Sandel, Michael J.

PERSONAL: Married; children: two sons. Education: Graduated from Brandeis University (summa cum laude), 1975; Oxford University, D.Phil., 1981.

ADDRESSES: Home—Brookline, MA. Office—Department of Government, Harvard University, 1737 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138; fax: 617-495-0438. E-mail—msandel@gov.harvard.edu.

CAREER: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, instructor in political philosophy, 1980–99, professor, 1999–, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government; Oxford University, visiting lecturer, 1998; Sorbonne, Paris, France, visiting professor, 2001; President's Council on Bioethics, council member, 2002–05. Has lectured to academic and general audiences in North America, Europe, Japan, India, and Australia.

AWARDS, HONORS: Rhodes Scholar; Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize, Harvard-Radcliffe, 1985; fellowships from Carnegie Corporation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Ford Foundation, and American Council of Learned Societies. Awarded three honorary degrees.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1982, 2nd edition, 1998.

(Editor) Liberalism and Its Critics, New York University Press (New York, NY), 1984.

Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy, Belknap Press (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

Contributor of numerous articles to scholarly journals, law reviews, and general publications, including Atlantic Monthly, New Republic, and New York Times. Liberalism and the Limits of Justice has been translated into seven languages.

SIDELIGHTS: Government and political philosophy professor Michael J. Sandel is well known as a strong intellectual opponent of liberal thought. Throughout his writings, including Liberalism and the Limits of Justice and Liberalism and Its Critics, he offers discourse critiquing the very basis of liberalism as a public philosophy. Sandel's third book, Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy, continues with this theme, focusing on "the manner in which liberalism and the conception of the person that it incorporates have played themselves out in the context of twentieth-century American politics and law," explained Social Theory and Practice contributor Paul Fairfield. Jerry F. Medler, writing in an International Journal of Comparative Sociology review, noted the duality of the book, pointing out the "analysis of the evolving expression of liberalism" paired with a discussion of the connection "between the changing U.S. political economy and the putative requirements of citizenship," and observed that there is little in the treatise to tie these elements together. Medler additionally suggested that although Democracy's Discontent "leads us to ponder life in a republican community, [Sandel's] presentation is far from persuasive." Historian critic Barbara Blumberg agreed somewhat, commenting that the author "overstates and romanticizes" the benefits of republican doctrine, but ultimately felt that "Sandel has written an important, provocative book."

In 2005 Sandel's collected essays were published as Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics. The book combines discussion of highly controversial topics—such as abortion and the scandals revealed during U.S. President Bill Clinton's years in office—with analysis of political philosophers such as Immanuel Kant. Library Journal contributor Scott Duimstra appreciated the history discussed in the book and found the commentary "thought-provoking." A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that the compilation of es-says, written at different times over the length of San-del's career, made for "some repetition," and the critic questioned the effectiveness of juxtaposing a myriad of different writing styles in one volume. Ultimately, the reviewer concluded that Public Philosophy is "an effective, though sometimes lumpy, blend of the wonky and the philosophical."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Journal of Sociology, May, 1997, Steven Tipton, review of Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy, p. 1729.

American Political Science Review, June, 1997, Susan Okin, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 440.

Australian Journal of Political Science, March, 1998, Philip Petit, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 153.

Christian Century, December 4, 1996, Christopher Beem, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 1206.

Commentary, August, 1996, Wilfred M. McClay, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 97.

Commonweal, November 22, 1996, R. Bruce Douglass, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 26.

Ethics, April, 1997, William A. Galston, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 509.

Foreign Affairs, March-April, 1996, Michael Lind, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 135.

Historian, summer, 1998, Barbara Blumberg, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 873.

Insight on the News, May 13, 1996, Ken Masugi, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 31.

International Journal of Comparative Sociology, August, 1998, Jerry F. Medler, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 331.

Journal of Church and State, autumn, 1997, Robert F. Drinan, review of Democracy's Discontent, pp.803-804.

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, April, 1998, Gary Johnson, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 291.

Library Journal, September 15, 2005, Scott Duimstra, review of Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics, p. 68.

Nation, May 6, 1996, Eric Foner, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 34.

New Republic, April 1, 1996, Mary Ann Glendon, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 39.

Political Theory, October, 1997, Eldon Eisenach, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 761.

Publishers Weekly, September 26, 2005, review of Public Philosophy, p. 75.

Reason, February, 1997, James M. Buchanan, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 59.

Review of Metaphysics, March, 1997, Roger Paden, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 689.

Social Theory and Practice, spring, 1999, Paul Fair-field, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 165.

U.S. News & World Report, April 29, 1996, John Leo, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 23.

Wilson Quarterly, summer, 1996, Samuel H. Beer, review of Democracy's Discontent, p. 89.

Yale Law Journal, March, 1997, Mark V. Tushnet, review of Democracy's Discontent, pp. 1571-1610.

ONLINE

Harvard University, Department of Government Web site, http://www.gov.harvard.edu/ (March 28, 2006), profile of author.

President's Council on Bioethics Web site, http://www.bioethics.gov/ (March 28, 2006), brief biography of author.