THE FOUND WORLD OF AMERICAN POLITICAL THEORY
In: Teaching political science, Band 9, Heft 2, S. 78-89
ISSN: 0092-2013
A GENERATION AGO AMERICAN THEORY WAS CHARACTERIZED AS SECOND-RATE. THE DEATH OF CRITICAL SECONDARY WORK AT THAT TIME IS CONSTRASTED WITH THE PRESENTDAY ABUNDANCE OF MATERIALS AND THE CREATIVE USES TO WHICH THEY MAY BE PUT. THE SECONDARY LITERATURE WHICH PROLIFICATED, ESPECIALLY DURING THE LAST DECADE, SUPPLEMENTS THE TEXTBOOK-ANTHOLOGY APPROACH, SUGGESTING FRAMEWORKS BY WHICH INSTRUCTORS MAY DEVELOP THE AMERICAN THEORY COURSE THESE INCLUDE: THE FOUNDING OF AMERICA, CIVIL RELIGION, THE LINCOLN LITERATURE, AND THE NEOCONSERVATIVE PHENOMENON. THIS PAPER RESULTED FROM THE AUTHOR'S PARTICIPATION IN THE APSA/NEH SPONSORED ETHICAL ISSUES SEMINAR, "CITIZENSHIP: ANCIENT AND MODERN," DIRECTED BY HARVEY C. MANSFIELD, JR. AND ROBERT SCIGLIANO. THE AUTHOR WOULD LIKE TO THANK DOUGLAS MUZZIO, OF THE BARUCH COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, FOR A NUMBER OF VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS.