Democracy’s Discontent

An important book about the meaning of liberty…By revealing the shallowness of liberal and conservative views of democracy, [Sandel] inspires us to reevaluate what American politics is really about. -- John B. Judis * Washington Post Book World * Sandel gives us one of the most powerful works of public philosophy to appear in recent years…A brilliant diagnosis. -- Fouad Ajami * U.S. News & World Report * A profound contribution to our understanding of the present discontents. -- Paul A. Rahe * Wall Street Journal * An elegant reading of constitutional controversies and political arguments, this book is bound to change the course of American historiography, political philosophy, and legal scholarship. -- Jane Mansbridge, author of <i>Beyond Adversary Democracy</i> and <i>Why We Lost the E.R.A</i> Among liberalism’s critics, few have been more influential or insightful than Michael Sandel…This carefully argued, consistently thought-provoking book is grounded in a sophisticated understanding of past and present political debates. -- Eric Foner * The Nation * A detailed, coherent and marvelously illuminating narrative of American political and legal history. Recounting the debates over ratifying the Constitution, chartering a national bank, abolishing slavery, the spread of wage labor, Progressive Era reforms and the New Deal, Sandel skillfully highlights the presence (and, increasingly, absence) of republican ideology, the shift from a ‘political economy of citizenship’ to a political economy of growth. -- George Scialabba * Boston Globe * Americans have lost faith in the possibility of self-government, and they are frightened by the disintegration of community they see happening all around them. Twenty-six years since Democracy’s Discontent was first published, Sandel writes that this way of thinking has brought us to a political precipice—a moment when the combination of frayed social bonds and intense political polarization calls into question the very future of the American experiment. -- Win McCormack * New Republic * Few books are as relevant a quarter-century after their appearance as when published—but Michael Sandel has made his classic Democracy’s Discontent even more so. Rethinking how the political economy of the middle of the twentieth century has mutated to the detriment of American citizenship, substituting consumerism and globalization for community and self-rule, this is a touchstone study for our times. -- Samuel Moyn, author of <i>Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World</i> Michael Sandel’s deeply insightful analysis of the erosion of the political economy of citizenship has never been more timely than at the present moment. Essential—and ultimately hopeful—reading for all those who wonder if our democratic experiment will survive in the twenty-first century. -- Greta R. Krippner, author of <i>Capitalizing on Crisis: The Political Origins of the Rise of Finance</i>