The Secret Lives of Citizens: Pursuing the Promise of American Life [Hardcover]

Thomas Geoghegan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 26, 1999

Now, at a time when the cynicism about our government's value is a topic of heated discussion, Thomas Geoghegan vividly redefines the terms of the debate.  Combining memoir and trenchant observation, he uses his own life to explore what it means to be a "national" civil servant and a "local" citizen.
He begins with the sense that a child has of Washington, D.C.--the marble presence of a big central government created by the New Deal. It was in this city that Geoghegan and many others of his generation expected to live their lives as civil servants and lawyers: the national elite, serving the common good, pursuing the promise of American life.
The decline of the "national idea," the rise of the States, and the growing weakness of the central government pushed Geoghegan to the local level in Chicago.  There, as a lawyer, he fought evils of a new kind: tuberculosis among the homeless, the spread of child labor, the use of jails to house the poor--evils that the progressives at the turn of the century had vanquished but were now back in a new and more virulent form.
National government and majority rule were once the two great achievements of our history. But now, as Geoghegan vividly shows, the weakness and gridlock of the central government has undermined our sense of local community and local citizenship, and, most perniciously, has restricted our ability to affect the political process at every level, leading to disengagement.
In revealing the true nature of the current problems and the connections among them, The Secret Lives of Citizens shows how we might reclaim our right to shape our government and secure for everyone the true promise of American life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the post-welfare reform, booming economic era of the 1990s, what's a liberal to do? Thomas Geoghegan offers an answer in The Secret Lives of Citizens, a breathy, confessional, stream of consciousness tale that is part diary, part chronicle of civic involvement at the end of the 20th century. In the book, Geoghegan begins as an intern at The New Republic and an Energy Department functionary in the Carter administration. But he is dissatisfied; he feels disconnected. So he moves to Chicago in search of surviving traces of the New Deal. He contemplates running for office, then becomes involved in Harold Washington's mayoral campaign, then files several lawsuits on behalf of the poor. But he remains discontented--and that, more than anything else, seems to be his theme.

Liberals who feel let-down by Bill Clinton's shift towards ideological centrism may find some solace in The Secret Lives of Citizens. Geoghegan is concerned about the collapse of the labor union movement, the demise of cities, and the rise of state and local government control. He is terrified of the growth in population and stature of the South: "I could go down to the Potomac River, along Ohio Drive, on a hot August night, and hear it growing in the dark." He also hates the West: "The Senate, then and now, overrepresents: 1. Small states; 2. Deserts; 3. Republicans; 4. Babies." (By babies, he does not mean infants, but westerners who whine about Washington interfering with the use of western lands.)

He even decries the unfairness of Chicago's resident parking rules: "As I circle and circle it hits me: Bad enough to lose the New Deal. Bad enough to lose planning. Bad enough that even our mayor lives now in a private complex, and we can't see him. But my God, can't there be a place to park?" Towards the end of the book, he discusses the ever-growing wage gap between rich and poor. "And the key is that our democracy lets it happen," he laments, "people don't vote, they think the government can do nothing about this. But a necessary condition of the American model that we boast about in Europe is that less than half the country votes. No majority rule: that's how we can downsize, etc. That's the new American model." And that is an outrage. --Linda Killian

From Publishers Weekly

Geoghegan's politics are anything but politic. In Which Side Are You On, he mounted a spirited defense of American labor unions, heaping opprobrium not only on union-busting politicos and captains of industry but also on incompetent and corrupt labor leadership. His new book is a personal memoir written in a vinegary, colloquial style that sounds spoken from a squeaky bar stool in one of the author's beloved Chicago dives where pictures of dead aldermen adorn the walls. Geoghegan recalls working for Harold Washington's mayoral campaign, explains what it was like to work for the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C., and muses on how, in a thousand ways, the old Chicago of machine patronage and smoke-filled rooms was more democratic than the new Chicago of faceless managers and yuppie noodle parlors. He is by turns disgusted and flabbergasted at the extent to which, in his view, the country has abandoned government for the precarious shelter of the market. The subtitle is a nod to a book by Herbert Croly, the founder of the New Republic, who believed that the purpose of government is to raise the standard of living, not just the GNP. "Now," Geoghegan laments, "even Democrats... have trouble saying it. Now we say, equal opportunity. College loans. Clinton begs people, 'Don't give up hope.' How dreadful. A Democrat, begging like that. 'Don't give up! Maybe your child will do well on his SATs!'" Funny and informed, with a proudly bleeding heart, Geoghegan is one of the most passionate and persuasive throwbacks to New Deal liberalism.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; 1st edition (January 26, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067942153X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679421535
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,984,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Modern Conscience, March 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Secret Lives of Citizens: Pursuing the Promise of American Life (Hardcover)

Mr. Geoghegan has once again proved he is the spiritual heir of Bob LaFollette, FDR and the Great Society. His penetrating yet personal account of his struggle to understand the neo-conservative/post-liberal/deconstructionist world is moving, exhilirating and sad. He squirms at the notions of modern solutions to poverty, incarceration and civil action not by going throug the usual verbal hand-wringing, but by seeing for himself how the system is failing so many. This is a contemporary version of Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London," only set in Chicago and rooted in a troubling look at social justice. If you have any interest in the future of your role as a citizen and person of conscience, read this book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Politics with Soul, July 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Secret Lives of Citizens: Pursuing the Promise of American Life (Paperback)

I don't generally read political science or current events, but from the first sentence, I couldn't put this down. There are so many studies about why Americans choose to vote: This is the first book I've come across that explains it from the point of view of the citizen/voter. Even if Geoghegan isn't your average voter, he has talked to all sorts of citizens, in church, at Union meetings, at Harvard, in the ghetto, in bars (especially in bars) about the experience of being a citizen, trying to help, or trying to get help, from government. He writes with a particularly American voice that combines zeal with doubt, ambivalence with pig-headedness, and an ability to dream with total honesty. Geoghegan--who's book, "How to be for Labor When its Flat on its Back" is also great--has an amazing ear for voices, so this book is fall-off-your-chair funny in places, and devastating in others. It taught me a great deal about government--how it works, or doesn't work--and why I should care. Anyone with a sense of humor who cares about whether local politics are still functioning should enjoy reading this.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous mix of history, politics, and memoir, March 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Secret Lives of Citizens: Pursuing the Promise of American Life (Hardcover)

This book presents the author's evolution through government work and civic activism. It also presents a neat, personalized history of recent progressive politics. This mix of memoir and history has been criticized by some book reviews, but actually contributes to the effectiveness of the book. One can forgive the occasional self-absorption because the book has many useful insights and the author offers himself up as an example of someone who has the uncomfortable thoughts that bedevil many "progressives". A good read for people who are liberals, but not idiots.