Author Meets Critics-McWilliams's The American Road Trip & Am. Political Thought

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Susan McWilliams's "The American Road Trip and American Political Thought" is a tour-de-force work that merits the attention of scholars of APT, American politics, and political theory. In the book, McWilliams brings her keen analytical eye to bear on several authors several to the APT canon, including Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, John Steinbeck and Mark Twain. In addition, McWilliams considers to the intellectual and physical journeys of figures not as central to the canon, including Hunter S. Thompson and Cheryl Strayed.

In the book, McWilliams shows how Americans have long used road trip stories to raise and explore central questions about American politics in theory and practice. The book addresses several issues at the heart of the American political tradition including freedom, equality, class, and progress.

In this Author Meets Critics session, I hope to have several scholars of APT in dialogue with McWilliams. I think this panel will be worthwhile for two major reasons. First, McWilliams's work merits discussion and reflection in its own right. She makes important contributions to several interpretive debates of canonical figures and she expands the canon in important ways. Second, McWilliams's thematic approach in the book is unique and may serve as a model to others working in the field of APT.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 56: American Political Thought

Chair

• Nicholas R. Buccola Linfield College

Presenters

• Susan McWilliams Pomona College

• Brian A. Smith Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Jeffrey A. Becker University of the Pacific