Synopses & Reviews
In this provocative book, Wilfred McClay considers the long-standing tension between individualism and social cohesion in conceptions of American culture. Exploring ideas of unity and diversity as they have evolved since the Civil War, he illuminates the historical background to our ongoing search for social connectedness and sources of authority in a society increasingly dominated by the premises of individualism. McClay borrows D. H. Lawrence's term 'masterless men'extending its meaning to women as welland argues that it is expressive of both the promise and the peril inherent in the modern American social order.
Drawing upon a wide range of disciplinesincluding literature, sociology, political science, philosophy, psychology, and feminist theoryMcClay identifies a competition between visions of dispersion on the one hand and coalescence on the other as modes of social organization. In addition, he employs intellectual biography to illuminate the intersection of these ideas with the personal experiences of the thinkers articulating them and shows how these shifting visions are manifestations of a more general ambivalence about the process of national integration and centralization that has characterized modern American economic, political, and cultural life.
Review
A fascinating intellectual history.
America
Review
[A] fine study.
American Historical Review
Review
Engaging.
Journal of Southern History
Review
This is a model of intelligent and intelligible cultural history from which any student of modern America will profit.
Australasian Journal of American Studies
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-346) and index.
About the Author
Wilfred M. McClay is Professor and SunTrust Chair of Excellence in Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.