Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

This is a MUST read for all conservatives, because essentially, they fit this bill, and need to learn about themselves so they can fix it.

This is a fantastic book, the kind that builds trails in your mind. Hofstadter's descriptions of the climate for American intellectuals in the fifties and sixties still ring true today, almost uncannily so. More importantly, though, Hofstadter traces the origins of this ambivalence to the earliest days of American culture and argues that democratic and intellectual values are inherently in...more

This is a fantastic book, the kind that builds trails in your mind. Hofstadter's descriptions of the climate for American intellectuals in the fifties and sixties still ring true today, almost uncannily so. More importantly, though, Hofstadter traces the origins of this ambivalence to the earliest days of American culture and argues that democratic and intellectual values are inherently in tension with one another. That central thesis is a very uncomfortable one for me, which was precisely why I loved this book: I never knew what side I was on.   hide

I like Hofstadter.

Surprising take away for me was an excellent, account of the history of evangelicals in the first half of the history of the U.S. Surprisingly in-depth and almost sympathetic background of evangelicals and fundamentalists in US history during the 18th and 19th century.