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The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity
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The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity Hardback -

by Alan Wolfe

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Reader reviews for The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity

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How did we get into this mess? Every morning, many Americans ask this as, with a cringe, they pick up their phones and look to see what terrible thing President Trump has just said or done. Regardless of what he's complaining about or whom he's attacking, a second question comes hard on the heels of the first: How on earth do we get out of this?

Alan Wolfe has an answer. In The Politics of Petulance he argues that the core of our problem isn't Trump himself--it's that we are mired in an age of political immaturity. That immaturity is not grounded in any one ideology, nor is it a function of age or education. It's in an abdication of valuing the character of would-be leaders; it's in a failure to acknowledge, even welcome the complexity of government and society; and it's in a loss of the ability to be skeptical without being suspicious. In 2016, many Americans were offered tantalizingly simple answers to complicated problems, and, like children being offered a lunch of Pop Rocks and Coke, they reflexively--and mindlessly--accepted.

The good news, such as it is, is that we've been here before. Wolfe reminds us that we know how to grow up and face down Trump and other demagogues. Wolfe reinvigorates the tradition of public engagement exemplified by midcentury intellectuals such as Richard Hofstadter, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Lionel Trilling--and he draws lessons from their battles with McCarthyism and conspiratorial paranoia. Wolfe mounts a powerful case that we can learn from them to forge a new path for political intervention today.

Wolfe has been thinking and writing about American life and politics for decades. He sees this moment as one of real risk. But he's not throwing up his hands; he's bracing us. We've faced demagogues before. We can find the intellectual maturity to fight back. Yes we can.

Details

  • Title The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity
  • Author Alan Wolfe
  • Binding Hardback
  • Pages 224
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Chicago Press
  • ISBN 9780226555164 / 022655516X
  • Weight 1.13 lbs (0.51 kg)
  • Dimensions 9 x 6 x 1 in (22.86 x 15.24 x 2.54 cm)
  • Category Politics / Current Events
  • Library of Congress subjects United States - Politics and government -, Democracy - United States
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2018010072
  • Dewey Decimal Code 320.513

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The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity
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The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity

by Wolfe, Alan

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The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity

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The Politics of Petulance : America in an Age of Immaturity

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The Politics of Petulance : America in an Age of Immaturity

by Alan Wolfe

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The Politics of Petulance : America in an Age of Immaturity

The Politics of Petulance : America in an Age of Immaturity

by Alan Wolfe

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The Politics of Petulance : America in an Age of Immaturity
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The Politics of Petulance : America in an Age of Immaturity

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The Politics of Petulance : America in an Age of Immaturity

by Wolfe, Alan

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by Wolfe, Alan

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