview of the term and concepts of liberalism-how it emerged, evolved, diversified, and alienated. Rosenblatt (History/Graduate Center, CUNY) has published previous works about liberalism (Liberal Values: Benjamin Constant and the Politics of Religion, 2008, etc.), and she brings conside
Title availability
About
Subject and genre
Details
Publication
- Princeton University Press, 2018
Opinion
More from the community
Community lists featuring this title
There are no community lists featuring this title
Community contributions
There are no quotations from this title
There are no quotations from this title
From the community