The twilight of the American enlightenment : the 1950s and the crisis of liberal belief
"In the aftermath of World War II, the United States stood at a precipice. The forces of modernity unleashed by the war had led to astonishing advances in daily life, but technology and mass culture also threatened to erode the country's traditional moral character. As award-winning historian George M. Marsden explains in The Twilight of the American Enlightenment, postwar Americans looked to the country's secular, liberal elites for guidance in this precarious time, but these intellectuals proved unable to articulate a coherent common cause by which America could chart its course. Their failure lost them the faith of their constituents, paving the way for a Christian revival that offered America a firm new moral vision-one rooted in the Protestant values of the founders. A groundbreaking reappraisal of the country's spiritual reawakening, The Twilight of the American Enlightenment shows how America found new purpose at the dawn of the Cold War."-- Provided by publisher
History
xxxix, 219 pages ; 22 cm
9780465030101, 9780465069774, 0465030106, 0465069770
861966381
Prologue: The national purpose
Mass media and the national character
Freedom in the lonely crowd
Enlightenment's end?: building without foundations
The problem of authority: the two masters
The latter days of the Protestant establishment
Sequel: consensus becomes a fighting word
Conclusion: Toward a more inclusive pluralism