Sidney Blumenthal’s new volume in his biography of Lincoln explores the role of leadership in the remaking of American politics in the 1850s.
Ronald Brownstein
Ronald Brownstein is the national affairs columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
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How the South Rose Again
When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson (W.W. Norton, 238 pages, $25.95) The White House Looks South by William E. Leuchtenburg (Louisiana State University Press, 668 pages, $45.00) White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism by (Kevin M. Kruse Princeton University Press, 325 […]
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How the South Rose Again
When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson (W.W. Norton, 238 pages, $25.95) The White House Looks South by William E. Leuchtenburg (Louisiana State University Press, 668 pages, $45.00) White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism by (Kevin M. Kruse Princeton University Press, 325 […]
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Vexations of the Heartland
What’s the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America By Thomas Frank • Metropolitan Books • 320 PAGES• $24.00 Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts From the Heart of America By Garrison Keillor • Viking • 237 PAGES • $19.95 Few developments have changed American politics more in the […]
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The Life of the Parties
Party of the People: A History of the Democrats By Jules Witcover, Random House, 758 pages, $35.00 Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans By Lewis L. Gould, Random House, 588 pages, $35.00 Few institutions of any sort in American life have remained relevant for as long as the two national […]
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The War About War
The War Over Iraq: Saddam’s Tyranny and America’s Mission By Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol, Encounter Books, 153 pages, $25.95 The confrontation with Iraq is a war in service of an idea. The idea is what has come to be known as preemption — President Bush’s frequently expressed belief that after the September 11 […]
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The Bush Breakthrough
In numerical terms, the losses Democrats suffered in last week’s election were not that large. But psychologically they could hardly have been more devastating. The unexpected reversals instantly set off a crisis of confidence among Democrats in Washington. In the usual manner of the capital, groups from every point on the ideological spectrum interpreted the […]
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Books in Review
The Emerging Democratic Majority By John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira. Scribner, 213 pages, $24.00 With the 2002 campaign in its final days, the two parties are engaged in a form of trench warfare. Neither side is expecting a big breakthrough this November. There seems little chance that Republicans will significantly pad their margin in […]
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State of the Debate:
The Truth of Power: Intellectual Affairs in the Clinton WhiteHouse By Benjamin R. Barber. W.W. Norton and Company, 320 pages, $26.95 The Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years By Haynes Johnson. Harcourt, 610 pages, $27.00 From the Center to the Edge: The Politics and Policies of the ClintonPresidency By William C. Berman. Rowman […]