| The Torment of Secrecy: The Background and Consequences of American Secruity Policies Contributor(s): Shils, Edward (Author) |
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ISBN: 156663105X ISBN-13: 9781566631051 Publisher: Ivan R. Dee Publisher OUR PRICE: $19.75 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 1996 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 20th Century - Political Science | American Government - General - Political Science | History & Theory - General |
| Dewey: 327.12 |
| LCCN: 95050421 |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5" W x 8.01" (0.58 lbs) 259 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Edward Shils's The Torment of Secrecy is one of the few minor classics to emerge from the cold war years of anticommunism and McCarthyism in the United States. Mr. Shils's "torment" is not only that of the individual caught up in loyalty and security procedures; it is also the torment of the accuser and judge. This essay in sociological analysis and political philosophy considers the cold war preoccupation with espionage, sabotage, and subversion at home, assessing the magnitude of such threats and contrasting it to the agitation-by lawmakers, investigators, and administrators-so wildly directed against the "enemy." Mr. Shils's examination of a recurring American characteristic is as timely as ever. "Brief...lucid... brilliant."-American Political Science Review. "A fine, sophisticated analysis of American social metabolism."-New Republic. "An excitingly lucid and intelligent work on a subject of staggering importance...the social preconditions of political democracy."-Social Forces. |