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The Paradox of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions Hardcover – March 24, 2015

by Michael Walzer (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 11 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Yale University Press (March 24, 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0300187807
  • ISBN-13: 978-0300187809
  • Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #552,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsNo one loves armed missionaries (or liberating secular nationalists)
By Keith A. Comess VINE VOICE on June 12, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
The distinguished political analyst and former editor of "Dissent" magazine has in "The Paradox of Liberation" distilled the essence of several lectures on the topic given under the auspices of Yale's Henry L. Stimson series into this book. "Paradox" is a short but pithy and interesting analysis of "what went wrong" with 3 national liberation movements: Israel, Algeria and India. He concludes with a brief summary and contrast between these countries and the "exceptionalism" of the USA.

Walzer is careful to define his terms, especially given the vague and multi-dimensional aspects of the politically and emotionally charged phrase, "national liberation". His model consists of, "...an ancient nation, living in exile or at home, whose religious culture, partly because of its traditional character and partly in response to foreign oppression, was passive, hierarchical, and deferential."

In each of the 3 primary cases featured in "Paradox", a cadre of intellectual and thoroughly secular liberating elites attempted to initiate an anti-religious and socially liberating struggle. Why anti-religious? Because, as Walzer carefully notes, "...the standard liberationist view, which follows from the fact that accommodation to foreign rule commonly takes a religious form - in part for the obvious reason that otherworldliness offers comforts that are always available, however bad things are here and now." He further notes that, "...the secular militants of national liberation are mistaken if they describe the comforts of religion as nothing more than pie in the sky...Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars
By Andrew M. Lantner on November 3, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
very good
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5.0 out of 5 starsA thought provoking political essay
By Shalom Freedman HALL OF FAME on May 18, 2015
Format: Hardcover
Michael Walzer has been for more than four decades one of America's most distinguished political scientists. In this work he again reveals an originality and special insight into complicated political realities. He takes three cases Algeria, India and Israel attempts to understand how the intentions of the secular revolutions which led to the founding of modern nations have been compromised by an unanticipated returning to traditional religion. The concluding chapter of the work is really a response to many student questions who thought to put the case of the United States in the same category. Walzer decisively disposes of that suggestion by pointing out that the United States was a new society from its very beginning, and had no such traditional religious background to overthrow.
In considering his thesis I have given most thought to what he has to say about Israel a society I have lived in for over forty years and know most about. His analysis does reflect a certain truth about what has happened to Israel with the years. There has been , if not a return to religion, then a growth of religious sectors which have in some way diminished the hold on the society of the segment of the population most responsible for its founding. The secular Left was in a sense first overthrown when in 1977 Menachem Begin's Likud came to power. Many of the voters for the Likud were traditional Jews.
But in another sense it is not at all true that the secular foundations of the State have been undermined. There is after all a most active even hyperactive Supreme Court at work. The Israeli parliament is by no means dominated by religious parties who can however have undue political influence due to Israel's complicated coalition government formation politics.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsI wish he had spent more time on his excellent last chapter on the United States
By James Guinnessey on July 6, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Not a new theme but well stated. I wish he had spent more time on his excellent last chapter on the United States.
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5.0 out of 5 starsTo read
By marina Ergas on July 18, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Synthetic and clear
Interesting historical perspective
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5.0 out of 5 starsVery succinct and satisfying study
By Susana Conde on July 7, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Walzer presents a very interesting comparative study of three paradigmatic liberation movements and their evolution.
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