The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity, and the New Left in America - Softcover

Rossinow, Doug

Softcover

ISBN 10: 023111057X ISBN 13: 9780231110570

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Breaking new ground in cultural, political, and social history, Rossinow tells the story of the new left-wing movement that emerged in the 1960s from an innovative perspective: illustrating the spiritual dimension of student activism and providing the first account "from the bottom up" -- as well as linking local developments to the national scene.

About this title

About the Author:

Doug Rossinow is assistant professor of history at Metropolitan State University, Minneapolis and St. Paul.

From Library Journal:

"A search for authenticity in industrial American life"?that's what historian Rossinow (history, Metropolitan State Univ.) has identified as the main thrust of the New Left movement that powered the youth-driven political and social revolutions of the 1960s. He argues that the New Left resulted from a reaction to traditional American liberalism, which was seen by New Leftists as "elite-based," and from the influence of Christian existentialism, which redefined "sin" as "alienation" and "salvation" as "authenticity." Rossinow meticulously analyzes the interplay of academic politics and Texas state politics on the campus of the University of Texas, Austin, and shows how the New Left formed its organizational structure and ideological basis. This is a carefully researched, creative, and intriguing reinterpretation of American history. His thesis concerning the influence of Christian existentialism is overextended and the book is somewhat repetitive. But Rossinow's emphasis on the New Left's concerns with personal wholeness makes the idea of a continuum between the 1960s and the 1970s more palatable. Future books about the movement will need to consider this important study. For academic and large public libraries.?Jack Forman, Mesa Coll. Lib., San Diego
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 023111057X
• ISBN 13: 9780231110570
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 520