Renewing America’s Civic Compact
Edited by Carol McNamara and Trevor Shelley
JMC faculty partner Carol McNamara and fellow Trevor Shelley have recently edited a volume on the chief challenges and principal tensions in the operation of our civil society. Several JMC scholars served as contributors, including Rita Koganzon, Michael Zuckert, Daniel Mahoney, Michael Pakaluk, and Diana Schaub:
Renewing America’s Civic Compact addresses the chief challenges and principal tensions in the operation of our civil society in order to consider possible paths forward. The meritocracy, multiculturalism, issues of race, technology, and populist nationalism in American democracy today are some of the issues that have created more tensions to American public life. Chapters address the condition of civil conversation within the university and across American society. This collection then engages debates over the continued relevance and durability of liberal ideas and institutions; whether we have accessible means and resources to channel digital technology more fruitfully for the sake of human achievement and well-being; and how some have endeavored to revitalize the American civic vocation through both scholarly and practical education. Finally, the volume closes with a call to restore civic friendship, properly understood, as the foundation for renewing America’s civic compact.
Order the book from Rowman & Littlefield or Amazon >>
Carol McNamara is the the new Director of the Great Hearts Institute for Classical Education. Prior to that, she served as senior director of the Center for Constitutional Design at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and as the Associate Director for Public Programs for the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership and Senior Lecturer at Arizona State University. She also worked as the founding Director with Olene Walker, a former governor of Utah, to build the Olene Walker Institute of Politics & Public Service at Weber State University in Utah. Her expertise includes classical political thought, Shakespeare’s politics, the Socratic education in Xenophon, Tom Wolfe, and the American presidency. Her publications include articles on the thought of Tom Wolfe, Shakespeare’s politics, and Xenophon’s Socrates, as well as an edited volume on The Obama Presidency in the Constitutional Order.
Dr. McNamara is a JMC faculty partner.
Learn more about Carol McNamara >>
Trevor Shelley is Associate Director of Graduate Studies and Assistant Teaching Professor at Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership.
Dr. Shelley is a JMC fellow.
Learn more about Trevor Shelley >>
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates about lectures, publications, podcasts, and events related to American political thought, United States history, and the Western political tradition!
Want to help the Jack Miller Center transform higher education? Donate today.