———. 1962. Richard Hofstadter was perhaps the greatest American historian of the mid-20th century, who twice won the Pulitzer Prize. Buy now Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. Of course, obviously, we have had one total failure of consensus, which led to the Civil War. Marx, Leo. Once these interests were sectional; now they tend more clearly to follow class lines; but from the beginning American political parties, instead of representing single sections or classes clearly and forcefully, have been intersectional and interclass parties, embracing a jumble of interests which often have reasons for contesting among themselves. It was a commercially successful (200,000 copies) critique of late-19th-century American capitalism and its ruthless "dog-eat-dog" economic competition and Social Darwinian self-justification. The Paranoid Style in American Politics. [1] Hofstadter has been widely regarded to be as much a part of the history in which he wrote. Most comfortable in academia, Hofstadter decided against a family-influenced entry into law school in favor of graduate and doctoral study at Columbia University in New York following graduation from the University of Buffalo. By the 1950s and 1960s Hofstadter had a strong reputation in liberal circles. ———. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. He could never share their simplistic, moralistic approach. He attended the Fosdick-Masten Park High School in Buffalo. . ( Log Out /  He makes us rethink Richard Hofstadter and, to a lesser extent, the meaning of “consensus history.” He makes us think harder than we’re used to doing, mainly, I sense, because there’s so … Follow WORLD WAR II HISTORY on WordPress.com. Interesting that he is still relevant today. Introduction. Historian Richard Hofstadter explains anti-intellectualism in his seminal book Anti-intellectualism in American Life (1963) as “a resentment and suspicion of the life of the mind and of those who are considered to represent it; and a disposition constantly to minimize the value of that life”. His friend David Herbert Donald said, "as a liberal who criticized the liberal tradition from within, he was appalled by the growing radical, even revolutionary, sentiment that he sensed among his colleagues and his students. ———. Reprint, New York: Vintage Books, 2008. ———. An Intellectual Biography. Change ). Reprint, New York: Vintage, 1969. Richard Hofstadter (August 6, 1916 – October 24, 1970) was an American historian and public intellectual of the mid-20th century. Richard Hofstadter’s Anti-Intellectualism in American Life and The Paranoid Style in American Politics are two essential works that lay bare the worrying trends of irrationalism, demagoguery, destructive populism, and conspiratorial thinking that have long influenced American politics and culture. America’s evolution from an agricultural society to that of more industrialized culture and society provides the impetus for the continued rise in educational attainment as Hofstadter sees it. "[39], Influenced by his wife, Hofstadter was a member of the Young Communist League in college, and in April 1938 he joined the Communist Party of the USA; he quit in 1939. "The End of Ideology Thesis." DWL: Hofstadter argues that anti-intellectualism is partly the product of “benevolent impulses” towards equality and egalitarianism. August 1916 in Buffalo, New York; † 24. No “sophomore slump” for the newly-minted preeminent historian Hofstadter four years later with his next book The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It. [52], Despite strongly disagreeing with their political methods, he invited his radical students to discuss goals and strategy with him. In this matter, the stress is on the importance of Jefferson's writings, and of his followers, in the development of agrarianism in the US, as establishing the agrarian myth, and its importance, in American life and politics—despite the rural and urban industrialization that rendered the myth moot. He even employed one, Mike Wallace, to collaborate with him on American Violence: A Documentary History (1970); Hofstadter student Eric Foner said the book "utterly contradicted the consensus vision of a nation placidly evolving without serious disagreements."[53]. According to his biographer David Brown, after 1945 Hofstadter philosophically "broke" with Charles A. Richard Hofstadter (* 6. It seems to me to be clear that a political society cannot hang together, at all, unless there is some kind of consensus running through it, and yet that no society has such a total consensus as to be devoid of significant conflict. Reprint, New York: Vintage Books, 1973. The book was a critical success and sold nearly a million copies at university campuses, where it was used as a history textbook; critics found it "skeptical, fresh, revisionary, occasionally ironical, without being harsh or merely destructive. Whether Richard Hofstadter has earned his place at the forefront of the elite group of 19th and 20th Century historians such as Charles Beard, C. Vann Woodward, Frederick Jackson Turner and others will be debated. Despite opposition from both families, he married Felice Swados in 1936 after he and Felice spent several summers at Hunter Colony, New York, run by Margaret Lefranc, their close friend for years; they had one child, Dan. THE DISTINGUISHED Columbia University historian Richard Hofstadter possessed a scholarly imagination unusually open to fresh approaches to illuminating the past. New York: Oxford University Press. friendship on their academic work was inevitable. $27.50. Some of the theories do hold relevance today, most notably in today’s business climate and need no further elucidation here. Beard encouraged historians to search for economic belligerents' hidden self-interest and financial goals. "[30] Hofstadter's style was so powerful and engrossing that professors kept assigning the book long after scholars had revised or rejected its main points. ( Log Out /  His wife, Beatrice Hofstadter ensured that his first contribution to the three-volume set, America at 1750 (1971) saw publication per her late husband’s wish. Great Issues in American History, Vol. The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It. Expertise, for example, can be equated with hierarchy, pursuit of nuance can appear synonymous with political inaction, and personal experience can be seen as more “honest” than abstract facts. [11], In 1938, he became a member of the Communist Party, but soon became disillusioned by the Stalinist party discipline and show trials. Following Hofstadter's death, Columbia dedicated a locked bookcase of his works in Butler Library to him, but when the library's physical conditions deteriorated, his widow Beatrice—who later married the journalist Theodore White—asked that it be removed. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Had Hofstadter lived to see America in the 21st century he would have gained an even greater and more appreciative audience. An ebook short. "[43], Geary concludes that, "To Hofstadter, radicalism always offered more of a critical intellectual stance than a commitment to political activism. Richard Hofstadter’s (Aug. 6, 1916 – October 24, 1970) influence and school of thought as a “consensus historian” and noted intellectual of the 1950s has stature and relevance today. Hofstadter's dissertation director Merle Curti wrote that Hofstadter's "position is as biased, by his urban background... as the work of older historians was biased by their rural background and traditional agrarian sympathies.”[35], The Idea of a Party System (1969) describes the origins of the First Party System as reflecting fears that the (other) political party threatened to destroy the republic. "[4] Others see in his work an early critique of the one-dimensional society, as Hofstadter was equally critical of socialist and capitalist models of society, and bemoaned the "consensus" within the society as "bounded by the horizons of property and entrepreneurship",[4] criticizing the "hegemonic liberal capitalist culture running throughout the course of American history".[5]. Howard Brick, "The End of Ideology Thesis." Lawrence Cremin wrote that "Hofstadter's central purpose in writing history...was to reformulate American liberalism so that it might stand more honestly and effectively against attacks from both left and right in a world which had accepted the essential insights of Darwin, Marx, and Freud. (1962) These five contributions to historical thought have defined Hofstadter as historian and provide a showcase for the liberal consensus view. [16], From 1942 to 1946 Hofstadter taught history at the University of Maryland, where he became a close friend of the popular sociologist C. Wright Mills and read extensively in the fields of sociology and psychology, absorbing ideas of Max Weber, Karl Mannheim, Sigmund Freud, and the Frankfurt School. [8]  Hofstadter’s writing in this second literary contribution borders on cynicism and provocation but never loses its brilliance. His first book, Social Darwinism in American Thought (1944), and The American Political Tradition (1948) had a radical point of view."[44]. Born and raised through the tumultuous eras of the First World War, the Great Depression, and the Second World War, these trying times helped to shape his zest for critical thought on the social and political issues of his own day, and their historical impact. Balancing views of anti-Semitism against this backdrop opened up criticism from those close to him before the book’s publication: “A full history of modern anti-Semitism in the United States would reveal, I believe, its substantial Populist lineage…” [12] Despite his harsh tone of the agrarian society and the farmers the book was still well-received among historians. Hofstadter’s work figured prominently in my required readings for my undergraduate degree in the mid ’70s. Section three entitled The Vanishing Hayseed leaves little room for doubt of his stance. His most widely read works are Social Darwinism in American Thought, 1860–1915 (1944); The American Political Tradition (1948); The Age of Reform (1955); Anti-intellectualism in American Life (1963), and the essays collected in The Paranoid Style in American Politics (1964). Hofstadter then studied philosophy and history at the University at Buffalo, from 1933, under the diplomatic historian Julius W. Pratt. While the President did come from a privileged background, there was no blueprint for successful leadership in these difficult times as Hofstadter adds. "Hofstadter's 'The Age of Reform' and the Crucible of the Fifties,". "[b], Howe and Finn argue that rhetorically, Hofstadter's cultural interpretation repeatedly drew upon concepts from literary criticism ("irony," "paradox," "anomaly") , anthropology ("myth," "tradition," "legend," "folklore"), and social psychology ("projection," "unconsciously," "identity," "anxiety," "paranoid"). It is on their 2019 album Age of Unreason, which was released on May 3rd, 2019. This page was last edited on 16 February 2021, at 22:28. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. [54], Hofstadter showed more interest in his research than in his teaching. ( Log Out /  The legacy left by Hofstadter is two-fold: he was very much an actor in the history of which he wrote. "[49] Brick says he regarded them as "simple-minded, moralistic, ruthless, and destructive. After 1945 Hofstadter philosophically broke with Charles A. In his view the Cold War was in fact brewing at the end of the Second World War: “At the time of his [Roosevelt] death the pattern of the ‘cold war’ was only beginning to emerge.” [10]. Hofstadter had been reluctant to join, knowing the orthodoxy it imposed on intellectuals, telling them what to believe and what to write. He was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize, first in 1956 for The Age of Reform, an analysis of the populism movement in the 1890s and the progressive movement of the early 20th century; and then in 1964 for the cultural history Anti-intellectualism in American Life. Hofstadter cites the sociological/biological theories of men like Herbert Spencer, William Graham Sumner, Lester Ward and the Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin to great effect. I: From Settlement to Revolution, 1584-1776. Lyons on June 17, 2012 in Historians. Some, such as Eric McKitrick and Stanley Elkins, were more conservative than he; Hofstadter had few disciples and founded no school of history writing.[56][57]. He feels that his liberties have been arbitrarily and outrageously invaded. Hofstadter broke new historiographical ground by exploring sociological structures (perhaps influenced by his friend C. Wright Mills) and by probing unconscious psychological motives, status anxieties, irrational hatreds, and finally paranoia as political motivators. With no concern for historic sentiment, Abraham Lincoln is cast in a new light which only a liberal consensus historian as Hofstadter can achieve… or get away with: “Had he lived to seventy, he would have seen the generation brought up on self-help come into its own, build oppressive business corporations, and begin to close off those treasured opportunities for the little man.” [7] Ever the skeptic, Hofstadter has his most fun with fellow liberal FDR whom he calls “The Patrician as Opportunist”. He makes us think about the content of liberalism, Marxism, and education as such. von Richard Hofstadter (9) 19,87 € Social Darwinism in American Thought portrays the overall influence of Darwin on American social theory and the notable battle waged among thinkers over the implications of evolutionary theory for social thought and political action. Er gehörte zu den führenden Intellektuellen der amerikanischen Nachkriegsära. ———. ———. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Hofstadter was the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University. Molecular Probes, Inc., Department of Biosciences, Eugene, OR 97402, U.S.A. Cultures of four human hematological cell types (H9, HL-60, Jurkat and Lymphoid B-cells) were induced to undergo apoptosis by treatment with camptothecin. Social Darwinism in American Thought. Reprint, New York: Vintage, 1982. ( Log Out /  Hofstadter rejected Beard's interpretation of history as a succession of exclusively economically motivated group conflicts and financial interests of politicians. The Progressive Historians: Turner, Beard, Parrington (1968) systematically analyzes and criticizes the intellectual foundations and historical validity of Beard's historiography and revealed Hofstadter's increasing inclination toward neoconservatism. His untimely passing came while working on a three-volume set on American political culture in 1970. Hofstadter, Richard. "[51] Coates argues that his career saw a steady move from left to right, and that his 1968 Columbia commencement address "represented the completion of his conversion to conservatism". [13][14][15] The sharpest criticism of the book focused on Hofstadter's weakness as a research scholar: he did little or no research into manuscripts, newspapers, archival, or unpublished sources, relying instead primarily on secondary sources augmented by his lively style and wide-ranging interdisciplinary readings, thus producing well-written arguments based on scattered evidence he found by reading other historians. Richard Hofstadter was a prominent historian during America’s post-World War II rise. Rejecting his earlier communist approach to history, in the 1950s he came closer to the concept of "consensus history", and was epitomized by some of his admirers as the "iconic historian of postwar liberal consensus. After withdrawing membership in August 1939 following the Hitler–Stalin Pact, he retained a critical left-wing perspective that was still obvious in American Political Tradition in 1948. in, Harp, Gillis. [34][page needed], .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:linear-gradient(transparent,transparent),url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}Anti-intellectualism in American Life (1963) and The Paranoid Style in American Politics (1965) describe American provincialism, warning against anti-intellectual fear of the cosmopolitan city, presented as wicked by the xenophobic and anti-Semitic Populists of the 1890s. Released this spring, Library of America’s collection Richard Hofstadter: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, Uncollected Essays 1956-1965 gathers together an indispensable historian’s essential works on the irrationalism, demagoguery, and conspiratorial thinking that have long influenced American politics and culture. Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15, 1945) is an American scholar of cognitive science, physics, and comparative literature whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world, consciousness, analogy-making, artistic creation, literary translation, and discovery in mathematics and physics. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! [31], As a historian, Hofstadter's groundbreaking work came in using social psychology concepts to explain political history. Reprint, New York: Vintage, 1969. In the 1940s, Hofstadter cited Beard as "the exciting influence on me. 3 (Sept. 2007), pp. The University of Chicago Press. "[50] Moreover, he was "extremely critical of student tactics, believing that they were based on irrational romantic ideas, rather than sensible plans for achievable change, that they undermined the unique status of the university, as an institutional bastion of free thought, and that they were bound to provoke a political reaction from the right. One could use that as the extreme case in which consensus breaks down. "[48], Angered by the radical politics of the 1960s, and especially by the student occupation and temporary closure of Columbia University in 1968, Hofstadter began to criticize student activist methods. [24] Hofstadter expressed his dislike of the term consensus historian several times,[25] and criticized Boorstin for overusing the consensus and ignoring the essential conflicts in history. Conservatism rose on a tide of votes cast by people irritated by the liberalism of condescension. etc. 35, No. An obvious intellectual himself, he highlights the vacillations of anti-intellectualism in the business world between the “self-made men” such as Andrew Carnegie and others and the ultimate necessity for educated men in the business world at the beginning of the 20th century. The American Beauty rose can be produced in the splendor and fragrance which bring cheer to its beholder only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it.” [5]. "[33], The Age of Reform (1955) analyzes the yeoman ideal in America's sentimental attachment to agrarianism and the farm's moral superiority to the city. [19], In a widely held revision of this view, Christopher Lasch wrote that unlike the "consensus historians" of the 1950s, Hofstadter saw the consensus of classes on behalf of business interests not as a strength but "as a form of intellectual bankruptcy and as a reflection, moreover, not of a healthy sense of the practical but of the domination of American political thought by popular mythologies. Hofstadter’s political analysis of the Populist to Progressive movements in The Age of Reform is highlighted by the industrialization of America and this transitional phase. It is all a matter of proportion and emphasis, which is terribly important in history. However much at odds on specific issues, the major political traditions have shared a belief in the rights of property, the philosophy of economic individualism, the value of competition; they have accepted the economic virtues of capitalist culture as necessary qualities of man. in Alexander DeConde, ed. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Hofstadter planned to write a three-volume history of American society, but at his death had only completed the first volume, America at 1750: A Social Portrait (1971). Great Issues in American History, Vol. His best-known works include The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, The Age of Reform, and Anti-intellectualism in American Life.. Historian Lloyd Gardner wrote, "in later essays Hofstadter specifically ruled out the possibility of a Leninist interpretation of American imperialism. 425–431 (7 pages) He would have relished revising Anti-Intellectualism in American Life for example, arguably his greatest work, to include the current cultural, social, and political chaos in America. He reflected and established important tendencies in the progressive narrative of American history, so his career reveals much about America’s self-understanding and the tensions within New Deal liberalism. 4 Richard Hofstadter, The Progressive Historians (New York, 1970), 120. Reprint, New York: Vintage Books, 1989. Hofstadter expressed his doubts at Roosevelt’s ability to affect his post-war plan for America with its sweeping utopian vision. My undergraduate degree in the mid ’ 70s politics, of which wrote... University 's Communist Party unit for a brief period in 1938 II: from Reconstruction to educational... August 6, 1916 – October 24, 1970 ) was a folk movement of considerable power, and S.. Meanings and their informal prejudicial connotations, we have had one total failure of consensus, is. Considered to be a standing conspiracy against republican government, Lawrence W. Levine, Linda Kerber, and author. 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