Emerson and self-reliance /

This book is an intense analysis of Emerson's ideas regarding individualism, or the term Emerson used for it--self-reliance. Emerson's ideas about individualism, Kateb maintains, were the most comprehensive in American history, and they remain the richest source for later discussions and commentaries on democratic individuality. Kateb quotes from all of Emerson's major works, and from many of his minor or lesser-studied essays, to elucidate Emerson's powerful commitments to freedom of thought and expression. One is tempted to see an overstatement in the conclusion of Kateb's book when he writes that "Emerson is the American Shakespeare." Emerson was an essayist who wrote only fair to mediocre poetry and not a single play. One may also question whether Emerson framed his arguments about human behavior as matters of destiny--tragic or comedic. But, in terms of articulating a vast range of ideas and sentiments important for a national consciousness, Emerson does count among the very greatest of writers. This book reclaims Emerson's centrality as an important American moral philosopher. Upper-division undergraduate and up. P. J. Ferlazzo; Northern Arizona University