Imagine a world in which means and ends, theory and practice, ideals, values, and interests, are torturously disassociated and yet manifestly linked. That is the world of the 20th century as Stephen Eric Bronner vividly portrays it in his important new work. Now imagine a world in which new traditions mix with the old, creativity blends with commitment, and values from the past combine with bold visions of the future. Creating this new fusion, says Professor Bronner, is the challenge for the 21st century and it inspires "Ideas in Action". Contemporary political theory has become alienated from politics. It often neither discusses concrete political events nor touches the world of political action. That is an intellectual luxury the academy of the 21st century can ill-afford, and "Ideas in Action" offers an accessible way out of the box into which the canon of political theory and philosophy has been stuffed. With elegance and power, Bronner surveys 20th century political traditions. In the process, he places theories and thinkers in their social, historical, and political contexts. His sweeping presentation is organized into four imaginatively articulated phases that signal the direction of political thinking in the twentieth century. Offering distinctive interpretations and criticisms, presenting a new internationalist perspective, Bronner imbues the text with original voices and primary sources from the very canon he is reconfiguring. Careful notes of citation and explanation provide a pedagogical subtext that serves as a running bibliographic essay. All this and more makes "Ideas in Action" the perfect core or supplemental text for courses not only in political science, but philosophy, sociology, history, and cultural studies as well. "Ideas in Action" is a book for thinking people seeking to understand the past and shape the next millennium in terms of a new planetary outlook and a cosmopolitan sensibility. Students will enjoy reading the text, flock to the primary sources, and engage their class discussions with new knowledge and a new spirit. Professors will find a refreshing and original way to teach familiar material and assuredly use the text as a foil for arguments and debates on all sides of many issues.
Throughout the corpus of his work, Stephen Bronner ties together the tradition of political theory and theorists within their social, political, cultural and historical contexts, offering critical reflections, and from that tradition seeks to establish its salience to both meet the challenges and forge the shape of the next millennium.[citation needed] Through his interpretive and critical analyses combined with a creative blend of old traditions with new commitments and values, he articulates the potential contributions of this tradition for developing a genuinely progressive politics that squarely confronts a host of issues facing modern society and engages the future with a new international (or "planetary") outlook combined with a "cosmopolitan sensibility."[citation needed]
Bibliography
Scholarly works
Blood in the Sand: Imperial Fantasies, Right-Wing Ambitions, and the Erosion of American Democracy (The University Press of Kentucky 2005) ISBN 0-8131-2367-4
Sketch for a New Critical Theory (Zurich: Diaphanes Verlag, publication pending)
Reclaiming the Enlightenment: Toward a Politics of Radical Engagement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004). ISBN 0-231-12608-5. Translation into Spanish: Reivindicación de la Ilustración, Pamplona, Laetoli, 2008. ISBN: 978 84 93566 17 3.
A Rumor about the Jews: Anti-Semitism. Conspiracy, and the Protocols of Zion (Paperback Edition–New York: Oxford University Press, 2004; Hardcover Edition–New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000; Translation into German–Berlin: Propylaen Verlag, 2000). ISBN 0-19-516956-5; Translation into Spanish: Un rumor sobre los judíos, Pamplona, Laetoli, 2009. ISBN 978 84 92422 06 7.
Imagining the Possible: Radical Politics for Conservative Times (New York: Routledge, 2002). ISBN 0-415-93260-2
Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists (2nd Edition–New York: Routledge, 2002; 1st Edition–London: Basil Blackwell, 1994; Translation into Portuguese–Rio de Janeiro: Papirus, 1997). ISBN 0-415-93263-7
Ideas in Action: Political Tradition in the Twentieth Century (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999; Translation into Korean–Seoul, Korea: Ingansarang Publishers, 2003). ISBN 0-8476-9387-2
Camus: Portrait of a Moralist (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999; Translation into German–Berlin: Verlag Vorwerk 8, 2002). ISBN 0-8166-3283-9
Moments of Decision: Political History and the Crises of Radicalism (New York: Routledge, 1992; Translation into German–Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2000). ISBN 0-415-90465-X
Rosa Luxemburg: A Revolutionary for Our Times (3rd printing– Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997; 2nd printing–New York: Columbia University Press, 1987; 1st printing–London: Pluto Press, 1980). ISBN 0-271-02505-0
Popular works
Albert Camus: The Thinker, The Artist, The Man (New York: Franklin Watts, 1996). ISBN 0-531-11305-1
Leon Blum (New York: Chelsea House Publishing Co., 1986). ISBN 0-87754-511-1
A Beggar’s Tales (New York: Pella Press, 1978). NO ISBN.
Afterword for Will Eisner's graphic novel, The Plot (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005). ISBN 0-393-06045-4
Articles
" Tribute to a Socialist: Henry M. Pachter (1907-1980) ". TELOS 46 (Winter 1980-81). New York: Telos Press
Edited works
The Logos Reader: Rational Radicalism And the Future of Politics (with Michael J. Thompson) (University Press of Kentucky, 2005). ISBN 0-8131-9148-3
Planetary Politics: Human Rights, Terror, and Global Society (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, publication pending).
Twentieth Century Political Theory: A Reader (Revised 2nd Edition–New York: Routledge, publication pending 2004; 1st Edition, 1996). ISBN 0-415-94899-1
Re-Framing the International: Law, Politics and Culture, co-edited with Lester Edwin J. Ruiz and R. B. J. Walker (Editor) (New York: Routledge, 2002). ISBN 0-415-93175-4
Vienna: The World of Yesterday 1889-1914, co-edited with F. Peter Wagner, (Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities Press International, 1997). ISBN 0-391-03987-3
Television and the Crisis of Democracy, co-edited with Douglas Kellner (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990). ISBN 0-8133-0549-7
The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg, edited, translated, and with an introduction (2nd edition–Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities Press International, 1993; 1st edition–Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1979). ISBN 1-57392-581-0
Critical Theory and Society, co-edited with Douglas Kellner,(New York: Routledge, 1989). ISBN 0-415-90041-7
Socialism in History: Political Essays of Henry Patcher (New York: Columbia University Press, 1984). ISBN 0-231-05660-5
Passion and Rebellion: The Expressionist Heritage co-edited with Douglas Kellner (2nd printing–New York: Columbia University Press, 1988; 1st printing– South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey; New York: Universe Books; and London: Croom Helm, 1983). ISBN 0-87663-356-4
