"Offers a valuable thematic analysis of a problem peculiar to diverse democratic societies, namely, how to achieve meaningful political stability in a nation that contains so much variety in interests and identities."—Review of Politics
"In many ways, this is an innovative and insightful book, which asks important questions about Americans’ relationship to their government’s institutions and contributes significantly to the literature on the building of the American nation-state."—H-Net Reviews
"Pears’s work is worthy of consideration by scholars and students with an interest in American nation-building and the problem of developing a robust democratic commitment and constitutional culture among the people of the United States."—Publius: The Journal of Federalism
"Pears provides an excellent scholarly study of the concept of ‘political attachment.’ She demonstrates how the thoughtful study of these mechanisms can provide knowledge of how political attachment might be reinvigorated and restored to health in a time of profound political political polarization and ever-diminishing regard for political institutions and the Constitution itself. Highly recommended"—Choice
“The framers knew the republic could not survive on patriotism alone. Citizens had to understand the Constitution, bond emotionally to it, and follow it even when inconvenient. Emily Pears shows how these ‘cords of affection’ were constructed, why they were fragile, and why they must be continually renewed—including today.”—James H. Read, author of Majority Rule versus Consensus: The Political Thought of John C. Calhoun
“Emily Pears’s astutely imagined Cords of Affection draws our attention to the unfinished work of the American founding—the self-conscious project taken up by the framers and their successors to calm that moment’s centrifugal winds while motivating the populace to grapple its fledgling national institutions to its soul with hoops of steel. Pears shows how, no sooner had one revolution ended, than another had begun. While illuminating a crucial period in the country’s past, Pears speaks to one of the most importunate challenges of the present.”—Ken I. Kersch, professor of political science, Boston College, and author of American Political Thought: An Invitation
“Long before January 6, 2021, Emily Pears saw what that day horribly confirmed: too many Americans have lost all belief in and attachment to their nation’s democratic institutions. In Cords of Affection Pears probes how past Americans sought to foster faith and affection for their regime through utilitarian and cultural appeals and participatory experiences. Her insights can guide efforts to renew the reflective patriotism that we need today.”—Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
