With “the age of democracy” apparently coming to an end, Jeffrey C. Goldfarb offers hope against hopelessness, turning away from the canned political perspectives of the left, right, and center to recognize the beauty of the less than perfect and to emphasize the centrality of free public life. In Gray is Beautiful, he reflects on a lifetime of political engagement and scholarship, drawing upon experiences as a radical New Leftist, participant observer of the democratic opposition “behind the iron curtain,” teacher in Afghanistan, and publisher of online public forums. Offering original insights, this book considers the promise rather than the problems of political uncertainty, uses Tocqueville’s mistakes to understand the present state of democracy in America, and considers the ironies of collaboration. Goldfarb helps readers confront today’s central challenges in fresh ways, demonstrating that the political gray is indeed beautiful and how this sensibility provides a way to confront the global retreat of democracy.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: 1. The Sensibility, the Commitment, the Context, and the Approach Inquiries: 2. Uncertainty in Times of Pandemic: Confronting the Social Condition 3. Intellectuals in Dark Times: Reflections on Lived Experience 4. Hannah Arendt and the Radical Center 5. Art After Auschwitz 6. Teaching in Afghanistan: Acting as if we Live in a Free Society 7. Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and Making America Great Again. 8. A Collaborator: To be or Not to Be? Conclusions 9. The Cynical Society (Revisited) and the Retreat of Democracy. 10. Confronting the Enemy: Hope Against Hopelessness
About the Author :
Jeffrey C. Goldfarb is the Michael E. Gellert Professor of Sociology Emeritus at The New School for Social Research. He is the author of dozens of articles and eight previous books, including Reinventing Political Culture: The Power of Culture versus the Culture of Power (2013).
Review :
“Jeffrey C. Goldfarb’s life is a testimony to the value of relentless deep thinking about what it means to constitute an ethical and just social life across tremendous divides. In Gray is Beautiful, he thinks together with Hannah Arendt and Alexis de Tocqueville, with Adam Michnik and Václav Havel, with his students in New York and young people studying surreptitiously in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, with former dissidents in Eastern Europe and Palestinian and Israeli peace activists. Sometimes, he concludes, uncertainty is productive, ambiguity essential, and anti-utopianism morally imperative. With absolute sobriety he sees the pluralism of values: sometimes some good things can be in tension with one another. While not optimistic, the author is incorrigibly hopeful, contra spem spero, and his determination to overcome cynicism is an inspiration to all of us.”
–Marci Shore, Chair in European Intellectual History, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, Canada
“It is easy to think that dark times, like ours, demand the bright lights of grand theory, but in Gray is Beautiful Jeffrey C. Goldfarb offers us what we truly need: not perfect solutions, but the steady effort to illuminate the dilemmas of our day—dilemmas that we cannot eliminate but instead must work through together. With accessible prose and the kind of deep insight into our political and social life that arises only from a lifetime of scholarship, Goldfarb here calls for the formation of a radical center capable of resisting those who would snuff out the light generated by free public life. In so doing, this book holds important lessons for all who are concerned for the future of democracy, but particularly for those who, like me, need to be reminded of the value of committing ourselves not to the perfect, but to the better.”
–Fr. Patrick Gilger, SJ, Director, McNamara Center for the Study of Religion, Loyola University, Chicago, USA
“Gray is Beautiful: Confronting the Retreat of Democracy from the Radical Center is a terrific book. For many decades, Jeff Goldfarb, the author of numerous books and innumerable essays, has been one of our major practitioners of a genuinely public sociology. As the creator of Public Seminar and the convenor of Democracy Seminar, he has been at the center of a global network of academics dedicated to promoting democracy through a ‘politics of small things.’ In this book, he reflects on some of the most difficult challenges of our time, from the ethics of collaboration to the practice of freedom in the face of authoritarianism. Written in the spirit of Hannah Arendt, each chapter presents a rich and engaging ‘thought train,’ inviting readers to join Goldfarb in the process of ‘thinking what we are doing.’ The book both confronts the retreat of democracy and contributes towards its revitalization.”
–Jeffrey C. Isaac, James H. Rudy, Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington
“In the spirit of Hannah Arendt, Gray is Beautiful calls for a renewed commitment to dialogue, the openness of public spaces, freedom of artistic expression, and the power of the radical center.”
–Siobhan Kattago, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Tartu, Estonia
