Sincerity: How a Moral Ideal Born Five Hundred Years Ago Inspired Religious Wars, Modern Art, Hipster Chic, and the Curious Notion That We All Have Something to Say (No Matter How Dull) - Hardcover

R. Jay Magill Jr

 
9780393080988: Sincerity: How a Moral Ideal Born Five Hundred Years Ago Inspired Religious Wars, Modern Art, Hipster Chic, and the Curious Notion That We All Have Something to Say (No Matter How Dull)

Synopsis

People have long been duped by smooth-talking politicians, confessional talk-show hosts and fake-earnest advertisers. As sincerity has become suspect, the upright and honest have taken refuge in irony. Yet we long for the holy grail of sincerity. With deep historical perspective and a brilliant contemporary spin, R. Jay Magill Jr. argues that we can't shake sincerity's deep theological past, emotional resonance and the sense of conscience it has carved in the Western soul. Magill navigates history, religion, art and politics to create a portrait of an ideal that, despite its abuse, remains a strange magnetic north in our secular moral compass.

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About the Author

R. Jay Magill Jr., the author of Chic Ironic Bitterness, is an editor and writer at the American Academy in Berlin. He hosts the American Academy's NPR show, and his writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times. Author website: www.rjaymagill.com

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780393346220: Sincerity: How a Moral Ideal Born Five Hundred Years Ago Inspired Religious Wars, Modern Art Hipster Chic, and the Curious Notion That We All Have Something to Say (no Matter How Dull)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0393346226 ISBN 13:  9780393346220
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013
Softcover