The American left : its impact on politics and society since 1900 / Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Right and left (Political science)--United States.

Right and left (Political science).

United States--Politics and government.

United States.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

vii, 264 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2013]

Summary:

Tells the story of how the left has shaped American political and social life, Only the American right has ever really recognized the potency of the American left. Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones looks at why others have underestimated the left in the USA: the relative absence of a free press in America, the disposition of the left to deny its own existence in the name of pragmatism, and the left's fallacy that the right is always wrong. He goes on to set forth the achievements of the left, including the welfare state, critiques of and sometimes effective opposition to militarism, the reshaping of American culture, crusades for black rights and civil liberties, the awakening of America to the dangers of fascism, and great public enterprises such as the Twin Towers. He shows how the socialists of the Old Left gave way by the 1960s to the anti-war militants of the New Left, and how they in turn gave way to a "Newer Left" that advocated a host of additional causes such as gay rights and multiculturalism. Final chapters explore how a post-2000 Bush administration succumbed to the "socialist" nationalisation it professed to condemn, and how Barack Obama is a president for the left. Key Features: Draws on interviews with participants on the left including Todd Gitlin (president of Students for a Democratic Society in the 1960s), Frances Pivon (anti-poverty campaigner and bête noir of the American right), Bernie Sanders (socialist US Senator from Vermont), and Marilyn Young (leading New Left historian of US foreign policy) Explores the changes that have taken place in the years between the orthodox socialist challenge of a century ago and the actions of those whom President Obama describes as "my friends on the left" Book jacket.

Contents:

1. The reputation of the American Left

2. The socialist origins of social security

3. Early achievers on the American Left

4. Socialists in congress

5. The identification of America and its fascist enemy

6. The new deal's undeclared socialism

7. The Republican re-invention of socialism

8. The New Left shares the credit

9. The newer Left

10. The Republican road to nationalization

11. Obama: a president for the Left?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 228-249) and index.

ISBN:

9780748668878

074866887X

OCLC:

850856313