POLITICAL POWER AND PERSONAL FREEDOM

Subtitled Critical Studies in Democracy, Communism, and Civil Rights this is a collection of 34 essays which have been written during the past decade and which have appeared in various journals: The N.Y. Times Magazine, The New Leader, Commentary, The Partisan Review, etc., etc. With characteristic lucidity of style and cogent presentation, Sidney Hook, pragmatist and democratic Socialist, deals with the topical questions of the ex-communist, whom he considers best equipped as the adversary of communism; the precminent concern of intellectual American liberals for civil rights to the exclusion of security which he believes resulted in the phenomenon of Senator McCarthy; the results of invoking the Fifth Amendment -- first of all, a presumption of guilt which would, for example, disqualify a teacher for his post; the Ethics of Employment, particularly in the entertainment industry; and the Fallacies of Ritualistic Liberalism -- a system of slogans whose spokesman is Robert Hutchins. There are sections dealing at length with the nature and prospects of Socialism, philosophical distinctions between communism and democracy,the Psychology of the Fellow Traveler, the ramifications of the Supreme Court's '54 decision, the ""too easy identification"" of freedom with free enterprise, and the characteristics of the American political system. Eloquent, provocative but often overlapping this should be of interest to the student and the informed citizen. Includes extensive Appendices of Letters, Dissents, Replies and Rejoinders.