Book Reviews

Why Is the American Experiment in Trouble? Simple: A Demagogue Has Ignited the ‘Dark Passions’ of the People

Liberalism’s real failure is that it assumes far too sunny a view of human nature, three recent books suggest

Sep 23 •

Is the Lack of ‘Friction’ in Our Virtual World Leading to Liberalism’s Decline?

Our rapid-fire communication technologies may be overwhelming our capacity to deliberate and empathize, two new books suggest

Sep 14 •

'Abundance’ Offers a Sounder Way Forward for the Left than Degrowth or Redistributive Progressivism

But the authors of this important book might have been more effective had they chosen a less confrontational strategy with their own side

Jul 25 •

Samantha Hancox-Li

Free Trade Has Stronger Intellectual Roots in the Left than the Right

Before the Cold War, free market liberals and Marxists both saw commerce as a force for global peace and equitable prosperity, a historian shows

Jun 17 •

Matthew McManus

William F. Buckley Cemented the Conservative Movement’s Preoccupation with the Liberal Enemy

He couldn’t define what conservatism was, just what it wasn’t

Jun 4 •

We Need to Restore a Healthy Protestantism to Save American Liberalism

An incisive book by an atheist convincingly shows how both major strands of this faith tradition lost their way

Mar 17 •

Berny Belvedere

We Could Use Some Real “Wokeness”

Musa al-Gharbi’s important book offers an honest critique of progressive elites that is free of right-wing diatribes

Jan 16 •

Matthew McManus

Moses Can Lead Israelis and Palestinians Out of Their Bloody Conflict

The prophet revered by Jews and Muslims can help them overcome their ‘darkest hour,’ Mustafa Akyol's historical account shows

Oct 7, 2024 •

The Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Right’s New Boogeywoman

Renée DiResta describes how a loose coalition of influencers mobilized on social media and targeted her for the crime of flagging lies and…

Jul 8, 2024 •

Responsible Conservatism Really Was a Thing for a While

David Austin Walsh’s intellectual history of the American right is excellent but overstates Trumpism's continuity with the conservatism that preceded it

Jun 18, 2024 •

The Right's Infatuation With Fascist Strongmen Is Nothing New

Jacob Heilbrunn's book excavates the authoritarian intellectual roots of Trump's MAGA movement

Mar 26, 2024 •

The New Right's Attack on Markets Is as Ignorant as the Old Left's

State capitalism that both sides are pushing will lead to economic ruin and corruption

Feb 16, 2024 •

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