Volume 21, Number 7 · May 2, 1974
Prometheus in America
By Sheldon S. Wolin
The American Condition
by Richard N. Goodwin
Doubleday, 408 pp., $10.00
Musing upon America's fortunate condition, with its vast stretches of unoccupied land and seemingly inexhaustible resources, Tocqueville concluded that 'the great privilege of Americans is to be able to commit reparable mistakes.' The 'happy republic,' he thought, could afford its pragmatic and undemanding politics as long as material abundance and economic opportunity could be used to buy off class conflicts and social discontents.
Review, 2852 words
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