In A World Made Safe for Differences, Christopher Shannon examines how an anthropological definition of culture shaped the central political and social narratives of the Cold War era. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, American intellectuals understood culture as a "whole way of life" and a "pattern of values" in order to account for and accommodate differences between America and other countries, and within America itself. Shannon locates the ideological origins of current debates about multiculturalism in the pluralist thought of "consensus" liberalism. The emphasis on individualism in contemporary identity politics, Shannon suggests, must be understood as a legacy of the Cold War liberalism of the 1950s rather than the counter-culture radicalism of the 1960s. A World Made Safe for Differences is a highly original and controversial book that will be of great interest to students and scholars of twentieth century American history.

A World Made Safe for Differences

History

Shannon, Christopher

Americas

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

A World Made Safe for Differences: Cold War Intellectuals and the Politics of Identity (American Intellectual Culture)

In this book, Catholic historians Christopher Shannon and Christopher O. Blum challenge the secular bias currently prevalent among professional historians, and argue for the compatibility of faith and reason in the study of the past. Inspired by the understanding of tradition developed in the work of philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, the authors first critically examine both the internal contradictions and the enduring faith commitments of secular objectivity, then proceed to explore various traditions of Catholic historical thinking capable of synthesizing the technical advances of modern history with distinctly Catholic historical narratives. Their argument seeks to foster a conversation about the ways in which Catholic historians can integrate their faith traditions into their professional work while still remaining open to and engaged with the best of contemporary, non-Catholic thinking and writing about history.

The Past as Pilgrimage: Narrative, Tradition and the Renewal of Catholic History

Blum, Christopher O.

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Christendom Press

Originally published in 1996 and newly revised, Conspicuous Criticism is a ringing defense of the need for religion and tradition in contemporary society. Writing with moral passion and critical verve, Christopher Shannon offers a convincing indictment of the forces that isolate the individual in modern capitalist society and counters more than a century of efforts by modern intellectuals to displace tradition in favor of a humanism that actually diminishes humanity in the name of freeing its potential. Featuring in-depth analyses of the works of John Dewey, Thorstein Veblen, C. Wright Mills, and others, Conspicuous Criticism is a call to reinstate traditional relations to God, nature, and the common good. Scholars in fields from American studies to intellectual history will be forced to grapple with Shannon’s trenchant critique, which is well on its way to becoming a classic of Christian thought. “Conspicuous Criticism inspired a concern about the modern world that in the years since I’ve not been able to brush aside.”—Eric Miller, First Things

Conspicuous Criticism: Tradition, the Individual, and Culture In Modern American Social Thought, Revised Edition

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

University of Scranton Press

Before Johnny Depp and Public Enemies, there was The Public Enemy. James Cagney’s 1931 portrayal of the Irish American gangster, Tommy Powers, set the standard for the Hollywood gangster and helped to launch a golden age of Irish American cinema. In the years that followed several of the era’s greatest stars, such as Spencer Tracy, Bing Crosby, Pat O’Brien, and Ginger Rogers, assumed Irish American roles—as boxers, entertainers, priests, and working girls—delighting audiences and at the same time providing a fresh perspective of the Irish American experience in America’s cities. With Bowery to Broadway, Christopher Shannon guides readers through a number of classic films from the 1930s and ’40s and investigates why films featuring Irish American characters were so popular among American audiences during a period when the Irish were still stereotyped and scorned for their religion. Shannon cites films such as Angels with Dirty Faces, Gentleman Jim, Kitty Foyle, Going My Way, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, arguing that the Irish American characters in the films were presented as inhabitants of an urban village—simultaneously traditional and modern and valuing communal solidarity over individual advancement. As a result, these characters—even those involved in criminal activity—resonated deeply with the countless Americans in search of the communal values that were rapidly being lost to the social dislocation of the Depression and the increasing nationalization of life under the New Deal.

Bowery to Broadway: The American Irish in Classic Hollywood Cinema

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

Histories of the Catholic Church in the United States abound. Most suffer from an excess of either scholarly detachment or popular triumphalism. American Pilgrimage seeks instead to draw on the best of current scholarship to tell the story of the Church as it understands itself: the Body of Christ, divinely ordained yet marred by sin, charged with the mission of spreading the Gospel and building up the community of the faithful.\nIn scope, American Pilgrimage narrates the story of the Church from the dramatic efforts at evangelization in the colonial period, to the Catholic urban villages of the immigrant Church, to the struggles to reimagine tradition in the late-20th century. In shape, it follows this story through the Augustinian contours of the ongoing struggle between the City of God and the City of Man—a struggle that takes place between the Church and the world, within the Church itself, and within the soul of every Christian.

American Pilgrimage: A Historical Journey through Catholic Life in a New World

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Augustine Institute / Ignatius Press

Singing From the Heart: The Dady Brothers, Irish Music, and Ethnic Endurance in an American City

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Independently published

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Books by Shannon, Christopher