Debating P.C.

by BERMAN, PAUL

• ISBN13: 9780385315333
• ISBN10: 0385315333
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1995-01-04
• Publisher: Delta

Summary

The debate over "P.C." at America's universities is the most important discussion in American education today and has grown into a major national controversy raging on the covers of our top magazines and news shows. This provocative anthology gives voice to the top thinkers of our time, liberal and conservative, as they tackle the question. From the multicultural perspective of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who argues passionately for more diversity, to the erudition of Irving Howe, who stresses the profound value of the literary canon, this exciting collection is required reading for thinking Americans ... and for everyone concerned with the future of higher education and the shaping of young minds. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Paul Berman is the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight of the Intellectuals, A Tale of Two Utopias, Terror and Liberalism, and Power and the Idealists. He writes for The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, and The New York Times Magazine.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Debate and Its Origins	p. 1
Debating Political Correctness
The Big Chill? Interview with Dinesh D'Souza	p. 29
On Differences: Modern Language Association Presidential Address 1990	p. 40
The Periphery v. the Center: The MLA in Chicago	p. 61
The Storm over the University	p. 85
Public Image Limited: Political Correctness and the Media's Big Lie	p. 124
Politics and the Canon
The Value of the Canon	p. 153
The Politics of Knowledge	p. 172
Whose Canon Is It, Anyway?	p. 190
Why Do We Read?	p. 201
Free Speech and Speech Codes
"Speech Codes" on the Campus and Problems of Free Speech	p. 215
Freedom of Hate Speech	p. 225
There's No Such Thing as Free Speech and It's a Good Thing, Too	p. 231
Texas Shoot-Out
The Statement of the Black Faculty Caucus	p. 249
Radical English	p. 258
Critics of Attempts to Democratize the Curriculum Are Waging a Campaign to Misrepresent the Work of Responsible Professors	p. 262
The Public Schools
Multiculturalism: E Pluribus Plures	p. 271
Multiculturalism: An Exchange	p. 299
Diverse Views
The Prospect Before Us	p. 315
P.C. Rider	p. 322
Diverse New World	p. 326
The Challenge for the Left	p. 333
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