Bøker av Will Morrisey

Will Morrisey explores the political dimensions of Shakespeare's comedies, and the comedic quality of politics.

"Will Morrisey unravels Melville's "loomings" of the great whale, showing them to be important threads of politics and theories of governance ... Melville, like Ishmael, urges a new vision of both God and nature, and challenges the notion of rule in all its expressions." -- back cover.

This book compares Churchill and de Gaulle as they thought, spoke, and acted through two world wars and the subsequent Cold War. Although the world is very different now, this nuanced history shows how thinking along with these giants of the twentieth century as they responded to the crises of their time will make us more thoughtful citizens today.

Americans introduced themselves to the world by declaring their independence. They recognized that their 'unalienable rights' were secured by institutionalized government that derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. In Self-Government, The American Theme, Will Morrisey defines the concept of self-government and tracks its permutations in the ardent writings of key American presidents. He shows how the transition to a more powerful national state was managed on political soil where 'self-government' was not an indigenous crop. Morrisey considers the genesis of 'self-government' in the political thought of the founding U.S. presidents, comparing their understanding of the term with that of President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate States of America President, Jefferson Davis. In this text Morrisey aptly demonstrates how the regime of the founders was replaced by a much more statist regime during the Civil War. He offers salient interpretations of the writings of the key presidents of founding and civil war periods, and interpretations centered on the key word, 'self-government'. This book is an essential contribution to the understanding of early American history and politics.

This first book-length study of Progressive-Era presidents' views on the theme of self-government analyzes their understanding of executive leadership and the office of the presidency. Will Morrisey examines the rhetoric and the actions of Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson to show the ways in which their thought shaped their presidencies.