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Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline by Posner, Richard A.

by Posner, Richard A. | HC | VeryGood
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Item specifics

Condition
Very Good
A book that has been read and does not look new, but is in excellent condition. No obvious damage to the book cover, with the dust jacket (if applicable) included for hard covers. No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, no underlining or highlighting of text, and no writing in the margins. Some identifying marks on the inside cover, but this is minimal. Very little wear and tear. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab
Seller notes
“Missing dust jacket; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ...
Binding
Hardcover
Weight
1 lbs
Product Group
Book
IsTextBook
Yes
ISBN
9780674006331
Category

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Harvard University Press
ISBN-10
067400633X
ISBN-13
9780674006331
eBay Product ID (ePID)
19038734257

Product Key Features

Book Title
Public Intellectuals : a Study of Decline
Number of Pages
416 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2002
Topic
Public Policy / General, General
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Political Science, Biography & Autobiography
Author
Richard Posner
Format
Hardcover

Dimensions

Item Weight
25.8 Oz
Item Length
9.2 in
Item Width
6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2001-039196
Dewey Edition
21
Reviews
In Public Intellectuals Posner turns his poison pen on scores of public intellectuals, including the likes of Noam Chomsky, Edward Luttwak, and Paul Ehrlich, those "talking heads" who disseminate their thoughts to the wider public on issues of political and ideologically import. Of particular interest are environmental decay, the darker side of realpolitik, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, former President Bill Clinton's impeachment, and the deadlocked 2000 presidential election. Through the application of market economics and statistical analysis, Posner first identifies the seemingly endless supply of and demand for public intellectuals to pontificate on these matters and their various genres...He also highlights the fact that market discipline is sorely lacking...[Posner's] marshaling of arguments, combined with his copious footnotes and extensive source material, makes for an engaging and thought-provoking read., In Public Intellectuals...Posner trashes fellow smarties who expound on public issues outside their expertise. He says they abandon rigor when they write general interest books and op-ed pieces, publish open letters, and speak on television. They are in decline, he says, because more of them than ever have safe jobs as professors, protecting them from the consequences of bad predictions and stupid proclamations...Posner fires both left and right, nearly always hitting the mark., It is an intense and often angry book, a high-spirited, richly provocative moral diatribe against trivialization of the national culture...This is an intense and studious book--brilliant with energy, commitment and proper zeal...Posner's mind is so acute and often so surgically ironic that his prose can be delightful., Richard Posner is a polymath, a one-man think tank, the grown-up version of the kid who always sat in the front row and knew the answer to the teacher's questions...The latest of his countless books is an occasionally insightful, often maddening effort to kill off all rival claimants to the throne., In Public Intellectuals ...Posner trashes fellow smarties who expound on public issues outside their expertise. He says they abandon rigor when they write general interest books and op-ed pieces, publish open letters, and speak on television. They are in decline, he says, because more of them than ever have safe jobs as professors, protecting them from the consequences of bad predictions and stupid proclamations...Posner fires both left and right, nearly always hitting the mark., Posner is, despite it all, a marvel. He is hyperactive like Harold Bloom, audacious like Christopher Hitchens and a practical man of the world like Alan Greenspan. About how many Americans can that be said? So he deserves attention no matter how infuriating he can be. Moreover, he charges gaily into the fray, voraciously aware of his own superiority., [Posner] writes faster than you can read. And he's a public intellectual in the specialized sense he describes and decries in his book: a "critical commentator addressing a nonspecialist audience on matters of broad public concern"...Judge Posner's main argument is that "public intellectuals are often careless with facts and rash in prediction." They lack, moreover, "insight and distinction, the filling of some gap in intellectual space"...Posner's writing is indeed limpid and muscular, but it's grounded (the celebrity-intellectuals tables notwithstanding) in substantial evidence carefully marshaled into showy and sometimes pedantic footnotes. His conclusions follow from his fully disclosed, if controversial, analytical methodology., The marketplace in ideas is no mere phrase to Mr. Posner, an alarmingly prolific federal judge, author and scholar who has decided that the traffic in opinions can be usefully described in economic terms, with numerical values assigned to dozens of opinion-mongers who offer their wares in the great media bazaar. The book has been catnip to journalists and intellectual scorekeepers, who have been bickering over the standings for weeks. The ups and downs of American intellectuals, especially the New York variety, fascinates the more bookish part of the population in the same way that college football rankings or Baseball Hall of Fame elections mesmerize sports fans.
Dewey Decimal
305.5/52/0973
Table Of Content
Introduction Part One: General Theoretical and Empirical Analysis 1. Setting the Stage 2. The Market for Public Intellectuals 3. Care and Insight 4. Prediction and Influence 5. More Public, Less Intellectual Part Two: Genre Studies 6. The Literary Critic as Public Intellectual 7. Political Satire 8. The Jeremiah School 9. The Public Philosopher 10. The Public Intellectual and the Law Conclusion Acknowledgments Index
Synopsis
In this comprehensive study of the modern American public intellectual - that individual who speaks to the public on issues of political or ideological moment - Richard Posner charts the decline of a venerable institution that included worthies from Socrates to John Dewey.
LC Classification Number
JK468.P64P67 2001

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