A sound and spirited defense of the wall of separation between church and state. Cornell professors Kramnick (Government; The Rage of Edmund Burke, 1977, etc.) and Moore (History) offer both a history of American religious controversy and a polemic against those who contend that the Founding Fathers created a ``Christian nation'' that secular forces have recently corrupted. The thesis is that the Constitution's framers saw religion as a bulwark against immorality but believed that government had no business endorsing sectarian views; they did not want a godless America but did insist on a godless Constitution, which included a proscription of religious tests for public office, the First Amendment prohibition of established religion, and the protection of individual religious practice. The influences discussed include Roger Williams's fear that politicians acting in the name of religious values would appropriate religion to their own ``profane interests''; Locke's philosophy that government had no right to disturb private behavior that did not harm others; and the Virginia Statute drafted by Jefferson and Madison, which was a model for the Constitution's treatment of religion. The book follows the unending conflict between the founders' vision and those of their churchly critics, who opposed ratification precisely because the Constitution was godless, attempted unsuccessfully to ban Sunday mail delivery before the Civil War, and for decades tried to amend God into the Constitution. The last chapter firmly but courteously rebukes such contemporary figures as Pat Robertson and Pat Buchanan and respectfully disagrees with more complex thinkers such as Robert Bellah and Stephen L. Carter. A timely reminder, as we enter a year of electoral politicking, that even the touchiest issues can be treated with intellectual honesty and a decent appreciation for opposing views.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-393-03961-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
More rewarding deliberations on the past, present, and future from economist Heilbroner, adapted from lectures he gave last year at the New York Public Library. Before reaching some equivocal conclusions about the shape of things to come, Heilbroner (21st Century Capitalism, 1993, etc.) spends a good deal of time looking backward. In assessing what he calls the ``Distant Past'' (a period from prehistory to the 17th century), he points out that the material outlook of its peoples was marked by expectations of changelessness. By contrast, advances in technology enabled Western societies from ``Yesterday'' (an era lasting from about 1700 through 1950) to anticipate the future with confidence. But ``Today,'' by Heilbroner's account, the impersonal forces that have influenced, even dominated, the recent past- -science, economics, mass political movements—now give the developed world as much cause for alarm as for optimism. Disturbing cases in point range from environmental loss through persistent brushfire belligerencies, the insecurities of a market economy, and nuclear power. In offering an imaginable appraisal of what might be in store for both the have and have-not outposts of the Global Village, Heilbroner speculates that capitalism will take a variety of nationalistic forms. Over the longer run, however, he argues that civilization cannot achieve the humane progress of which it is capable if market-based free enterprise (ceaseless accumulation) remains the ordering principle. But he's unsure whether civic virtue will best be served by centralized or decentralized political organization, and he ends with the slightly gnomic observation that two ``quite opposite extremes'' might offer paths to a better future: ``The first is effective global government; the second is its abolition.'' Still, even though he doesn't provide a bang-up payoff at the close, Heilbroner offers a wealth of dividends along the way. A worldly philosopher's provocative broad-brush perspectives on what the morrow could bring.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-509074-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Nostalgia reigns in this account of how the film industry responded to WW II. Hoopes (Ralph Ingersoll, 1985, etc.), Washington bureau chief of Modern Maturity, has written extensively on the ``good old days,'' and his latest effort is in the same vein of mildly revisionist memorabilia. Even before the start of the war, some members of of Hollywood's acting community—notably the British and progressive-minded Jews—were already alert to the dangers posed by the Nazis, and it is with these farsighted individuals that Hoopes begins his chronicle. Vienna-born actor Helmut Dantine, for example, spent three months in a concentration camp as a result of his anti-Nazi activism before coming to America. After Pearl Harbor, however, the entire filmmaking community pitched in eagerly with bond drives, USO tours, and enlistments. ``In many ways, World War II was Hollywood's finest hour,'' Hoopes asserts. ``Just about every male star not in the service went on at least one USO tour; among actresses, participation was close to 100 percent.'' (A notable exception was Greta Garbo.) Although the reaction of the industry to the war is a potentially fascinating story, and Hoopes has some splendid anecdotes, this book suffers from a warmed-over feeling. The first and biggest problem is Hoopes's working method: By his own admission, the entire book was gleaned from secondary sources, most of them movie-star autobiographies—not notably reliable sources of information. As a result, where two reports of events conflict, Hoopes merely repeats both versions and leaves it to readers to decide who is telling the truth; and where a star is not forthcoming about his war record, Robert Montgomery for instance, Hoopes offers silence. This is just lazy reporting. Finally, although the book is organized in a loose chronology, it has no real structure, and meanders aimlessly, if amiably, from anecdote to anecdote. A disappointing failure to explore a rich topic.
Pub Date: Jan. 9, 1995
ISBN: 0-679-41423-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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