Ambition in America: Political Power and the Collapse of Citizenship

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This book began with a simple idea: people yearn for what they love. It is this longing that brought to life for me the study of politics and political theory. Political theory impressed me as a subject deeply bound to understanding the intricacies and real world implications of what people hope for; desire from a life with others; and mourn when faced with the inevitable loss of the people, communities, and political life they come to love. What I’ve learned about style, thinking, and prose I’ve learned from Virginia Draper, John (Jack) Schaar, and Wilson Carey McWilliams, and principally by reading the work of many of their students. What I’ve learned aboutwritingandthinking,I’velearnedfromreadingHermanMelville, Robert Penn Warren, William Faulkner, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Virginia Woolf, Ralph Ellison, and Kurt Vonnegut—authors I read and, when lucky, teach. At times, writing about ambition felt like nailing Jell-O to a wall. Ambition can be an elusive concept: once you pin it down, its meaning can shift and change. What people want shifts and changes. Motives for seeking fame, social rank, public office, and power are not stable and often mean different things at different times in politics. I have tried to capture part of those shifts in the American context. Writing this book took longer than I ever intended, but it was a journey I would repeat only because the debts I have accumulated along the way were to friends and colleagues whom I admire and respect. Without their support, good humor, and generous friendship, completing this book would not have been possible. At various stages of this manuscript, many people have graciously lent their time to read chapters and offer invaluable feedback. Most immediately I wish to thank Virginia Draper and James Read for reading the entire manuscript.Theircommentswereinvaluableinhelpingmeseeunquestioned assumptions and refine my prose. This book has benefited from suggestions made by numerous colleagues and discussants over the course of several years. I thank Joseph Gardner, Michael James, Jonathan McKenzie, and Wynne Moskop for their thoughtful and helpful suggestions as panel chairs and discussants for improving 151 152 Acknowledgments chapters of this manuscript. William Barndt, Richard Boyd, and Joseph Romance offered feedback on assorted chapter drafts, often on short notice . I would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for the University Press of Kentucky who helped me see the conceptual shortcomings of my arguments and offered helpful suggestions for improving the manuscript. Early in my undergraduate studies I was fortunate to fall into the classrooms of John (Jack) Schaar and J. Peter Euben at the University of California , Santa Cruz. The ideas for this book began with them—two outstanding teachers who inspired their students to think critically and deeply about the meaning of politics, and the obligations we share with other citizens, yet often disavow. I am also indebted to the patience and dedication of teachers at UCSC: Jonathan Beecher, Kent Dunell, Carole Freeman, Kirstie McClure, and William (Billy) Robinson. All spent countless hours working with me to turn a passionate but rough interest in the subject into the occasional coherent expression of thought. Formally, this book originated out of conversations with the late Wilson Carey McWilliams in graduate school at Rutgers University. During an independentstudyingraduateschoolonErosinpoliticalthought ,Careyprovided a welcoming home for exploring and distilling concepts and theories that crossed fields of politics, literature, political theory, and political science. Underhisdirection ,thisprojecttookshapeandmatured.Beyondtheclassroom, Careywasanencouragingadviser,wisementor,andloyalfriendwhoinspired compassion and fellowship in others. For me, he connected the teaching of political theory with the practice of democracy in American politics. During graduate school I also benefited from working with a skilled faculty at Rutgers. Each made the experience a challenging but humane way to learn the professional practice of political science: Samuel Assefa, Ross K. Baker, Benjamin Barber, Dennis Bathory, Jane Junn, Gerald Pomper, Gordon J. Schochet, Kurt Spellmeyer, and Dan Tichenor. I was also fortunate to be surrounded by talented, thoughtful, and intellectually rigorous graduate student colleagues, who influence much of the way I approach politics, political science, and political theory. I continue to admire their work for its subtle and enduring insights into the practice of politics. I thank Derek Barker, Cristina Beltrán, Rachelle Brooks, Mark Brown, Anand Commissiong, Rose Corrigan, Michael Cripps, Patrick Deneen, John DiCicco, David Gutterman, Darrell Hamlin, Jennet Kirkpatrick , Jill Locke, Martin Edwards, Laurie Naranch, Ronnee Schreiber, Claire Snyder-Hall, Matt Voorhees, Mark Weiner, and Karen Zivi. Over the years Acknowledgments...