A prolific author now in his mid seventies (Etzioni) looks back at his career as a social thinker, opinion-writer, and activist. -- Edmund Fawcett * Book Review Digest *
...a cautionary tale for all would-be public intellectuals. -- Robert S. Boynton * Book Review Digest *
In this revealing memoir, Amitai Etzioni tells the story of his personal odyssey-as a young Israeli soldier, a determined student, a devoted family man, a distinguished academic, and an activist intellectual. He has drawn from modern sociology a latent yet vibrant public philosophy. In this book he opens his life and his heart; and he describes the inner workings of a social movement struggling to be born. This story will interest all who have been intrigued by the communitarian message. -- Philip Selznick, University of California, Berkeley
Amitai Etzioni has been a communitarian pioneer because he has adapted communitarian ideas to the purposes of concrete and non-reactionary public policy, even as he has labored to harmonize a communitarian interest in civic responsibility with a liberal concern for individual rights. He has fostered a relatively progressive communitarian agenda and managed to wrest from the Right its sense of proprietorship over communitarian ideas. -- Benjamin Barber, author of Jihad vs. McWorld and Strong Democracy
Few people are privileged to launch their own 'ism.' Communitarianism in its contemporary academic form is arguably just warmed-over Hegelianism. But Amitai Etzioni's New Communitarianism is something genuinely new, or certainly something that comes as news to contemporary social theorists. -- Robert Goodin, Australian National University
No American is more responsible for the recent renewed interest in community than Amitai Etzioni. The prolific Etzioni has written a number of books on the subject as well as inspiring the formation of several journals of opinion, creating numerous discussion forums, convincing people coast to coast to sign a communitarian platform, and leading what he calls a communitarian movement. -- John Brandl, University of Minnesota
Unlike the civic republicans, Etzioni is concerned with constructing a community whose common good is developed by all individuals in the society, not just the elites. . . . Perhaps his best insight, though, is that in a diverse society where individuals have many attachments, the risk of oppressive community structures is much less than was the case in past human history. The multiplicity of communities becomes a protection against communitarian excesses. -- Timothy L. Fort, University of Michigan Business School
Amitai Etzioni is a creative thinker, one of those rare 'public intellectuals' who has consistently rolled up his sleeves to make a difference in shaping the public policy of this nation. With zeal and gusto, Etzioni has devoted considerable thought and action to issues that matter to the public at large-democracy, civic responsibility, and the moral character of our children. Etzioni gives an honest accounting of the steep learning curve that is encountered by public intellectuals who seek to work with public policymakers. A leader in the communitarian movement, Etzioni has persisted in his belief that America is a better country when individual rights are balanced with community needs. Etzioni is not shy about his personal efforts, which makes for rich and interesting stories. -- Richard W. Riley, former U.S. Secretary of Education
This book is as much a memoir of the movement as of the author's life-the style is strictly policyese. This serious volume provides both a useful portrait of a public intellectual and the essence of a movement that may define public discourse in the coming years. * Publishers Weekly *
Fascinating autobiography. Amitai Etzioni has led a fascinating life, and his progress from Germany to Israel to the United States makes his intellectual autobiography an interesting study. * The Weekly Standard *
This serious volume provides both a useful portrait of a public intellectual and the essence of a movement that may define public discourse in the coming years. * Publishers Weekly *
This book is an excellent contribution to the literature on an important social movement. * Contemporary Sociology *
