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Title: American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It by Richard Hofstadter ISBN: 0-679-72315-3 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Sensible Revisionism
Comment: Normally, I can't stand revisionist history. It tends to sacrifice historical accuracy for political proselytizing. Howard Zinn's "Peoples' History of the United States" is a case in point: almost everything Zinn says seems dedicated to supporting the author's left-wing agenda.
Hofstadter's book neatly transcends this problem. It is most definitely revisionist. Each chapter examines a different American political leader, with a great deal of in-depth detail and criticism. However, Hofstadter escapes the political trap of mentioning only the negative or only the positive points about his subjects. Both sides are always examined in detail.
This evenhandedness results in a very interesting and useful text. Rather than heroes and villains, our past politicians come across as human beings, and very interesting ones at that.
A choice history text, both detailed and objective.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderfully analytial
Comment: Richard Hofstadter creted a book that has become the foundation of much modern history. Many find his views biased, but these people themselves fail to see that Hofstadter has tried to dispell many of the myths that once surrounded these greats, and many people are to secure with these myths to release them.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Political Milestone
Comment: "American Political Tradition" became an immediate milestone in the field of American political study, propelling author Richard Hofstadter to the frontal ranks of historians at the age of 32 upon its publication in 1948. The history professor at Columbia University would ultimately win 2 Pulitzer Prizes before dying at the age of 54 in 1970.
The point Hofstadter consistently made is how important pragmatic considerations were in the evolution of the great political shakers and movers of American political annals. He rejects the view of historian Charles Beard and others about the impact of economic determinism in the foundation and shaping of early America. Hofstadter does not discount its impact, but cites the pragmatic necessity of studious compromise involving the interests of important American sociological groups which were often disparate, such as the manufacturing interests of the north and the rural farming interests of the south, as well as slavery and anti-slavery interests. The need for compromise influenced Thomas Jefferson in constructing a U.S. Constitution, which relied on the separation powers doctrine of English philosopher John Locke and that of separation of powers advanced by French social scientist Montesquieu.
The chapter on Franklin Delano Roosevelt is fascinating as a study in political pragmatism. Roosevelt ran on a Democratic Party platform for 1932 which rivals one of the most conservative doctrines ever put on paper by an American political party. He initially criticized incumbent President Herbert Hoover for spending too much money in dealing with the Depression and its related effects. Once in office he changed his mind and forged a government activist agenda embraced by progressive reformers.
Abraham Lincoln is studied in detail as well within the framework of a very astute political figure with his eye squarely on success in that arena from the beginning, where the "railsplitter" image played well with voters. He purposely straddled the fence on the slavery issue since there was much controversy surrounding the issue even within the fledgling Republican Party which he joined after the Whig Party folded, despite its reputation for being an essentially anti-slavery party.
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson are evaluated as two important political figures who perpetually juggled conservative basic instincts against the need they believed existed for certain progressive systemic reforms. For Roosevelt this meant anti-trust legislation and conservation, while Wilson, whose traditional Virginia conservative roots left him unwilling to budge in the field of race relations, nonetheless undertook mighty electoral reforms embraced by William Jennings Bryan and the populist movement. Bryan is another figure covered in the book.
The chapter of Herbert Hoover is also fascinating. Hofstadter envisioned him as the last of the laissez-faire American presidents. In the wake of the great upheavals occurring in America, particularly related to the Great Depression, a political pragmatism later advanced by Roosevelt to stem the tide of unrest was eschewed by Hoover.
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Title: The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. by Richard Hofstadter ISBN: 0394700953 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 June, 1956 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Great Issues in American History,1765-1865. (Vintage) by Richard Hofstadter ISBN: 0394705416 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 September, 1958 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Out of Our Past: The Forces That Shaped Modern America by Carl N. Degler ISBN: 0061319856 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 April, 1984 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Great Issues in American History 1584-1775 by Clarence L. Ver Steeg, Richard Hofstadter ISBN: 0394705408 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 June, 1969 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Great Issues in American History: From Reconstruction to the Present Day, 1864-1981 by Richard Hofstadter, K. Beatrice ISBN: 0394708423 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 September, 1982 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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