In this Book
- Founding Fictions
- Book
- 2010
- Published by: The University of Alabama Press
- Series: Rhetoric, Culture, and Social Critique
summary
An extended analysis of how Americans imagined themselves as citizens between 1764 and 1845
Founding Fictions develops the concept of a “political fiction,” or a narrative that people tell about their own political theories, and analyzes how republican and democratic fictions positioned American citizens as either romantic heroes, tragic victims, or ironic partisans. By re-telling the stories that Americans have told themselves about citizenship, Mercieca highlights an important contradiction in American political theory and practice: that national stability and active citizen participation are perceived as fundamentally at odds.
Founding Fictions develops the concept of a “political fiction,” or a narrative that people tell about their own political theories, and analyzes how republican and democratic fictions positioned American citizens as either romantic heroes, tragic victims, or ironic partisans. By re-telling the stories that Americans have told themselves about citizenship, Mercieca highlights an important contradiction in American political theory and practice: that national stability and active citizen participation are perceived as fundamentally at odds.
Table of Contents
Additional Information
ISBN
9780817383558
Related ISBN(s)
9780817316907, 9780817357344
MARC Record
OCLC
648711534
Pages
288
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2010