The Public and Its Possibilities

by Fairfield, John D.

• ISBN13: 9781439902110
• ISBN10: 1439902119
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-03
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

In his compelling reinterpretation of American history, The Public and Its Possibilities, John Fairfield argues that our unrealized civic aspirations provide the essential counterpoint to an excessive focus on private interests. Fairfield places the city at the centre ofAmerican experience, describing how a resilient demand for an urban participatory democracy has bumped up against the fog of war, the allure of the marketplace, and persistent prejudices of race, class, and gender.John D. Fairfield is Professor of History at Xavier University and the author of The Mysteries of the Great City: The Politics of Urban Design, 1877-1937.

Author Biography

John D. Fairfield is Professor of History at Xavier University and the author of The Mysteries of the Great City: The Politics of Urban Design, 1877-1937.

Table of Contents

Preface: The Public and Its Possibilities	p. ix
Introduction: Liberalism and the Civic Strand in the American Past	p. 1
Civic Aspirations and Liberal Values	p. 1
An Urban Thesis	p. 2
Civic Aspirations and Market Development in a Long Age of Revolution
Democratizing the Republican Ideal of Citizenship: Virtue, Interests, and the Citizen-Proprietor in the Revolutionary Era	p. 9
Seaport Cities: Crucibles of Market and Public	p. 10
The People Out of Doors and the Imperial Crisis	p. 13
A More Democratic Public: Consumer Boycotts Politicize the Household	p. 15
The Threat of Enslavement and the Need for Virtue:	p. 17
The Unifying Myth of the American Revolution Virtue and Vice in an Overheated Market	p. 20
Redeeming the Revolution: Virtues or Mechanisms?	p. 22
Citizen-Proprietors and the Democratization of Competence	p. 25
Revolutionary Legacies, Democratic futures	p. 29
Creating Citizens in a Commercial Republic: Market	p. 33
Transformation and the Free Labor Ideal, 1812-1873
The Origins of the Free Labor Ideal	p. 34
The Market Revolution and the Public Purpose	p. 35
Labor Politics in the Jacksonian City: Unjust Government and a Conspiracy to Enslave	p. 37
A Crippled Democracy: Jacksonian Fears and Whig Paternalism	p. 40
The Free Labor Ideology and the Transformation of Northern Whiggery	p. 43
Positive Liberty: Turning Slaves into Citizens	p. 45
The Limits of Radical Republicanism	p. 48
The Short, Strange Career of Laissez-Faire: Liberal Reformers and Genteel Culture in the Gilded Age	p. 53
Big Business and Small Politics in the Gilded Age	p. 55
Liberal Reformers and Genteel Culture	p. 57
The Liberal Reformers' Encounter with the City	p. 59
Civic Murder: Liberal Reformers and Public Opinion	p. 61
"This Word Culture": An Industrial Tragedy at Pullman	p. 64
Popular Culture, Political Culture: Building a Democratic Public
The Democratic Public in City and Nation: The Jacksonian City and the Limits of Antislavery	p. 71
Constructing a Public Realm	p. 72
In the Streets: Law and the Public Realm	p. 74
To the Park: The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Jacksonian Public	p. 76
Popular Culture, Political Culture	p. 79
Young America and Democratic Culture	p. 81
The Republic of the Streets and Fields	p. 81
The Astor Place Riot	p. 85
Fatal Flaw: Young America and Negrophobia	p. 88
Cultural Laissez-Faire versus the Evangelical United Front	p. 89
Antislavery: Passion and Rationality in the Antebellum Public	p. 92
Lincoln's Rhetorical Revolution	p. 95
The Democratic Public Discredited: The New York City Draft Riots and Urban Reconstruction, 1850-1872	p. 98
"The Most Radical City in America"	p. 100
Nativism and the Erosion of Municipal Autonomy	p. 101
The New York City Draft Riots	p. 103
Draconian Justice: Reconstructing New York City	p. 107
The Spectacular Rise and Precipitous Fall of Boss Tweed	p. 110
Postwar Republicanism: Labor Revolt and Metropolitan Capital	p. 114
Retrenchment and Reform	p. 116
Cultural Hierarchy and Good Government: The Democratic Public in Eclipse	p. 120
Highbrow/Lowbrow and an Incompetent Citizenry	p. 121
Don't Get Out the Vote	p. 124
Municipal Counterrevolution: Dillon's Rule and the Benevolent Expert	p. 127
Domesticating the City	p. 130
Civic Vertigo: The City Biological and Pathological	p. 133
The Degeneration of Popular Politics	p. 136
Mob Mind, Befuddled Public	p. 139
The Public in Progressivism and War
The Republican Moment: The Rediscovery of the Public in the Progressive Era	p. 147
The City Beautiful and Intelligent	p. 149
The Georgists and the City Republic	p. 151
Democracy as Cooperative Inquiry: The Social Centers Movement	p. 154
Mass Media and the Socialization of Intelligence	p. 157
Nickel Madness or the Academy of the Working Man?	p. 159
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and the Mutual Decision	p. 163
The Rise of Hollywood and the Incorporation of Movie Culture	p. 167
The Public Goes to War but Does Not Come Back: Requiem for a Participatory Democracy	p. 170
The War Intellectuals and The New Republic	p. 173
The War for the American Mind	p. 176
From Mastery to Drift	p. 178
Trusting the Public Too Much or Too Little?	p. 181
A Democrat on the Defensive	p. 183
Participatory Democracy and Urban Culture: From Public Opinion to Public Relations	p. 186
A Democracy of Consumers
From Economic Democracy to Social Security: The Labor Movement and the Rise of the Welfare/Warfare State	p. 193
Industrial Democracy, Industrial Discipline	p. 194
The Syndicalist Moment	p. 195
From the New Freedom to the New Nationalism: War and the Triumph of the Corporate State	p. 198
Labors War	p. 201
From Welfare Capitalism to Moral Capitalism	p. 203
Democratic Unions, Labor Party	p. 205
The Second New Deal: Consumerist Democracy and the End of Antimonopoly	p. 207
From New Deal to New War: Liberals and Labor Abandon Reform	p. 209
Taming Labor in the Welfare/Warfare State	p. 212
Constructing a Consumer Culture: Redirecting Leisure from Civic Engagement to Insatiable Desire	p. 215
The Popular Demand for Leisure and the Rise of the Saloon	p. 216
The Leisure Question and Cheap Amusements	p. 218
The Discovery of Play	p. 221
Captains of Consciousness, Land of Desire	p. 223
Exit the Saloon, Enter the Bijou	p. 225
Shaping Character, inculcating Values	p. 228
The Incorporation of the Consumer Culture	p. 230
Mass Culture, Mass Media, and the Consumerization of Politics	p. 234
Private Vision, Public Resources: Mass Suburbanization and the Decline of the City	p. 238
New Deal Urban Policy and the Suburban-Industrial Complex	p. 241
The Origins of the Urban Crisis I: Eroding the Tax and Employment Base	p. 245
The Origins of the Urban Crisis II: Homeowner Populism and the Fragmentation of Metropolitan Government	p. 247
Central City Housing: The Racial Time Bomb	p. 250
Dispossession: Urban Redevelopment and Urban Renewal	p. 253
Confronting the Reverse Welfare State: From Civil Rights to Black Power	p. 256
Two Societies, Separate and Unequal	p. 261
Suburban Secession and Farewell to the Public Realm	p. 264
Conclusion: The Future of the City: Civic Renewal and Environmental Politics	p. 268
The Great Unfinished Tasks of American Civilization	p. 270
Private City, Public Crisis	p. 271
Visions of Fear and Hope	p. 273
Toward an Ecology of the City	p. 275
Acknowledgments	p. 281
Notes	p. 283
Index	p. 343
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