"This is the first book to analyze the political thought of the scholar-statesman Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003), who was eulogized by the Economist as 'a philosopher-politician-diplomat who two centuries earlier would not have been out of place among the Founding Fathers.' Identifying the New Yorker as a 'Burkean liberal' who believed that government does have an important role to play yet should acknowledge its own limitations and society's complexity, Greg Weiner suggests that America's shriveled political conversation would be enriched by thinking like Moynihan's"--Provided by publisher.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 145-171) and index.
Contents
Introduction: "And you still break stone" -- The central truths -- Poverty and problems poorly stated -- The United States in aspiration -- Toward a Burkean liberalism.