Synopses & Reviews
In 1996, less than half of all eligible voters bothered to vote. Fewer citizens each year follow government and public affairs regularly. Is popular sovereignty a failure? Not necessarily, argues Michael Schudson in this provocative history of citizenship in America. Schudson sees American politics as evolving from a "politics of assent" in colonial times and the eighteenth century, in which voting generally reaffirmed the social hierarchy of the community; to a "politics of affiliation" in the nineteenth century, in which party loyalty was paramount for the good citizen. Progressive reforms around the turn of the century reduced the power of parties and increased the role of education, making way for the "informed citizen," which remains the ideal in American civic life. Today a fourth model, "the rights-bearing citizen," supplements the "informed citizen" model and makes the courthouse as well as the voting booth a channel for citizenship.
Review
"America clings to an array of historically derived ideals of citizen participation--18th-century town-hall meetings, 19th-century mass parties, early 20th-century direct democracy--even though it cannot possibly live up to all at once. These are the 'successive coats that laminate our political ideals,' as Mr. Schudson puts it; and each coat is tattered, so that the earlier ones show through. It is reassuring to find Mr. Schudson pleading that 'We can gain inspiration from the past, but we cannot import it.' It would be even better if his countrymen read his book."
--The Economist"The Good Citizen is an admirable, consistently interesting attempt to lay out with some factual and conceptual precision the history of an issue usually discussed in platitudes...an extremely valuable book."
--Nicholas Lemann, Washington Monthly"A superb new book."
--Robert Samuelson, Washington Post"[A] splendid book."
--George F. Will, Newsweek"Schudson's argument is daring, persuasive, and refreshing. He draws a vast range of scholarship into a 300-page account of the shifting standards of good citizenship...The Good Citizen is synthetic scholarship designed to influence public debate of the sort so many historians call for but so few have produced. It deserves both the careful consideration of scholars and the wide audience it seeks...There is much to welcome in this book, especially because it challenges the facile historical assumptions that inform current discussions of civic declension...This [is a] rich and stimulating book. [Schudson] provides a superb model of scholarly citizenship and effectively restores historical perspective to what has often been an ahistorical public conversation."
--James J. Connolly, Reviews in American History"[An] excellent book...Americans beyond the academy of specialists would profit from reading this comprehensive effort to understand just what good citizenship means and has meant for Americans from the colonial period to the millennium...Schudson is original and convincing...he is innovative, perceptive, and--especially on today's culture--controversial."
--Jean Harvey Baker, American Historical Review"Michael Schudson has taken on the daunting task of trying to make sense of how citizenship has evolved and where it might be headed. His The Good Citizen is a thoughtful, carefully constructed mix of history and prognosis. His analysis is realistic; he offers no panacea...Looming over America's future is uncertainty about how nonchalant people can become before their democracy is severely damaged. Mr. Schudson says of this, 'There is surely some line of willful ignorance that, once crossed, crosses out democracy itself.' We have heard such warnings before. Mr. Schudson renews them eloquently. He deserves an attentive audience."
--Philip Seib, Dallas Morning NewsReview
America clings to an array of historically derived ideals of citizen participation--18th-century town-hall meetings, 19th-century mass parties, early 20th-century direct democracy--even though it cannot possibly live up to all at once. These are the 'successive coats that laminate our political ideals,' as Mr. Schudson puts it; and each coat is tattered, so that the earlier ones show through. It is reassuring to find Mr. Schudson pleading that 'We can gain inspiration from the past, but we cannot import it.' It would be even better if his countrymen read his book. The Economist
Review
The Good Citizen is an admirable, consistently interesting attempt to lay out with some factual and conceptual precision the history of an issue usually discussed in platitudes...an extremely valuable book. Nicholas Lemann
Review
A superb new book. Washington Monthly
Review
[A] splendid book. Robert Samuelson - Washington Post
Review
Schudson's argument is daring, persuasive, and refreshing. He draws a vast range of scholarship into a 300-page account of the shifting standards of good citizenship...The Good Citizen is synthetic scholarship designed to influence public debate of the sort so many historians call for but so few have produced. It deserves both the careful consideration of scholars and the wide audience it seeks...There is much to welcome in this book, especially because it challenges the facile historical assumptions that inform current discussions of civic declension...This [is a] rich and stimulating book. [Schudson] provides a superb model of scholarly citizenship and effectively restores historical perspective to what has often been an ahistorical public conversation. George F. Will - Newsweek
Review
[An] excellent book...Americans beyond the academy of specialists would profit from reading this comprehensive effort to understand just what good citizenship means and has meant for Americans from the colonial period to the millennium...Schudson is original and convincing...he is innovative, perceptive, and--especially on today's culture--controversial. James J. Connolly - Reviews in American History
Review
Michael Schudson has taken on the daunting task of trying to make sense of how citizenship has evolved and where it might be headed. His The Good Citizen is a thoughtful, carefully constructed mix of history and prognosis. His analysis is realistic; he offers no panacea...Looming over America's future is uncertainty about how nonchalant people can become before their democracy is severely damaged. Mr. Schudson says of this, 'There is surely some line of willful ignorance that, once crossed, crosses out democracy itself.' We have heard such warnings before. Mr. Schudson renews them eloquently. He deserves an attentive audience. Jean Harvey Baker - American Historical Review
About the Author
Michael Schudsonis Professor of Communication and Sociology at the <>University of California, San Diego. He is the author of several books, including Advertising: The Uneasy Persuasionand Watergate in American Memory.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Election Day
1. Colonial Origins of American Political Practice: 1690-1787
2. The Constitutional Moment: 1787-1801
3. The Democratic Transition in American Political Life: 1801-1865
Entr'Acte I: The Public World of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates
4. The Second Transformation of American Citizenship: 1865-1920
5. Cures for Democracy? Civil Religion, Leadership, Expertise--and More Democracy
Entr'Acte II: The Second Great Debate
6. Widening the Web of Citizenship in an Age of Private Citizens
Conclusion: A Gathering of Citizens
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index