Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Theorizing the Culture Wars


Jacques Barzun predicted the Culture Wars. Well, maybe not. He was both a historian and a product of his times, not a prophet. But there is little doubt that the Culture Wars of his early years, the 1940s and 1950s, bear at least some resemblance to today's battles over books, religion, the arts, and education. . .

— Tim Lacy, Theorizing the Culture Wars: Jacques Barzun, Politics, and Fostering Intellectual Life in a Democracy,