The volume became a classic. Since its publication in 1973, The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration has gone through one revision and nine subsequent reprintings. The new second edition brings together a full treatment of the various constitutional crises the nation has experienced since Watergate, including the complex of crises presented by the Iran-Contra situation. Treating the present state of executive administration, Ostrom discusses the important and disturbing changes that have taken place in management by the executive branch throughout the past fifteen years. Ostrom has joined the ranks of the very best American political theorists of the twentieth century.
Equality of condition is the perfect reproach because it is always lacking in some respect.
Americans may not succeed but, if they do, things are set up so they won't be able to enjoy it. This is a reverse Cinderella syndrome of sorts. Like all great magic, it is done in broad daylight so nobody notices. In this inquiry into the sources of modern selfhood, Charles Taylor shows that the modern turn inward is not disastrous but is in fact the result of our long efforts to define and reach the good. At the heart of this definition he finds what he calls the affirmation of ordinary life, a value that has decisively if not completely replaced an older conception of reason as connected to a hierarchy based on birth and wealth.