Background
Diggins, John Patrick was born on April 1, 1935 in San Francisco, California, United States. Son of James Joseph and Anne (Naugton) Diggins.
( The Lost Soul of American Politics is a provocative new...)
The Lost Soul of American Politics is a provocative new interpretation of American political thought from the Founding Fathers to the Neo-Conservatives. Reassessing the motives and intentions of such great political thinkers as Madison, Thoreau, Lincoln, and Emerson, John P. Diggins shows how these men struggled to create an alliance between the politics of self-interest and a religious sense of moral responsibility—a tension that still troubles us today.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226148777/?tag=2022091-20
( Affirming Reagan's position as one of America's greates...)
Affirming Reagan's position as one of America's greatest presidents, this is a bold and philosophical reevaluation. Following his departure from office, Ronald Reagan was marginalized thanks to liberal biases that dominate the teaching of American history, says John Patrick Diggins. Yet Reagan, like Lincoln (who was also attacked for decades after his death), deserves to be regarded as one of our three or four greatest presidents. Reagan was far more active a president and far more sophisticated than we ever knew. His negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev and his opposition to foreign interventions demonstrate that he was not a rigid hawk. And in his pursuit of Emersonian ideals in his distrust of big government, he was the most open-minded libertarian president the country has ever had; combining a reverence for America's hallowed historical traditions with an implacable faith in the limitless opportunities of the future. This is a revealing portrait of great character, a book that reveals the fortieth president to be an exemplar of the truest conservative values. 13 photographs
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393060225/?tag=2022091-20
( “Informative and useful. . . . A balanced history of le...)
“Informative and useful. . . . A balanced history of leftist American politics in the 20th century. . . . Admirably nonpartisan.” —Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Born in America, the American Left was nurtured by intellectuals and activists who read Jefferson and Whitman before they read Marx or Mao. One lesson this brilliant history teaches us is that the fury of radical innocence and wounded idealism so peculiar to American intellectual history springs from native soil. Nor is the American Left a single phenomenon but four surprising eruptions throughout the past century: The Lyrical Left, of the First World War years; the Old Left, driven by the legacy of World War I, the promise of socialism, and the Great Depression; the New Left of the 1960s, combining a revolt against the banalities of middle-class life with civil rights fervor and protest against the war in Vietnam; and now contemporary Academic Left, seeking both to question the traditional values of the West and to embrace the causes of women and minorities.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393309177/?tag=2022091-20
( "Richly instructive. . . . With characteristic cogency ...)
"Richly instructive. . . . With characteristic cogency and verve John Diggins has painted a memorable portrait of the United States at a triumphant moment in its history."―David M. Kennedy, Stanford University
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393956563/?tag=2022091-20
( Mussolini, in the thousand guises he projected and the ...)
Mussolini, in the thousand guises he projected and the press picked up, fascinated Americans in the 1920s and the early '30s. John Diggins' analysis of America's reaction to an ideological phenomenon abroad reveals, he proposes, the darker side of American political values and assumptions. Originally published in 1972. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691046042/?tag=2022091-20
( For much of our century, pragmatism has enjoyed a charm...)
For much of our century, pragmatism has enjoyed a charmed life, holding the dominant point of view in American politics, law, education, and social thought in general. After suffering a brief eclipse in the post-World War II period, pragmatism has experienced a revival, especially in literary theory and such areas as poststructuralism and deconstruction. In this critique of pragmatism and neopragmatism, one of our leading intellectual historians traces the attempts of thinkers from William James to Richard Rorty to find a response to the crisis of modernism. John Patrick Diggins analyzes the limitations of pragmatism from a historical perspective and dares to ask whether America's one original contribution to the world of philosophy has actually fulfilled its promise. "Diggins, an eminent historian of American intellectual life, has written a timely and impressive book charting the rich history of American pragmatism and placing William James, Charles Peirce, John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, Sidney Hook, and Richard Rorty in their times and in the light of contemporary concerns. The book also draws on an alternative set of American thinkers to explore the blind spots in the pragmatic temper."—William Connolly, New York Times Book Review "An extraordinarily ambitious work of both analysis and synthesis. . . . Diggins's book is rewarding in its thoughtfulness and its nuanced presentation of ideas."—Daniel J. Silver, Commentary "Diggins's superbly informed book comprises a comprehensive history of American pragmatic thought. . . . It contains expert descriptions of James, John Dewey and Charles Sanders Peirce, the first generation of American pragmatists. . . . Diggins is just as good on the revival of pragmatism that's taken place over the last 20 years in America. . . . A richly intelligent book."—Mark Edmundson, Washington Post Book World
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226148793/?tag=2022091-20
(In this provocative book, John Patrick Diggins, hailed by...)
In this provocative book, John Patrick Diggins, hailed by Alan Ryan in the New York Times as "one of the liveliest and most interesting of contemporary intellectual historians", offers a sweeping reassessment of American history, emphasizing the foundational role of Abraham Lincoln's moral and political theory. Distressed by the divisive impact of modern identity politics, Diggins argues persuasively that in the central tenets of Lincoln's political faith -- the redeeming value of labor and the rights to property and self-determination -- we find the purest expression of the values that have united Americans and guided American history.With his characteristic breadth, Diggins ranges from James Madison to W. E. B. Du Bois to the movie Good Will Hunting in his examination of the often ambivalent ways in which Americans have imagined themselves and their nation. Convinced that contemporary historians have done America a grave disservice by emphasizing political divisions along the lines of class, race, and gender, Diggins points out that throughout American history there has been more that unites the American people than divides them.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300082371/?tag=2022091-20
(Softcover, 1973 Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, Inc, 1st ed ,...)
Softcover, 1973 Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, Inc, 1st ed ,1st printing. Spine is tight, cover lifts up. no creases slight dog ears, no markings in text. Names on front flyleaf.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/015502308X/?tag=2022091-20
Diggins, John Patrick was born on April 1, 1935 in San Francisco, California, United States. Son of James Joseph and Anne (Naugton) Diggins.
AB, University of California, Berkeley, 1957; Master of Arts, San Francisco State University, 1959; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1964.
Assistant professor history San Francisco State University, 1966-1969. Professor history University California, Irvine, 1969-1990. Distinguished professor history Graduate Center City University of New York, New York City, 1990—2009, acting director Center for Humanities, Graduate Center, 1996-1997.
Visiting fellow University Cambridge, 1976-1977. Visiting professor Princeton University, 1977-1978. Chair American civilization L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 1988-1989.
Commonwealth lecturer University London, 1991. Speaker Lionel Trilling seminar, Columbia University, 1992. Lecturer and consultant in field.
(In this provocative book, John Patrick Diggins, hailed by...)
( For much of our century, pragmatism has enjoyed a charm...)
( The Lost Soul of American Politics is a provocative new...)
( Mussolini, in the thousand guises he projected and the ...)
( Affirming Reagan's position as one of America's greates...)
(Softcover, 1973 Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, Inc, 1st ed ,...)
(Academic, Scholarly, Research)
( “Informative and useful. . . . A balanced history of le...)
( "Richly instructive. . . . With characteristic cogency ...)
Married Jacy Battles (divorced September 1976). Children: Sean, Nicole.