Partisans on both the left and right wings of America’s theory class
and political spectrum believe we’re in trouble, big trouble. The
economy is limping along. Inequality has reached unprecedented levels.
And we seem to be on the verge of being overwhelmed by immigrants who
don’t look and act anything like our grandparents did much less the
men and women who founded our country. Angry, scared, disengaged and
distrustful when we aren’t openly antagonistic toward each other,
Americans can’t figure out who we are as a people and openly fret
about our best days being behind us. To make matters worse, our
political system, the one place we’re supposed to be able to work on
behalf of a broader public good with people who aren’t like us,
appears even more broken than these other parts of our culture.
There’s some unexpected good news, however, and it’s coming from
one of the last places in America you’d expect different people to
be getting along: Boston. Bostonians — well known for their
unwelcoming and sometimes violent treatment of newcomers and
unwillingness to find common ground with people deemed outsiders —
aren’t acting broken or taking their resentments out on each other
these days. They’ve turned instead to calmer ways of talking about
each other and treating each other in public. Far from being
disconnected and afraid, people in Boston are better connected and
more respectful of each other, and their city is better organized and
more orderly than at any time in its long and storied history.
Bostonians have learned to get along with the strangers among them in
ways their ancestors never knew or expected the rest of us would be
willing to entertain much less master. They have their civic act
together. Engaging Strangers explores how the people of Boston have
learned to practice a more congenial and respectful set of civic
virtues. In this book, the author provides a model for civic conduct
for the rest of America to study and follow.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781611475920
Publisert
2015
Utgiver
Vendor
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter