A01=Mugambi Jouet
abortion
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
american exceptionalism
anti intellectualism
Author_Mugambi Jouet
automatic-update
capital punishment
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=JH
Category=JHB
Category=JPS
Category=QRAM2
christian fundamentalism
climate change
conservatives
conspiracies
COP=United States
criminal justice
death penalty
Delivery_Pre-order
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
evolution
Format=BC
Format_Paperback
gay rights
gender roles
global warming
government
gun control
health care
human rights
Language_English
lgbtq
liberals
mass incarceration
nonfiction
PA=Temporarily unavailable
polarization
political divide
political science
politics
presidents
Price_€20 to €50
prison reform
PS=Active
public policy
reproductive rights
social issues
softlaunch
torture
trust in government
war
wealth inequality
Product details
- ISBN 9780520305557
- Format: Paperback
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 16 Apr 2019
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Why did Donald Trump follow Barack Obama into the White House? Why is America so polarized? And how does American exceptionalism explain these social changes?
In this provocative book, Mugambi Jouet describes why Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sex, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war. Raised in Paris by a French mother and Kenyan father, Jouet then lived in the Bible Belt, Manhattan, and beyond. Drawing inspiration from Alexis de Tocqueville, he wields his multicultural sensibility to parse how the intense polarization of U.S. conservatives and liberals has become a key dimension of American exceptionalism—an idea widely misunderstood as American superiority. While exceptionalism once was a source of strength, it may now spell decline, as unique features of U.S. history, politics, law, culture, religion, and race relations foster grave conflicts. They also shed light on the intriguing ideological evolution of American conservatism, which long predated Trumpism. Anti-intellectualism, conspiracy-mongering, a visceral suspicion of government, and Christian fundamentalism are far more common in America than the rest of the Western world—Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Exceptional America dissects the American soul, in all of its peculiar, clashing, and striking manifestations.
In this provocative book, Mugambi Jouet describes why Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sex, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war. Raised in Paris by a French mother and Kenyan father, Jouet then lived in the Bible Belt, Manhattan, and beyond. Drawing inspiration from Alexis de Tocqueville, he wields his multicultural sensibility to parse how the intense polarization of U.S. conservatives and liberals has become a key dimension of American exceptionalism—an idea widely misunderstood as American superiority. While exceptionalism once was a source of strength, it may now spell decline, as unique features of U.S. history, politics, law, culture, religion, and race relations foster grave conflicts. They also shed light on the intriguing ideological evolution of American conservatism, which long predated Trumpism. Anti-intellectualism, conspiracy-mongering, a visceral suspicion of government, and Christian fundamentalism are far more common in America than the rest of the Western world—Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Exceptional America dissects the American soul, in all of its peculiar, clashing, and striking manifestations.
Mugambi Jouet is Associate Professor at the USC Gould School of Law. His writing has been featured in The New Republic, Slate, Boston Review, Mother Jones, The San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, Salon, The Hill, Truthout, Libération, Le Nouvel Observateur, Le Monde, and academic journals. He has traveled widely within America and internationally.
