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For the Republic: Political Essays
Literary Nonfiction. Politcal Science. Whether or not there are public intellectuals practicing in the USA has been much debated. No one debates that George Scialabba is the most prominent because the most intelligent free-range intellectual in America. His reach is broad, his grasp is passionate and firm and his prose is clear as the bell he rings for democracy.
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2013
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December 18, 2013For the Republic is an explicitly political collection in which, through studies of a number of thinkers, Scialabba lays out his indictment in characteristically graceful prose. Given their origins as reviews and short essays, only a few of the pieces here allow Scialabba to really expand his cultural critique. Nevertheless, we get from his choice of subject matter a sense of where his sympathies—and antipathies—lie. These essays range from reflections on the 2000 election and considerations of heroes (Orwell, Christopher Lasch, Ralph Nader) and villains (Irving Kristol, Fish) to an overall concern with what Scialabba sees as our nation’s “long descent into soft authoritarianism and cultural debasement.”
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Read our full review online: http://www.theamericanconservative.co...
Have you read the book? We would love your thoughts, as well!
April 28, 2021
Torn between four and five stars because "For the Republic" grew on me. I'm not usually one to enjoy reading a book filled with book reviews, so I came in with a bit of a presumption, one that Scialabba smashed to bits in most (but not all) of the essays contained in this book.
Scialabba takes readers on a tour of various political, economic, and historical books and authors. Through this journey of reviews and reflections, he focuses both on those who inspire him and those who inspire his ire. Scialabba doesn't shy away from sharp criticism of those he disagrees with but does so respectfully. Unlike some reviewers, he brings to light omissions these authors make but also grants them points when they're right on something.
He ends with a rant about our economic system, a poignant first-person reflection on depression (which he's also written a book about), and a nuanced and intriguing analysis of progress. D.H. Lawrence, Christopher Lasch, George Orwell, Gore Vidal--these are the figures he draws inspiration from. It's enjoyable to sit down and figure out what he has to say about eminent thinkers, because sometimes you catch something unexpected, like a robust defense of Adam Smith.
On the note of surprises, Scialabba is one of my favorite leftist authors because his outlook is tinged with small-c conservatism (not unlike Tony Judt in Ill Fares the Land), despite his having departed from faith as a young man. There's a respect for tradition and a down-to-earthiness absent from today's activist left. Writing about technology, he approvingly cites worries like tech "inducing Americans to spend still more time in front of flickering screens calibrating our consumption bundles ... distracting us still further from being adequate parents, spouses, neighbors, and citizens" (88). That one sure has surfaced over the last year... Scialabba is also uniquely receptive towards localist concerns, recognizing that "vigorous, Jeffersonian self-government" might not be reclaimed today both because of mass production and because "like muscles, intellectual and civic virtues may atrophy beyond repair" (196). Perhaps on this, he can find agreement with diverse voices from the right, from libertarian Jeffersonians to Crunchy Cons to post-liberals.
He even reads some of the same sources, even if his conclusions differ from the post-liberals'. As an avid reader of Christopher Lasch, I found Scialabba's summary of Lasch's thought to be thorough and understandable to even non-Lasch-people (see, Human Scale, 208-217). In this description, the essayist empathizes with the idea that mass culture, concentrated capital, and a large centralized government erode our capacity for self-governance and discipline. In the essay "Progress and Prejudice", he concedes to Lasch that perhaps we must stay within traditional social forms until we know modernization won't be used as a cudgel to support plutocrats (251). He doesn't reject progress like some post-liberal conservatives might, but shares with them the view that business and government nurture ideological conformity such that we can't imagine a different order (61). Scialabba questions conformity on left and right alike. Therefore, there's something here for conservatives, especially those seeking to move beyond Reaganism. Be warned though--he doesn't spare Roger Scruton!
Above all, Scialabba remains a leftist because he is a proponent of a more just political order emerging from reinvigorated (social) democracy, including more government intervention in the economy. Not just a set of procedural tweaks, he cautions readers, but a set of broader changes to usher in greater representation (even entertaining sortition), a spirit of participation, and respect for the local concerns and organizations that feed our republic. In "Plutocratic Vistas", the great 'rant' of the work, he proposes three preconditions for democracy to work: 1. minimum economic security 2. less political inequality, and 3. material prerequisites of activity like education and disposable income. Concordantly, you catch flashes of a social democrat's policy proposals to get us there--expanding healthcare to all children, spending more on education, exempting low-wage workers from payroll taxes (78), the trappings of social democracy as summed up in a review of Tony Judt's masterwork (53). If the modern left followed Scialabba's invocations, they might be better poised to reach people beyond the grad student cadre who embrace slogans like the 'Green New Deal' and feel comfortable shouting everything from the rooftops. Maybe though, just maybe, there's a bit of Scialabba-like bold policy + down-to-earth reasoning in Joe Biden's Presidency so far. It's worth thinking about...
Scialabba takes readers on a tour of various political, economic, and historical books and authors. Through this journey of reviews and reflections, he focuses both on those who inspire him and those who inspire his ire. Scialabba doesn't shy away from sharp criticism of those he disagrees with but does so respectfully. Unlike some reviewers, he brings to light omissions these authors make but also grants them points when they're right on something.
He ends with a rant about our economic system, a poignant first-person reflection on depression (which he's also written a book about), and a nuanced and intriguing analysis of progress. D.H. Lawrence, Christopher Lasch, George Orwell, Gore Vidal--these are the figures he draws inspiration from. It's enjoyable to sit down and figure out what he has to say about eminent thinkers, because sometimes you catch something unexpected, like a robust defense of Adam Smith.
On the note of surprises, Scialabba is one of my favorite leftist authors because his outlook is tinged with small-c conservatism (not unlike Tony Judt in Ill Fares the Land), despite his having departed from faith as a young man. There's a respect for tradition and a down-to-earthiness absent from today's activist left. Writing about technology, he approvingly cites worries like tech "inducing Americans to spend still more time in front of flickering screens calibrating our consumption bundles ... distracting us still further from being adequate parents, spouses, neighbors, and citizens" (88). That one sure has surfaced over the last year... Scialabba is also uniquely receptive towards localist concerns, recognizing that "vigorous, Jeffersonian self-government" might not be reclaimed today both because of mass production and because "like muscles, intellectual and civic virtues may atrophy beyond repair" (196). Perhaps on this, he can find agreement with diverse voices from the right, from libertarian Jeffersonians to Crunchy Cons to post-liberals.
He even reads some of the same sources, even if his conclusions differ from the post-liberals'. As an avid reader of Christopher Lasch, I found Scialabba's summary of Lasch's thought to be thorough and understandable to even non-Lasch-people (see, Human Scale, 208-217). In this description, the essayist empathizes with the idea that mass culture, concentrated capital, and a large centralized government erode our capacity for self-governance and discipline. In the essay "Progress and Prejudice", he concedes to Lasch that perhaps we must stay within traditional social forms until we know modernization won't be used as a cudgel to support plutocrats (251). He doesn't reject progress like some post-liberal conservatives might, but shares with them the view that business and government nurture ideological conformity such that we can't imagine a different order (61). Scialabba questions conformity on left and right alike. Therefore, there's something here for conservatives, especially those seeking to move beyond Reaganism. Be warned though--he doesn't spare Roger Scruton!
Above all, Scialabba remains a leftist because he is a proponent of a more just political order emerging from reinvigorated (social) democracy, including more government intervention in the economy. Not just a set of procedural tweaks, he cautions readers, but a set of broader changes to usher in greater representation (even entertaining sortition), a spirit of participation, and respect for the local concerns and organizations that feed our republic. In "Plutocratic Vistas", the great 'rant' of the work, he proposes three preconditions for democracy to work: 1. minimum economic security 2. less political inequality, and 3. material prerequisites of activity like education and disposable income. Concordantly, you catch flashes of a social democrat's policy proposals to get us there--expanding healthcare to all children, spending more on education, exempting low-wage workers from payroll taxes (78), the trappings of social democracy as summed up in a review of Tony Judt's masterwork (53). If the modern left followed Scialabba's invocations, they might be better poised to reach people beyond the grad student cadre who embrace slogans like the 'Green New Deal' and feel comfortable shouting everything from the rooftops. Maybe though, just maybe, there's a bit of Scialabba-like bold policy + down-to-earth reasoning in Joe Biden's Presidency so far. It's worth thinking about...
April 16, 2014
A collection of Scialabba's essays from the past decade or so. The first section, "Theories", is a selection of reviews of various books that caught a moment or represent a trend: Jonathan Haidt, Thomas Freidman, Tony Judt and Gerry Cohen are here, variously receiving praise or damnation. the format of the short review means that an awful lot of contentious issues in politics and economics get passed over just as glibly as GS sometimes accuses others of doing. However we get deeper discussions in section 2, "Thinkers", which focuses on biographical appraisals of various influential minds, starting with Adam Smith (not the man of the modern Right, on this reading) and then jumping to a range of 20th century lefties and ex-lefties: Orwell, Ignatzio Silone, Victor Serge, Irving Kristol, Christopher Hitchens and others. Section 3 is a "Rant" against the "Plutocratic Vistas" of post-recession America, and the final pair of essays are "First Person": reflections on depression and prejudice.
February 6, 2014
As an essayist and critic, Scialabba stands tall with Gore Vidal, Edmund Wilson, and Christopher Hitchens -- all three of which he considers here. He also gives closely reasonaed, often devastating takes on neocon founding father Irving Kristol, independent journalist I.F. Stone, and several other intellectual heroes and villains. A superb collection.
November 8, 2015
The first book of George Scialabba's that I've read. I now seek out others and look forward to rereading this one after a bit of time has passed. The author is brilliant, dazzling, and speaks to the current conditions of our era.
April 2, 2016
Amazing
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews