Masterless - by Wilfred M McClay (Paperback)

About the Book

Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America

Book Synopsis

In this provocative book, Wilfred McClay considers the long-standing tension between individualism and social cohesion in conceptions of American culture. Exploring ideas of unity and diversity as they have evolved since the Civil War, he illuminates the historical background to our ongoing search for social connectedness and sources of authority in a society increasingly dominated by the premises of individualism. McClay borrows D. H. Lawrence's term 'masterless men' -- extending its meaning to women as well -- and argues that it is expressive of both the promise and the peril inherent in the modern American social order.

Drawing upon a wide range of disciplines -- including literature, sociology, political science, philosophy, psychology, and feminist theory -- McClay identifies a competition between visions of dispersion on the one hand and coalescence on the other as modes of social organization. In addition, he employs intellectual biography to illuminate the intersection of these ideas with the personal experiences of the thinkers articulating them and shows how these shifting visions are manifestations of a more general ambivalence about the process of national integration and centralization that has characterized modern American economic, political, and cultural life.

From the Back Cover

'Liberty is all every well, but men cannot live without masters. There is always a master. And men in glad obedience to the master they believe in, or they live in a frictional opposition to the master they wish to undermine...' -D.H. Lawrence

Review Quotes

"A fascinating intellectual history." -- America

"A fine study." -- American Historical Review

"In this engaging survey of intellectual life since the Civil War, Wilfred M. McClay portrays Americans tossing and turning in their dreams -- on one side conjuring up visions of the liberal isolation striking westward, while on the other yearning to cast off narrow egotism and fall into the loving arms of the nation." -- Journal of Southern History

"This is a model of intelligent and intelligible cultural history from which any student of modern America will profit." -- Australasian Journal of American Studies

About the Author

Wilfred M. McClay is Professor and SunTrust Chair of Excellence in Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.