In this sweeping reinterpretation of American political culture, James Block offers a new perspective on the formation of the modern American self and society. Block roots both self and society in the concept of agency, rather than liberty, and dispenses with the national myth of the "sacred cause of liberty"--with the Declaration of Independence as its "American scripture." Instead, he recovers the early modern conception of agency as the true synthesis emerging from America's Protestant and liberal cultural foundations.

Block traces agency doctrine from its pre-Commonwealth English origins through its development into the American mainstream culture on the eve of the twentieth century. The concept of agency that prevailed in the colonies simultaneously released individuals from traditional constraints to participate actively and self-reliantly in social institutions, while confining them within a new set of commitments. Individual initiative was now firmly bounded by the modern values and ends of personal Protestant religiosity and collective liberal institutional authority. As Block shows, this complex relation of self to society lies at the root of the American character.

A Nation of Agents is a new reading of what the "first new nation" did and did not achieve. It will enable us to move beyond long-standing national myths and grasp both the American achievement and its legacy for modernity.

This is an original and exciting work of scholarship, in which the idea of agency takes on the characteristics of a deep cultural imperative in American life. Block's agency thesis is at once a genealogy of modern American identity and a theoretical exploration of the horizon within which American political and moral self-reflection is conducted. -- Eldon J. Eisenach, The University of Tulsa The most remarkable aspect of this book is the author's ability to weave a single thread -- the thread of "agency" -- through four centuries of Anglo-American intellectual history. Block's great achievement is to propound a new "common theme" to American history. A Nation of Agents is a beacon for scholars seeking a usable past. If ever intellectual history is to regain its prominence in the field of American history it will require works like this. -- Harry S. Stout, Yale University

About the Author
James E. Block is Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul University.

Reviews
This is an original and exciting work of scholarship, in which the idea of agency takes on the characteristics of a deep cultural imperative in American life. Block's agency thesis is at once a genealogy of modern American identity and a theoretical exploration of the horizon within which American political and moral self-reflection is conducted. -- Eldon J. Eisenach, The University of Tulsa
The most remarkable aspect of this book is the author's ability to weave a single thread -- the thread of "agency" -- through four centuries of Anglo-American intellectual history. Block's great achievement is to propound a new "common theme" to American history. A Nation of Agents is a beacon for scholars seeking a usable past. If ever intellectual history is to regain its prominence in the field of American history it will require works like this. -- Harry S. Stout, Yale University
A Nation of Agents is a work of extravagant erudition and originality. James E. Block has read voraciously in the sources, seen things that few have seen before, and put them together as none have done before. He sets forth a new view of American culture, threading his thesis through three centuries of American thought and the preceding century of English thinking besides. -- Michael Zuckerman * Journal of American History *
What a wonder then is James Block's book, a daring master narrative and bracing theoretical exercise of the first order. It promises and delivers nothing less than a fundamental recasting of 'the American path to a modern self and society.' -- Robert Westbrook * Christian Century *
James Block's big, ambitious A Nation of Agents leaves no doubt about its aspirations in the contest to solve the Gordian knot of the relationship between the one and the many in American social thought...The subtlety and acuity with which Block develops these themes through scores of thinkers and over 500 pages can scarcely be exaggerated. A Nation of Agents is a genuinely prodigious work of scholarship. -- Daniel T. Rodgers * Modern Intellectual History *


Awards
Nominated for Ralph J. Bunche Award 2003 and Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award 2003 and J. David Greenstone Book Prize 2003 and Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion 2003 and James A. Rawley Prize in Atlantic History 2003 and John Hope Franklin Publication Prize 2003 and John G. Cawelti Award 2003 and Mark Lynton History Prize 2003 and J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize 2003 and Robert K. Merton Book Award 2003 and Merle Curti Award 2003 and Allan Sharlin Memorial Award 2003 and PROSE Awards 2002 and Bancroft Prize 2003 and Pulitzer Prizes 2003 and James Willard Hurst Prize 2003 and Francis Parkman Prize 2003.



Book Information
ISBN 9780674008830
Author James E. Block
Format Hardback
Page Count 672
Imprint The Belknap Press
Publisher Harvard University Press
Weight(grams) 1102g