Bromell

Nick Bromell

Professor Emeritus of English, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Chapter Member: Boston SSN
Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Nick

(413) 545-2332

About Nick

Bromell studies “public philosophy” – the ideas about democracy that Americans use in order to understand their democracy and their role as citizens. Bromell is especially concerned with helping to craft a “post-liberal” public philosophy that offers a compelling progressive alternative to the radical conservative public philosophy that has gained much ground since the demise of liberalism. Unlike most others who work in this area; he finds sources for a progressive alternative in the words and works of Americans of color – not just in such conventional places as the words of the Founders; Lincoln; Franklin Roosevelt; et al.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Insights from Black Perspectives on American Democracy

Key Findings Brief,

In the News

Opinion: "Let’s Make the Confederate Flag a Hate Crime: It is the American Swastika and We Should Recoil from It in Horror," Nick Bromell, Salon, July 10, 2015.
Opinion: "Acting on King’s Speech, Not Just Remembering It," Nick Bromell, Boston Globe, August 28, 2013.

Publications

The Time is Always Now: Black Thought and the Transformation of U.S. Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Breaks from the dualism that has defined many studies of black political thought as a perpetual struggle between nationalist and integrationist strands, and offers an alternative set of organizing concepts.
"Democratic Indignation: Black American Thought and the Politics of Dignity" Political Theory 41, no. 2 (2013): 285-311.
Argues that a particular form of anger – “democratic indignation” – is indispensable to democracy.
"Scooter and Me: Professing Liberal Doubt in an Age of Fundamentalist Fervor" The American Scholar 76, no. 1 (2007): 56-68.

Draws on the author’s friendship with Scooter Libby to probe what distinguishes liberals and progressives from conservatives.

"Postwar Liberalism as a Usable Past? The Rewards and Risks of Historical Revisionism" American Quarterly 59, no. 1 (2007): 179-190.
Analyzes whether liberalism remains a viable public philosophy in the 21st century.
"Show Them the Money: On Winning Equal Rights for Wealthy Americans" Harper’s Magazine 300, no. 180 (2000): 67-70.
Argues that wealthy Americans have a right to be wealthy through political satire.