Ark of the Liberties: America and the World
Author: Ted Widmer
THE UNITED STATES stands at a historis crossroads, essential to the world yet unapreciated. America's decline in popularity over the last eight years has been nothing short of astonishing. With wit, brilliance, and deep affection, Ted Widmer, a scholar and a former presidential speechwriter, reminds everyone why this great nation had so far to fall. In a sweeping history of centuries, Ark of the Liberties recounts America's ambition to be the world's guarantor of liberty. It is a success story that America, and the world, forgets at its peril.
From the Declarion of Indepence to the Gettysburg Address to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United States, for all its short comings, has been by far the world's greatest advocate for freedom. Generations of founders imbued America with a surprisingly global ambition that a series of remarkable presidents, often Democratic, advanced through the confident wielding of miltary and economic power. Ark of the Liberties brims with new insights about America's centuries- long favorable relationship with the Middle East; why Wilson's presidency deserves reappraisal; Bill Clinton's underappreciated achievements; and how America's long history of foreign policy immediately touches on the choices we face today. Fully addressing the diastrous occupation of Iraq, Ark of the Liberties colorfully narrates America's long and laudable history of expanding world liberty.
Publishers Weekly
From the colonial period through our current age, Widmer traces the legacy of American liberty with all its respect, contradictions and misapplications. His narrative explains the significance of the U.S.'s fall from international popularity in the last decade. Widmer's admiration for his country doesn't prevent him from recognizing its faults and, at times, the country's inability to hold true to the ark of liberty set forth in the national narrative. Widmer's writing is wonderfully nuanced, extrapolating large ideas and themes from the smallest of actions and symbols. William Hughes's narration doesn't do the book justice. His delivery lacks that subtlety, specificity and energy that Widmer's impressive and witty text needs. A Hill & Wang hardcover (reviewed online). (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.William D. Pederson - Library Journal
In this historical overview of U.S. foreign policy, Widmer (director, John Carter Brown Lib., Brown Univ.; Martin Van Buren) argues that the United States has more often been internationalist than isolationist. A former speechwriter for Bill Clinton, he elaborates on the rhetorical dimensions of his topic. FDR clearly emerges as his foreign policy hero for championing human rights and the end of colonialism during World War II, even as British prime minister Winston Churchill fixated on preserving the British Empire. Widmer also praises Woodrow Wilson's idealism abroad without commenting on his racism at home and Jimmy Carter's human rights record without acknowledging his limited political experience, which undermined his domestic and foreign policies. In failing to note the shortcomings in temperament of some of the Presidents, Widmer fails to explain why some become crusaders and others pragmatists. The lack of footnotes will limit scholars' use of the book, but its readability will appeal to a broader if partisan public. Recommended for libraries with patrons interested in foreign policy.
Kirkus Reviews
Diplomatic history of the United States, emphasizing its spiritual underpinnings as much as wars and treaties. Though Widmer (Martin Van Buren, 2004, etc.) does not ignore the traditional subjects within the field, his theological analysis takes him to places where other scholars don't always tread. The former Clinton speechwriter sees the country's longtime focus on spreading liberty throughout the world as a net positive, when done properly. He begins with a long examination of the nation's founding, spending considerable time on the nation's Puritan roots and showing how John Winthrop's idea of a "city upon a hill" has inspired politicians of both parties ever since. Widmer is harder on Republican presidents, especially Reagan and the Bushes, whom he argues didn't follow their lofty moralistic rhetoric with equally just policies. He describes the architects of the current administration's foreign policy as "wolves in Wilsonian clothing." One of the author's key points is that Woodrow Wilson was more than a sentimental idealist, and his foreign policy was underrated. "By giving voice to what had been airy aspirations, and mobilizing the world's peoples, and taking his plan far toward completion," he writes, "Wilson proved to be a realist indeed." Widmer covers many subjects at a brisk pace while synthesizing a vast array of primary and secondary sources. Occasionally the volume of information becomes overwhelming, but the author makes solid use of poetry and fiction to back up his arguments-the title comes from Herman Melville's 1850 novel White-Jacket, which uses the phrase "ark of the liberties" to describe America's role as a moral exemplar. An unusual and engaging tour of thehorizon of American diplomacy that should appeal to both scholarly and general audiences.
Look this: Whats Normal or Healing from within with CHI Nei Tsang
Warman's Political Collectibles: Identification and Price Guide
Author: Enoch L Nappen
Today, collecting campaign memorabilia is much more involved than election buttons; although buttons remain a top contender. Inside this thoroughly illustrated color price guide and identification reference, you will discover history about the tools used in political jostling of the past, including local, state and presidential races. Among the collectible items you'll find are: buttons, bumper stickers, posters, letters, magazines, invitations, coins, yard signs, flashers, medals, photos and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment