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The Civics of Friendly Persuasion

Alerting Citizens to Political Science and Its Public Engagement

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Abstract

Maintaining or changing their ways in a fundamental, even vital sense: That is the challenge confronting a family of “Friends” (commonly referred to as Quakers) during the American Civil War in the 1956 William Wyler movie Friendly Persuasion. Starring Dorothy McGuire and Gary Cooper, the film stands out on several counts, all of which are notable, even if not all were benign:

Civic education needs to be based on curricula about citizenship, not about government. It should focus on learning democratic ways of life, including ways of coping with change.

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Correspondence to Rainer Eisfeld .

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Eisfeld, R. (2019). The Civics of Friendly Persuasion. In: Empowering Citizens, Engaging the Public. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5928-6_5

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