Brian Danoff Why Moralize upon It? book sku-582011543

Brian Danoff's Why Moralize upon It? is a hardcover listed under Collectible Comics N.E., sku-582011543. Taking its title from Melville's "Benito Cereno," the book considers Amasa Delano's claim that "the past is passed" after he suppresses a rebellion of enslaved Africans.

Danoff argues that examining American history and political institutions helps citizens recognize injustices that could undermine democracy. Drawing on Roosevelt's view that a statesman's greatest duty is to educate, he argues that novelists and filmmakers can educate citizens too.

The book examines fiction that raises difficult questions about democratic leadership rather than settling them with easy answers. Danoff argues that its ambiguity and tragic outlook help readers think through political judgments, preserve their community, and make it, in Lincoln's words, "forever worthy of the saving."

He sees that kind of reflection as especially useful amid superficial media moments and political polarization. The works remind readers that no partisan has a monopoly on virtue and that people share what Melville called "the common continent of men."