In this pathbreaking book one of Americarsquo;s most distinguished philosophers brilliantly explores the status and authority of law and the nature of political allegiance through close readings of three classic Hollywood Westerns: Howard Hawksrsquo; Red River and John Fordrsquo;s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Searchers.Robert Pippin treats these films as sophisticated mythic accounts of a key moment in American history: its ldquo;second founding;rdquo; or the western expansion. His central question concerns how these films explore classical problems in political psychology; especially how the virtues of a commercial republic gained some hold on individuals at a time when the heroic and martial virtues were so important. Westerns; Pippin shows; raise central questions about the difference between private violence and revenge and the statersquo;s claim to a legitimate monopoly on violence; and they show how these claims come to be experienced and accepted or rejected.Pippinrsquo;s account of the best Hollywood Westerns brings this genre into the center of the tradition of political thought; and his readings raise questions about political psychology and the political passions that have been neglected in contemporary political thought in favor of a limited concern with the question of legitimacy.
#2733176 in eBooks 2001-08-01 2001-08-01File Name: B0036FUD1W
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Three StarsBy Richard KuhlmanNothing extraordinary. I was looking for a different take on the classic.
