08/28/2017
This slim polemic excoriates the identity politics of contemporary liberalism and blames it for Donald Trump’s victory. In a reasoned analysis of 20th-century American politics, Lilla (The Shipwrecked Mind), a Columbia professor, observes that modern American politics is shaped by the visions of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. In the first, “citizens were involved in a collective enterprise” to guard against risk and the denial of fundamental rights. In the second, they were promised a “more individualistic America” that would prosper when liberated from government constraints. He argues that liberals’ collective response to the Reagan Dispensation was to lose “themselves in the thickets of identity politics” and essentially abandon fighting the Republican ascendancy at the electoral level. Because he works in broad strokes and makes no secret of his perspective as a “frustrated American liberal,” Lilla can get shrill, and he spends too much time on campus politics. Though he sometimes overreaches, he also convincingly argues that a lack of political vision and shared purpose are major reasons why America is now led by an “opportunistic, unprincipled populist.” The best liberal response, he argues, is to cultivate “a solidarity that transcends identity attachments.” Lilla’s analysis is insightful, but more likely to fire up debate in college classrooms than to mobilize the masses. (Aug.)
From one of the most internationally admired political thinkers, a controversial polemic on the failures of identity politics and what comes next for the left - in America and beyond.
Following the shocking results of the US election of 2016, public intellectuals across the globe offered theories and explanations, but few were met with such vitriol, panic, and debate as Mark Lilla's. The Once and Future Liberal is a passionate plea to liberals to turn from the divisive politics of identity and develop a vision of the future that can persuade all citizens that they share a common destiny.
Driven by a sincere desire to protect society's most vulnerable, the left has unwittingly balkanized the electorate, encouraged self-absorption rather than solidarity, and invested its energies in social movements rather than party politics. Identity-focused individualism has insidiously conspired with amoral economic individualism to shape an electorate with little sense of a shared future and near-contempt for the idea of the common good.
Now is the time to re-build a sense of common feeling and purpose, and a sense of duty to one another. A fiercely argued, important book, enlivened by acerbic wit and erudition, The Once and Future Liberal is essential listening for our times.
The Once and Future Liberal is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the failures of identity politics and the future of the left in America and beyond.
HarperCollins 2024
From one of the most internationally admired political thinkers, a controversial polemic on the failures of identity politics and what comes next for the left - in America and beyond.
Following the shocking results of the US election of 2016, public intellectuals across the globe offered theories and explanations, but few were met with such vitriol, panic, and debate as Mark Lilla's. The Once and Future Liberal is a passionate plea to liberals to turn from the divisive politics of identity and develop a vision of the future that can persuade all citizens that they share a common destiny.
Driven by a sincere desire to protect society's most vulnerable, the left has unwittingly balkanized the electorate, encouraged self-absorption rather than solidarity, and invested its energies in social movements rather than party politics. Identity-focused individualism has insidiously conspired with amoral economic individualism to shape an electorate with little sense of a shared future and near-contempt for the idea of the common good.
Now is the time to re-build a sense of common feeling and purpose, and a sense of duty to one another. A fiercely argued, important book, enlivened by acerbic wit and erudition, The Once and Future Liberal is essential listening for our times.
The Once and Future Liberal is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the failures of identity politics and the future of the left in America and beyond.
HarperCollins 2024
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The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics
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The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics
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Product Details
BN ID: | 2940170240135 |
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Publisher: | HarperCollins |
Publication date: | 08/29/2017 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
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