Old Mill Room 525
94 University Pl
Burlington, VT 05405
United States
- B.A., Harvard University
- Ph.D., Princeton University
radio/podcast
radio/podcast
print/web
print/web
JOURNALISTS: Need help scheduling an interview? Contact UVM media relations or search for a UVM expert.
Area(s) of expertise
American political ideas and their history; liberal ideals and institutions (liberalism, critics of liberalism, "post-liberalism"); the crisis of liberal democracy; democracy and democratic citizenship.
BIO
Professor Zakaras specializes in political philosophy and the history of political thought. His research interests include American individualism, liberalism and its history, democracy and democratic citizenship, and the political ideas of the nineteenth century. He is the author of The Roots of American Individualism: Political Myth In the Age of Jackson (Princeton University Press, 2022), and Individuality and Mass Democracy: Mill, Emerson, and the Burdens of Citizenship (Oxford University Press, 2009). He is also co-editor of J.S. Mill's Political Thought: A Bicentennial Reassessment, published by Cambridge University Press in 2007.
Hear Alex Zakaras on Public Radio:
- Discussing Emerson's "Self-Reliance" on NPR's On Point
- Discussing his 2022 book, The Roots of American Individualism, on ABC Radio.
Bio
Professor Zakaras specializes in political philosophy and the history of political thought. His research interests include American individualism, liberalism and its history, democracy and democratic citizenship, and the political ideas of the nineteenth century. He is the author of The Roots of American Individualism: Political Myth In the Age of Jackson (Princeton University Press, 2022), and Individuality and Mass Democracy: Mill, Emerson, and the Burdens of Citizenship (Oxford University Press, 2009). He is also co-editor of J.S. Mill's Political Thought: A Bicentennial Reassessment, published by Cambridge University Press in 2007.
Hear Alex Zakaras on Public Radio:
- Discussing Emerson's "Self-Reliance" on NPR's On Point
- Discussing his 2022 book, The Roots of American Individualism, on ABC Radio.