“In a political climate marked by right-wing celebrations of misogyny, xenophobia, oligarchy, racism, militarism, and extractive capitalism, you might be skeptical of a book about ‘the reconciliation image.’ But Morton Schoolman, in a startling and effective admixture of Whitman's democratic ethos, Adorno's defense of a specifically aesthetic kind of critical reason, and contemporary films, contends that now is the time for new thinking about ‘reconciliation.’ This is an original, creative, provocative, rewarding, and timely book.” — Jane Bennett, author of Influx and Efflux: Writing Up with Walt Whitman