Offering a fresh perspective on American historical imagination, this new edition explores the evolution of political thought from the founding era to the present. Michael J. Shapiro draws on various disciplines and genres to present an alternative narrative, challenging conventional interpretations and enriching the understanding of American political history.
Focusing on comparative politics and nation-building in the Third World, this work critiques the dominant approaches of twentieth-century social science. It highlights the "cognitive imperialism" within international relations, where theorists have become complicit in state-centric ideologies. Michael Shapiro advocates for recognizing alternative political expressions and modes of understanding that exist outside mainstream nationhood practices, challenging the prevailing narratives and expanding the discourse on political identity and representation.
Engaging with diverse political and philosophical theories alongside classic films like The Deer Hunter and The Fog of War, the author examines the concept of "geopolitical aesthetic" in the context of the post-Cold War and post-9/11 eras. The analysis highlights how contemporary film theory and philosophy intersect with geopolitical themes, offering insights into the evolving landscape of global politics and its representation in cinema.
Catastrophic events like the bombing of Hiroshima, Hurricane Katrina s devastation of New Orleans, and drone strikes periodically achieve renewed political significance as subsequent developments summon them back to public awareness.
Focusing on modernity, this volume by Michael Shapiro engages with Adam Smith's ideas not as a traditional analysis but as a critical confrontation. It explores how Smith contributed to the foundations of modern, commercial, liberal, and democratic society while arguing that his views fall short for those seeking a more politicized understanding of contemporary issues. Shapiro aims to exemplify a new approach to political theory that challenges conventional interpretations and celebrates a more dynamic discourse within the field.
Michael J. Shapiro examines how the use of punctuation-conceived not as a series of marks but as a metaphor for the ways in which artistic genres engage with intelligibility-in art opens pathways for thinking through the possibilities for oppositional politics.
Michael J. Shapiro formulates a new politics of aesthetics by analyzing the experience of the sublime as rendered by a number of artistic and cultural texts that deal with race, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and industrialism, showing how the sublime's disruptive effects provides the opportunity for a new oppositional politics.