Regionalism and Nationalism in the United States: The Attack on LeviathanTransaction Publishers - 368 pages A quarter of a century before Lyndon B. Johnson popularized the slogan "The Great Society," Donald Davidson wrote his critique of Leviathan, the omnipotent nation-state, in terms that only recently have come to be appreciated. "Leviathan is the idea of the Great Society, organized under a single, complex, but strong and highly centralized national government, motivated ultimately by men's desire for economic welfare of a specific kind rather than their desire for personal liberty. " Originally published as The Attack on Leviathan, this eloquent volume is an attack on state centralism and an affirmation of regional identity. Davidson's work is a special sort of intellectual as well as social history. It reveals an extraordinary mastery of the literature on regionalism in the United States, with special emphasis on the work on Rupert Vance and Howard Odum in the social sciences. Davidson looks at regionalism in arts, literature, and education. He favors agriculture over industrialization, and "the hinterland" over cities, examining along the way varying historical memories, the dilemma of Southern liberals, and the choice of expedience or principles. His book is a forceful and commanding challenge to those who would push for central authority at the sacrifice of individual and regional identity. Davidson concludes with a devastating critique of nationalism leading to a supra-nationalism. Ultimately, the heterogeneity of human desires comes up against the uniformity of world systems and world states. Davidson offers instead a broad world of intellectual history and commentary in which individualism allies itself with communities as a means for stemming the tide of collectivism and its base in a world state. For Davidson, Leviathan, the monstrous state, is a devourer, not a savior. As several peoples rise to strike down their own Leviathans, this courageous book may be better understood now than it was in 1938. Donald Davidson was part of that movement in American letters known as the Southern Agrarians. He was a poet, critic, historian, and political analyst. He spent most of his life at Vanderbilt University, and was himself born in central Tennessee. He is best known as the author of The Tall Men (1927) and a collection of essays, Still Rebels, Still Yankees (1957). |
From inside the book
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Page x
... becoming the most inert and passive section of the United States , or else of falling into blind and violent divisions whose pent - up forces will hurl us at each other's throats . Then will Jefferson's prophetic vision come true . We ...
... becoming the most inert and passive section of the United States , or else of falling into blind and violent divisions whose pent - up forces will hurl us at each other's throats . Then will Jefferson's prophetic vision come true . We ...
Page xi
... become indisposed to accept poetry as truth . In this phase of operations the poet may well become TRANSACTION INTRODUCTION xi.
... become indisposed to accept poetry as truth . In this phase of operations the poet may well become TRANSACTION INTRODUCTION xi.
Page xii
... become an outright traditionalist in religion , politics , and economics . He exam- ines the defects of modern civilization . He develops a sense of catastrophe . With an insight far more accurate than the forecasts of professional ...
... become an outright traditionalist in religion , politics , and economics . He exam- ines the defects of modern civilization . He develops a sense of catastrophe . With an insight far more accurate than the forecasts of professional ...
Page xxii
... become indebted to the very writers whose views I would at some points criticize ; and my exploration of the general subject is at times patently and deliberately a restatement in layman's terms of what experts and authorities have had ...
... become indebted to the very writers whose views I would at some points criticize ; and my exploration of the general subject is at times patently and deliberately a restatement in layman's terms of what experts and authorities have had ...
Page 10
... becomes in effect a statesman , or at least an adviser to the state in one form or another . The new conception of sec ... become . There are other theories of the national being and advocates ready to push these theories to the limit ...
... becomes in effect a statesman , or at least an adviser to the state in one form or another . The new conception of sec ... become . There are other theories of the national being and advocates ready to push these theories to the limit ...
Contents
3 | |
13 | |
Social Science Discovers Regionalism | 39 |
Regionalism in the Arts | 65 |
The Political Economy of Regionalism | 102 |
IMMOVABLE BODIES AND IRRESISTIBLE FORCES | 129 |
Still Rebels Still Yankees | 131 |
New York and the Hinterland | 155 |
American Heroes | 212 |
Literature | 228 |
Regionalism and Education | 240 |
The Dilemma of the Southern Liberals | 261 |
Howard Odum and the Sociological Proteus | 285 |
Expedients vs PrinciplesCrossPurposes | 312 |
The Southern Poet and His Tradition | 339 |
H G Wells | 349 |
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Regionalism and Nationalism in the United States: The Attack on Leviathan Donald Davidson Limited preview - 1938 |
Common terms and phrases
Agrarians Allen Tate American history artist Beard become Brother Jonathan Carolina Cattle Kingdom cities civilization colonial Cousin Roderick criticism Davidson differentiation diverse Donald Davidson East Eastern economic England European farm Federal government forces frontier Georgia Gopher Prairie H. L. Mencken Herbert Agar heroes hinterland historians Howard Odum Huey Long human idea imperialism industrial interest issues Jefferson Jeffersonian kind land less Leviathan liberals Lincoln literary Mark Twain means ment metropolitan Middle West modern myth nature Negro never nineteen-twenties North North Carolina Northeast Northeastern Northern Odum Odum's Old Northwest Plains poets political principles problem regional planning regionalists Russell Kirk sectional seems selfconscious social scientists society South Southeast Southern Agrarians Southern Regions Southwest T. S. Eliot tendency Tennessee theory things tion tional tradition Turner's United urban Vance Vermont Western writers Yankee York