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    Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent
    Unavailable
    Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent
    Unavailable
    Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent
    Audiobook10 hours

    Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent

    Written by E. J. Dionne Jr.

    Narrated by Michael Kramer

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Our Divided Political Heart will be the must-listen book of the 2012 election campaign. Offering an incisive analysis of how hyper-individualism is poisoning the nation's political atmosphere, E. J. Dionne Jr., argues that Americans can't agree on who we are because we can't agree on who we've been, or what it is, philosophically and spiritually, that makes us Americans. Dionne takes on the Tea Party's distortions of American history and shows that the true American tradition points not to radical individualism, but to a balance between our love of individualism and our devotion to community.

    Dionne offers both a fascinating tour of American history-from the Founding Fathers to Clay and Lincoln and on to the Populists, the Progressives, and the New Dealers-and also an analysis of our current politics that shatters conventional wisdom. The true American idea, far from endorsing government inaction or indifference, has always viewed the federal government as an active and constructive partner with the rest of society in promoting prosperity, opportunity, and American greatness.

    The ability of the American system to self-correct is its greatest asset, and Dionne challenges progressives to embrace the American story. Our fractious but productive past offers us the resources both to rediscover the idea of progress and to put an end to our fears of decline. Our Divided Political Heart will be required listening for all who seek a path out of our current impasse.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Audio
    Release dateJun 25, 2012
    ISBN9781452678467
    Author

    E. J. Dionne Jr.

    E. J. Dionne Jr. is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a columnist for the Washington Post, and University Professor in the Foundations of Democracy and Culture at Georgetown University. He appears weekly on NPR and regularly on MSNBC and NBC's Meet the Press. His twice-weekly op-ed column is now syndicated in 140 newspapers. His writing has been published in the Atlantic, the New Republic, the American Prospect, the Washington Post Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, Commonweal, New Statesman, and elsewhere. He is the author, editor, or coeditor of numerous books, including the classic bestseller Why Americans Hate Politics, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was nominated for the National Book Award. His most recent book is Souled Out. Dionne lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with wife, Mary Boyle, and their three children.

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    Reviews for Our Divided Political Heart

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      Sad commentary on the political state of affairs we are in and will likely be in for a very long time. Dionne rightly (in my opinion) identifies the culprits responsible for the polarization, but also writes a strong backdrop of how we got here and tries to set right the distortions of the hijackers of our historical memory.

      I do not think we will see consensus in our lifetimes. This reinforces that fear.
    • 5/5
      An immensely readable and cojent presentation of how the conservative and progressive movements in the US have gotten to where they are today. Dionne begins by describing the nature of the extreme polarization we all feel in modern politics and then takes us back to the years immediately following the adoption of the US Constitution to show the roots of conflict which have always been a part of our history - primarily the struggle to balance an individualism unique to American culture with a strong committment to community and duty to the Union. Our Divided Political Heart focuses especially on the 20th century, and the "Long Consensus" which led to a relatively stable political and economic reality supportive of the rise of the American Century.If you have not spent any time exploring these subjects, the introductory chapter alone will be a real eye-opener, and will provide the reader with a much healthier understanding of what's going on in modern politics. If it does fire you up enough to read on (as it should), you will be rewarded with both a solid overview of the ebb and flow of consensus and polarization as the US has struggled for balance, and enough historical detail to allow the reader to accept or reject Dionne's conclusions. Either way, you will better understand the 'other'.Written with a healthy respect for the importance of (and the need for) both conservatism and progressivism in a healthy republic, Our Divided Heart will either arm the moderate liberal with a greater understanding to support opposition to an increasingly aggressive conservatism, or provide the moderate or radical conservative with a better understanding of where those crazy liberals are coming from, and why we need them.Must read for anyone with an interest in current US politics and its place in political history, regardless of where one resides on the political spectrum.Os.