The Public and Its Possibilities: Triumphs and Tragedies in the American City (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781439902103)

In his compelling reinterpretation of American history, "The Public and Its Possibilities, "John Fairfield" "argues that our unrealized civic aspirations provide the essential counterpoint to an excessive focus on private interests. Inspired by the revolutionary generation, nineteenth-century Americans struggled to build an economy and a culture to complement their republican institutions. But over the course of the twentieth century, a corporate economy and consumer culture undercut civic values, conflating consumer and citizen.

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Fairfield places the city at the center of American experience, describing how a resilient demand for an urban participatory democracy has bumped up against the fog of war, the allure of the marketplace, and persistent prejudices of race, class, and gender.a In chronicling and synthesizing centuries of U.S. historyOCoincluding the struggles of the antislavery, labor, womenOCOs rights movementsOCoFairfield explores the ebb and flow of civic participation, activism, and democracy. He revisits what the public has done for civic activism, and the possibility of taking a greater role.

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In this age where there has been a move towards greater participation in America's public life from its citizens, FairfieldOCOs bookOCowritten in an accessible, jargon-free style and addressed to general readersOCois especially topical.

Author: John D. Fairfield
ISBN-10: 1439902100
ISBN-13: 9781439902103
Publisher: Temple University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/26/2010
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.20w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 02/01/2011