DC Public Library System

Humility, an unlikely biography of America's greatest virtue, David J. Bobb

eng

Includes bibliographical references (page 211) index

contains biographical information

index present

non fiction

Humility

bibliography

858610486

David J. Bobb

an unlikely biography of America's greatest virtue

America's founding fathers were determined to create a republic that would avoid the fate of ancient Rome. They believed humility -- the virtue absent from ancient notions of greatness -- would save the new nation from the self-aggrandizement that marked the Roman empire. In Humility, Dr. David J. Bobb traces the "crooked line" of humility in political thought, from Socrates to Augustine, from Machiavelli to Lincoln. What emerges is a pioneering philosophical portrait of this quiet virtue in America's political history. With verve, imagination, and authority, Bobb reveals the story of how humility has been indispensable to America's survival -- and its success. Without humility, hard-won through trials and temptations: George Washington might be remembered as the man who crowned himself king; Abraham Lincoln could have broken faith with the Constitution and become a dictator; and Frederick Douglass might never have gained the healthy pride that made him a champion of equality for all Americans. The Americans profiled here -- Washington, Lincoln, Douglass, along with James Madison and Abigail Adams -- demonstrate that greatness and humility are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they need each other. Humility serves as the guardrail to greatness, preventing it from going off the cliff. Now at the edge of a cliff created by the arrogance and bluster of our current political age, America has discarded the vision of the founders. As Bobb argues, we must rediscover humility if there is to be an American future. America is not Rome -- yet. - Jacket flapTraces the "crooked line" of humility in political thought, from Socrates to Augustine, from Machiavelli to Lincoln. What emerges is a philosophical portrait of this quiet virtue in America's political history and an arguement, that in the current political age, we must rediscover humility if there is to be an American future. --Adapted from publisher description

Author's note -- Part one : Early Life. Benjamin Franklin's dilemma -- Jesus and Socrates -- The city of the humble and the city of the proud -- Part two : Trials and temptations. George Washington -- James Madison -- Abigail Adams -- Abraham Lincoln -- Frederick Douglass -- Part three : An age of arrogance. The fragile brilliance of glass -- Notes -- A moral taxonomy -- Suggested further reading -- About the author