Customer Reviews

A Passion for Democracy

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw Benjamin Barber on PBS late July 2004, and checked out this book from the local library. One essay alone "Civic Mission of the University" should be required reading for anyone involved in education; student, parent, teacher, or just taxpayer.

Barber's prose is dense and not an easy read for people accustomed to lesser scribes, but every word counts, and he writes with dry humor throughout; I laughed as he enlightened me. It may require slow, thorough re-readings to absorb the entire content, very much like Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", which is the closest thing I can think of to compare it to. Pirsig's book explores the self, and Barber does the same for society. Both are worth the time it takes to understand.

One essay alone justifies buying the whole book, but after that there's a lot more. I ordered it just so I could have it to explore its depths at leisure.

As to the five-year-old review, I quote from the first edition on page 183 of the very essay I mentioned above:
"The conditions of truth and the conditions of democracy are one and the same... And just as no argument will be privileged over other arguments simply because of how or from whom it originates, so no individual will be privileged over other individuals simply because of who he is (white or male or straight) and where he comes from [old money, good Protestant stock, the United States of America)." Barber doesn't waste time and effort catering to the politically correct, and thereby sacrificing clarity. As is normal usage, he includes she, etc.

Certainly Barber could have phrased "(white or male or straight)" as "(white or black or brown or yellow; female or male or neuter; straight or gay or bisexual)", but that would have just made it harder to read. A clear reading shows that all those were implied in Barber's concise version, without sacrificing clarity.

I mention this because I feel the single 1999 review needed balancing. Five Stars. No less relevant in 2004.

I found out about this book while reading about the Clinton impeachment in the SF Chronicle. It's got a lot of 50 cent words and some of the essays are rather similar to some of the other essays but I still strongly recommend it. It offers a wealth of ideas about how to approach politics in a positive, constructive fashion so that we might leave the current partisan, do-nothing childishness of our politics behind. If you enjoy unnecessary wars in the Middle East, destroyed economic systems or irrational social unrest then this book is not for you. If you read all of Glenn Beck's books, this might be a tough read for you too. This is one of the few books that has really inspired me.

This white male author seems to be unable to contextualize the sufferings and enslavement of Women and Minorities. His self-congratulatory pose as someone who wants "his" country to be better is offensive to those of us on the front lines combatting the patriarchal eurocentric paradigms in this country. Perhaps if he were to better acquaint himself with the incredibly courageous writings of bell hooks and Luc Irigaray, he might better articulate the sufferings of those who have been marginalized by white males.