The American Language of Rights (Ideas in Context) [Hardcover]

Richard A. Primus (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521652502 | ISBN-13: 978-0521652506 | Publication Date: August 13, 1999

Richard A. Primus examines three crucial periods in American history (the late eighteenth century, the Civil War and the 1950s and 1960s) and demonstrates how the conceptions of rights prevailing at each of these times grew out of opposition to concrete political cases. In the first study of its kind, Primus highlights the influence of totalitarianism (in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union) on the language of rights. This book will be a major contribution to contemporary political theory, of interest to scholars and students in politics and government, constitutional law, and American history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is a major contribution to contemporary political theory, of interest to scholars and students in politics and government, constitutional law, and American history." Yale Law Report

"This book examines three periods in American history - the late eighteenth century, the Civil War, and the 1950s and 1960s - to demonstrate how the conceptions of rights prevailing during these times grew from reactions to social and political crises. Conceptualizing rights langage as grounded in opposition to concrete social and political practices, Primus explores the potency of rights language throughout American history and the impact of modern totalitarianism on American conceptions of rights." Law and Social Inquiry

Book Description

Richard A. Primus examines three crucial periods in American history (the late eighteenth century, the civil war and the 1950s and 1960s) and demonstrates how the conceptions of rights prevailing at each of these times grew out of opposition to concrete political cases. In the first study of its kind, Primus highlights the influence of totalitarianism (in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union) on the language of rights. This book will be a major contribution to contemporary political theory, of interest to scholars and students in politics and government, constitutional law, and American history.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521652502
• ISBN-13: 978-0521652506
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,304,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vivid, rigorous work on rights and their meaning in Americ, June 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The American Language of Rights (Ideas in Context) (Hardcover)

Dr. Primus has pulled off a rare feat. He has written a book that is both intellectually exciting and accessible to the curious general reader. Now, The American Langauge of Rights is not a book to flip through on the Nordic Track, or to read on the Jersey Shore this Labor Day weekend. It is, after all, a serious work of scholarship that is sophisticated in its method, and that ambitiously dives head first into some of the most serious academic debates of our time. But the book also opens a wide window into how "We the People" have talked about politics and rights and our national community over the last 200 or so years. It's as if an Oxford don spent a year in Indiana, learning about American politics and history without ever forgetting what he knew about political theory. Our world is indeed a narrow bridge. While this book will not make us less afraid while walking on it, it should give us all--academics and general readers allike--a fuller, richer sense of why it is the way it is.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Right on., October 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The American Language of Rights (Ideas in Context) (Hardcover)

I initially thought that this book would succeed only in pointing out the painfully obvious. I like to read such drivel while I exercise because it makes me angry, thereby elevating my heart rate. To my surprise, the book was so engrossing that I stepped from the Nordic Track and nearly completed it in the sauna. The ideas and historical analyses are fresh and convincing. I actually feel as if I learned something important from this book. Highest recommendation.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart and Substantive, August 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The American Language of Rights (Ideas in Context) (Hardcover)

Richard Primus is a scholar's scholar. The description indicates not esotericism, as in "writer's writer," but exemplarity, as in "gentleman's gentleman." Indeed (though perhaps this strays to the mere possessive) sitting down with his latest book is rather like placing oneself in the hands of Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred. One may be sure that whatever difficulties arise will be handled with a competence, professionalism, and elegance matched by few and surpassed by none. Whether urbane sophisticate or crusader for justice (and especially if both), the reader will find The American Language of Rights an essential resource, distinguished by both the value of its original contributions and the charity and sophistication of its survey of extant literature. Primus is one of very few writers who, when he canvasses others' views, reliably produces art. In this book he shows again why Primus inter pares is, if not an oxymoron, surely a rare sight indeed.