Hannah Arendt; Herbert Marcuse; Alexander Solzhenitsyn; and Edward Said each steered major intellectual and political schools of thought in American political discourse after World War II; yet none of them was American; which proved crucial to their ways of arguing and reasoning both in and out of the American context. In an effort to convince their audiences they were American enough; these thinkers deployed deft rhetorical strategies that made their cosmopolitanism feel acceptable; inspiring radical new approaches to longstanding problems in American politics. Speaking like natives; they also exploited their foreignness to entice listeners to embrace alternative modes of thought. Intimate Strangers unpacks this "stranger ethos;" a blend of detachment and involvement that manifested in the persona of a prophet for Solzhenitsyn; an impartial observer for Arendt; a mentor for Marcuse; and a victim for Said. Yet despite its many successes; the stranger ethos did alienate many audiences; and critics continue to dismiss these thinkers not for their positions but because of their foreign point of view. This book encourages readers to reject this kind of critical xenophobia; throwing support behind a political discourse that accounts for the ideals of citizens and noncitizens alike.
#4048183 in Books 2009-12-10Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 1.00 x 5.80 x 8.70l; 1.35 #File Name: 0231154224352 pages
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