Revolutionary Values for a New Millennium: John Adams, Adam Smith, and Social Virtue. By John E. Hill. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2000. 213p. $55.00.

Abstract

No one will deny John E. Hill's claim that he has written an "unabashedly didactic" book (p. xi). This is not social science, or political theory, or history as it is usually understood by those disciplines. I do not mean that as a criticism, for there is great merit in writing as a concerned citizen-scholar. Hill puts his political cards on the table. He is a self-described "moderate liberal" (p. xi) who wants universal health insur- ance, public funding of elections, more restraints on the corporate sector, a more progressive tax system, more spend- ing on education, and community service programs. He also wants liberals to rethink their attitude toward morality: They need to be more forthright about the importance of morali- ty-social virtue-for the health of the Republic. In addition, Hill does not shy away from telling us that he does not like "individualistic excess" (p. ix), Alexander Hamilton, Ronald Reagan, or the religious Right.