American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to Now

Starr (Entrenchment), cofounder of The American Prospect, offers a perceptive history of the past eight decades of U.S. partisan politics. Outlining the ideological paths taken by the “progressive left,” the “mainstream” center, and the “reactionary” right, he pinpoints the Black civil rights movement as the prime driver of events to come. The progressive left, inspired by the civil rights fight, began to (rightfully, Starr asserts) see America as profoundly unequal, and supported more and more minority groups in demanding their fundamental rights. The center, however, preserved its reverence for American “exceptionalism”—the idea that America has “unique values and institutions” which ensure “openness, tolerance, and pluralism” as well as economic “dynamism”—and began to frame the left as “illiberal.” Meanwhile, the reactionary right nurtured its grievance against racial equality, pointing to the decline of American manufacturing and the subsequent suffering of the working class as evidence that pluralism had fundamentally failed. Among Starr’s aims is to prove to the left and center that they should concede one another’s points about America’s true nature—because both have merit, but also because neither ideology alone can achieve victory over President Trump and the reactionary right. To make his point, he astutely breaks down specific historical instances of left and “mainstream” victory, from the establishment of the EPA to the election of President Obama, to show how they were born of broad center-left consensus. The result is a persuasive call for unity. (Oct.)