Suchergebnisse

Rogan Kersh's ambitious and well-researched book traces the history of the concept of American national "union" from the middle of the eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century, when the concept lost the peculiar force it had had and fell out of use (more or less replaced by such concepts as "nation," "country," and, especially, "America"). The analysis demonstrates how the concept of national union has been used in exclusive as well as inclusive ways. The subject is an important one, especially to an America united by terrorist threats. And it is a topic made more conspicuous in the last decade by our ongoing discourse over multiculturalism. So the concept of national union is perhaps less obscure and more relevant than Kersh suggests (p. 3). Connections to the recent work of Rogers Smith (Civic Ideals, 1997) are also apparent. Still, the term itself has been out of favor for about a century now, so Kersh's study is a welcome effort to get us thinking about a relatively novel topic.

THE AUTHORS SUGGEST THAT THE PROBLEMS OF REPRESSING ANY MEMORY OF A RELATION TO SOCIALIST POLITICS IS NOT FOREIGN TO THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THE LEFT IN THE UNITED STATES. THEY ATTEMPT TO MAP CERTAIN OF THE WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT THE LEFT AND ITS HISTORY THAT CAN ULTIMATELY IMPEDE THE LEFT'S OWN PROGRESS IN DEVELOPING A THEORETICAL ORIENTATION ADEQUATE TO UNDERSTANDING ITS OWN PRESENT POLITICAL CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS. SPECIFICALLY, THE AUTHORS SHOW HOW CERTAIN CALLS FOR PROGRAMMATIC UNITY ON THE LEFT CAN THEMSELVES OPERATE IN A MANNER THAT IS DISUNIFYING.