The Torment of Secrecy: The Background and Consequences of American Secruity Policies

Shils, Edward

ISBN 10: 156663105X / ISBN 13: 9781566631051

Published by Ivan R. Dee (edition Reprint), 1996

About this Item

It's a preowned item in good condition and includes all the pages. It may have some general signs of wear and tear, such as markings, highlighting, slight damage to the cover, minimal wear to the binding, etc., but they will not affect the overall reading experience.

Seller Inventory # 156663105X-11-1

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Torment of Secrecy: The Background and Consequences of American Secruity Policies
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee (edition Reprint)
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 156663105X
• ISBN 13: 9781566631051
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: Reprint.
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Edward Shils's The Torment of Secrecy is one of the few minor classics to emerge from the cold war years of anticommunism and McCarthyism in the United States. Mr. Shils's "torment" is not only that of the individual caught up in loyalty and security procedures; it is also the torment of the accuser and judge. This essay in sociological analysis and political philosophy considers the cold war preoccupation with espionage, sabotage, and subversion at home, assessing the magnitude of such threats and contrasting it to the agitation? by lawmakers, investigators, and administrators? so wildly directed against the "enemy." Mr. Shils's examination of a recurring American characteristic is as timely as ever. "Brief. . . lucid. . . brilliant."? American Political Science Review. "A fine, sophisticated analysis of American social metabolism."? New Republic. "An excitingly lucid and intelligent work on a subject of staggering importance. . . the social preconditions of political democracy."? Social Forces.

About the Author

Edward A. Shils was distinguished service professor of sociology at the University of Chicago until his death in 1995. He founded the journal Minerva and co-founded the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and was widely regarded as one of the world’s most influential social thinkers.