Publisher's Synopsis
"This book may be hazardous to the ideologies of the 'politically correct'" writes Walter Sullivan of M.E. Bradford's new book. Those who are not familiar with Bradford's work should welcome these essays on subjects as varied as the ongoing battle over the literary canon or popular stereotypes of the framers of the Constitution. "A grave disease now infects the standard approaches to most of the subjects confronted here," writes Bradford. "An attitude including scientism, positivism, meliorism, and irreligion - is now established among us as an orhtodoxy." Here Bradford challenges the new orthodoxy, attacking what he sees as oversimplification by its modernist proponents.;In the title essay, Bradford defends the literary canon. Arguing that feminists, Marxists, and other revisionists have a merely political view of education, he defends the canon as "an aristocracy of judgement and discriminating choice which we need to preserve our institutions." Bradford has long criticized literary historians' neglect of the literature of the American West. In "A view from the top of the ridge" he gives much-needed attention to a variety of Western writers, including A.B. Guthrie, Walter Van Tillburg Clark, and Edward Abbey.;The most controversial piece in Bradford's work is his scathing critique of Abraham Lincoln's political career. Through a detailed analysis of Lincoln's rhetoric, he explodes "the Lincoln myth," portraying Lincoln as an ambitious politician who did much to undermine the young American Republic.;Many people will not agree with Bradford's opinions. But all those who dip into these provocative essays will find much food for thought.
