Books by Steven Johnston

This book looks at why Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life is either the most inspirational or the cruelest film American cinema has ever produced. It depicts, perhaps unwittingly, an ontological war in which two well-matched adversaries fight a series of pitched battles that neither side can win without producing tragic remainders.

In this book, political theorist Steve Johnston explores Lincoln's thought and political philosophy, but also his intentional and shrewdly calculated ambiguity - enabling him to be maximally politically effective in the face of unprecedented challenges.

Contending that even at its best patriotism subverts the democracy it purports to value, this book turns to patriotism's defenders to show how they must jettison democracy to champion patriotism. Drawing from various aspects of American political and popular culture, this book presents examples to disclose patriotism's self-defeating character.