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The Intellectuals and the Flag
"The tragedy of the left is that, having achieved an unprecedented victory in helping stop an appalling war, it then proceeded to commit suicide." So writes Todd Gitlin about the aftermath of the Vietnam War in this collection of writings that calls upon intellectuals on the left to once again engage American public life and resist the trappings of knee-jerk negativism, intellectual fads, and political orthodoxy. Gitlin argues for a renewed sense of patriotism based on the ideals of sacrifice, tough-minded criticism, and a willingness to look anew at the global role of the United States in the aftermath of 9/11. Merely criticizing and resisting the Bush administration will not do―the left must also imagine and propose an America reformed.
Where then can the left turn? Gitlin celebrates the work of three prominent postwar David Riesman, C. Wright Mills, and Irving Howe. Their ambitious, assertive, and clearly written works serve as models for an intellectual engagement that forcefully addresses social issues and remains affirmative and comprehensive. Sharing many of the qualities of these thinkers' works, Todd Gitlin's blunt, frank analysis of the current state of the left and his willingness to challenge orthodoxies pave the way for a revival in leftist thought and a new liberal patriotism.
Where then can the left turn? Gitlin celebrates the work of three prominent postwar David Riesman, C. Wright Mills, and Irving Howe. Their ambitious, assertive, and clearly written works serve as models for an intellectual engagement that forcefully addresses social issues and remains affirmative and comprehensive. Sharing many of the qualities of these thinkers' works, Todd Gitlin's blunt, frank analysis of the current state of the left and his willingness to challenge orthodoxies pave the way for a revival in leftist thought and a new liberal patriotism.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published December 13, 2005
About the author
Todd Gitlin
52 books51 followersTodd Gitlin was an American writer, sociologist, communications scholar, novelist, poet, and not very private intellectual. He was professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University.
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February 20, 2022Todd Gitlin, 1943–2022
Todd Gitlin, activist, academic, writer, and longtime member of Dissent’s editorial board, died on February 5. Here he is remembered by his friends, colleagues, and comrades.
Editors ▪ February 7, 2022
Todd Gitlin, activist, academic, writer, and longtime member of Dissent’s editorial board, died on February 5, 2022. Here he is remembered by his friends, colleagues, and comrades: Michael Kazin, Brian Morton, Susie Linfield, Mitchell Cohen, Jo-Ann Mort, Jeffrey C. Isaac, and Kevin Mattson. You can read a selection of his writing here.
Todd Gitlin, activist, academic, writer, and longtime member of Dissent’s editorial board, died on February 5. Here he is remembered by his friends, colleagues, and comrades.
Editors ▪ February 7, 2022
Todd Gitlin, activist, academic, writer, and longtime member of Dissent’s editorial board, died on February 5, 2022. Here he is remembered by his friends, colleagues, and comrades: Michael Kazin, Brian Morton, Susie Linfield, Mitchell Cohen, Jo-Ann Mort, Jeffrey C. Isaac, and Kevin Mattson. You can read a selection of his writing here.
May 27, 2008
Is it possible to be a patriotic intellectual? Is attachment to one's country, especially in wartime, compatible with critical thinking and speaking truth to power? Gitlin argues that these things are indeed compatible, and he challenges intellectuals -- specifically, the chary intellectuals of the Left -- not to be ashamed of loving America. In fact, he argues, critical thought and free debate are essential parts of good citizenship. Or to put this another way, he argues that the point of critical thought and free debate is to fulfill one's duty to the community.
The real strength of the book lies not in that argument, however, but in its pointing out good role models for the patriotic leftist intellectual. Gitlin describes three figures who have particularly inspired him (David Riesman, C. Wright Mills, and Irving Howe), then describes his own attempts to make a positive contribution to contemporary American life. He ends with a beautiful though sometimes overwrought essay about September 11 that demonstrates vividly that loving America and scraping before its leaders are not the same thing.
The real strength of the book lies not in that argument, however, but in its pointing out good role models for the patriotic leftist intellectual. Gitlin describes three figures who have particularly inspired him (David Riesman, C. Wright Mills, and Irving Howe), then describes his own attempts to make a positive contribution to contemporary American life. He ends with a beautiful though sometimes overwrought essay about September 11 that demonstrates vividly that loving America and scraping before its leaders are not the same thing.
October 20, 2009
Mostly a regurge of his earlier stuff but a quick, easy read. Liked it but it didn't change the way I view the world like Media Unlimited.
November 7, 2016
While acknowledging that "The truth of a civilization is less what it professes than how it busies itself" (p. 103), Gitlin concerns himself here with what it professes, and specifically with what its left-wing intellectuals profess. He collected some of his essays dating back to 1988, rewrote them, and republished them in 2006 to respond to the particular moment for the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks where he saw a failure of left-wing political intellectualism. "Intellectuals of the left have been playing defense. It is as if history were a tank dispatched by the wrong army, and all that was left to do was to stand in its way and try to block it. If we had a manual, it would be called, What Is Not to Be Done." (p. 2)
A major common thread: The difficulty in knowing when to say that values are stable, grounded, something you can hang your hat on, something you can encapsulate and transmit in ideology, and when to say that everything is postmodern discourse, literary criticism that has no desire to resolve itself, incoherent by nature, a matter of how you happen to be dancing. The former is more about politics — something you work for steadily and pragmatically — and the latter is more about art — something that has to be radical and iconoclastic to raise awareness. Gitlin's argument is that left-wing intellectuals have had a hard time knowing which way to lean at any given moment. Their words sometimes don't set off on the right track. The call sounds hollow or comes off wrong. It is neither effective nor true.
The "flag" in the title is the American flag hung in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks. For a very short time, it conveyed, for many, positive sentiments of solidarity and mutual aid, but quickly it came to stand only for an inflexible, power-hungry, fear-based nationalism. Gitlin's question is whether the former approach can be retained, in spirit and intention, as a valid and preferred form of "patriotism" and whether it can be communicated effectively so it can be cultivated as a shared value.
These questions are not resolved.
A major common thread: The difficulty in knowing when to say that values are stable, grounded, something you can hang your hat on, something you can encapsulate and transmit in ideology, and when to say that everything is postmodern discourse, literary criticism that has no desire to resolve itself, incoherent by nature, a matter of how you happen to be dancing. The former is more about politics — something you work for steadily and pragmatically — and the latter is more about art — something that has to be radical and iconoclastic to raise awareness. Gitlin's argument is that left-wing intellectuals have had a hard time knowing which way to lean at any given moment. Their words sometimes don't set off on the right track. The call sounds hollow or comes off wrong. It is neither effective nor true.
The "flag" in the title is the American flag hung in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks. For a very short time, it conveyed, for many, positive sentiments of solidarity and mutual aid, but quickly it came to stand only for an inflexible, power-hungry, fear-based nationalism. Gitlin's question is whether the former approach can be retained, in spirit and intention, as a valid and preferred form of "patriotism" and whether it can be communicated effectively so it can be cultivated as a shared value.
These questions are not resolved.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews