Liberty and coercion : the paradox of American government from the founding to the present. --

Princeton, NJ, Estados Unidos : Princeton University Press, c2015.

xiii, 452 p. ; 25 cm.

9780691162942

Incluye notas y referencias bibliográficas.

Acknowledgments. -- Introduction. -- I. Foundations, 1780's-1860's. -- 1. A liberal state emerges, 1780-1840. -- 2. The states and their police power. -- II. Improvisations, 1860's-1920's. -- 3. Strategies of liberal rule. -- 4. Lessons of total war. -- 5. Parties, money, corruption. -- III. Compromises, 1920's-1940's. -- 6. Agrarian protest and the new liberal state. -- 7. Reconfiguring labor-capital relations. -- IV. American Leviathan, 1940's-2010's. -- 8. An era of near-permanent war. -- 9. Breaking the power of the states. -- 10. Conservative Revolt. -- Conclusion. -- Notes. -- Index. --

Tomado de Amazon: "American governance is burdened by a paradox. On the one hand, Americans don't want "big government" meddling in their lives; on the other hand, they have repeatedly enlisted governmental help to impose their views regarding marriage, abortion, religion, and schooling on their neighbors. These contradictory stances on the role of public power have paralyzed policy-making and generated rancorous disputes about government's legitimate scope. How did we reach this political impasse? Historian Gary Gerstle, looking at two hundred years of U.S. history, argues that the roots of the current crisis lie in two contrasting theories of power that the Framers inscribed in the Constitution. "