Robert B. Westbrook
Publications
Books:
Democratic Hope: Pragmatism and the Politics of Truth (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005).
Why We Fought: Forging American Obligations in World War II (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2004).
John Dewey and American Democracy (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991).
Edited Volumes:
In Face of the Facts: Moral Inquiry in American Scholarship, ed. with Richard Fox (New York: Woodrow Wilson Center/Cambridge University Press, 1997).
Articles:
"The Making of a Democratic Philosopher" in Molly Cochran, ed., The Cambridge Companion to John Dewey (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).
"The Pragmatist Family" in Cheryl Misak, ed., The Oxford Handbook of American Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
"Reply" in " Democratic Hope: A Symposium," Contemporary Pragmatism (forthcoming).
"An Uncommon Faith: Pragmatism and Religious Experience" in Stuart Rosenbaum, ed., Pragmatism and Religion (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003), pp. 190-205.
"Essential Reading: Nixon Agonistes" in Jean-Christophe Agnew and Roy Rosenzweig, eds., Companion to Post-1945 America (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002), pp. 540-544.
"Ma and Pa Kettle Go to the AHA," Journal of Women's History 13 (2001): 166-168.
"John Dewey und die Logik der Demokratie" in Hans Joas, ed., Philosophie der Demokratie: Beiträge zum Werk von John Dewey (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2000), pp. 341-361.
"Pragmatism and Democracy: Reconstructing the Logic of John Dewey's Faith" in Morris Dickstein, ed., The Revival of Pragmatism (Durham: Duke University Press, 1998), pp. 128-140.
"Liberalism and the Left," Radical History Review 71 (Spring 1998): 46-51.
"The Counter-Intelligentsia," Linguafranca (November 1996): 65-71.
"In the Mirror of the Enemy: Japanese Political Culture and the Peculiarities of American Patriotism in World War II" in John Bodnar, ed., Bonds of Affection: Americans Define Their Patriotism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), pp. 211-230.
"Democratic Faith: A Response to Michael Eldridge," Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 32 (1996): 973-982.
"Wishful Thinking: On the Convergence of Pragmatism and Liberal Education" in Robert Orrill, ed., The Condition of American Liberal Education (New York: College Board, 1995), pp. 226-232.
"Public Schooling and American Democracy" in Roger Soder, ed., Democracy, Education, and Schooling (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995), pp. 125-150.
"In Retrospect: Christopher Lasch, The New Radicalism, and the Vocation of Intellectuals," Reviews in American History 23 (1995): 176-191.
"On the Private Life of a Public Philosopher: John Dewey in Love," Teachers College Record 96 (1994): 183-197.
"Profiles: John Dewey," Prospects (UNESCO Quarterly Review of Education) 23 (1993): 277-291.
"Doing Dewey: An Autobiographical Fragment," Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 29 (1993): 493-511.
"An Innocent Abroad?: John Dewey and International Politics," Ethics and International Affairs 7 (1993): 203-221.
"Fighting for the American Family: Private Interests and Political Obligation in World War II" in Richard Wightman Fox and T.J. Jackson Lears, eds., The Power of Culture: Critical Essays in American History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), pp. 194-221.
"Democratic Evasions: Cornel West and the Politics of Pragmatism," Praxis International 13 (1993): 1-13.
"Schools for Industrial Democrats: The Social Origins of John Dewey's Philosophy of Education," American Journal of Education 100 (1992): 401-419.
"The Dewey School and Workplace Democracy," Pathways 8 (May 1992): 16-18.
"Dewey Done," Intellectual History Newsletter 13 (1991): 33-36.
"'I Want a Girl, Just Like the Girl That Married Harry James': American Women and the Problem of Political Obligation in World War II," American Quarterly 42 (1990): 587-614.
"American Stuff: Jerre Mangione and the Federal Writers Project" in Jerre Mangione: An Ethnic at Large, Exhibition Catalogue for Jerre Mangione Papers (Rochester: University of Rochester Library, 1990).
"Lewis Mumford, John Dewey, and the 'Pragmatic Acquiescence'" in Thomas Hughes and Agatha Hughes, eds., Lewis Mumford: Public Intellectual (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 301-322.
"Lewis Hine and the Ethics of Progressive Camerawork," Tikkun 2 (May 1987): 24-29.
"Horrors - Theirs and Ours: The Politics Circle and the Good War," Radical History Review 36 (1986): 8-25.
"The Responsibility of Peoples: Dwight Macdonald and the Holocaust" in Sanford Pinsker and Jack Fischel, eds., America and the Holocaust (Greenwood, Fla.: Penkevill Publishing Co., 1984), pp. 35-68.
"Good-Bye to All That: Aileen Kraditor and Radical History," Radical History Review 28-30 (1984): 68-89.
"Politics as Consumption: Managing the Modern American Election" in Richard Wightman Fox and T.J. Jackson Lears, eds., The Culture of Consumption: Critical Essays in American History (New York: Pantheon, 1983), pp. 143-163.
"Tribune of the Technostructure: The Popular Economics of Stuart Chase," American Quarterly 32 (1980): 387-408.
"C. Vann Woodward: The Southerner as Liberal Realist," South Atlantic Quarterly 77 (1978): 54-71.
"Social Criticism and the Heavenly City of Jonathan Edwards," Soundings 59 (1976): 396-412.
Encyclopedia Articles:
"Liberal Democracy" in Joseph Margolis and John Shook, eds., A Companion to Pragmatism (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006).
"John Dewey" in The Oxford Companion to American History, ed. Paul Boyer (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).
"James Agee," "Hannah Arendt," "Edward Bellamy," "John Dewey," "Sidney Hook," "Dwight Macdonald," "C. Wright Mills," "Edmund Wilson," "C. Vann Woodward," " The New Republic," and "World War II," in A Companion to American Thought, ed. Richard Fox and James Kloppenberg (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995).
Ninety three articles in The Reader's Encyclopedia of the American West, ed. Howard R. Lamar (New York: Crowell, 1977). A list of these articles available on request.
Review Essays:
"Jefferson and Jesus" (Michael Kazin, A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan), Commonweal (forthcoming).
"Jacob's Ladder" (Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run: 30 th Anniversary Edition and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions), Christian Century (forthcoming).
"A Nice WPA Job" (Elizabeth Borgwardt, A New Deal for the World), Dissent (Summer 2006): 124-127.
"Second Thoughts" (Francis Fukuyama, America at the Crossroads), Christian Century (13 June 2006): 24-27.
"Searching for Bedrock" (Kwame Anthony Appiah, Cosmopolitanism), Commonweal (21 April 2006): 22-24.
"Occupational Hazards" (George Packer, Assassins' Gate and Anthony Shadid, Night Draws Near), Christian Century (13 December 2005): 38-43.
"Christmas Critics," Commonweal (2 December 2005): 38-39.
"Mission Impossible" (Michael Walzer, Arguing about War and Noah Feldman, What We Owe Iraq), Christian Century (29 November 2005): 29-34.
"Consuming Citizens" (Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumer's Republic), The Responsive Community 13 (2003): 72-77.
"Sweet Land of Agency" (James Block, A Nation of Agents), Christian Century (8 February 2003): 32-34.
"Back to School" (PBS, School: The Story of American Public Education and David Tyack, et al., School: The Story of American Public Education), Christian Century (29 August-5 September 2001): 31-32.
"Project Living: The Rise and Fall of Public Housing" (Lawrence Vale, From the Puritans to the Projects and Sudhir Venkatesh, American Project), Christian Century (4-11 July 2001): 26-28.
"Leaky Boats"´(Daniel Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings), Intellectual History Newsletter 22 (2000): 62-70.
"Dubya-ism: Tender Is the Right" (Marvin Olasky, Compassionate Conservatism), Christian Century (13 September 2000): 912-916.
"Nullifiers and Insurrectionists" (Garry Wills, A Necessary Evil), Christian Century (8 March 2000): 275-278.
"The Politics of Meaning and the Meaning of Politics" (Michael Lerner, The Politics of Meaning), Christian Century (30 October 1996): 1038-1041.
"The Authority of Pragmatism" (John Diggins, The Promise of Pragmatism), Intellectual History Newsletter 17 (1995): 16-24.
"The End of History" (Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture), Reviews in American History 21 (1993): 628-633.
"The New Pragmatism" (Giles Gunn, Thinking Across the American Grain: Ideology, Intellect, and the New Pragmatism), American Quarterly 45 (1993): 438-444. See also "Response to Giles Gunn," American Quarterly 46 (1994): 304-307.
"Professionals and Pragmatists" (Daniel J. Wilson, Science, Community and the Transformation of American Philosophy, 1860-1930 and JoAnne Brown and David K. Van Keuren, eds., The Estate of Social Knowledge), History of Education Quarterly 32 (1992): 367-370.
"Young Americans" (Casey Blake, Beloved Community: The Cultural Criticism of Randolph Bourne, Van Wyck Brooks, Waldo Frank & Lewis Mumford), Tikkun 6 (July/August 1991): 79-82.
"Landslide Lyndon" (Robert A. Caro, Means of Ascent: The Years of Lyndon Johnson), Christian Century (22-29 August 1990): 766-770.
"In the Churches, in the Streets" (Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963), Christian Century (5 April 1989): 351-354.
"Tom Hayden's Reunion," Contemporaries 3 (Spring 1989): 14-15.
"Consuming Images" (Roland Marchand, Advertising the American Dream and David Nye, Image Worlds), Reviews in American History 16 (1988): 85-92.
"Stream of Contentiousness" (Sidney Hook, Out of Step: An Unquiet Life in the 20th Century), Nation (30 May 1987): 726-730.
"Abundant Cultural History: The Legacy of Warren Susman" (Warren Susman, Culture as History), Reviews in American History 13 (1985): 481-486.
"Neorepublican Prophets" (John Thomas, Alternative America: Henry George, Edward Bellamy, Henry Demarest Lloyd and the Adversary Tradition), Reviews in American History 11 (1983): 537-542.
"Dewey's Truth" (The Middle Works of John Dewey, v. 5-6), History of Education Quarterly 20 (1980): 345-353.
"Human Ethos and the Multinational Corporation" (Richard Barnet and Ronald Müller, Global Reach), Stanford Journal of International Studies 11 (1976): 200-206.
Reviews:
Reconstructing Public Reason by Eric MacGilvray, Perspectives on Politics 3 (2005): 879-880.
Jane Addams and the Dream of American Democracy by Jean Bethke Elshtain, Washington Post Bookworld (24 February 2002): 8-9.
The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand, Washington Post Bookworld (10 June 2001): 15.
Smashmouth: Two Years in the Gutter with Al Gore and George W. Bush—Notes from the Campaign Trail by Dana Milbank, Washington Post Bookworld (27 January 2001): 4.
Progressive Intellectuals and the Dilemmas of Democratic Commitment by Leon Fink, American Historical Review 105 (2000): 232-233.
A Place for Us and A Passion for Democracy by Benjamin Barber, In These Times (12 July 1998): 23-25.
Democratic Temperament: The Legacy of William James by Joshua Miller, American Historical Review 103 (1998): 1337-1338.
The War in American Culture: Society and Consciousness During World War II by Lewis Erenberg and Susan Hirsch, eds., The Historian 61 (1999): 632-633.
Redeeming Culture: American Religion in an Age of Science by James Gilbert, In These Times (23 November 1997): 31-33.
Science, Jews, and Secular Culture by David Hollinger, Science 275 (7 February 1997): 787-788.
Democracy's Discontent by Michael Sandel, In These Times (15 April 1996): 24-26.
Coming of Age by Studs Terkel, In These Times (27 November-10 December 1995): 30-31.
The Promise of Pragmatism by John P. Diggins, Journal of American History 82 (1995): 170-171.
The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America by Wilfred M. McClay, American Historical Review 100 (1995): 597-98.
The Chicago Pragmatists and American Progressivism by Andrew Feffer, History of Education Quarterly 34 (1994): 377-378.
Censored War: American Visual Experience During World War Two by George H. Roeder, Jr., Journal of American History 81 (1994): 787-788.
Icons of Democracy by Bruce Miroff, American Historical Review 99 (1994): 965-966.
Intellect and Public Life by Thomas Bender, Journal of American History 80 (1994): 1497-1498.
Double Agent: The Critic and Society by Morris Dickstein, American Historical Review 98 (1993): 1695.
Charles Sanders Peirce: A Life by Joseph Brent, Science 261 (16 July 1993): 368-369.
Pretty Bubbles in the Air: America in 1919 by William D. Miller, The Historian 55 (1993): 591-592.
The Community Reconstructs: The Meaning of Pragmatic Social Thought by James Campbell, Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 29 (1993): 259-264.
The Origins of American Social Science by Dorothy Ross, Journal of American History 79 (1992): 613-615.
Lewis Mumford: A Life by Donald L. Miller, Journal of American History, 77 (1990): 716.
Hollywood Goes to War by Clayton R. Koppes and Gregory D. Black, The Maryland Historian 19 (1988): 63-65.
The Lyrical Left: Randolph Bourne, Alfred Stieglitz and the Origins of Cultural Radicalism in America by Edward Abrahams, Journal of American History 74 (1987): 209.
C. Wright Mills: An American Utopian by Irving Louis Horowitz, New Republic (19 March 1984): 40-42.
No Place of Grace by Jackson Lears, American Studies at Yale 1 (1982): 5-6.
The League for Industrial Democracy: A Documentary History by Bernard Johnpo ll and Mark Yerburgh, eds., International Labor and Working Class History 20 (1981): 73-78.
Managing in Turbulent Times by Peter F. Drucker, Grolier's Literary Annual (1981): 195-198.
Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia by William Shawcross, Grolier's Literary Annual (1980): 321-24.
American Silent Film by William K. Everson, Radical Historians Newsletter 30 (November 1979): 10-11.
Lost Tribes and Promised Lands: The Origins of American Racism by Ronald Sanders, Grolier's Literary Annual (1979): 200-204.
The Romance of American Communism by Vivian Gornick, Grolier's Literary Annual (1979): 270-73.
The United States and the Origin of the Cold War by John Gaddis, Worldview 17 (April 1974): 58-61.
Book in Progress:
Rethinking the Good War: World War II and the American Moral Imagination (Oxford: Blackwell, forthcoming).