Description
Many observers judge utopians and their sympathizers as foolhardy dreamers at best and murderous totalitarians at worst. However, as noted social critic and historian Russell Jacoby argues, not only has utopianism been unfairly characterized, a return to an iconoclastic utopian spirit is vital for today's society. Jacoby reexamines the anti-utopian mindset and identifies how utopian thought came to be regarded with such suspicion. He challenges standard readings of such anti-utopian classics as 1984 and Brave New World and offers stinging critiques of the influential liberal and anti-utopian theorists Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and Karl Popper. As Jacoby demonstrates, iconoclastic utopianism, shaped by the works of Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Bloch, Gustav Landauer, and other predominantly Jewish thinkers, revives society's dormant political imagination and suggests new and more imaginative ideas of the future.
About the Author
Russell Jacoby is a professor of history and education at UCLA and the author of several books of history, politics, and cultural criticism, including The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in the Age of Apathy, Dogmatic Wisdom: How the Culture Wars Divert Education and Distract America, and The Last Intellectuals: American Culture in the Age of Academe. He also reviews books for The Nation, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and other publications.
Reviews
In four beautifully crafted, highly allusive essays, Jacoby excavates a plethora of utopian movements...with the aim of getting readers to dream of a better world. Publishers Weekly Like all of Russell Jacoby's books, Picture Imperfect is a timely, passionate, bravely unfashionable intervention... this is a book to be treasured. -- Terry Eagleton Nation A timely collection of essays...Essential. Tikkun In Picture Imperfect: Utopian Thought for an Anti-Utopian Age Jacoby... asks the big, subversive questions. -- Michael Hirsch Dissident Voice Jacoby offers a provocative, concise, and well-researched book-length essay about traditional utopian thinking... Recommended. Choice By attuning our ears to the distant murmur, Russell Jacoby has performed an invaluable service in Picture Imperfect. -- Douglas W. Texter H-Net Reviews
Book Information
ISBN 9780231128940
Author Russell Jacoby
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press