Overview

For nearly 40 years, Ronald Reagan's vision--small government, lower taxes, and self-reliant individualism--has remained America's dominant political ideology. The Democratic Party has offered no truly convincing competing vision. Instead, American liberalism has fallen under the spell of identity politics. Mark Lilla argues with acerbic wit that liberals, originally driven by a sincere desire to protect the most vulnerable Americans, have now unwittingly invested their energies in social movements rather than winning elections. This abandonment of political priorities has had dire consequences. But, with the Republican Party led by an unpredictable demagogue and in ideological disarray, Lilla believes liberals now have an opportunity to turn from the divisive politics of identity, and offer positive ideas for a shared future. A fiercely-argued, no-nonsense book, The Once and Future Liberal is essential reading for our momentous times.

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9781849049955

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Reviews

'[Lilla's] argument is an important counter-weight to the prevailing wisdom.' * Financial Times * 'The Once and Future Liberal is a dead-on diagnosis of what ails the Democrats.' * The Guardian * 'Lilla in his new book issues an important, passionate and highly critical wake-up call to liberals who, he believes, are stuck in the mud. ... Lilla's message to liberals is timely and welcome.' * Arlie Hochschild, Washington Post * 'A terrific short book about the decline of American liberalism explaining how they went from the successes of FDR's coalition to the pitfalls of today's identity politics. It's an accessible book that's essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how we arrived in the Trump era and where the Democrats go from here.' - * Fareed Zakaria, CNN * 'Lilla masterfully sets a dialogue in this short book.' * Los Angeles Review of Books *

Author Information

Mark Lilla is Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and a prizewinning essayist for the New York Review of Books and other publications worldwide. His books include The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction; The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West; and The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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