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The world of nations;: Reflections on American history, politics, and culture
The world of nations is the world men have made, in contrast to the world of nature. Seeking to understand the civil society Americans have made, Christopher Lasch, author of The Agony of the American Left , reexamines the liberal and radical traditions in the United States and the limitations of both, along the way challenging a number of accepted interpretations of American history.
358 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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About the author
Christopher Lasch
30 books351 followersChristopher "Kit" Lasch (June 1, 1932 – February 14, 1994) was an American historian, moralist, and social critic who was a history professor at the University of Rochester.
Lasch sought to use history as a tool to awaken American society to the pervasiveness with which major institutions, public and private, were eroding the competence and independence of families and communities. He strove to create a historically informed social criticism that could teach Americans how to deal with rampant consumerism, proletarianization, and what he famously labeled the 'culture of narcissism.'
His books, including The New Radicalism in America (1965), Haven in a Heartless World (1977), The Culture of Narcissism (1979), and The True and Only Heaven (1991), and The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy published posthumously in 1996 were widely discussed and reviewed. The Culture of Narcissism became a surprise best-seller and won the National Book Award in the category Current Interest (paperback).
Lasch was always a critic of liberalism, and a historian of liberalism's discontents, but over time his political perspective evolved dramatically. In the 1960s, he was a neo-Marxist and acerbic critic of Cold War liberalism. During the 1970s, he began to become a far more iconoclastic figure, fusing cultural conservatism with a Marxian critique of capitalism, and drawing on Freud-influenced critical theory to diagnose the ongoing deterioration that he perceived in American culture and politics. His writings during this period are considered contradictory. They are sometimes denounced by feminists and hailed by conservatives for his apparent defense of the traditional family. But as he explained in one of his books The Minimal Self, "it goes without saying that sexual equality in itself remains an eminently desirable objective...". Moreover, in Women and the Common Life, Lasch clarified that urging women to abandon the household and forcing them into a position of economic dependence, in the workplace, pointing out the importance of professional careers does not entail liberation, as long as these careers are governed by the requirements of corporate economy.
He eventually concluded that an often unspoken but pervasive faith in "Progress" tended to make Americans resistant to many of his arguments. In his last major works he explored this theme in depth, suggesting that Americans had much to learn from the suppressed and misunderstood Populist and artisan movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Lasch sought to use history as a tool to awaken American society to the pervasiveness with which major institutions, public and private, were eroding the competence and independence of families and communities. He strove to create a historically informed social criticism that could teach Americans how to deal with rampant consumerism, proletarianization, and what he famously labeled the 'culture of narcissism.'
His books, including The New Radicalism in America (1965), Haven in a Heartless World (1977), The Culture of Narcissism (1979), and The True and Only Heaven (1991), and The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy published posthumously in 1996 were widely discussed and reviewed. The Culture of Narcissism became a surprise best-seller and won the National Book Award in the category Current Interest (paperback).
Lasch was always a critic of liberalism, and a historian of liberalism's discontents, but over time his political perspective evolved dramatically. In the 1960s, he was a neo-Marxist and acerbic critic of Cold War liberalism. During the 1970s, he began to become a far more iconoclastic figure, fusing cultural conservatism with a Marxian critique of capitalism, and drawing on Freud-influenced critical theory to diagnose the ongoing deterioration that he perceived in American culture and politics. His writings during this period are considered contradictory. They are sometimes denounced by feminists and hailed by conservatives for his apparent defense of the traditional family. But as he explained in one of his books The Minimal Self, "it goes without saying that sexual equality in itself remains an eminently desirable objective...". Moreover, in Women and the Common Life, Lasch clarified that urging women to abandon the household and forcing them into a position of economic dependence, in the workplace, pointing out the importance of professional careers does not entail liberation, as long as these careers are governed by the requirements of corporate economy.
He eventually concluded that an often unspoken but pervasive faith in "Progress" tended to make Americans resistant to many of his arguments. In his last major works he explored this theme in depth, suggesting that Americans had much to learn from the suppressed and misunderstood Populist and artisan movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 16, 2020
This book is vital for the historiography of left-liberalism and much of the 60s/70s attempts to get away from liberalism, both in terms of the new left, and in terms of things like Real Politik. He also shows his concerns about the development of cultural laissez-faire on the left. He is an astute reader of the left, although not without some faults. His readings of the Frankfurt school and of Foucault, and his understanding of the pernicious nature of liberal reforms, make him a formidable thinker and his instances on plain language in communication is mostly a virtue, although it does lead to some ambiguities. He seems to be somewhat broader than Marx, for example in his definition of the working class. He also has a broad notion of working-class traditions in which some myths maybe snuck in, but that is not displayed here.
It is important to note that while this is a collection of essays, the placement of the essays into three broad categories is part of the argument. The first section talks about the transformation of liberalism in the 19th and early 20th centuries from its early bourgeois forms into a more muscular form of the state. The second section focuses on the post-JFK new left and it's an attempt to respond to that liberalism but how it generally ends up mirroring it or making excuses for parts of it. It is amazing to see how much McGovernism, for example, mirrors the Bernie Sanders campaign and the attempts at populism ignored the left's own history. In many ways, this book shows that the early problems of te Boomers are still rhyming in the current problems of Millenials but in a way that flattering to neither and show that American stagnation began the as early 1960s. The last set of essays is largely about historiography, both left and right, and the flaws of over-broad and simplistic views: both by establishment elites and by the 60s academic left itself.
A far more useful book than it probably should be.
It is important to note that while this is a collection of essays, the placement of the essays into three broad categories is part of the argument. The first section talks about the transformation of liberalism in the 19th and early 20th centuries from its early bourgeois forms into a more muscular form of the state. The second section focuses on the post-JFK new left and it's an attempt to respond to that liberalism but how it generally ends up mirroring it or making excuses for parts of it. It is amazing to see how much McGovernism, for example, mirrors the Bernie Sanders campaign and the attempts at populism ignored the left's own history. In many ways, this book shows that the early problems of te Boomers are still rhyming in the current problems of Millenials but in a way that flattering to neither and show that American stagnation began the as early 1960s. The last set of essays is largely about historiography, both left and right, and the flaws of over-broad and simplistic views: both by establishment elites and by the 60s academic left itself.
A far more useful book than it probably should be.
December 8, 2020
Five for five
This book I believe is essential reading. Christopher Lasch is well versed in leftist history. He goes to critique to education reformers to early feminists to Marxists and radicals. Lasch points out that proletarian did not happen in industrial bourgeois democracies as Marx predicted. Leach whether revolution is obsolete and argues that is and I agree with that. He asks important whether universal education is a good thing? He points that public schools are not made for working class. That they would be better under apprenticeship s like they used before universal education was a thing. Leach agrees with Foucault that it is. I think they are right. I remember in school other kids would ask why am I learning this i,'m never going to use. People don't see a purpose for school.
This book I believe is essential reading. Christopher Lasch is well versed in leftist history. He goes to critique to education reformers to early feminists to Marxists and radicals. Lasch points out that proletarian did not happen in industrial bourgeois democracies as Marx predicted. Leach whether revolution is obsolete and argues that is and I agree with that. He asks important whether universal education is a good thing? He points that public schools are not made for working class. That they would be better under apprenticeship s like they used before universal education was a thing. Leach agrees with Foucault that it is. I think they are right. I remember in school other kids would ask why am I learning this i,'m never going to use. People don't see a purpose for school.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews