Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
8-2008
Abstract
With Critical Americans, Leslie Butler has written a remarkable work that recovers a lost generation of American intellectuals. Tracing the intellectual friendship among George William Curtis, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, James Russell Lowell, and Charles Eliot Nor ton from the 1840S through the beginning of the twentieth century, Butler makes a compelling case that we need to rethink the tradition of genteel liberalism. Too often, historians have dismissed the Mug wumps as backward-looking elites hostile to democracy. Butler recasts them not only as forward looking but also as committed to upholding the highest ideals of American democracy-critical engagement, an educated citizenry, cosmopolitan patriotism, and anti-imperialism.
Publication Title
New England Quarterly-A Historical Review of New England Life and Letters
Volume
81
Issue
3
First Page
527
Last Page
529
Recommended Citation
Neem, Johann N., "Review of: Critical Americans: Victorian Intellectuals and Transatlantic Liberal Reform" (2008). History Faculty and Staff Publications. 1.
https://cedar.wwu.edu/history_facpubs/1
Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
Liberalism--United States--History--19th century; Politics and culture--United States--History--19th century; Democracy--United States--History--19th century
Subjects - Names (LCNAF)
Butler, Leslie, 1969-. Critical Americans
Geographic Coverage
United States
Genre/Form
reviews (documents)
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
