American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation
Michael Kazin delivers an entertaining history of America's "left" – those who dream of "a radically egalitarian transformation of society.”
(Page 2 of 2)
After Kazin establishes the foundation, he proceeds in an almost entirely chronological manner. He lumps social movements and the groups that spawned them into bunches of decades, starting with the 1820s through the 1840s, and ending with the 1980s through today.
Skip to next paragraphBuy this book from:
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
Throughout the book, Kazin distinguishes between political change and cultural change. Increased individual sexual freedom, the ability to seek a legal abortion, and the right to adopt an offbeat personal appearance without being fired from a job or expelled from school all count as cultural change, whether the reader counts those changes as positive or negative. The ultimate political change – a more egalitarian society – seems pretty much unrealized.
Toward the end of the book, Kazin allows himself personal reflection and a tad of preaching, noting that “at what may be the nadir of the historical left, perhaps utopia could use a few words in its defense. A world of freebooting capitalisms has delivered neither material abundance nor social harmony to most of the world’s people. Failed states, religious wars, environmental disasters, clashes between immigrants and the native-born are common features of current history, as they were in earlier times.” Those shortfalls do not justify giving up, Kazin says, stating elegantly that those who believe “there is no alternative to chronic crisis except to somehow muddle through exacerbate the problem.”
The left, or more specifically those termed by Kazin as practitioners “of the non-Communist radical faith” must continue to push for change, he believes. Why? Because, Kazin writes: “Workers who organize themselves could brake the wild ride of the free marketers, open-minded secularists might form a third force to disarm the armies of fundamentalists, pacifists could challenge the myth that perpetual war delivers either national security or global democracy.”
Kazin knows his book will spawn disagreements. He says at the beginning that he hopes it “invites plenty of argument and debate – be it passionate, reasonable or both.” It probably will. An opening quotation from Richard Rorty cited by Kazin summarizes the value of that debate perhaps better than any other passage in the book: : “You have to describe the country in terms of what you passionately hope it will become, as well as in terms of what you know it to be now. You have to be loyal to a dream country rather than one to which you wake up every morning.”
Steve Weinberg is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.
Join the Monitor's book discussion on Facebook and Twitter.
Previous
These comments are not screened before publication. Constructive debate about the above story is welcome, but personal attacks are not. Please do not post comments that are commercial in nature or that violate any copyright[s]. Comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence will be removed. If you find a comment offensive, you may flag it.