“Adds up to far more than just a retrospective slideshow of the ‘American Century’. ... Taken individually, the essays are often prescient or witty . ... Taken as a whole, they sculpt a model of journalistic sophistication.” —Publishers Weekly
“This collection amply testifies to [The New Republic’s] intellectual heft. ... A rich anthology.” —Kirkus
Founded by Herbert Croly and Walter Lippmann in 1914 to give voice to the growing progressive movement, The New Republic has charted—and shaped—the state of American liberalism, publishing many of the twentieth century’s most important thinkers. Published to coincide with the magazine’s one-hundredth anniversary, Insurrections of the Mind: 100 Years of Politics and Culture in America (A Harper Perennial Paperback Original; On Sale September 16, 2014; $17.99, 608 pages; ISBN 978-0-06-234040-5), edited by Franklin Foer, is a collection of seminal essays from the magazine’s storied history, as well as an intellectual biography of this great American political tradition. As Foer, the current editor of The New Republic, writes in his introduction, Insurrections of the Mind “hasn’t been compiled in the name of definitiveness. It was put together in the spirit of the magazine that it anthologizes: it is an argument about what matters.”
In more than fifty essays, organized chronologically by decade, a stunning collection of writers—among them Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, George Orwell, Graham Greene, Philip Roth, Pauline Kael, Michael Lewis, and Zadie Smith—explore the pivotal issues of modern America. Weighing in on the New Deal; America’s role in the war; the rise and fall of communism; religion, race, and civil rights; the economy, terrorism, and technology; and the women’s movement and gay rights, the essays in this outstanding volume speak to The New Republic’s breathtaking ambitions and reach. Introducing each article, Foer provides colorful biographical sketches and amusing anecdotes from the magazine’s history.
Bold and brilliant, Insurrections of the Mind is a celebration of a cultural, political, and intellectual institution that has stood the test of time.
Available at major bookstores today. To order from The Community Bookstore, a Brooklyn-based independent bookstore, click here.
Insurrections of the Mind: 100 Years of Politics and Culture in America
Edited by Franklin Foer with an afterword by Chris Hughes
A Harper Perennial Paperback Original; On Sale September 16, 2014
$17.99, 608 pages; ISBN 978-0-06-234039-9
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