Twentieth Century Political Theory A Reader

Arendt, Rawls, Walzer, de Beauvoir, Nozick, Marcuse. These names are among the absolutely essential building blocks of a political education. Stephen Bronner's "Twentieth Century Political Thought: A Reader" brings together dozens of the most important pieces by the thinkers who form and expand the canon of contemporary political thought. Designed as a sampler and a guide, the volume introduces the reader to contemporary debates over liberalism, socialism, fascism, postmodernism, feminism, postcolonialism and a host of other important ideas.

A collaboration of more than 45 thinkers who form the "canon" of contemporary political thought--from John Dewey and Walter Benjamin to Malcolm X and Judith Butler. Twentieth Century Political Theory fuses the needs of the more traditional course with the rapidly changing and extremely influential new approaches to the field. Designed for undergraduate and graduate students, this volume includes essays by major figures like Hannah Arendt, Simone de Beauvoir, Sir Isaiah Berlin, John Dewey, W.E.B. Dubois, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Antonio Gramsci, V.I. Lenin, Jurgen Habermas, Adolph Hitler and others. Its range and innovative character will assuredly make this anthology the major primary work in political theory for many years to come.

Part I: Toward a Theory of Democracy 1. The Liberal Idea: Jürgen Habermas--The Public Sphere; Benedetto Croce-Liberty and Revolution; John Rawls--Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical 2. Communitarianism and Culture: John Dewey--The Search for the Great Community ; Hannah Arendt--The Public and the Private Realm; Michael Sandel--The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self; Robert Putnam--Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital 3. The Conservative Disposition: Michael Oakeshott--On Being Conservative; Carl Schmitt--Defining the Political; Leo Strauss--What is Liberal Education?; Norman Podhoretz--The Adversary Culture and the New Class 4. Anarchism and Freedom: Augustin Souchy--A Life for Freedom; Martin Buber--In the Midst of Crisis; Robert Paul Wolff--Beyond the Legitimate State Part II: Grand Narratives 5. Nationalism and Beyond: Maurice Barrés--Scenes and Doctrines of Nationalism; Theodor Herzl--The Jewish Question; Frantz Fanon--Concerning Violence; Martha C. Nussbaum--Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism 6. Democratic Socialism: Eduard Bernstein--The Socialist Conception of Democracy; Rosa Luxemburg--Democracy and Dictatorship; Carlo Rosselli--Liberal Socialism; Henry M. Pachter--Aphorisms on Socialism 7. Communism and Revolution: V.I. Lenin-- What is to Be Done?; Antonio Gramsci--The Revolution Against Capital; Josef Stalin--The Dictatorship of the Proletariat; Che Guevara--Building New Men 8. The Fascist World View: Benito Mussolini--Fundamental Ideas; Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera--What the Falange Wants; Adolf Hitler--Nation and Race; Andrew Macdonald--Excerpts from The Turner Diaries 9. Religion and Politics: Max Weber--On the Tension Between Religion and Politics; Mohandas K. Gandhi--The Doctrine of the Sword; Ayatollah Khomeini--Islam and Revolution Part III: Radical Voices 10. Critical Theory: Max Horkheimer--The State of Contemporary Social Philosophy and the Tasks of an Institute for Social Research; Frederick Pollock--State Capitalism: Its Possibilities and Limitations; Theodor W. Adorno--The Culture Industry Reconsidered; Herbert Marcuse--Liberation from the Affluent Society 11. The African-American Heritage: W.E.B. Dubois--Of Our Spiritual Strivings; Martin Luther King, Jr.--Letter from a Birmingham Jail; Malcolm X--The Ballot or the Bullet; Cornel West--Nihilism in Black America 12. Gendered Experiences: Simone de Beauvoir--Introduction to The Second Sex; Carole Pateman--The End of the Story?; Catharine A. MacKinnon--Difference and Dominance: On Sex Discrimination; Audre Lorde--The Master's Tools 13. Postmodern Perspectives: Jean-François Lyotard--The Postmodern; Judith Butler--Contingent Foundations; Edward W. Said--Orientalism Part IV: Charting the Future 15. Charting the Future: Francis Fukuyama--The End of History?; Samuel P. Huntington--The Clash of Civilizations?; Stephen Eric Bronner--The End of History Revisited

Stephen Bronner is Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University. He serves on the editorial boards of the journals New Politics and New Political Science. He is the author or editor of sixteen books, including Moments of Decision (Routledge, 1992), which won APSA's Michael Harrington Book Award.