CG Advisory Board member Mary Ann Glendon explains that by focusing on an ever-expanding
catalogue of rights, America's political discourse neglects a discussion of duties
and responsibilities and most importantly, civic life--envisioned as central by
the Founding Fathers.
"No one has explained more clearly why the infatuation with individual rights,
in our 'law-saturated society,' prevents a searching public discussion of issues
urgently in need of resolution. Mary Ann Glendon's analysis of the limits of legalism
is all th more compelling because it is measured and level-headed. I don't see
how any fair-minded reader can resist her conclusions." --Christopher Lasch, Author of The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Politics
"Of the many recent challenges to rights-based thinking, Mary Ann Glendon's book
stands out for its clarity, its moderation, its appreciation of the good things
that rights do, its sense of history, its compassion, and its use of comparative
materials." --Cass Sunstein, The New Republic
". . .an excellent post-cold war book...[it] makes a very important contribution
to the effort to find an idiom to speak of a simultaneous concern for both freedom
and solidarity that Americans can begin to understand." --David Hollenback, Commonweal
"Rights Talk will be of great value to all who are frustrated by the narrow and self-centered
modes of political speech in the United States. Mary Ann Glendon's familiarity
with foreign legal systems gives her an unparalleled breadth of vision which expands
and illuminates the possibilities for authentic communication between people today."
--Justice Richard Neely, Author of How Courts Govern America
Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse