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The State

Randolph Silliman Bourne (1886-1918) was a progressive writer and public intellectual born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and a graduate of Columbia University. Bourne is best known for his essays, especially War is the Health of the State, which remained unfinished when found after his death. Bourne's articles appeared in the magazine, The Seven Arts and The New Republic, among other journals of the day. He was greatly influenced by Horace Kallen's 1915 essay Democracy Versus the Melting-Pot, and argued, like Kallen, that Americanism ought not to be associated with Anglo-Saxonism. In his 1916 article Trans- National America, Bourne argued that the US should accommodate immigrant cultures into a cosmopolitan America, instead of forcing immigrants to assimilate to Anglophilic culture. He was born with a deformed face and essentially a hunchback. He chronicled his experiences in his essay titled, The Handicapped.

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1916

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Randolph Bourne

20 books33 followers
Randolph Silliman Bourne was a progressive writer and "leftist intellectual", and a graduate of Columbia University. Bourne is best known for his essays, especially his unfinished work "The State," discovered after his death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolp...

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for منوچهر محور.
394 reviews33 followers
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January 2, 2025
افاضات کوبنده و جالبی دارد:

جنگ سلامت دولت است
War is the health of the State.

جنگ را می‌توان ورزش طبقات مرفه دانست
... war can be called almost an upper-class sport.

جنگ رابطه معمول بین دولت‌هاست
... the normal relations of States is war.

و البته بین دولت و حکومت و ملت فرق قائل است. به نظرش گروهی از افراد جامعه به افراط وطن‌پرست هستند و جنگ به دلیل قدرت اینها در دولت شکل می‌گیرد. (البته من فکر می‌کنم دلیل شروع جنگها این است که برای یک عده نفع اقتصادی دارند؛ اگر نه آشکار و مستقیم، حداقل به صورت منافعی که از تبعات آن به طبقه حاکم می‌رسد.) سرانجام بحث جالبی درباره شکل‌گیری حکومت جمهوری در امریکا دارد.
خیلی خوشم آمد!۰
Profile Image for Daniel R.
26 reviews
October 22, 2025
به شکل خیلی ترسناکی حرف های بورن توصیف کننده همین روز ها است. در پیشگفتار کتاب که دهه ۹۰ میلادی نوشته شده هم به این نکته اشاره کرده و گفته کاش تا صد سال آینده شبیه چیز های پیشاتمدنی باشه. غریب این که هنوز اینطوریه. توی جنگ ۱۲ روزه دقیق می‌شد حرف های بورن رو پیدا کرد.
Profile Image for Jose Alvarez-Perez 👃.
20 reviews
August 17, 2026
"No one faithful to our history can deny that the plan originally contemplated what is implicit in its text – that electors would be free agents, to exercise an independent and nonpartisan judgment as to the men best qualified for the Nation's highest offices."- Justice Jackson, joined by Justice Douglas 🇺🇸💯💍❤️‍🔥🛸
Profile Image for Manuel Martínez.
121 reviews2 followers
October 5, 2025
Lo que vió Bourne a principios del siglo XX es de especial actualidad, totalmente inspirador
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews