Civic Education and the Future of American Citizenship

Elizabeth Kaufer Busch is associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and founder and co-director of the Center for American Studies (CAS). Jonathan W. White is assistant professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University.

• IntroductionElizabeth Kaufer Busch and Jonathan W. WhitePart I: Foundations of Civic and Liberal EducationChapter 1: The Inspiring Idea of the Common SchoolE. D. HirschChapter 2: Memory and Sacrifice in the Formation of Civic ConsciousnessWilfred M. McClayChapter 3: Polishing Barbarous Mores: Montesquieu on Liberalism and Civic EducationAndrea RadasanuPart II: The Changing Landscape of American Civic LifeChapter 4: American AmnesiaBruce ColeChapter 5: The Peer BubbleMark BauerleinChapter 6: Voter Beware: Responsible Voting in an Age of Political MarketingJeff Bergner and Lisa SpillerPart III: On the Ends of Liberal EducationChapter 7: Majoring in Servitude: The Liberal Arts and the Formation of CitizensJonathan YonanChapter 8: Education To What End—Vocation or Virtue?Peter A. BenolielChapter 9: “Reflection and Choice”: The Liberal Arts and the Foundation of the American ExperimentJohn AgrestoAfterword: The Impoverishment of American CultureDana Gioia

This superb collection of essays explores the topic of civic education in its broadest light. These issues are treated by a range of impressive authors from different fields possessing different life experiences. The result is a fresh set of analyses in which there is a healthy divergence of views, but in which the greatest benefit is the opening of new and thought-provoking perspectives. Great credit goes to the two editors, Elizabeth Kaufer Busch and Jonathan W. White, for this timely contribution to promoting better understanding of one of the most important problems facing American education today.