On Diversity: The Eclipse of the Individual in a Global Era [Hardcover]

It could be argued—and esteemed historian of ideas Russell Jacoby does so here—that the less diversity there is, the more we talk about it.

But what does the term actually mean? Where does it come from? What are its intellectual precedents? Moreover, how do we square our recognition of the importance of diversity with the fact that the world is becoming more and more, well, homogeneous? In fine prose and lucid argument, Jacoby puts our volatile present into historical context. Examining diversity (or lack thereof) in language, fashion, childhood experience, political structure, and the history of ideas, Jacoby offers a surprising and penetrating analysis of our cultural moment, and invites his readers to participate in the most dangerous and liberating act: to stop and think.“On Diversity is philosophically generous, occasionally witty, tightly reasoned and engagingly written. --Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal

This is an insightful, thought-provoking book which raises intriguing questions, and I enjoyed reading it. --popmatters.com

Russell Jacoby has written a cogent and provocative essay on the paradoxes of identity, and he asks questions that yield no comforting answers. Does a concern with diversity of cultures strengthen diversity of thought? Has the global scaling-up of American mass society left us with more groups and fewer individuals? A highly personal inquiry into the jargon of authenticity, this book is also a fascinating history of a central modern idea. —David Bromwich, Sterling Professor of English, Yale University, and author of American Breakdown

In this book, as he has throughout his career, Russell Jacoby asks the necessary questions, the ones few other contemporary writers care to pose. How is it, he wonders, that the explosion of officially sanctioned &ldql“Y