by James C. Thompson II ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 16, 2011
An often astute and scholarly work that’s hampered by its reductionism.
A spirited reconsideration of the causes of the American Revolution that takes aim at the views of acclaimed historian Bernard Bailyn.
Author and lecturer Thompson (The Dubious Achievement of the First Continental Congress, 2011, etc.) offers a reinterpretation of the Revolutionary War era that focuses on dynamic plays for power rather than a more romantic vision of it as a leap forward for social justice and a commitment to democratic ideology. In fact, he avers, the war wasn’t democratically chosen at all but was the result of the relentless agitation on the part of “a radical fringe of malcontents.” In 1760s England, he says, a “new underclass” appeared as a result of the birth of industrial society, creating an opportunity for a “political pest” named John Wilkes. His “rallying cry” for liberty, Thompson says, was picked up in the Colonies by Samuel Adams, the older cousin of John Adams, who used a message of “natural rights” to spark a political revolution that was performed in two acts: First, it was argued that King George III had violated the colonists’ civil rights via taxation without representation, and secondly, that he had infringed upon their natural rights. However, the author points out that even as late as 1775—approximately a decade into Adams’ indefatigable campaign—the vast majority of colonists still opposed a war for the sake of secession. In lucid prose, which draws on painstakingly meticulous research, Thompson goes on to show the ways in which Adams and Thomas Jefferson heavily relied upon the natural rights philosophy of the British philosopher John Locke, although he contends that their interpretations fashioned Locke into a far more radical thinker than he actually was. Thompson’s argument is a concise one as laid out in this book, and it’s remarkable how much historical territory he covers in a relatively short monograph. He also provides readers with incisive introductions to Adams and Wilkes, two extraordinarily important figures in early American history who are sometimes denied their rightful stature. Although the author’s position is not entirely original, he presents a clear encapsulation of an alternative reading of the nation’s genesis. However, he often undermines his argument by employing gratuitously inflammatory rhetoric. In fact, much of the book is an explicit critique of Bailyn’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 1968 book, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, which Thompson characterizes as “demonstrably false” or disingenuous. If Bailyn overstated the moral and ideological elements of the American Revolution, it seems that Thompson is just as reductionist in the other direction, as he argues that the “visionaries” behind the revolt did not mean to “encourage public deliberation, but to destroy their opponents in the mind of the people and to build parties that would help them to gather the political power they needed to promote their own ideologies.” Furthermore, it seems rather hyperbolic to claim that Jefferson’s view of natural rights is “nothing like Locke’s,” even it is different in many respects.
An often astute and scholarly work that’s hampered by its reductionism.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Commonwealth Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Chris Gardner with Quincy Troupe ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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by Daniel Kahneman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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