American Citizenship

Professor Shklar's book is powerful and profound. She presents an argument that is, in many respects, original. That is, once you take in what Shklar is saying, you wonder why no one else had said it before: it is right, it is illuminating, it had been waiting to be said, it emphatically needs saying. The book is wonderful and rare. -- George Kateb, Princeton University The thesis of Judith Shklar's American citizenship is strong, freshly original, completely persuasive--good sense raised to a higher power...It is a deceptively modest small work which achieves large things...Shklar's book will receiev an enormous amount of well-deserved attention: for she has a genius for doing what Hegal was so supremely good at "capturing" the ethos of a nation and an age with utter persuasive precision -- Patrick Riley, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Shklar identifies the right to vote and the right to work as the defining social rights and primary sources of public respect. She demonstrates that in recent years, although all Americans profess their devotion to the work ethic, earning remains unavailable to many who feel and are consequently treated as less than full citizens.In this illuminating look at what constitutes American citizenship, Judith Shklar identifies the right to vote and the right to work as the defining social rights and primary sources of public respect. She demonstrates that in recent years, although all profess their devotion to the work ethic, earning remains unavailable to many who feel and are consequently treated as less than full citizens.