| FZ-280069-21 | Research Programs: Public Scholars | Seth Moglen | Bethlehem: American Utopia, American Tragedy | 9/1/2021 - 8/31/2022 | $60,000.00 | Seth | | Moglen | | | | Lehigh University | Bethlehem | PA | 18015-3027 | USA | 2021 | American Studies | Public Scholars | Research Programs | 60000 | 0 | 60000 | 0 | Research and writing of a book on Bethlehem, Pennsylvania since its founding in 1741 to the present.
My book explores the enduring contradiction between egalitarianism and domination in American life through a poetic, accessible and carefully researched exploration of one city: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The book traces the 280-year arc of the city’s history, revisiting iconic episodes and motifs in U.S. history and in the American popular imagination: the spiritual city on a hill built into the wilderness; the immigrant industrial metropolis, engine of American global power; the postindustrial crisis and its possible redemption by the glamor of casino capitalism. I demonstrate that aspirations for equality have been more vibrant, more varied in their origins, and more successfully implemented than most readers may imagine. At the same time, I trace the evolving structures of racial and gender hierarchy and economic exploitation that have constrained those aspirations. This book seeks to reinvigorate discussion about what equality has meant – and might yet mean – in the United States. |