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 The End Of UtopiaPolitics And Culture In An Age Of Apathyby Russell Jacoby May 18, 2000
DescriptionWe are facing the end of politics altogether, Russell Jacoby argues in The End of Utopia. Political contestation is premised on people’s capacity for offering competing visions of the future, but in a world that has run out of political ideas and no longer harbors any utopian visions, real political opposition is no longer possible. In particular, Jacoby traces the demise of liberal and leftist politics. Leftist intellectuals and critics no longer envision a different society, only a modified one. The left once dismissed the market as exploitative, but now honors it as rational and humane. The left used to disdain mass culture, but now celebrates it as rebellious. The left once rejected pluralism as superficial, but now resurrects pluralist ideas in the guise of multiculturalism. Ranging across a wide terrain of cultural and political phenomena—the end of the Cold War, the rise of multiculturalism, the acceptance of mass culture, the eclipse of independent intellectuals—Jacoby documents and laments a widespread retreat from the utopian spirit that has always been the engine for social and political change. Reviews
"The End of Utopia is an arrestingly readable tract for the times."
"In a time when any hope that the world might become more decent is likely to meet with a blank stare or a sneer, Russell Jacoby is an indispensable critic."
“The eclipse of utopianism among intellectuals in recent years is a devastating and central fact of our culture, but it has never been more carefully and brilliantly addressed. The End of Utopia is a shattering and seminal work that goes far to explain what happened to the radical left, and its impulse to change the world. I can think of few books I would more gladly urge upon readers who want to know where we have been, and where we might go from here. In this book as in previous work, Russell Jacoby stares into the eyes of the Medusa, and he has not yet turned to stone. Pray that he never averts his gaze.” “A courageous, discerning cri de coeur against the complacency, hypocrisy, and mendacity of those intellectuals who value tenure more than truth.” “In a time when any hope that the world might become more decent is likely to meet with a blank stare or a sneer, Russell Jacoby is an indispensable critic. His latest is a pleasure to read—and, on occasion, to disagree with. The important thing is to read him, dispute with him, take his case seriously. It matters.” “The End of Utopia is learned, bold, provocative, ferocious in its criticism of intellectuals on all parts of the political spectrum, and in the end suffused with a profoundly human sensibility.” Selling TerritoryWorld |
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