Public Intellectuals : : A Study of Decline, With a New Preface and Epilogue / / Richard A. Posner.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Posner, Richard A.,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2009]; ©2001
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (456 p.)

In this timely book, the first comprehensive study of the modern American public intellectual--that individual who speaks to the public on issues of political or ideological moment--Richard Posner charts the decline of a venerable institution that included worthies from Socrates to John Dewey. Leveling a balanced attack on liberal and conservative pundits alike, he describes the styles and genres, constraints and incentives, of the activity of public intellectuals and offers modest proposals for improving the quality of public discussion in America today. This paperback edition contains a new preface and and a new epilogue.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface, 2003 -- Introduction -- Part One: General Theoretical and Empirical Analysis -- 1 Setting the Stage -- 2 The Market for Public Intellectuals -- 3 Care and Insight -- 4 Prediction and Influence -- 5 More Public, Less Intellectual -- Part Two: Genre Studies -- 6 The Literary Critic as Public Intellectual -- 7 Political Satire -- 8 The Jeremiah School -- 9 The Public Philosopher -- 10 The Public Intellectual and the Law -- Conclusion: Improving the Market -- Epilogue, 2003 -- Acknowledgments -- Index