American Autopia

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American Autopia

Author : Gabrielle Esperdy
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
Page : 553 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2019-10-28
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9780813943107

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American Autopia by Gabrielle Esperdy Pdf

Early to mid-twentieth-century America was the heyday of a car culture that has been called an "automobile utopia." In American Autopia, Gabrielle Esperdy examines how the automobile influenced architectural and urban discourse in the United States from the earliest days of the auto industry to the aftermath of the 1970s oil crisis. Paying particular attention to developments after World War II, Esperdy creates a narrative that extends from U.S. Routes 1 and 66 to the Las Vegas Strip to California freeways, with stops at gas stations, diners, main drags, shopping centers, and parking lots along the way. While it addresses the development of auto-oriented landscapes and infrastructures, American Autopia is not a conventional history, offering instead an exploration of the wide-ranging evolution of car-centric territories and drive-in typologies, looking at how they were scrutinized by diverse cultural observers in the middle of the twentieth century. Drawing on work published in the popular and professional press, and generously illustrated with evocative images, the book shows how figures as diverse as designer Victor Gruen, geographer Jean Gottmann, theorist Denise Scott Brown, critic J.B. Jackson, and historian Reyner Banham constructed "autopia" as a place and an idea. The result is an intellectual history and interpretive roadmap to the United States of the Automobile.

The Utopian Impulse in Latin America

Author : K. Beauchesne,A. Santos
Publisher : Springer
Page : 307 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2011-10-24
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780230339613

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The Utopian Impulse in Latin America by K. Beauchesne,A. Santos Pdf

An exploration of the concept of utopia in Latin America from the earliest accounts of the New World to current cultural production, the carefully selected essays in this volume represent the latest research on the topic by some of the most important Latin Americanists working in North American academia today.

American Utopia

Author : Peter Swirski
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2019-07-08
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780429628139

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American Utopia by Peter Swirski Pdf

From Black Tuesday to the White House, from Plato to Robert Nozick, from Eugene Debs to Richard Nixon, from Peter Cornelis Plockhoy to the hippie communes of the Sixties, from universal basic income to utopian basic income, from proverbial wisdom to multilevel selection, from Big Data to paleomorality, from Prisoner’s Dilemma to social-engineering Israeli kindergartens, from time travel to gene engineering, from the pretzel logic of meritocracy to deaggressing humanity, American Utopia maps the pitfalls and windfalls of social reform in the name of the human use of human beings. Interrogating the assumptions behind four outré utopias by Thomas M. Disch, Bernard Malamud, Kurt Vonnegut, and Margaret Atwood, the book interrogates the assumptions that have historically been central to the utopian project. Whence the seeds of social discontent? Whence our taste for egoism and altruism? For waging war and waging peace? Can we bioengineer human nature to specifications? Should we? Who makes better guardians: humans or machines? And who will guard the guardians?

An American Utopia

Author : Fredric Jameson
Publisher : Verso Books
Page : 371 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2016-07-12
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781784784515

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An American Utopia by Fredric Jameson Pdf

Fredric Jameson's pathbreaking essay "An American Utopia" radically questions standard leftist notions of what constitutes an emancipated society. Advocated here are-among other things-universal conscription, the full acknowledgment of envy and resentment as a fundamental challenge to any communist society, and the acceptance that the division between work and leisure cannot be overcome. To create a new world, we must first change the way we envision the world. Jameson's text is ideally placed to trigger a debate on the alternatives to global capitalism. In addition to Jameson's essay, the volume includes responses from philosophers and political and cultural analysts, as well as an epilogue from Jameson himself. Many will be appalled at what they will encounter in these pages-there will be blood! But perhaps one has to spill such (ideological) blood to give the Left a chance.

American Utopia and Social Engineering in Literature, Social Thought, and Political History

Author : Peter Swirski
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 266 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2011-05-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9781136723391

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American Utopia and Social Engineering in Literature, Social Thought, and Political History by Peter Swirski Pdf

The United States today is afflicted with political alienation, militarized violence, institutionalized poverty, and social agony. Worst of all, perhaps, it is afflicted with chronic and acute ahistoricism. America insist on ignoring the context of its present dilemmas. It insists on forgetting what preceded the headlines of today and on denying continuity with history. It insists, in short, on its exceptionalism. American Utopia and Social Engineering sets out to correct this amnesia. It misses no opportunity to flesh out both the historical premises and the political promises behind the social policies and political events of the period. These interdisciplinary concerns provide, in turn, the framework for the analyses of works of American literature that mirror their times and mores. Novels considered include: B.F. Skinner and Walden Two (1948), easily the most scandalous utopia of the century, if not of all times; Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962), an anatomy of political disfranchisement American-style; Bernard Malamud’s God’s Grace (1982), a neo-Darwinian beast fable about morality in the thermonuclear age; Walker Percy’s The Thanatos Syndrome (1986), a diagnostic novel about engineering violence out of America’s streets and minds; and Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America (2004), an alternative history of homegrown ‘soft’ fascism. With the help of the five novels and the social models outlined therein, Peter Swirski interrogates key aspects of sociobiology and behavioural psychology, voting and referenda procedures, morality and altruism, multilevel selection and proverbial wisdom, violence and chip-implant technology, and the adaptive role of emotions in our private and public lives.

C Wright Mills An American Utopia

Author : Irving Lewis Horowitz
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 1985-04-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781439106242

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C Wright Mills An American Utopia by Irving Lewis Horowitz Pdf

A biography of legendary sociologist C. Wright Mills, author of The Power Elite and White Collar, among other works, by eminent sociologist Irving L. Horowitz. Charles Wright Mills (1916-1962) was a famed sociologist, social commentator and critic. Noted for his anti-authoritarian, flamboyant character and radical ideas, he has been described as an ‘American Utopian’ – committed to social change, angered by the oppression he saw around him, and critical of what he saw as evidence of U.S. imperialism. His legacy includes a series of classic books – including The Power Elite, White Collar, and The Sociological Imagination -- and he has made a distinctive contribution to American sociological theory, especially in the area of class, power and social structure.

Planet Utopia

Author : Mark Featherstone
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2017-02-17
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781351815888

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Planet Utopia by Mark Featherstone Pdf

The key figure of the capitalist utopia is the individual who is ultimately free. The capitalist’s ideal society is designed to protect this freedom. However, within Planet Utopia: Utopia, Dystopia, Globalisation, Featherstone argues that capitalist utopian vision, which is most clearly expressed in theories of global finance, is no longer sustainable today. This book concerns the status of utopian thinking in contemporary global society and the possibility of imagining alternative ways of living outside of capitalism. Using a range of sociological and philosophical theories to write the first intellectual history of the capitalist utopia in English, Featherstone provokes the reader into thinking about ways of moving beyond this model of organising social life through sociological modes of thought. Indeed, this enlightening volume seeks to show how utopian thinking about the way people should live has been progressively captured by capitalism with the result that it is difficult to imagine alternatives to capitalist society today. Presenting sociology and sociological thinking as a utopian alternative to the capitalist utopia, Planet Utopia will appeal to postgraduate and postdoctoral students interested in subjects including Sociology, Social Theory, Cultural Studies, Cultural Theory and Continental Philosophy.

Waltäó»s Utopia

Author : Priscilla Hobbs
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2015-07-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781476622132

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Waltäó»s Utopia by Priscilla Hobbs Pdf

The “Happiest Place on Earth” opened in 1955 during a trying time in American life—the Cold War. Disneyland was envisioned as a utopian resort where families could play together and escape the tension of the “real world.” Since its construction, the park has continually been updated to reflect changing American culture. The park’s themed features are based on familiar Disney stories and American history and folklore. They reflect the hopes of a society trying to understand itself in the wake of World War II. This book takes a fresh look at the park, analyzing its cultural narrative by looking beyond consumerism and corporate marketing to how Disney helped America cope during the Cold War and beyond.

Biopolitics and Utopia

Author : P. Stapleton,A. Byers
Publisher : Springer
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2015-06-10
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781137514752

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Biopolitics and Utopia by P. Stapleton,A. Byers Pdf

This interdisciplinary reader offers a fascinating exploration of the intersection of biopolitics and utopia by employing a range of theoretical approaches. Each essay provides a unique application of the two concepts to topics spanning the social sciences and humanities.

Sojourner Truth's America

Author : Margaret Washington
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
Page : 520 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2011-04-21
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0252093747

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Sojourner Truth's America by Margaret Washington Pdf

This fascinating biography tells the story of nineteenth-century America through the life of one of its most charismatic and influential characters: Sojourner Truth. In an in-depth account of this amazing activist, Margaret Washington unravels Sojourner Truth's world within the broader panorama of African American slavery and the nation's most significant reform era. Born into bondage among the Hudson Valley Dutch in Ulster County, New York, Isabella was sold several times, married, and bore five children before fleeing in 1826 with her infant daughter one year before New York slavery was abolished. In 1829, she moved to New York City, where she worked as a domestic, preached, joined a religious commune, and then in 1843 had an epiphany. Changing her name to Sojourner Truth, she began traveling the country as a champion of the downtrodden and a spokeswoman for equality by promoting Christianity, abolitionism, and women's rights. Gifted in verbal eloquence, wit, and biblical knowledge, Sojourner Truth possessed an earthy, imaginative, homespun personality that won her many friends and admirers and made her one of the most popular and quoted reformers of her times. Washington's biography of this remarkable figure considers many facets of Sojourner Truth's life to explain how she became one of the greatest activists in American history, including her African and Dutch religious heritage; her experiences of slavery within contexts of labor, domesticity, and patriarchy; and her profoundly personal sense of justice and intuitive integrity. Organized chronologically into three distinct eras of Truth's life, Sojourner Truth's America examines the complex dynamics of her times, beginning with the transnational contours of her spirituality and early life as Isabella and her embroilments in legal controversy. Truth's awakening during nineteenth-century America's progressive surge then propelled her ascendancy as a rousing preacher and political orator despite her inability to read and write. Throughout the book, Washington explores Truth's passionate commitment to family and community, including her vision for a beloved community that extended beyond race, gender, and socioeconomic condition and embraced a common humanity. For Sojourner Truth, the significant model for such communalism was a primitive, prophetic Christianity. Illustrated with dozens of images of Truth and her contemporaries, Sojourner Truth's America draws a delicate and compelling balance between Sojourner Truth's personal motivations and the influences of her historical context. Washington provides important insights into the turbulent cultural and political climate of the age while also separating the many myths from the facts concerning this legendary American figure.

Interpreting America

Author : John Ryder
Publisher : Vanderbilt University Press
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Philosophy, American
ISBN : 0826513344

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Interpreting America by John Ryder Pdf

More scholarly works on the history of American philosophy have been completed in Russian than in any other language outside of our own; yet most of that body of work has not been translated or studied comprehensively. Consequently, Soviet-era efforts to understand American thought have remained almost entirely unknown to Western scholars. In his pioneering new book Interpreting America John Ryder makes available for the first time to English-speaking readers Russian views of the full range of American philosophical thought: from seventeenth-century Puritanism through the colonial and revolutionary periods, nineteenth- century idealism, pragmatism, naturalism, and other twentieth-century movements and figures. Using his own accurate translations, he clearly reconstructs a chain of core ideas, emphasizes the most essential concepts of each writer's work, and gives a multidimensional reconstruction of the arguments of each author. By taking mainstream Soviet philosophical commentators like Baskin, Bogomolov, Karimsky, Melvil, Pokrovsky, Sidorov, and Yulina seriously and letting them speak for themselves, Ryder shows not only what Soviet philosophers and scholars thought of American philosophy (and why they were so interested in the first place) but also the nuances of the internal disagreements among Soviet thinkers about what American philosophers were saying. He also reveals a strong continuity between contemporary, post-Soviet Russian philosophy and earlier Soviet work. Perhaps no other book has ever explored in such a systematic manner the ways in which one philosophical system has regarded another. Ryder's revealing study of how others have viewed us helps to clarify the depth, richness, and complexity of our own American philosophical heritage.

Contested Utopia

Author : Marc Rosenstein
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2021-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9780827618633

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Contested Utopia by Marc Rosenstein Pdf

This first book to examine the Jewish state through the lens of Jewish utopian thought, from its biblical beginnings to modernity, offers a fresh perspective on the political, religious, and geopolitical life of Israel. As Marc J. Rosenstein argues, the Jewish people's collective memories, desires, hopes, and faith have converged to envision an ideal life in the Land of Israel--but, critically, the legacy is a kaleidoscope of conflicting (and sometimes overlapping) visions. And after three millennia of imagining utopia, it is almost impossible for Jews to respond to Israel's realities without being influenced--even unconsciously--by these images. Charting the place of utopian thought in Judaism, Rosenstein then illustrates, with original texts, diverse utopian visions of the Jewish state: Torah state (Yavetz), holy community (based on nostalgic memories of the medieval community), national-cultural home (Lewinsky), "normal" state (Herzl), socialist paradise (Syrkin), anarchy (Jabotinsky), and a polity defined by Israel's historic or divinely ordained borders. Analyzing how these disparate utopian visions collide in Israel's attempts to chart policy and practice regarding the Sabbath, social welfare, immigration, developing versus conserving the land, and the Israel-Diaspora relationship yields novel perspectives on contemporary flashpoints. His own utopian vision offers a further entryway for both Israelis and Diaspora Jews into more informed and nuanced conversations about the "Jewish state."

Trans/Forming Utopia - Volume II

Author : Elizabeth Russell
Publisher : Peter Lang
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Utopias
ISBN : 3039113488

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Trans/Forming Utopia - Volume II by Elizabeth Russell Pdf

Is the utopian project dead? Is it possible to imagine a utopian society or a utopian world in the aftermath of the collapse of ideologies? This book contains eighteen essays which are the result of the 7th International Conference of Utopian Studies held in Spain in 2006, either debating the subject, or suggesting alternative readings to some of the theoretical ideas raised within utopian studies. This volume focuses on the importance of narratives in utopian literature. They define the world we live in and the world we wish to live in. Through narratives of confession, and indeed through silence itself, the unconscious emerges and desire is articulated. The articles in this volume question and challenge the power of the word, the stability of meaning, and the relationship between thought and action in the construction of utopia and dystopia. They also point to the various literary frameworks of utopian and dystopian narratives, thus connecting stories from the past, present and future of both real and imaginary and communities.

The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature

Author : Steven R. Serafin,Alfred Bendixen
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 1340 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2005-09-01
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0826417779

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The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature by Steven R. Serafin,Alfred Bendixen Pdf

More than ten years in the making, this comprehensive single-volume literary survey is for the student, scholar, and general reader. The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature represents a collaborative effort, involving 300 contributors from across the US and Canada. Composed of more than 1,100 signed biographical-critical entries, this Encyclopedia serves as both guide and companion to the study and appreciation of American literature. A special feature is the topical article, of which there are 70.

A Jungian Inquiry into the American Psyche

Author : Ipek S. Burnett
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 114 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2019-07-23
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780429513640

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A Jungian Inquiry into the American Psyche by Ipek S. Burnett Pdf

In A Jungian Inquiry into the American Psyche: The Violence of Innocence, Ipek Burnett’s penetrating cultural criticism enriched with psychoanalytical and Jungian insight offers a timely interrogation of national consciousness in the United States. Through evocative storytelling, Burnett unpacks the images and myths that run deep in the American psyche—from that of the New World, the city upon a hill, to the Manifest Destiny, the melting pot, and the pursuit of happiness. Against this backdrop, she investigates the vicious cycles of innocence and violence that have dominated American history and continue to reinforce systematic oppression in America, evident in racial and economic inequality, xenophobia, materialism, and more. Burnett’s thought-provoking analysis exposes the ways in which psychological defenses such as historical amnesia, projection, denial, and dissociation work on a collective level, helping America avoid a confrontation with these violent truths of its past and present circumstances, and its national character. With its seamless multidisciplinary approach and revealing insight, this book will be of great interest to psychologists, scholars, and students of Jungian and post-Jungian thought, depth psychology, and cultural and American studies. Eloquent and accessible, it will engage readers who strive to be self-reflective, well-informed global citizens. .