| Critical Crossings: The New York Intellectuals In Postwar Americaby Neil Jumonville Download Book (Respecting the intellectual property of others is utmost important to us, we make every effort to make sure we only link to legitimate sites, such as those sites owned by authors and publishers. If you have any questions about these links, please contact us.)
link 1
About Book
Book Description
The period immediately following the Second World War was a time, observed Randall Jarrell, when many American writers looked to the art of criticism as the representative act of the intellectual. Rethinking this interval in our culture, Neil Jumonville focuses on the group of writers and thinkers who founded, edited, and wrote for some of the most influential magazines in the country, including Partisan Review, Politics, Commentary, and Dissent. In their rejection of ideological, visionary, and romantic outlooks, reviewers and essayists such as Sidney Hook, Irving Howe, Lionel Trilling, Harold Rosenberg, and Daniel Bell adopted a pragmatic criticism that had a profound influence on the American intellectual community. By placing pragmatism at the center of intellectual activity, the New York Critics crossed from large belief systems to more tentative answers in the hope of redefining the proper function of the intellectual in the new postwar world. Because members of the New York group always valued being intellectuals more than being political leftists, they adopted a cultural elitism that opposed mass culture. Ready to combat any form of absolutist thought, they found themselves pitted against a series of antagonists, from the 1930s to the present, whom they considered insufficiently rational and analytical to be good intellectuals: the Communists and their sympathizers, the Beat writers, and the New Left. Jumonville tells the story of some of the paradoxes and dilemmas that confront all intellectuals. In this sense the book is as much about what it means to be an intellectual as it is about a specific group of thinkers.
From the Inside Flap
"I did not think it was possible to say something new about the New York intellectuals. I was wrong. Jumonville takes a unique approach: he shows why their ideas mattered--and still do. This book rekindles one's faith in the intellectual enterprise."--Alan Wolfe, author of Whose Keeper?
"So much has been written on the New York intellectuals they may someday attain the historiographical status of Perry Miller's Puritans and F. O. Matthiessen's Transcendentalists. Jumonville's excellent book demonstrates why the subject deserves fresh study. . . . Rises above ideological rancor to achieve empathy and thoughtful, judicious reflection."--John Patrick Diggins, author of The American Left in the Twentieth Century
From the Back Cover
"I did not think it was possible to say something new about the New York intellectuals. I was wrong. Jumonville takes a unique approach: he shows why their ideas mattered (and still do. This book rekindles one's faith in the intellectual enterprise." (Alan Wolfe, author of Whose Keeper?)
About the Author
Neil Jumonville received his Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization at Harvard. He now teaches in the history department at Florida State University. Related Free eBooks - Latin America In The 1940s: War And Postwar Transitions
- Travels Through The Canadas: To Which Is Subjoined A Comparative View Of The Manners And Customs Of Several Of The Indian Nations Of North And South America
- Letters From America
- Forest Scenes And Incidents In The Wilds Of North America: Being A Diary Of A Winter's Route From Halifax To The Canadas, And During Four Months' Residence In The Woods On The Borders Of Lakes Huron And Simcoe
- L'acadie, Or, Seven Years' Explorations In British America
- Five Years' Residence In The Canadas: Including A Tour Through Part Of The United States Of America, In The Year 1823
- Eighty Years' Progress Of British North America
- The British Dominions In North America
- Speech Of Hon. Charles Sumner, Of Massachusetts, On The Cession Of Russian America To The United States
- Vancouver's Discovery Of Puget Sound: Portraits And Biographies Of The Men Honored In The Naming Of Geographic Features Of Northwestern America
- Narrative Of A Voyage To The Northwest Coast Of America, In The Years 1811, 1812, 1813, And 1814, Or, The First American Settlement On The Pacific
- Sketches Of Travels In South America, Mexico And California
- Arizona And Sonora: The Geography, History, And Resources Of The Silver Region Of North America
- Old Settler's History Of York County, Nebraska And Individual Biographies
- Fifty Years In America
- An Overland Journey, From New York To San Francisco In The Summer Of 1859
- Sac-a-ja-wea, America's Greatest Heroine: From The Lewis And Clark Diaries
- New Voyages To North America
- The Catholic question in America : whether a Roman Catholic clergyman be in any case compellable to disclose the secrets of auricular confession ; decided at the Court of General Sessions, in the City of New York ; present, the honorable De Witt Clinton, mayor, the honorable Josiah Ogden Hoffman, recorder, Richard Cunningham, Isaac S. Douglass, esqrs. sitting aldermen ;with the arguments of counsel, and the unanimous opinion of the court, delivered by the mayor, with his reasons in support of that opinion
- Sketches And Tales Illustrative Of Life In The Backwoods Of New Brunswick, North America
- Chapters Of Opera: Being Historical And Critical Observations And Records Concerning The Lyric Drama In New York From Its Earliest Days Down To The Present Time
- Voyage Of The Destroyer From New York To Brazil
- Wanderings In South America
- Through Five Republics On Horseback: Being An Account Of Many Wanderings In South America
- The Pampas And Andes: A Thousand Miles' Walk Across South America
- Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America, During The Years 1799-1804
- The Buccaneers Of America: A True Account Of The Most Remarkable Assaults Committed Of Late Years Upon The Coasts Of The West Indies By The Buccaneers Of Jamaica And Tortuga (both English And French)
- Culture, Human Rights, And Peace In Central America
- The Jesuits In North America In The Seventeenth Century
- The Substance Of A Journal During A Residence At The Red River Colony, British North America: And Frequent Excursions Among The North-west American Indians, In The Years 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823
- The Wild North Land: Being The Story Of A Winter Journey, With Dogs, Across Northern North America
- The Great Lone Land: A Narrative Of Travel And Adventure In The North-west Of America
- Hudson's Bay, Or, Every-day Life In The Wilds Of North America: During Six Years' Residence In The Territories Of The Honourable Hudson's Bay Company
- Voyages From Montreal On The River St. Laurence, Through The Continent Of North America, To The Frozen And Pacific Oceans, In The Years 1789 And 1793 : With A Preliminary Account Of The Rise, Progress And Present State Of The Fur Trade Of That Country
- The Backwoods Of Canada: Being Letters From The Wife Of An Emigrant Officer, Illustrative Of The Domestic Economy Of British America
| Related Tags |
Comments
SEND A COMMENT
PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the article, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.