Here is a short review I just wrote for the New York Times Book Review. The review is of The Strange Death of American Liberalism by H.W. Brands. Brands’ thesis is that the dominance of liberalism in America through the second and third quarters of the twentieth century was a product of the Cold War. No more Cold War, he argues, no more liberalism.
My take on the book is generally negative. But the flaws in Brands’ argument should give pause to those liberals who believe that the muscular government response to 9/11, and the public’s heightened reliance on government, necessarily portends some sort of liberal revival.
