Politics and Beauty in America

This book holds classical liberalism responsible for an American concept of beauty that centers upon women, wilderness, and machines. For each of the three beauty components, a cultural entrepreneur supremely sensitive to liberalism’s survival agenda is introduced. P.T. Barnum’s exhibition of Jenny Lind is a masterful combination of female elegance and female potency in the subsistence realm. John Muir’s Yosemite Valley is surely exquisite, but only after a rigorous liberal education prepares for its experience. And Harley Earl’s 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air is a dreamy expressionist sculpture, but with a practical 265 cubic inch V-8 underneath.  Not that American beauty has been uniformly pragmatic. The 1950s are reconsidered for having temporarily facilitated a relaxation of the liberal survival priorities, and the creations of painter Jackson Pollock and jazz virtuoso Ornette Coleman are evaluated for their resistance to the pressures of pragmatism. The author concludes with a provocative speculation regarding a future liberal habitat where Emerson’s admonition to attach stars to wagons is rescinded. 

“This ambitious work offers a novel treatment of aesthetic ideals, positioning beauty--whether raw, cultivated or manufactured--at the core of the American enterprise. Lukes’s use of sources is both deft and discerning. He employs a range of disciplinary lenses, compelling us to see beauty as more than visual pleasure, as more than mere luxury. It has long been, instead, a critical component of the story of American liberalism.” (Mary Cathryn Cain, Chair of the History Department, Agnes Scott College, USA and winner of the 2006 Jerome Stern Prize for best article appearing in “Studies in American Culture”)

“In Politics and Beauty in America, Timothy J. Lukes examines the intersection of two expansive domains. He is not the first to take up this task, but his quest to avoid reducing either politics to aesthetics or the reverse, makes his work rare indeed. Lukes is concerned with beauty and its vicissitudes as it goes from being something we discover and explore to being something we adapt and use.  His arguments are learned, subtle and deep, as he makes the case that we diminish, indeed risk altogether losing, aspects of beauty--its ability to elicit passion, its inaccessibility, its permanence--when we deploy it for pragmatic purposes. Lukes provides ballast for his theoretical argument by offering detailed discussions of the different ways beauty has been used in influential portrayals of “women, wilderness and automobiles” in American culture. This is a remarkable work, one to be grappled with--not least by those like myself whose views it unsettles.” (James Johnson, Professor of Political Science, University of Rochester, USA author of “The Priority of Democracy” (Princeton University Press) and 2004-2009 member of the Editorial Board of the “American Political Science Review”)

“What is the point of Beauty? That’s the question we ask in the modern liberal world, because we’ve forgotten and downgraded an ideal of disinterested Beauty. To make this argument, Lukes explores an unusual and fascinating American mix, ranging from Barnum’s promotion of Jenny Lind, to Muir’s elevation of wilderness and ingenuity, to GM’s Harley Earl and the adulation of the machine. What are the political repercussions of abandoning Psyche for Belle and can we recover the vision and imagination we’ve lost?” (Arlene Elowe MacLeod, Department of Politics, Bates College, USA and author of “Accommodating Protest”)

“In this book, Timothy J. Lukes advances our understanding of a distinctly American conception of beauty, which is closely tethered to its utility. He offers fresh interpretations and thought-provoking juxtapositions. Of particular note, Lukes provides a three dimensional portrait of John Muir that demonstrates the compatibility--for better and worse--between his view of wilderness and American liberalism.” (John M. Meyer, Professor ofPolitics and Environmental Studies, Humboldt State University, USA and author of “Engaging the Everyday: Environmental Social Criticism and the Resonance Dilemma”)

“The subject of beauty in America is a worthy theme that has been greatly neglected by political theorists of all stripes. This new book by Timothy J. Lukes shows one way to approach this huge and important subject.  If the measure of a valuable academic book is whether it provides the reader with food for thought to use in one’s one lectures or scholarly work, Lukes has met that standard again and again throughout this book.” (Joseph Phelan, National Endowment for the Humanities and Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland University College, USA)

Timothy J. Lukes is Professor of Political Science at Santa Clara University, USA.  His research interests include the Italian Renaissance, American political culture, and contemporary political thought.  His books have won awards from the Women’s Caucus of the American Political Science Association and the Asian American Studies Association, and his article on Progressives and Asian communities in California received the Carl I. Wheat Memorial Award. He has published essays in numerous academic journals, including The American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, PS: Political Science and Politics, Journal of Law and Public Policy, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, and The Sixteenth Century Journal.  He is recipient of the Northern California Phi Beta Kappa Outstanding Teaching Award.